Spec me a car

The Mazda 2 will make a great cheap reliable 2nd hand car or first time car. If you have to spend lots of money on a small car surely it's got to be a Fiat 500 (for the chic appeal), a Mini Cooper S (good fun) or an Audi A3 with some sort of decent petrol engine.

Mk2 Focus or (long shot) Mk2 Fiat Bravo (decent for about £6k now).
 
Hmm, do you know how much the servicing costs on a Cooper S?

Only non-gay Fiat 500 is the abarth, and it's out of my budget :(

rover416i said:
Sorry, but a Mazda 2 looks horrific
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I disagree.. it looks tidy :)
 
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Ohhh when you said you wanted a car that did 0-60 in under 15 seconds, i didn't realise you were considering supercharged Mini's that do it in 7.4 seconds too.

/sarcasm

Unfortunately, supercharged Mini's also come with high insurance costs, repair costs and low(er) fuel economy.

How about a normal Mini Cooper or Suzuki Swift?
 
This is the worst spec me thread ever. The sheer randomNess of cars being considered is just huge.

Who the heck has a girls shopping trolley and Alfa 159 on the same list?

Either you want a cheap plastic bucket or you want a saloon. Either you want the running costs of a hot hatch or you dont!
 
Gaygle said:
Unfortunately, supercharged Mini's also come with high insurance costs, repair costs and low(er) fuel economy.
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For reasons I don't really understand, the insurance prices for this are very reasonable and because I only do around 9k miles per year, fuel isn't that much of an issue...
 
[TW]Fox;17808806 said:
This is the worst spec me thread ever. The sheer randomNess of cars being considered is just huge.

Who the heck has a girls shopping trolley and Alfa 159 on the same list?

Either you want a cheap plastic bucket or you want a saloon. Either you want the running costs of a hot hatch or you dont!
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I knew you would say this, I don't see what's hard to understand?

I want a car that can get me to work and back which does what I said in the OP
 
ajstan said:
I knew you would say this, I don't see what's hard to understand?

I want a car that can get me to work and back which does what I said in the OP
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But you said you want something that does 0-60 in under 15 seconds or ideally in under 11 seconds.

Then you start talking about hot hatchbacks :confused:
 
[TW]Fox;17808912 said:
Doesn't sound like you can to be honest. If you think a Mazda 2 is a good idea you won't appreciate spending the same on a 7 year old mini with the costs that brings.
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Well that's why I asked about running costs, to see if I could afford it.
 
ajstan said:
I assumed I could not afford to run it, but if I can, great!
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How on earth do we know if you can afford to run it! I'm sure you can work out that a faster car will 'generally' cost more to run ( fuel,insurance, possibly tax) e.t.c.

At 19 ( also depending on how long you have had your license) i would imagine insurance on a fast hot hatchback will be pretty steep.
 
ajstan said:
I assumed I could not afford to run it, but if I can, great!
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From a BMW/Mini Specialist the prices are:

Oil Service - £94
Inspection 1 - £170
Inspection 2 - £250

And if it's anything like BMW's it'll need coolant and break fluid changed every 2 years (£95 for both).

Front pads will be likely be about £150 fitted and front discs and pads will be about £270 fitted.

Tyres are £110-120 each and other parts are fairly expensive IIRC. This is not even taking into account the increase in fuel, insurance and tax.
 
Gaygle said:
From a BMW/Mini Specialist the prices are:

Oil Service - £94
Inspection 1 - £170
Inspection 2 - £250

And if it's anything like BMW's it'll need coolant and break fluid changed every 2 years (£95 for both).

Front pads will be likely be about £150 fitted and front discs and pads will be about £270 fitted.

Tyres are £110-120 each and other parts are fairly expensive IIRC. This is not even taking into account the increase in fuel, insurance and tax.
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Perfect, that's all I was after

But as somebody mentioned earlier in the thread that I missed, the back seats are useless.
 
Been looking at new shape Civics, this one in particular: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2006-HONDA-CI...mobiles_UK&hash=item5add5fa0f5#ht_1431wt_1135

Its done 120,000 miles and is an 06reg - I assume a lot of this is motorway miles, which as I understand it, is fairly easy on a car.

My mondeo is pretty screwed at 133k miles and I know the first 120k of that car was motorway because my Dad did all those miles.

I'm just worried about taking on another high mileage car, should I be?
 
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I suspect the reason your Mondeo is screwed is probably not as a direct result of the mileage. Your Mondeo is also much older.

That said, you shouldnt assume things like it all being motorway miles without having a reasonable idea...
 
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