Buying a car (advice wanted) - SORTED, got a Golf.

[TS]

Hi all,

I've been here for a while but mostly in the 'Other mods' section (not a car owner). Despite this being RetroRides I need some advice on a newish car. This is the only car forum I'm a member of.

Anyway I've been offered a new job which will involve a daily commute of 60-70 miles a day (round trip). Train is a doable but twice the amount of time and pretty expensive. So a car is the way to go.

I need it to be super reliable and obviously I'll be putting on plenty of miles.

I've never owned a car (well I have but never a working one or for more than a month or two), despite getting to my mid-thirties, but when I was younger I drove my parents cars (all VWs or newer Skodas). So I'm steering to something VW (or Skoda/Seat). actually anything German or Scandinavian. I hear Toyotas are super reliable too. The problem being they hold their value too well and apparently cost a fair bit to repair.

Never been a fan of Fords or Vauxhalls or anything French or Italian. However I'm happy to be proven wrong. Although I'd imagine they're cheaper to repair.

I'm basing all this on how many old cars of these makers you see/don't see about.

My budget is anything up to £5k. I'm not really sure to be honest but would rather not spend all of it.

My thinking being that if I buy a £500 car I'm going to be constantly replacing parts (considering I'll be doing 20k+ miles/year).

Despite being pretty handy generally I don't plan on doing much to it unless I have to (mods and the like). It just has to be a reliable workhorse.

So far I've seen a VW Bora (02 plate), diesel, with 40k miles. £2800 which I'm thinking of going to see. Seem good?

Or would I be better with a Polo? Can't find much as good a deal as that in Polo and I reckon a bigger motor will be better for the longer commute/further afield driving.

I'd like to buy from a used car dealer so I have some comeback. An approved used center if I can but these are generally out of my price bracket. If I buy from a private sale whats normal protocol? AA check? or something better?

For example: How do you gauge how worn tyres are?

Bit vague but any new car buying tips greatly appreciated. I'm a bit inexperienced with cars.

Thanks guys

[smellyferret]

I was about to suggest a bora TDI when I read you were on them already!
That 02 plate seems a bit steep imho, i'd be looking sub 2k for that even with low miles as it is still 10 years old..
Other than that A B3/B4 Passat with a TDI, Things will go wrong, but most of the common things are are not that serious (EG: leccy window fail) and with your budget you couls get a good one and have a decent service done and it would eat up the miles..



EDIT: with tyres, go into a dealership and look at the tyres on the new cars then you know what newtyres look like and can guage when you are looking at used ones..

[shanehaward]

bmw e46 330d 40mpg/150mph WIN! look.....

www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-figures/bmw/3-series/coupe-1999/27098/

[joem83]

I wouldnt worry to much about getting something with low mileage, your going to loose a fair bit of money starting with something low mileage & sticking alot of miles on it.

I'd be looking for a 2001-2005 shape passat tdi that has had the cambelt and clutch done with good history, they will go 300k if looked after.

But as said above, BMW E46 330d would be the one for me, avoid the 320d, it's a curse word engine (I had one) just makes you wish you bought the 330d lol.

Also don't overlook Peugeot 406 HDI's if you get a good one, it will go on and on.

[joem83]

Also, the e39 530d seems to be good value for money.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-BMW-530D-SPORT-LEATHER-BLACK-6-MOT-12-TAX-E39-525d-px-audi-a8-tdi-part-/230896989418?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item35c28874ea

[gary1998]

don't rule out skoda Octavia or superb 1.9 tdi badge snobbery should save ya a few bob on
purchase price over vw and audi

[LowStandards]

Buy a petrol, win at life!

But no, seriously, modern petrols do diesel like mileage, the missus has a 1.5 petrol and I thrash it daily and it still returns 45mpg, if I drove it like I should 50-55mpg should be obtainable.

Petrols like 10p a litre cheaper and normally cheaper to buy in the first place. I have nothing against diesels; in tractors, vans and 4x4's

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

I was going to suggest a diesel Octavia too.

My boss does a similar commute on motorways and logs his MPG every tankful - he gets 60+ MPG on an 08 plate Octavia which is based on the golf - despite the golf being a hatchback and the octavia being a saloon its the same car under the panels.

[rmad]

I try not to spend more than £1000 on any car. Anything above that will be lost in depreciation soon enough unless you're buying a classic (or near-classic). My experiences of spending more than that, or buying from a dealer always end badly. I don't think that your £5000 budget is much more likely to get you a 100% reliable car any more than having your wits about you when you buy.

As a safe bet, up to £2000 on the right VAG (Skoda, Audi, VW) car, bought privately should see you sorted. Stick the rest in the bank.

That's obviously my opinion though - my Mum thinks I could buy a new car instead of all the cheap ones I get through - she is of course wrong.

[bl1300]

Try and get something that reasonably simple if you wan't decent reliability and don't rule out large engined cars, my reason is that the engine has to work less hard to move the thing around so generally wears better. I would also mention that something petrol running on LPG becomes affordable to run. Personally I would be looking at older stuff but at that age there would be 3 cars I would shortlist.

Mazda 6 - used to own one and it was fantastic, never put a foot wrong was comfortable, economical and quick.

Ford Mondeo - I know you said you don't want a ford but these really are very good cars, they drive well are well built and reasonably frugal, oh and there dirt cheap.

Honda Accord - Mostly petrol sadly but the engines are strong and being a Honda it will never break down oh and there cheap.

Personally in your position id be buying one like this.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-Accord-1-8i-sr-a-c-136ps-auto-1999MY-VTEC-SE-/290812330390?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item43b5c40196

[ianboyd]

I would suggest a Honda civic diesel, the 1.7 version, not the fastest or most economical though even thrashed they do 55mpg, they use a newer version of the Isuzu 1.7, that did epic miles in vauxhalls,

Son has one, and does around 120 miles a day in it

[sarkie83]

Unfortunately, the only cars that you seem to be able to use/abuse without any problems are the ones that other people buy ;D

I always stick to £2000 max for any car. I think for my next main car, I will go for something older again - they are far easier to fix when they do go wrong. And all cars do go wrong. Bro in law just bought a mk3 mondeo, 73k - and he's had loads of weird electrical issues... He might as well of bought a higher mileage one/run it into the ground and treated it as a disposable object, then bought another one when it died! I'll prob go back to BMW as - they seem to wear milege better than any other car i've driven

Plus you can actually get to everything easier/actually get your socket on bolts for example on older stuff

[omega]

as said before think about petrol,iam a big fan of derv but now with it being 10p a liter more and most old diesels only doing about 50mpg and a petrol doing about 40 petrol is a good alternative.
with that budget and if you have the space why not buy 2 cars?
park one up and sorn it and just keep it moted,then if one breaks down or need repairs its just a matter of sorting things out on line and away you go.this way you will always be able to get to work.
also join a recovery service.

[skezzywoo]

Well I`ve been driving since I was 17 and now I`m 32. The longest period I`ve been without a car is 6 months even then I had an honda c90 to bomb around on. I`ve not had that many cars really. I`ve had a metro rot box, a citroen ax 100,000 miles on when i got it for £600 8 years later it had 250,000 miles on so i went out and bought a brand new saxo thinking citroens must be good if mine could cover that kind of mileage £6200 spent and it was the worst car I`ve ever had engine even blew up at 40,000 miles conrod through side if engine. anyway 3 years old with 50,000 miles on and all i could get was £1500, so i`ve never spent that much on a car since, most i`ve spent is £500 and I`ve had an audi 80 tdi, talbot samba, saab 900 since then and i`ve had a great time and hardly lost any money. Downside is maybe more on repairs and maintenance has to be spent, but i`ve spent 9 months doing 600 miles a week in my 1987 saab 900 that`s now up to 124,000 miles it cost me £250 to buy i`ve had it 3 years and done 50,000 miles in it, only repairs i`ve had is headgasket that cost me £40 to do myself and took a day and run of the mill maintenance tyres, battery brake pads etc. As long as i`m physically able I`ll run old cars as oppose to throwing money at new ones as there no better in my experience only difference is when a new one breaks all the parts cost twice as much as they would for the same car when it`s 10-15 years old.
Spend 5k on a car at your peril or spend £500 on one keep 1k for possible repairs over say a 3 year period and spend the rest on a whole fleet of other retro cars when you`ve finished with ya £500 car if you`ve looked after it you`ll get ya money back. By the way not every £500 car is gonna be a good one just use your common sense there`s alot of sheds out there because of the high scrap metal prices that aren`t worth £500. But there are some looked after cars if your willing to spend a few weeks looking and not fussy about what make you want buy off condition rather than make/model don`t be put off by a poverty spec car wind up windows wont kill you and you`ll be fine.

Rant over

[Battles]

Dec 28, 2012 9:28:13 GMT bl1300 said:

Personally in your position id be buying one like this.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-Accord-1-8i-sr-a-c-136ps-auto-1999MY-VTEC-SE-/290812330390?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item43b5c40196

Hell yeah, bangernomics. Spend as little as possible on the thing you're going to stack milage onto and thus strip value from.

With your budget and the distance involved, don't sink your whole budget into the car. Buying a five grand motor is no guarantee that it won't spectacularly fail, leaving you skinted and needing to get to work.

RE the petrol/diesel argument - how good are you with Excel? (Spreadsheet, not wedgy, unreliable Lotus)
Plug in the cost of petrol locally versus the cost of diesel locally using 35mpg for petrol and 45mpg or even 50mpg for diesel and see what the difference is (or isn't) over a couple of months.
Diesel is more expensive as a fuel, diesel cars are more expensive to buy because the market believe that they'll save a bundle.

[MK2VR6]

Until recently, I've been convinced that I need a small TDI engined car for my short, town type journeys. I've now moved away from this idea to a small J pertrol engined car, probably a Suzuki Ignis 1.3 - tax isn't too horrendous, mpg pretty good overall, cheap to buy and ultra reliable. I can't see the value will depreciate too much either if I run it and look after it for 18 months. Just a thought.
1001ab - what have you found by tracking diesel vs petrol running costs? WOuld be interested to know the outcome?

[omegod]

What you need is a 3.2 v6 vauxhall omega Elite or MV6 that has been gas converted. Been running a 3.0 version for many years without issue for peanuts. Max would be about 2k for an 03 plate minter with all the goodies you will ever need

[recarouk]

this gets my vote

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Fabia-1-9TDI-PD-130bhp-VRS-/110970399433?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item19d659eac9

same engine as the VWs run, map it to 165bhp with no issues, great looking, great handling, and superb MPG with change for insurance and other related mods

perfect.

[Battles]

Dec 28, 2012 14:39:35 GMT MK2VR6 said:

1001ab - what have you found by tracking diesel vs petrol running costs? WOuld be interested to know the outcome?

*** Boring Post Alert ***
What I meant was that I probably paid an unrecoverable premium for a diesel car a couple of years ago because I assumed that buying the diesel version would save me a bundle but the mileage I do is low enough that I could probably have saved a few grand on the car by going for the petrol equivalent.

It was a W203 Benz, the three litre diesel. The three litre petrol models were thousands cheaper because people seem afraid of the running costs but according to my working it would be less than 20p a day for my sixteen mile commute.

The W203 diesel has turned out to be not spectacularly economical, though it's a hoot to drive because of the torques and encourages bad behaviour. I usually get 31-39mpg depending on whether it's city work or out of town stuff according to the computer, backed up by old fashioned topping off the tank and measuring the mileage.

RE my excel comment, I don't know how to upload a blank verion of my spreadsheet calculator so I've screencapped an example and added a couple of boxes to explain which calculations go in which columns. Miles driven, MPG and price are all static.


When I do the figures for the Lexus I use a rough 25mpg for town driving and 30mpg for mixed, it doesn't have a fuel computer that records for the journeys.

None of this takes into account the other costs of the cars (financing, servicing, eye wateringly expensive tyres) and I have to confess to having a lead foot so my MPG is maybe at the lower end of the scale.

[justanotherhigh]

Whenever people ask me what reliable car they should buy for work or commuting, I tell them to go to town on a saturday night and have a looksee at what the taxi drivers use -
So here's the deal, from the most common to the least:
Avensis D4D (you know you can't kill it!)
Passat TDI
Vectra Diseasel
406 Diseasel
Carina 'E' (you know they never die?)
Cavalier 1.7D

And my least favourite, the mondeo.

However, I don't see that age and reliability go hand in hand, if you buy a cheap japanese car that looks like it's been cared for, it's unlikely to give you any grief - case in question Nissan Sunny, 38000 miles in two years, left me standing at the side of the road only two times - once because a tyre let go and once because I plunged it into a 12" deep puddle and tried to run it on water instead of air. (but it's still running now!)

Good luck chap, hope this helps.