What car, focus or BMW?

byrnem31

Hi, need advice please.

I have 1500 cash and might be able to squeeze a little bit more.
3 options.
Ford focus 1.6 petrol 2001.100,000 mls
Ford focus 1.8 tdi 2001 diesel.150,000 mls with full service history.
BMW 2000 320 2 ltr diesel. 150,000 mls.
Are them older BMW,s reliable. I might need a diesel due to long trips.
I want something road worthy though.are BMWs costly to maintain.
Im leaning towards the diesel Focus. I had a galaxy recently and it gave nothing but trouble so don't want the same again.
Thanks.

bazz26

You cannot judge 14 or 15 year old cars by their brand's reputation, the reliability of each car will need to be judged individually depending on current condition and how they were maintained upto this point.

byrnem31

bazz26 wrote: »

You cannot judge 14 or 15 year old cars by their brand's reputation, the reliability of each car will need to be judged individually depending on current condition and how they were maintained upto this point.

I was looking at a vw bora the same year and they are meant to be heaps of ****e.
I also wouldn't go near Renault, Citroën, fiats so you can judge a little bit from brand name.

bazz26

Good luck so, you seem to have it figured out.

byrnem31

bazz26 wrote: »

Good luck so, you seem to have it figured out.

I don't have it figured out. Some brands/makes I wouldn't go near.
If I had it figured out I wouldn't have started the thread

Cheers for reply.

bazz26

That logic may not work though. A 15 year old BMW could be a bigger wallet drainer than a similar aged Citroen or Fiat.

Idbatterim

with cars that age and budget, I would advise just sticking the 1.5k into petrol if you still had a car... I wonder would you best off with a reliable 1.5 petrol etc...

Huntergonzo

To be honest if you're considering slightly older cars on a budget I'd go Japanese all the way, they tend to be very reliable.

Ant695

With the bmw even if its totally sound and has no issues maintinence will still be steep. My brother in law had a 98 bmw and it was a complete money pit.

Another consideration though is if you go diesel at the engine size is usually quite big which means tax will be quite a bit more than a petrol car.

byrnem31

Ant695 wrote: »

With the bmw even if its totally sound and has no issues maintinence will still be steep. My brother in law had a 98 bmw and it was a complete money pit.

Another consideration though is if you go diesel at the engine size is usually quite big which means tax will be quite a bit more than a petrol car.

Thanks for the BMW advice.
See I get paid for milage in my job, the bigger the car, the higher rate I get so it's a win win.
The car pays for itself.
I'm stuck between a focus, one is petrol and the other diesel. Both ghia and same year.
Diesel has fsh 150 thou, petrol has 120 and fsh.

byrnem31

Bought a lovely focus for 1200 with my fiesta.
100,000 miles with fsh. Petrol and I'm.delighted with it.
My fiesta failed the nct on loads of stuff.
It's such a solid car that handles well and a nice adjustment up from the fiestA.
For some reason I love ford's, I learned a lot about fordism in college and how they revolutionised car 🚗 making. It's fascinating and I think that's why I love ford's so much.