car help.. please! :)

the only octavias u'll get for £2k, bearing in mind they only started in 1998/S will be high mileage ex-taxi 1.6 and 1.9 TDIs. Not recommended. The very VERY last Scorpios came with a good 150bhp 2.5 TD lump- they were approx 120bhp before that.

I'm going to either go for a Daewoo Nubira estate or Skoda Felicia estate in the next week by the way. The former is incredibly good value- a 40000mile, 2000/W, with 12 months warranty, FSH, 1.6 engine and good build for under £2k

 

That is cheap Rory... wonder if they do a 2.0HDI...

Isaac, are either of those 2 Saab engines in cars old enough to be had for around the 2k mark?

A late 2.5TD scorpio sounds good too, but I bet one that recent would still be too much money.

I think the Omega still has it!

 

you won't get a diesel saab for under 2k but you'll get a decently specced older (mid 90's) 9000 or 900 for that money. the problem with saabs is that the good ones are turbocharged and require lots of servicing and are expensive when they go wrong.
go with the omega or scorpio.
cheers


julian

 

Chris - no, they aren't.

Given your requirements, all the sensible money seems to be on the omega. Check insurance before you buy as it's group 13/14 for the 2.5TD, although I'm sure it will be far less of an issue for you and you live in a better area from an insurance point of view.

Also be aware that the TD requires 4500 mile servicing (5000 miles on later models).

In fact, rather than writing it all out again... http://www.parkers.co.uk/choosing/carreviews/printview.aspx?model_id=985

 

Personally,i wouldn't touch a Saab for 2k when you have to drive upto 40k a year

this mileage is the deciding factor for me,if you buy a big car at that price,chances are something elelectrical won't work,or will be costly to put right.

I would stick with the Renault 1.9TDI,40-45 mpg and in a variety of cars.The laguna is possibly your best bet.Here are a couple;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=9861&item=4513868070&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=9861&item=4513716689&rd=1


you could also easily find a Focus at an auction,but imho the Renault deisel engine is better.Also,don't forget that a 100k ex-company car will be have been serviced regularly.

 

I'd avoid a Renault. I've owned a 2.0RT (petrol) 1997 Laguna from new and it's now done 65k miles but within a couple of years it was starting to rattle badly. The A/C failed twice in the first 2 years, fixed under warranty in the first year, but there was no way I was spending hundreds of pounds every few months to maintain it so didn't fix it the second time. Now remote central locking doesn't work. I think the Renaults have very good mechanicals, just their electrics and trim seem suspect.

 

i know quite a few people who have had problems with PSA (Peugeot and Citroen) 1.9 Turbo Diesel and 2.0 HDI lumps too.

The Ford engines may be dull and not terribly powerful but at least they're reliable.

Similar experiences to Dev's too- a mate at work had to fork out £2000 on his 98/R Laguna for electrics problems...

 

the old 1.7 and 1.9 td engines from the zx / bx / 306 / 309 etc. are one of the most prolific diesel engines anything that goes wrong with them can be fixed very cheaply and easily and there is a lot of knowledge out there concerning them. i ran a citroen bx 1.7 td for a few years and the only thing that went wrong was a split hose on that bloody stupid suspension. i serviced it once a year and made sure it had oil and it ran perfectly.
cheers


julian

 

for 2k no hope of a focus, someone tell me where you can get one for 3k.

I have mostly had cheapish cars, and have changed them like I have changed hifi and gotten some good exp. with them.

my dad is a jap. addict, and these you can't go wrong with, try a carina/avensis/accord type.

ATM I have a fiat brava, its a very good car, I was prejudiced against fiats, but these are fine, quite comfy, cheap to run, fairly reliable.

I have also had 2 citroen zx diesels, one turbo, these have loads of poke, mechanicals are very sound indeed, great engine, but long in the tooth due to the hdi advent.
Good for on the cheap.

mondeo, problem with your 2k is you probably won't get one with low mileage, I hate that term!! dealers use it for less than 100k when selling and 20k when buying, I think its 50k and below.
tho' there is something to be said for doing 100k in a year, apparently one journo reckons that kind of car will have less wear than 10k a year for 10 years.

clutches are dear, £500. you MAY get a new shape on ebay if you are lucky, much better than the old apparently.

406 diesels/xantias a good bet. If you want comfort, this is the class of car to go for, sadly again, lo miles are out. again, watch the electrics. 4-6 diesel poss. the best bet for your requirements.

omegas running is pretty pricey. I would steer clear.
same with saab, more so.

just for starters....

 

The Octavia is built on the Golf platform. The Skoda you're thinking of is the Superb.

I can second (third? fourth?) the rec for the Octavia, although the old generation is a bit noisy on long journeys. At 40 k miles a year, I'd want somehting large. Were Nissan Maximas sold in the UK? Over here, they can be found cheap and are great long term cars. The Vauxhall Signum also makes a lot of sense. It's available with some pretty frugal engines; what it costs more in financing it may well make up in running costs.

 

Having thought about it some more, I think the Omega idea is OUT.

What led me to that conclusion was mainly the 5000k service.

If Im doing 40,000 p.a. then realistically thats about 1,500 in servicing costs a year.

I really need something with a 10k or even better 15k service.

Although I'd enjoy all the toys on the Omega, the only one I really need in a rep-type role is Air Con. The other toys are things that can go wrong and would probably be expensive to fix.

I used to have a Xantia diesel, but the body style now looks dated. A Modeo is a boring but sensible choice that I should consider.. It sounds like a renault/skoda/peugot/ford (not narrowing it down much, am I!?!?) may be better if they have lower servicing intervals.

 

Most modern petrol engined cars should give around 35mpg on a run, most modern diesels on a similar journey will give around 45mpg, don't flame me on these as they are of course generalisations, but based upon experience. I pay 84ppl for diesel my wife pays 79ppl for petrol. Based on the above, 40000miles would cost an extra 760gbp pa in a petrol car as opposed to diesel. Given diesels drawbacks in performance and servicing, I would contend that the cost argument is close. I drive a diesel by choice because I prefer the power delivery and the distance I can travel on a tank, 750 miles, and the relative cost of my modern diesel is more clearcut than on an older car.

I recently changed from company car to opt out due to tax implications. My criteria were depreciation, (highest cost of ownership by far), running costs and reliability. For your needs I would put reliability as the highest factor followed by running costs. Given those criteria there would be only one choice for me and that would be between a Toyota Carina or a Toyota Avensis, as funds allow. A 1998 1.8GS 5 door Avensis with 70.000 miles should be just achievable on your budget and to my mind makes a compelling case.

Kev

 

Here's a slightly left field suggestion: a 8-10 yr old E36 BMW 3-series, something like a 320i. The E36 btw is the shape before the current one (which is called E46). There are a lot of complete dogs out there but you should be able to find a clean, well looked after, fsh car for your budget. The service intervals are determined by the on board diagnostics according to driving style. Mostly m-way driving will easily give you 10-15K service intervals. The M50 6-cyl engines in those cars last for ever if well looked after. Also, BMW UK have their "4-Plus" servicing program for cars over 4 years old which has significantly cheaper labour rates allthough parts obviously cost the same but despite what you might think, BMW parts are not generally any more expensive than other makes.

If you're interested I can give you more pointers on what exact model to go for and what to look for.

Michael.

 

The E34 (5 series) is worth looking at as well.I recently bought a 1996 520i SE,mega miles(178k),but with FSH for just over a grand.......an E36 of similar age and milage will be more expensive.

BMW main dealer services rates are expensive though.4 plus will only get you around 20% off the hourly rate,which is anything from £75-£100+ per hour depending on location........best to use a specialist,or DIY.



Paul.

 

Yes Paul, you're right. It's certainly best to use an independent specialist for servicing older BMWs. IME they often know more and do a better job than the dealers! I don't reckon an E36 of similar age and mileage would be more expensive, what makes you say that?

Michael.

 

The 3 series seems to be more popular than the 5.

Check out some completed auctions on Ebay,or look on auto trader.

Paul.

PS:I found insurance was slightly more expensive for me on a 3 series.

 

I've just sold a Felicia estate..
Great car - loads of room, cheap insurance, good fuel economy and surprisingly good handling (just a question of keeping the revs up in order to make quite rapid progress ). I had it for 6 years, did 80k miles and apart from servicing, fuel, tyres and insurance the only cost I had was a new thermostat (which I fitted, cost £20) and an exhaust (about £80). I even brought a sofa back from Ikea in it once (oh the shame )
You'll get a low mileage "T" for less than £2k...

 

lordsum....I found the octavia when I had a run in one had short seats, 1/2 way down your thighs(not enuff support) and quite firm, didn't like em....how do you find them?

 

Ive been poring over auto-trader.

Its amazing what you can get for the money. There were even '98 Volvo S40's with about 70k on them. That sounds bargain to me. They look great too I think.

Mondeo diesels of about '96 vintage could be had for about 850 quid. Im spoiled for choice.

My hands turned inexorabily to 'sports and performance'.. A Fiat coupe is almost in price range... 5 series beamers with not-that-old shape for not too much cash and only 60-80k on the clock..

I guess my next two questions are -
1) How do you know what the servicing periods are on a car? - I mean like every 5k, 10k etc - is there a website or something that tells you?
2) If you buy something a bit more upmarket like a beamer.. and you take it for repair/maintenance to a local independant garage, are the parts REALLY that much more?

Sorry for the questions, I havent owned many cars, theyve been company cars since my early twenties.

Chris

 

the bigger the body, the dearer the running in general, some of those bigguns are pricy to run.
check honest john website, or in some used car buyer mags in smiths