value for money cars

itarumaa

Hello,

I have been wondering here, if it is possible to buy and run a car that would be :

-safe
-good to drive
-not too small
-decent performance

that you could go and buy cheaply, lets say around 1k and also keep it in the road without major costs at least 1-2 years.

And what kind of that car might be?

So basically the idea would be find a balance of performance, the cost of running and buying the car and also include safety as well.

So for instance, buying a 2000e car with 1.4l engine might not be so smart, if you can get a car with 1.8l engine for 1000e. But in the other hand if you sell the 1.4l car two years later, what is the sale price compared to that 1.8l car:)

So basically what are those things that matter here, is that the cost of the car when you buy it, the money you have to spend for insurance + tax or money related to service and fuel consumption.

I assume that 1.6-2.0l petrol car is way to go, specially if you drive around 10 000 miles in a year. Diesel is more expensive to maintain and you really do not want to have any major service bills in two years time. I am actually thinking that Toyota Avensis 1.8l might be a quite close to these standards above. At the moment I have a 2l Volvo S40 that kind of fits the idea I have, but I think there could be other options as well.

Small cars are hard to include to this idea, mostly for performance and safety reasons. Sure a Toyota Starlet is cheap to run but is it safe or does it have any kind of performance.

Pdfile

renault laguna ( old shape ) is great.... comfy Very safe, turbo versions with Traction control ( no wheel spins )

Great spec all round, fairly relyable too ( waits for the know-nothings to slate him )

CountingCrows

Pdfile wrote: »

renault laguna ( old shape ) is great.... comfy Very safe, turbo versions with Traction control ( no wheel spins )

Great spec all round, fairly relyable too ( waits for the know-nothings to slate him )

"keep it in the road without major costs" and your suggesting a Renault Laguna? I don't know anyone (myself included) who's had one that hasn't had a host of problems

itarumaa

But you have to remember that in this question you want to spend money on the car and not the brand.

So if first edition Laguna does the trick, then why pay 500e extra to get VW and pay for reputation.

Pdfile

itarumaa wrote: »

But you have to remember that in this question you want to spend money on the car and not the brand.

So if first edition Laguna does the trick, then why pay 500e extra to get VW and pay for reputation.

you'll get two for 250 each, thats 500, mix andm atch and make the ideal run around ( with spares to boot ) now that sounds bad havin to buy two but the driver fault, not the car. Irish drivers are hella lazy in fairness.



laguna is comfortable, quiet, good on fuel, Good ncap ( among the first 5 stars )


Saab 9000 turbo/cse is another VERY strong contender...

1948Wolseley

My father had two Mk 1 Lagunas, a '95 and a '99, and he never had a day's trouble with either of them. Which is more than can be said for the Audi A6 he replaced the last one with, which has so far needed a new transmission, oil pump and a host of other small things. Cars of the '90's may be mind-numbingly bland, but they're the most reliable cars you can buy.

no1beemerfan

CountingCrows wrote: »

"keep it in the road without major costs" and your suggesting a Renault Laguna? I don't know anyone (myself included) who's had one that hasn't had a host of problems

I bought a 1997 1.8 petrol Laguna 5 years ago with 81k miles on it for €1,900 its now got almost 200k miles and going perfect. NOTHING major has gone wrong. The biggest expense was a new clutch at 136k miles.

biko

2000 Volvo

fl4pj4ck

saab 900/93
octavia
laguna
citroen xsara
seat cordoba

mickdw

I wouldnt worry about resale if you are buying a car for a grand. You can surely afford to just scrap it after 2 years.
Get something common, that way parts are readily available. In your situation, I would buy an old mondeo.
reasonable to drive, good range of engines to chose from. Compare this to the mk1 avensis, boring boring boring, mind numbing plastics and the base petrol is the slowest car Ive ever driven.

langdang

Accord or Mazda 626
If you can get one with NCT and some tax and shocks that aren't about to fall off from years of country roads and you should be set for 1-2years.
Both should be well able for high high mileage (buy at 130,150k miles and they should do for two years)
Most people won't touch something like that, "fierce high mileage, fierce big engine",
but they make sense for bangernomics. You also get decent safety feature on the bigger older cars.
That said, parts could be expensive, you'd always want to be on the lookout for the next bangernomics candidate so you could walk away from any big bills.
Drive it til it's dead.

mickdw

mickdw wrote: »

I wouldnt worry about resale if you are buying a car for a grand. You can surely afford to just scrap it after 2 years.
Get something common, that way parts are readily available. In your situation, I would buy an old mondeo.
reasonable to drive, good range of engines to chose from. Compare this to the mk1 avensis, boring boring boring, mind numbing plastics and the base petrol is the slowest car Ive ever driven.

You won't get an Avensis for a grand, an old Mondeo for a grand would be a bucket of ****e. 1.6 Avensis is at least as quick as the 1.6 Mondeo.

johndaman66

RoverJames wrote: »

1.6 Avensis is at least as quick as the 1.6 Mondeo.

Thats what I was kind of thinking too.

OP I would be thinking Carina E to myself. It would seem to fit the bill perfectly for you. Plenty of them can still be seen on the road, around here anyway, even early ones which says something surely. The fact that they appear so popular with the taxi drivers and farmers says something for reliability and durability too I think. A hoot to drive and 1.6 petrol model (which most if not practically all petrol cars are here are) can easily return over 40mpg. Would have being a high enough volume seller in its day so no shortage of spare parts I'm sure. Granted not the nicest looking yoke on the road but not severly offensive on the eye either and I don't think this is high up in your priorities for that matter. Plenty of nice tested ones on donedeal.ie or gumtree for a grand or under. Sure what more could you want...you'd be away in a hack:P



Ray Jay can't recommend them enough either!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi0VPE6PDP8

Pdfile

johndaman66 wrote: »

Thats what I was kind of thinking too.

OP I would be thinking Carina E to myself. It would seem to fit the bill perfectly for you. Plenty of them can still be seen on the road, around here anyway, even early ones which says something surely. The fact that they appear so popular with the taxi drivers and farmers says something for reliability and durability too I think. A hoot to drive and 1.6 petrol model (which most if not practically all petrol cars are here are) can easily return over 40mpg. Would have being a high enough volume seller in its day so no shortage of spare parts I'm sure. Granted not the nicest looking yoke on the road but not severly offensive on the eye either and I don't think this is high up in your priorities for that matter. Plenty of nice tested ones on donedeal.ie or gumtree for a grand or under. Sure what more could you want...you'd be away in a hack:P



Ray Jay can't recommend them enough either!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi0VPE6PDP8

i dont mean to bump an old thread but its important in these times and theirs some good advice...


for relyablity id get the carina

for comfort the laguna

for looks an xsara ( pref Vtr/vts spec )

best all rounder ??

mickdw wrote: »

I wouldnt worry about resale if you are buying a car for a grand. You can surely afford to just scrap it after 2 years.

Get something common, that way parts are readily available. In your situation, I would buy an old mondeo.

reasonable to drive, good range of engines to chose from. Compare this to the mk1 avensis, boring boring boring, mind numbing plastics and the base petrol is the slowest car Ive ever driven.

you never scrap a good oul banger... you give it to someone like me who runs it for years still regardless of cost.... more for the love of the art.