if you were looking for a cheap run around thats reliable

Joey the lips · 31-03-2010 8:22am #1

Sorry if this has been done to death but tbh I am a car novice. I am looking for a cheap reliable car to do about 40 miles a week. Maybe 100 some weeks. Just local.

I want to spend as little as possible, I would like it to last at least 5 years.
I would like it to be a saloon or estate car but will look at small cars.

What should I be looking at....

Cionád · 31-03-2010 8:29am

N15 Almera? - very cheap, reliable, depreciation free at this stage... (I have a diesel one, but on your milage it wouldn't be worthwhile)

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1232972

Tea 1000 · 31-03-2010 8:45am

The Almeara are reliable, but not fantastic. An old one like that will have you spending money on suspension components etc, and they get thirsty with age if left unminded. You'd be far better off with something like this (bargain them down a bit) and it'll last you 20 years.
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Honda/Civic/1.4i-SRS/201011197238724/advert?channel=CARS

Or cheaper one with no pic:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Honda/Civic/1.6-LS/201013197417347/advert?channel=CARS

Figerty · 31-03-2010 9:29am

You won't go wrong with the Honda. Well finishised, and you should get around 40 to the gallon even around town.

Looks better than an Almera, better spec usually and probably the most reliable long living engine on the road.

I had a 1995 one and put 230,000 miles on it before I eventually had to say good luck to it.. Clutch, brakes needed work and it wasn't worth it at that stage.

Apparently the engine is now in another car and back on road

Joey the lips · 31-03-2010 9:59am

I hear you on the honda. It just goes against my grain to spend 3-4k on a 10 year+ honda.

However I will look at them.

colm_mcm · 31-03-2010 10:06am

PM Sent

31-03-2010 10:07am

Joey the lips wrote: »

I hear you on the honda. It just goes against my grain to spend 3-4k on a 10 year+ honda.

However I will look at them.

If you can stretch to 1.8 or 2.0 tax you'd get an Accord for much less.

If you are anyway handy with the spanners there are loads of options out there for cheap runabouts, in the last year I bought a 1993 Prelude for €850, 1992 Merc 250 for €430, 1997 Rover Coupe for €800 and recently a 1993 520i touring for an undisclosed amount (lol).
The Prelude, Merc and Rover all did 300 miles a week for me (rover has done 9000 in the last six months and none of them gave me trouble), though old they were all fairly sound and straight, admittedly not minters though. However if I had to rely on garages to do all the work to get them shipshape etc they would have proved expensive, especially the Merc as there was an issue with the ABS that took me a few hours to sort.

E39MSport · 31-03-2010 10:19am

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1202306

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1177974

Looks clean, no mention of miles though. Might be worth a call. I drive the 1.3 in a starlet and its extremely reliable if looked after and aint too slow neither.

tc2010 · 31-03-2010 10:50am

learned to drive in a VW Polo myself. for a cheap runaround id highly recommend it. great little car for the city. back seats could fold down for when you needed space and running costs are low

ive an a4 now and the polo was actually more versatile for carrying a lot of stuff around

if you were looking for a cheap run around thats reliable

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