Car buying

I'm looking on AutoTrader and there's a few VW Polo's knocking around for £1000, but they're high in mileage and some are 3 door.

Nishy said:
The skoda Estate isn't a bad bet
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Someone mentioned that actually, I had my doubts about it but will dig around!
 
Re: RE: Car buying

My personal transport is an ancient VW Passat diesel with over 270k which also proved extremely reliable and economical in 12 years of ownership.

Wow.
I have a 2003 Passat Diesel with what i thought was high mileage at 130k.

Nice to know there is a few more miles left in it.
 
Northam Saint said:
They are small but don't go for a Ford Kaa. My friend owns a Ford dealership and he's not got a good thing to say about them.
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That's because they are Fiats underneath

Northam Saint said:
He does rate the new 1 ltr engine, I'll reserve judgment on that until the ones out there have done a few miles.
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They'll have done millions of miles before they were ever released into the wild.



For mostly 40mph+ driving I'd go for a diesel (second hand) as the mid-range torque will make driving less effort and the road and wind noise will drown out the diesel clatter that you get at lower speeds.


P.S. VW reliability is a myth. They are no more or less reliable than any other main-stream non-Japanese car make: you get a good one, you get a bad one.
 
I won't offer any suggestions for car, but I will add a few comments.

German cars are no more reliable than any other. OK maybe you can find statistics that prove it, but you can and will get failures on any make or model of car. From my experience German cars are not the ultimate in build quality and reliability. Although this perception is what often keeps their used values high.

Smaller and lighter cars are more fun to drive and will give you similar performance to a bigger car with a much smaller engine.

Smaller and lighter cars are easier to drive economically when you need to or want to.

Low mileage is a far better thing to aim for than younger age. I know there are exceptions to this and super low mileage can cause problems, but I would try and aim for under 8,000 annual mileage.

I personally an looking to replace my car soon and I will be looking at a Peugeot 206 or 207 with sub 50,000 miles. My daily commute is about 25 miles each way, some dual carriageway.
 
Re: RE: Car buying

MrK1 said:
My personal transport is an ancient VW Passat diesel with over 270k which also proved extremely reliable and economical in 12 years of ownership.

Wow.
I have a 2003 Passat Diesel with what i thought was high mileage at 130k.

Nice to know there is a few more miles left in it.
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I know not all VW are built to the same quality, just know a lot about Passats as it is my livelyhood machine. The cars are over engineered but models between 2006 to 2011 has an awful reputation for reliability. My estate is still on original muffler and clutch which is a testimony to the build quality. So I say if you go for VW do your research and then do some more, my impression is that Fords are at list as reliable.
 
My mate did say the Kaa are Fiat underneath. But the new Kaa will be Ford built.

I do get comments from him about Toyota and them recalling cars from time to time. Pretty much stopped that after one recall where Toyota were recalling and repairing up to 12 year old cars. Not many car manufacturers do that.

Some small engine cars now are incredibly economical now and have great performance. Our Yaris is really nippy, in hindsight the boot is a little small, but we did manage to get four suitcases, four carry on bags, two kids and two adults in it once. Cosy !!!!
 
Re: RE: Car buying

balidey said:
I won't offer any suggestions for car, but I will add a few comments.

German cars are no more reliable than any other. OK maybe you can find statistics that prove it, but you can and will get failures on any make or model of car. From my experience German cars are not the ultimate in build quality and reliability. Although this perception is what often keeps their used values high.

Smaller and lighter cars are more fun to drive and will give you similar performance to a bigger car with a much smaller engine.

Smaller and lighter cars are easier to drive economically when you need to or want to.

Low mileage is a far better thing to aim for than younger age. I know there are exceptions to this and super low mileage can cause problems, but I would try and aim for under 8,000 annual mileage.

I personally an looking to replace my car soon and I will be looking at a Peugeot 206 or 207 with sub 50,000 miles. My daily commute is about 25 miles each way, some dual carriageway.
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A few assumptions made here IMO. The drivers ability can validate/void your claims more than the car again IMO. For example I drive an auto heavy BMW cabriolet. My average MPG is higher than my brothers (new vauxhall corsa) because I have more experience of how to drive properly. I just think it's not solely the car that can attribute to overall performance.
 
Northam Saint said:
I do get comments from him about Toyota and them recalling cars from time to time. Pretty much stopped that after one recall where Toyota were recalling and repairing up to 12 year old cars. Not many car manufacturers do that.
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They have to if it's a safety issue and if it's not a safety issue then it wouldn't be a recall. Given Toyota's track record over decades of lying to the authorities and hiding problems from customers (and they may now be contrite) but a recall going back that many years isn't done out of the goodness of their hearts.

Toyotas are reliable because they rarely change their parts. The flip side is that if there's found to be a fault with it after many years there are many years of vehicles to recall.
 
p.b said:
Northam Saint said:
I do get comments from him about Toyota and them recalling cars from time to time. Pretty much stopped that after one recall where Toyota were recalling and repairing up to 12 year old cars. Not many car manufacturers do that.
Click to expand...

They have to if it's a safety issue and if it's not a safety issue then it wouldn't be a recall. Given Toyota's track record over decades of lying to the authorities and hiding problems from customers (and they may now be contrite) but a recall going back that many years isn't done out of the goodness of their hearts.

Toyotas are reliable because they rarely change their parts. The flip side is that if there's found to be a fault with it after many years there are many years of vehicles to recall.
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Sorry didn't know that.

Been a good car, touch wood.
 
Northam Saint said:
Been a good car, touch wood.
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Yes, they are. Despite recalling 24 millions cars in the last three years (more than any other manufacturer - although GM are doing their best to overtake!) Toyotas are still the most reliable cars by most surveys.

Back to the original post: I would avoid diesels below 1.6. With small diesels off-boost performance (below 1500-1800rpm) is usually poor and that affects city driving and pulling away.
 
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