Recommend me a small (ish) car!

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Peugeot 106. Great handling and built like tanks.

Fish tank?

Originally Posted by neillfergie

Not a Rover, for Gods sake don't do it to yourself,

You will notice everyone will recommend what they own / owned as everyone thinks their car is the best.

Or they have had a bad experience with one or two and will base an opinion on that.

I see hundreds of cars each year, drive most if not all of them and then price them as trade ins so trust me on this, some cars are woefully unreliable and problematic, some lose so much value that its painful to think about.

Stick to simple rules.

Japanese/Korean - they over-engineer everything so they are super tough mechanically and simple to fix (PS. Nissan is not Japanese)

Simple - lots of neat gadgets are class but key cards and gizmos are a bottomless pit of problems. ABS is a must for insurance reasons though.

Service history - a modern car doesn't need too much attention but if its been regularly serviced by its previous owner you can be sure its going to give you less hassle in the long run. Don't get too hung up on mileage as long as the servicing is in order.

Avoid French - Its not a anti french thing, they made good looking cars that are nice to drive, problem is they make them cheaply and they fall apart alarmingly quickly and even leak (how can a car leak in 2008?)


if you find something like this it will give you less problems in the long run, will be simple to re-sell when your done.

nail on the head....good advice

Originally Posted by neillfergie

Fish tank?

He he, sorry, I should of clarified that; they fold like tin foil in a crash, but the engine (and mechanical parts in general) seem to cope very well with negligence. I ran one without a drop of oil for 200 miles and it gave me 20,000 miles further trouble-free service. It was then written off by someone crashing into it comparatively low speed.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Cheap though

Mine was ok, as long as you accepted it was never meant to be fast, just reliable cheap transport for people who don't really care for fast flash cars.

They are functional, nothing more nothing less... and dirt cheap to buy and run.

[yorkie_chris]

Yeap ... no point trying to get a fast car, unless you spend mega money it's still going to be slow.

Originally Posted by neillfergie

Stick to simple rules.

Japanese/Korean - they over-engineer everything so they are super tough mechanically and simple to fix (PS. Nissan is not Japanese)

The three European built Nissans I have owned* have been extremely well made cars, and 100% reliable. I ran a Spanish built C plate Nissan Vanette as one of our company vehicles from 1986 - 1990 and that managed over 200,000 miles with no serious problems. I really like European Nissans as cheap reliable cars.

* OK, so the Maverick isn't badged as a Nissan, but the only things Ford made were the badges, the rest is Nissan Terrano 2. Before that I owned an old '95 Micra that was trouble-free, and a few years ago an '89 Bluebird I put huge mileage on and never serviced... and it refused to die. The two Jap built ones I had were rust-buckets ('77 140J and a '79 120Y Coupe)

[Dave20046]

Thanks for everything so far!
Right at the moment I'm seriously considering a early 2000's vw golf 1.4 (approx 50k mileage) or to a lesser extent a newer ford fiesta - both around £3k.
What do you guys think - are golfs still reliable?

[fizzwheel]

That Golf wont pull the skin off a rice pudding. MKIV's are heavy and the motor doesnt have a huge amount of power, so it'll be slow and not very good on fuel either as you'll just end canning it all the time to get any decent speed out of it.

You want 1.6 or preferably a 1.8 if you can afford the insurance. Or even better a diesel.

Cant really speak for the fiesta dont have much experience of the ones your looking at.

[Viney]

Get the fiesta. AS fizz says, the MkIV golf wieghts about the same as Jupiter and the 1.4 has the power of a B&D strimmer. Even the 1.8t isnt exatcly mind blowing.

Originally Posted by Lozzo

The three European built Nissans I have owned* have been extremely well made cars, and 100% reliable. I ran a Spanish built C plate Nissan Vanette as one of our company vehicles from 1986 - 1990 and that managed over 200,000 miles with no serious problems. I really like European Nissans as cheap reliable cars.

* OK, so the Maverick isn't badged as a Nissan, but the only things Ford made were the badges, the rest is Nissan Terrano 2. Before that I owned an old '95 Micra that was trouble-free, and a few years ago an '89 Bluebird I put huge mileage on and never serviced... and it refused to die. The two Jap built ones I had were rust-buckets ('77 140J and a '79 120Y Coupe)

I wasn't referring to country of build as most Honda and Toyota are assembled in Europe, i was referring to Nissan and Renault being sister companies and sharing engine and electrical components (trust me thats not good)

As for the golf, it is a decent motor, the 1.4 is woefully underpowered but the 1.6 isnt much better either. a diesel model is your best bet for poke. However they are spectaculrly overpriced for what you get and they are as basic as a turkish prison cell inside (bar the pretty blue lights). Servicing can get a bit pricey too when the miles creep up as parts are still reasonably expensive and they reccomend a cam belt change at 40-50k miles which can sting you to the tune of £400-£500 quid cos its a nightmare to access.

That said you could do a lot worse than a golf and it does have a good image.