Reliable Car for under 3k

danoriordan1402

Nissan Primera died on me today - gutted. Desperate noise from the gearbox and a pool of oil under indicates the reconditioned box fitted 12months ago is gone Cost about a grand with a new clutch at the time and since the car is only worth 2.5k approx I wont be spending on it again this time.
Dont do a lot of milage, 20miles a day maybe - something that could pull a small car trailer with a dirtbike.

simx

id say toyota avensis d4d

working fool

i recently got a skoda octavia ,,
great value diesel car ,,vw engineering ,well built

simx

simx wrote: »

id say toyota avensis d4d

Why bother paying a premium for a diesel when only doing 140 miles/week? A sub €3000 D4D Avensis will have a very decent lash of miles on it.

Pov06

I was in a similar situation last Christmas.

Decided to buy a cheap 1998 Toyota Corolla 1.6 and it's reliable.



Mechanics say the pre '00 engine is bullet proof (4A-FE engine) and I think it's true. It's a bargain I think personally. Even in the event of the timing belt snapping, it won't do much damage since the spark plugs are vertically placed.

May look ugly but it's packed with Toyota reliability

danoriordan1402

good advice guys - thanks all.

working fool

yeah you cant beat the older toyotas ,,bullet proof

barura

Any clean SDi VW or Skoda will do the bill as well. You can get them with tow bars as well.

vectra

You might be able to haggle for this with a wad of cash
Seller looking for a quick sale

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2602410

danoriordan1402

Nice looking Vectra Vectra
Will prob try to offload the Primera for parts or as a decent project car for someone, shame .

bazz26

Mazda 6:
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2390809

Honda Accord:
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2608534

They probably don't come more reliable than those two.

danoriordan1402

Am going to have a look at this tomorrow hopefully- any known issues i should look out for?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2674521

My mileage will be increasing a fair bit soon so am focusing in the diesel range

Pov06

Give it a good rev. Look out for any smoke from exhaust particularly blue/black smoke.

When you arrive make sure the engine isn't warm as it might suggest it smokes a lot until it warms up.

Make sure it doesn't smell of unburned diesel.

When rev'ing the engine make sure you can hear the turbo whine.

Matthewjohn

Not much just check the gearbox in the Passat