New car for my dad - £1000 to spend

His Escort is basicaly dying its dead money, its stuck in my grandmas garage and it won't start it seems to be some kind of ECU issue and there is a million other things wrong with it.

He will be packing his business in due to only being able to use one arm properly so he will need a smaller car. However he also wants something with a few extras like central locking etc.

Size is not important, we have a budget of £1k and it must be cheap to insure, tax and run.

I was thinking of maybe a late (S - T Reg) Punto MK1 with about 50k on the clock.

A Fiesta Ghia 1.25 Zetec or maybe a Corsa CDX 1.4 or something.

 

AT
Will your father be registered disabled after his accident?
If so there is a disability allowance he can claim.
My father use to claim it and used it to have a lease car, new car that you give back after 3 years.

 

Fiesta 1.25 is a good choice... yamaha designed engine, very smooth, powerful and economical.

Corsa is a total dog.

I wouldn't bet the farm on a fiat for reliability.

Mitsubishi Colt 1.3 or 1.6. Nippy, good handling and ride, extremely reliable... Not as practical as some and 3 door only. Insurance may be a little higher than some.

Toyota Starlet 1.3 comes in around your budget for a 98 model. Unexciting but will live a long time.

 

I hate the Corsa B gearbox. Out of that lot if it was me it would be the 1.25 Fiesta simply because that engine is one of the best of the Zetecs. The Escorts done well, its got 100k and no mechanical wear, the engine is still as good as new and its on the original clutch etc, but its rusting and there lots of ECU/Electrical faults.

Its costing £120 a year to tax, delivers 20mpg is group 8 or 9 so its pointless keeping it. It won't start, the battery is healthy, the starter is clicking, the fly wheel spins etc. The entire ignition system is only 2 months old, so it is likely to be a costly ECU problem.

The Starlet is far too boring to even consider The Colts are too rare to really get hold off.

 

Colts aren't that hard to get hold of. Because they're not so well known they don't attract top dollar second hand. This is in manc, and should be haggled down a bit.

Regarding boring cars... if being reliable and dependable is boring, bring it on. For real life, knowing it will start the next morning beats that last bit of driving excitement for most people.

 

Penance is not quite correct. Disability Living allowance at the Higher rate (there are 3 rates) allows you to claim mobility allowance. It is this that lets you get cars, etc.

 

My parents just sold a Toyota Corolla for £700. It was about 10 years old, had about 65,000 miles on the clock, and had never ever ever broken down. My experience with Fords is that they never stop breaking down. Your's too with your postings on the board. Buy a Toyota or something similair. You'll get a lot more reliability for your money. With that little money to play with you can't afford to have delusions of grandeur

 

Honda is current king of reliability, though my sister's S reg Civic has had a few issues. Considering the budget I'd certainly rec Honda or Toyota over a Ford.

 

My dads car has never broken down once apart from once when the coil spring snapped but that is because there is millions of speed bumps round here and the car is used a a van. There was the ECU sensor issue which no garage has managed to fix but other than its been a good car, never costed more than £300 in garage a year including servicing until the last 6 months.

His arm is only a temporary thing so he won't get disability allowance for much longer. He won't be able to do his current job but there is nothing stop him from getting another job and that is the way the benefits office sees thing.

 

Another vote for Honda or Toyota here, well built and reliable. Personally I wouldn't touch a Fiat with a shitty stick, but that's just one of my little prejudices!

 

My dad has his Punto for 4 years without any real problems, it was a great little car, the only reason we got rid of it was because it was destroyed in accident.

 

I bought a L reg fiat uno (1 litre) after I wrote off my peugeot - and I did about 5k miles in about 6 months (including doing 9-+mph on the m6) before it fell apart...it was like a shopping trolley - but to be fair, I did only pay 300 for it..!

 

AT's dad might need to do more than 9mph on the motorway!

 

typo...meant to say 90+mph...

 

Fiesta 1.25 or the 1.4. I had an 'R' 1.4 ghia x and it was one of the best cars I have driven. As to reliability, my dad has owned Fords for as long as I can remember. Not one has ever let him down. In fact he has very rarely had to take one to the garage in between servicing. Having said that, my wife has had Honda's for years including some high mileage ones with total reliabillity.

I wouls still go for the zetec fiesta because they are fun to drive.

Rod

 

Yeah no point in looking at the crappy Push rod engines, they are too noisy, too slow and just crap. A Fiesta MK4 Ghia would be perfect for my dad, probably out of his budget even for an R reg though.

I think we would want something with around 60k on the clock.

 

Nothing wrong with the push rod engines, I have a 1.3 Fiesta now over 100k miles on the clock and is fast enough to break speed limits

 

..and no cambelt that likes to break if not kept up to snuff. It's only the 2litre zetec which isn't an 'interference engine' - as a mate recently found out to his cost.

 

They are reliable not that efficient, they were first used in the 1958 Ford Anglia. I do know these engines quite well though, my girlfriend has one, my mate has one etc.

I actually stripped an old 1.0 Kent out once with my mate.

I just can't help thinking going from a 1.6 Zetec to a 1.3 Valencia is a backward step.