What does this mean?

I've been pushing the idea of a Focus, but she is adamant on what she wants, plus she knows more about cars than me :(

Ideally she would like a 2003 or newer 3-door A3, as hers has been rock solid, even factoring in the accident. 118k on the clock and it's still going strong, not shabby for an S-reg.

Has to be 1.6L for fuel economy, she does a fair bit of mileage, including trips from London to Portsmouth at least twice a month, and she is happy with what she gets from her current car.

I could probably convince her of an 80k mile limit, but she really want's to be as far away from 100k as possible.
 
Saytan said:
despite the fact that by your own admission, her 113k car was rock solid?
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So far, who knows what could happen in the next few months, and it's worth no more than £1k at the moment. It's going through oil a bit faster than it really should, and the ABS light keeps coming on even though the ABS is fine, but all it would take is the head gasket to go and the car would be beyond economical repair.

The only thing she's had to do to it in the 5 years she's had it is replace the original battery.
 
[TW]Fox;16929276 said:
She does not have enough money for a low mileage current shape A3. It really is that simple.
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I've also pushed the 'get another older A3' angle, and I guess she'll eventually come round once we can't find another alternative. Or hopefully her dad will give her a helping hand. :D

I just don't know what is better, an older model with lower mileage, or a newer model with higher, if general maintenance and such has been equal.

I should threaten her with a Seat.
 
krooton said:
I've also pushed the 'get another older A3' angle, and I guess she'll eventually come round once we can't find another alternative. Or hopefully her dad will give her a helping hand. :D

I just don't know what is better, an older model with lower mileage, or a newer model with higher, if general maintenance and such has been equal.

I should threaten her with a Seat.
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Dont get hung up on the miles, just buy one that's been looked after.
 
krooton said:
So far, who knows what could happen in the next few months, and it's worth no more than £1k at the moment. It's going through oil a bit faster than it really should, and the ABS light keeps coming on even though the ABS is fine, but all it would take is the head gasket to go and the car would be beyond economical repair.

The only thing she's had to do to it in the 5 years she's had it is replace the original battery.
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What's to stop any of that happening on any other car you buy?
 
[TW]Fox;16929348 said:
What's to stop any of that happening on any other car you buy?
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Probability?

Are car that has been put under half the stress of another is less probable to develop a related fault. Sure it still could before the older one, but it is less likely.

Obviously if a car has been driven terribly for 20k miles, it will be in a worse state than one looked after over 50k miles, but that isn't really something that can be discovered on autotrader. :(

Some cars can just take more punishment than others I guess.
 
krooton said:
Why would a clear log book need to be applied for? Would that indicate that their is some fraudulent or criminal connection to the car?
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I would think the mostly likely reason is the car has been reposessed.

I would be a bit devious, try and have a look at some of these cars without her there, and then make sure you take her to see the ones that are blatenly shagged.

Hopefully she'll get the idea they're cheap for a reason.
 
krooton said:
Probability?

Are car that has been put under half the stress of another is less probable to develop a related fault.
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You assume a car that has done 40k has been put under half the stress of one thats done 80k. This is a flawed assumption that is only the case if, of the two cars, they have both done exactly the same type of driving but one has simply done it twice as often.

How often is that the case?
 
Tell her to NOT BUY A GOLF 'S'.

The trim is horrid, I had to drive a loan one for 3 months and it was NOT NICE.

Emphasis mine.
 
[TW]Fox;16929195 said:
Why do some people have requirements that are totally out of sync with budget? Remind her she has 6k not 10k.
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I come to you all for more advise please :D

See insurance pay out will be £1,700, a fair bit more than we were expecting, but after seeing an S-reg Golf yesterday that the seller wanted no less than £2,500 for, my gf is starting to come round to the fact that she cannot be as picky.

So the ideas are as follows:

Get a stopgap car with the payout, something like an 03 Astra, 51 Alfa 147 (are these any good?), or 51 Polo, then save like made for the next 10 months, sell the stopgap for about £1k and spend £7k on something nicer for longer.

Or

Spend the £3k we currently have on an 03 Fiesta/Focus, 04 Polo, 01 Golf, have it for 2 years, then sell and see what we can afford.

Thoughts?

Also, are Seat Ibizas ok as budget cars? We've figured that 1.4L is as low as we can go power wise, so Ibizas, Polos and other hatches are now on our radar, but we haven't a foggy as to what is good apart from avoiding Citroens and Peugeots like the plague!
 
As much as I love Alfa's I'd avoid one as a 'cheap stopgap'. It's going to cost more to keep running than the others.

I'd also avoid VW and Audi at this price range, they are (or try to be) 'premium cars' and thus you pay more for the 'premium' feel to them, she wants something that is going to do a years driving cheaply for little money.

So she wants a Ford Fiesta/Focus.
 
krooton said:
Thanks, so a cheap Polo or Astra is also worth a punt?
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You are much more likely to get a better Fiesta than a Polo because people see Polo and think "OMG VW its amazing I'll add £1k to the selling price".

Astra will do a job but the interior and styling isn't as nice as the Focus.

If she likes the Polo/Golf have a look at Seat Ibiza/Leon. They are basically the same car just with a different outer shell.

Most of the parts and nearly all of the engines are the same across the ranges as VW own Seat (along with Skoda and a number of our companies).

My advise would be get the best Fiesta you can buy for your money.
 
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