Recommend A Car - £5k to £6k Budget

2L84SLEEP

2L84SLEEP

2L84SLEEP

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
616
Location
Uphall, West Lothian
Hi folks

Girlfriend and I have finally decided to take the plunge and get a new car. We are thinking we are going to have a budget of between £5k and £6k and are looking at a medium sized car, along the lines of a Golf, Astra, Focus etc Just wondering what people recommend for that sort of money? Ideally, car would be just a couple of years old i.e. Lost its initial depreciation. Cheers for any help and if you need any further info, just ask?

:cool:
 
You should be able to get quite a nice Focus for that money :)

media


2002 FORD FOCUS 1.8 TDCi Ghia 5dr Diesel Hatchback,
52,000 miles, 115 BHP flagship model, 52 REG, 1 private owner from new 52000 miles with supplying ford main dealer full service history, 6 cd player, electronic climate control, drivers armrest, air con, alloys, driving lamps, electric seats, 4x electric windows, quickclear windscreen, HPI clear with mileage guaranteed, view in heated showroom,exceptional t/out,warranty/finance available. £6,395
 
You could also get a nice Golf for that money too ;)

media


2001 VOLKSWAGEN Golf GTi 1.8 Turbo
20v 150Bhp, Metallic Black, 5 door, 60k, FSH, climate control, 6 cd changer, new VW wheels & tyres, tracker, excellent condition.. £6,500. ono.
 
VW Golf 1.8T, VW Bora 1.8T, Seat Leon 1.6S, Seat Leon 1.8T Cupra, Seat Toledo 1.8T Sport, Audi A3 1.8T, Skoda Octavia VRS

You could also look at the diesel versions, mainly the 130 engines i'd guess :)
 
You're opening a bit of a can of worms there... A lot of it comes down to preference, some people prefer the way a diesel drives and some people prefer the way the petrol drives. The diesel will likely be some 50% more efficient than the petrol so depending on how many miles you do you'll ether save a lot of money or a little. To complicate things further though diesels usually cost more to buy but they depreciate slower so lose less value over the period of ownership... Swings and roundabouts really.

Example fuel calculation:
10,000 miles a year, 90p petrol, 95p diesel.
50mpg diesel will cost £864 per year (200 gallons, 909.2 litres)
30mpg petrol will cost £1,362 per year (333 gallons, 1513.8 litres)
Diesel could save almost £500 every 10,000 miles.
Also check the service intervals though, if the diesel needs 8,000 mile services and the petrol only needs 15,000 service much of that saving could go there.
 
Test the focus, and the Golf.

I'd bet they'd buy the golf. Absolutely no comparison in quality between the two. Ive had focus hire cars and ive felt like i am going to break the doors just by shutting them too hard, very flimsy. Drive well though.
 
clv101 said:
50mpg diesel will cost £864 per year (200 gallons, 909.2 litres)
30mpg petrol will cost £1,362 per year (333 gallons, 1513.8 litres)
Diesel could save almost £500 every 10,000 miles.
Click to expand...

The difference isnt normally anything like that big. If you are talking an average of 30mpg from a petrol it's probably a performance petrol with a large engine. The equivilent diesel will do about 40mpg in similar circumstances - case in point, 530i v 530d.
 
Jez said:
Test the focus, and the Golf.

I'd bet they'd buy the golf. Absolutely no comparison in quality between the two. Ive had focus hire cars and ive felt like i am going to break the doors just by shutting them too hard, very flimsy. Drive well though.
Click to expand...

I agree here, the Golf has a quality feel to it - much more so than the Focus (this is true also for Golf Mk5 v Focus Mk2). I wouldn't say that everything feels like it's going to break but Ford seem to have put practicality well above quality with the Focus which annoyed me.

The Focus definately has better handling, but loses out to the Golf in ride comfort.
 
Some Diesels may well 'feel' quicker than their petrol equivalents due to torque (most modern day diesels run a turbo, hence the name TDCi, and TDi, etc). Also round town driving Diesels can be less agro to drive (due to toruqe) because you dont have to change gear so often. Diesels can usually go everywhere in 3rd gear, as opposed to changing down to second all the time for round-a-bouts, etc!

In addition, and as already stated, a Diesel will cost a fraction more to buy, but will return better fuel economy and have a higher resale value. That focus and Golf are both excellent buys, but expect a golf TDi to have higher mileage, (that is after all why people buy diesels imo). A VAG diesel though with high mileage shouldnt put you off as long as they have been serviced correctly, VAG diesels are reasonably bomb proof. Just keep an eye out for a MAF sensor replacement around 90k miles if it hasnt already been done. They are not cheap to replace (main dealer some £500+ VAT), and are a common fault on VAG diesels.

Hope this helps

HT
 
clv101 said:
Example fuel calculation:
10,000 miles a year, 90p petrol, 95p diesel.
50mpg diesel will cost £864 per year (200 gallons, 909.2 litres)
30mpg petrol will cost £1,362 per year (333 gallons, 1513.8 litres)
Click to expand...

From my experience of petrol v diesel, this is spot on for cars of this size. I had a Mk1 facelift Focus 2.0 Zetec for a few months which would average 30mpg over a 30min journey, I currently have a Mk5 Golf 1.9TDI, and this will average 50mpg over a 30min journey.
 
The problem with the Golf is that VW appear to have spent most of the development budget on junk like damped grab handles and stuff rather than a car that... actually handles and doesnt break down...
 
I test drove a MY04 150bhp MK4 GT TDi (3 door) (revised suspension), in summer 2004 and could not believe its handling capabilities. I then immediately drove the MK5 TDi and it was absolustely no different.

My partners MY00 GT TDi (110bhp) was however complete PAP. VW Seriously altered the suspension on the MK4 during its life (Gas shocks, beefier sub frame to name but a few), and it certainly showed on the later models.

The MK5 has a disgusting interior full of cheap (grey in the model i drove) plastic, and I could not find any improvement over the MY04 MK4. Over the MY00 MK4 yes, but not the latter MK4s.
 
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