Reliable 1L car needed, 2.5K budget, any ideas?

m4r10

Hey guys. As per title, we need a 1L car (petrol and manual), budget of 2.5K or at a stretch 3K (the lower the better).
Ideally it should be with us for a few years, so reliability it is our top priority. We trawled the usual car sites, but there's hundreds of cars within our range.

Can anybody recommend us a car brand over another, or even better a car in particular?

Thanks in advance.

_Brian

The old reliables. Micra or Yaris, hard or impossible to beat in that class of car.

visual

The old micra was great car but the ones in 2 to 3K price range have stretching timing chains.

Summer wind

Honda Jazz.

colm_mcm

daihatsu sirion. youd get the neqer model with your budget and it'll have safety stuff like abs that a similarly priced 02-ish yaris won't have.

m4r10

Thanks for the suggestions, The Honda Jazz is 1.2 oe 1.3L, so that's out of the question.

As for the stretching timing chains problems for Micra, that would rule out years 2003 to aprox. 2006.

Was looking at some Yaris, but within the budget, I can only afford some from 2001 up to 2003. Would they have any known problems, for the period stated?

m4r10

colm_mcm wrote: »

daihatsu sirion. youd get the neqer model with your budget and it'll have safety stuff like abs that a similarly priced 02-ish yaris won't have.

THe only one worth a look (in my opinion), close enough of Dublin and within budget is this one: https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/daihatsu-sirion/10358449.
Would the 138 000km be a problem for such a small engine?

colm_mcm

there's an 08 subaru justy in Dublin for €3200. same thing as sirion. no idea as to the quality of the particular car but has to be worth a look. these cars are often overlooked as they were never really advertised when new.

bazz26

Hyundai Getz:

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/hyundai-getz-1-1-new-nct/10847173

Very underrated little car, reliable and good on fuel.

colm_mcm

Getz is another good choice. that particular one seems to have had a lot of repainting though.
A lot of them that I've come across have had pretty hard lives though, so id only buy one that's exceptional.
youd need evidence of a timing belt change. They're due at 90km or 5 years (whichever comes first)

bazz26

Sharp eyes there Colm.

m4r10

Thanks again guys, some food for thought with the Subaru and Daihatsu. If you find any cars suitable for a mention, please post some here as I'll be on the look-out for the next few days.

duckduck1991

I find the 1 litre corsas very good..easy ran,easy worked on& cheap to fix ..Once the timing chain is done you'll have no issues with it

keavebm

The volkswagen polo is a brilliant car easy to run and doesn't give any problems

Asmooh

I wonder what anyone wants such a slow car? You mostly hold up the traffic by being that slow.

theteal

Asmooh wrote: »

I wonder what anyone wants such a slow car? You mostly hold up the traffic by being that slow.

A 1.0l engine in a small lightweight car =/= slow. Some drivers may be slow but that's a different issue.

Asmooh

theteal wrote: »

A 1.0l engine in a small lightweight car =/= slow. Some drivers may be slow but that's a different issue.

2000-2003 1.0 Micra: 0-100 in 15,5s
2003-2005 1.0 Micra: 0-100 in 15,7s

That IS slow, and it could actually mean that you cannot clear a crossing fast enough

colm_mcm

micras have very short gearing. 0-60 is pretty meaningless anyway if you're talking about crossings etc.
I have occassion to drive my other halfs 1.0 yaris sometimes - and while it takes a while longer to get to motorway speeds, it's grand taking off from the lights, getting in and out of gaps in traffic etc. she had a micra before that and that was the same.
You can keep up in traffic in any car, it's just drivers that are slow.

Toyotafanboi

Indeed. I was tearing down the N25 yesterday evening doing 120-130kmh and I had a car glued to my back bumper, got back into the inside lane to let him pass expecting a Passat or 318d, nope a ****ing K11 Micra and it shot off, must have been doing 140+.

Anyway, a Mk1 Yaris has 70bhp, what does a Mk1 MX5 have? 100bhp? Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Asmooh

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Indeed. I was tearing down the N25 yesterday evening doing 120-130kmh and I had a car glued to my back bumper, got back into the inside lane to let him pass expecting a Passat or 318d, nope a ****ing K11 Micra and it shot off, must have been doing 140+.

Anyway, a Mk1 Yaris has 70bhp, what does a Mk1 MX5 have? 100bhp? Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

116hp.

0-100 in 8,7s stock.

K11 Micra 1.3 Super S has 75hp and 0-100: 12,0 s

colm_mcm

post 1994 is 90bhp though?

Toyotafanboi

You must have never driven one. I wouldn't panic, if you put the foot down in a Micra in first or second you will make good progress no bother.

We havn't seen large quantities of 1.0 drivers being t-boned pulling out at junctions yet, so they must be getting on ok.

Asmooh

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

You must have never driven one. I wouldn't panic, if you put the foot down in a Micra in first or second you will make good progress no bother.

We havn't seen large quantities of 1.0 drivers being t-boned pulling out at junctions yet, so they must be getting on ok.

True.. but I have driven a Toyota starlet swapped with a 4AGE Blacktop engine in it

colm_mcm

it's be similar enough to that!

pajero12

Asmooh wrote: »

116hp.

0-100 in 8,7s stock.

K11 Micra 1.3 Super S has 75hp and 0-100: 12,0 s

I'm here trying to figure out why you're posting meaningless 0-60 and 0-100
A micra doing 60km will pass an M5 doing 50km, That has as much relevance as your quote.

Drivers hold up traffic, Not the cars.

torqtorq

My preference would be to choose one of the many 3 cylinder 1.0 lit engine cars. These are inherently more efficient than 4 cylinders for smaller sized engines.

Cars with 3 cylinder engines in your price range include

Citroen C1
Peugeot 107
Toyota Aygo

These three cars are identical - apart from cosmetics - and are manufactured on the same production line in the Czech Republic. It should be possible to buy a 2006/2007 for your money. These cars have 69 bhp and 0 to 60 times of 13.7 seconds and have no problem keeping up with traffic.

Daihatsu and Suzuki ( Alto, Swift , Wagon R) produce 1.0 3 cylinder cars.

Toyotafanboi

They Aygo/ C1 is much more of an unpleasant vehicle I general though. There's no way i'd have one over an older Yaris/ Micra

littlevillage

Someone mentioned VW Polo. You can also get the derivative versions, Seat Ibiza or Skoda Fabia a little bit cheaper than the Polo.

My dad has owned 3 Seat Ibiza's now, (a 99 1.0, a 2002 1.0 and his current one which is a 2006 1.2) they give absolutely no trouble. I think they discontinued the 1.0 engine though after 2002 (if that is an issue). Skoda Fabia had a 1.0 until 2007. Both are decent sized small family cars.


Just on another point. I assume you want a 1.0 engine due to tax and Insurance limitations ? but if its only a money concern, then to be fair a 1.2 or 1.4 Engine is much nicer if you plan on any type of long distance driving. Bigger engines don't need to be thrashed as hard and hence tend to last a bit longer too.

littlevillage

Someone mentioned VW Polo. You can also get the derivative versions, Seat Ibiza or Skoda Fabia a little bit cheaper than the Polo.

My dad has owned 3 Seat Ibiza's now, (a 99 1.0, a 2002 1.0 and his current one which is a 2006 1.2) they give absolutely no trouble. I think they discontinued the 1.0 engine though after 2002 (if that is an issue). Skoda Fabia had a 1.0 until 2007.


Just on another point. I assume you want a 1.0 engine due to tax and Insurance limitations ? but if its only a money concern, then to be fair a 1.2 or 1.4 Engine is much nicer if you plan on any type of long distance driving. Bigger engines don't need to be thrashed as hard and hence tend to last a bit longer too.

m4r10

That's great guys, will have plenty to look at over the next weekend. And yes, the car will be a second one in the family used for short runs in and around the village, hence why we want to keep the costs down, no need to pay big money for the second car too.

As for those concerned we'll hold up traffic, just flash your lights and I'll make sure I get out of your way.