Need to purchase a vehicle for doing 350 miles a week following the loss of a job that came with a vehicle.

Needs to be:

Uber reliable,
Cheap to run 40+ mpg
Cheap to tax
Cheap to insure (under grp 6)
Cost less than £1000 to purchase.

What do you recommend?

Gonna be tricky – small cars with good fuel consumption tend to cost lots as demand is high.

I would go for a Ford for reliability and choice, but you will get best prices on old non-turbo Vauxhall diesels I reckon.

Nissan micra or a ford ka

Corsas and small peugeots tend to be reasonably priced compared to others 🙂

My mate picked up a decent Rover 45 for a bit over a grand. Has rewarded his non fashion conscious, economy motoring approach with a decent, reliable car that has a good few years left in it before it sees the wrong side of 100k miles.

Under a grand will probably see intergalactic mileage on the usual STW recomendations of Octavia/Passat.

I just sold a Daewoo Matiz, filled all those criteria.

KA as already suggested, they do all that and drive fine on the motorway.

I had a Micra as loan car once and really hated it.

Can you get a bike, wheels off in the back of a Ka?

Ford Ka 1.3 every time

Either a 1.6 MK3 Golf or a 1.9TDI MK3 Golf. The TDI's run at a fair premium, but both will do 40mpg easily – they were one of the first decent TDIs in a non-French car. The 1.6 will cruise at 80-90mph quite happily. £900-1k will get you a 1.6 with good history and no / very little rust (front wheel arches are first place to go, walk away from anything with sill problems). They also look reasonably smart if you don't get one in a horrible colour (not in an "ooh nice car" sense, but in a "not necessarily a pauper" way. A 6N Polo is also an option (95 on?) but I'd sooner have a Golf for decent mileage.

If you want to go really cheap, ZXs and Xsaras have decent diesel engines, will do 40mpg, and some will run on veg oil. However, the build & comfort is nowhere near as good.

Other option would be a Mondeo 1.8, which will just about scrape 40mpg (the 1.6 isn't worth having, engine's a bit too small for the car so it uses similar amounts of fuel), or the 1.8D, but the old Ford diesels are terrible.

Don't even bother looking at Fiestas around that price. They either wear terribly or are all clocked, the 1.3 engine is terrible (1.25 is good, but at a premium again). I expect you will find most small cars are similar in that regard.

Ultimately, good cars at good prices sell fast. I've found that quality has fallen a lot in the £1k car market since scrappage was introduced. I used to pick up reliable but tatty motors for £3-400, and nowadays there is nothing at that price range.

My advice is to check Autotrader's website regularly, as stuff goes straight onto it, and ring up quick. Quiz the seller – make it clear that you only want to go and see the car if it's decent. I find it's best to get them to quantify any problems – ie, rust bubbles in terms of coin sizes etc. Anyone who says "It's got a few bubbles" has something Lancia would have been ashamed of on their drive.

yep, KA or fiesta for 1k

Seriously, I wouldn't recommend a Ka. Every one I've seen around a grand has been rusting like crazy. They go where the B pillars meet the sill, round the filler cap, in fact, everywhere the MK3 Fiesta they're based on did.

The old 1.3 Endura-E is rubbish. You get 13.4 seconds to 60 and do well to get 40mpg. And the thing has pushrods and tappets. Which are always noisy. A fair proportion of the Kas were also fitted with unvented disks – this means pad changes are incredibly regular, and the brakes aren't really up to stopping the car when it's full.

And the things aren't even particularly cheap!

But I can vouch that you can get a bike in the back of one. And they do change direction like a housefly. The downside is that mismatched tyres result in serious instability.

Again, superminis around a grand are overpriced – there's a lot of demand for them (learners, lots of people who won't drive larger cars, perception that they're super cheap to run), but the real bargains are in the slightly larger cars, which often have similar fuelling costs, and are a lot better fitted out.

Thanks Tron.

Anything that goes!

My dad gave us his vectra as a second car. He was only going to get £300 as a trade in. Owner from new, properly looked after. I did another 45k faultless miles communting in it.

If you are looking for a cheep car … best advise where has it come from.

KA

Fiesta

Focus

can you see a pattern?

😉

The old 1.3 Endura-E is rubbish. You get 13.4 seconds to 60 and do well to get 40mpg. And the thing has pushrods and tappets. Which are always noisy. A fair proportion of the Kas were also fitted with unvented disks – this means pad changes are incredibly regular, and the brakes aren't really up to stopping the car when it's full.

I have one of these, cheap insurance as first car, and they are not that noisy. Do get thirsty tho. Benefit is cheap as chips parts when something does go bang.

The problem with KAs will be that they remain very popular so you will get significantly less car for your money compared to a non-turbo diesel Corsa.

We sold ours to the first viewer about 2 hours after placing the ad in Auto Trader online and he didn't even test drive it – just looked at it, said he'd have it (for his young daughter) then paid immediately by bank transfer.

I guess the only hope of a decent one would be to get a crappy coloured one without colour-coded bumpers (all the young girls go for the 'Collection' models).

Get a Rover!

Because they are so bland no one wants or thinks about them so you get alot more car for your money compared to a ford or vauxhall etc.

I just got a 97 Rover 214Si 12 months MOT 6 months tax, Good side of 100k. £500.

Reasonable economy, reasonably nippy and reasonably comfortable. Cant complain.

I reckon the Rover would be a good shout – although parts may be more expensive?

I assume there are lots of third-party parts providers making parts now there is no Rover?

One more bit of advice – go on ebay and do a completed listings search for your price range. That way youget a good idea of what's changing hands at good prices. Astras tend to go very cheaply, as do Rovers (but avoid anything with a K series rather than a Honda engine). And Audi A4s still look pretty decent and go go cheaply.

Mk 4/4.5 Fiesta. I've got a 1.3 with 60k on it which I was told would be worth around £900 s/h (not that I intend to sell). They get bodywork rust around the rear arches, and there are some niggles but the engines are good as gold. No problems at all.

They're not fast (obviously) but they are reliable and cheap to maintain.

peugeot 306 diesel (non turbo)

toyota whatever.

basically, go for a car that no-one wants. that way you'll avoid the 'golf' premium…

rover 200 diesel ,

50mpg, 0-60 under 10 secs, can cruise all day at 90, got to 217k in my first until it was written off, 2nd on 140k and running perfect.

all for 500 quid and cheap to insure.

and you can get 2 bikes in easy.

Yeah I am not bothered by 'cool' or speed this time, I just want a workhourse. Insurance is a big factor because all my NCB's are on vans and insurers do not want to transfer to a car. Bascially I am a new driver in their eyes. Bugger. That rules out A4's and the like – they would be a good shout otherwise.

I am interested to know about Rover and how parts and the like are available now they are a defunct company?

What Rovers had Honda engines? Like the sound of that!

The old 1.6s – pre 95. You could pick up a gimmer owned model if you're lucky with low miles and in decent nick. The Rover dervs were bought in from Peugeot / Citroen for a while too.

As for insurance, get quotes. Always get quotes. I've probably said it umpteen times on here, but insurance group is only a small part of what determines the premium, and a very small part for TPFT. The big issue is how likely people are to crash that kind of car. You can have a high group car that's driven by low risk people, and get cheap insurance.

Nissan Almera, best age you can get using an Ebay search for around a grand. Toyoya Corolla might also be a good shout, but seem to go for a little more.

They are utterly dull, and equally indestructible. On 120,000 and counting with about 3 services in 12 years. I expect they have halve lives of millenia if you actually looked after them. Timing chain so no belt replacement costs.

Don't go VW they are good cars but far too much competition at that price point from people who want the badge.

The rover 200 series are essentially civics. I'd go for one of those (or a civic) a mate has one which has hit around 130k now and is still perfectly fine.

The other option is an old nissan Micra another unpoppable little car.

KA is the original "designed cheap" car i think.

other cars are designed to be all the car they can crowbar in to a spec while cutting corners to save money.

KA was never supposed to be anything more than a cheap car.

hundreds of the buggers still around, so loads of spares.
i used to hate them, daft little mites, when was younger and into flash cars with guns and rocket boosters on, but really like them now.

£1000!!!!

You could get a bike for that

IGMC…

Nissan Almera

tiny boot, dunno what its like with seats down tho.

tiny boot, dunno what its like with seats down tho.

Bigger than a Ka, Micra etc. though mine is a hatch rather than the saloon, that probably is only sandwich box size.

Seats down, 2 bikes no problem unless anyones a bit fussy about their paintwork in which case bring old blankets.

I wouldn't touch anything related to Rover if it's got a petrol K series engine in it, unless you want to spend money on having the head gasket done, because it will go.
Buy bland, Ford-my missus has a '03 1.3 Fiesta, slow & boring but has done 130k & never faultered. Or look at Toyota-older corolla or something, cheap as chips & as reliable as anything is going to be at that price.

£650 1.4 VW polo P reg here 60K miles. Does me fine on medium length journeys ~200miles. Further than that I start getting nervous as the gearbox seams to not like it. Strange transmission noises start making themselves apparent like its lost its oil.

there is no definitive answer to this.

for £1000 you might get a complete dog or you might get lucky. take a good mechanic and hope you get lucky.

Buy off a friend, its not always a gaurentee, but if they've had 30-40k of trouble free running and have serviced it then you're likely to get the same.

Nothing wrong with the k-series (look at how many cars used them) just watch the temperature dial like a hawk and top up the fluids regulalry.

95% of car breakdowns you could probably prevented by regular serviceing, checking things (belt tension, fluid levels) and solving problems as the occour.

Eg. my midgets sticky throttle, minor inconvenience for 2 years with a succession of bodged solutions to smooth it out. Clutch release bearing dissintigrated the other week putting it off the road. If I'd put more effort into fixing the minor niggle, the major problem wouldn't have happened.

You'll struggle to get 40mpg from a Ka – although not far off at about 38mpg or so.
Apart from that it would be a sound buy so long as you can find one that isn't rusting.
You do pay a premium for 'cute' small cars like the Ka though.

My money would be on something like an old Astra TDi or perhaps a Citroen ZX diesel.
Also worth looking at things like older Hyundai's/Daewoo's as they depreciate like mad.
Almera as suggested also worth a look.

Pug 106 1.1 petrol, cheap to run, bargin bits, more room than a KA and no rust. Ive owned loads of nice cars but my trusty pug is by far the best car ive ever owned.Takes two bikes, Two people and kit for racing with the seats flat. And its fun to drive because i doesnt matter if it gets scratched.

take a good mechanic and hope you get lucky.

Problem is finding a good mechanic who's willing to give you an opinion on whether a car is any good or not – ours never would. Equally, I'd not want to buy from or sell to a friend in case of any ill feeling when things go wrong. I've bought loads of bangers, and the best you can do is drive it, see if it feels right (seller, location, the deal etc.), see if it sounds right, looks right, and if it drives right. There's no reason not to HPI stuff now the textcheck services are available for a couple of quid.

Mechanical problems are pretty rare nowadays, so long as the car's been maintained. Things tend to either work or be stuffed, so there's little "looking over" to be done. One thing that's always worth doing is opening the bonnet, checking the water, battery (most have a green go/no go indicator) and the oil. I've seem too many cars with no oil in, no water or a blown head gasket, and what seem to be genuinely oblivious owners.

Second the Citroen ZX diesel – have had a succession of these and although things like central locking can fail, the basic car is fine. Find something that's got some sort of a service history and most of an MOT and you're laughing for £750 or so. Things that tended to go wrong at MOT time were the usual – blowing exhaust, split CV boots, balljoints, that sort of stuff, which you'll get with any cheap, old, high-mileage car.

Not fast, not pretty, but they run and go OK, there's a reasonably decent ride quality, and at 45-50mpg you'll not spend a huge amount on fuel. Make sure you have AA cover though, as you'll be putting a lot of miles on it very quickly.

Might not be the best looking and best driving car around but my uncle has a Suzuki Ignis 1.3, 100bhp, quite a lot of space inside, takes two bikes and 3 people inside no problem. He paid £1050 for a 02 reg one. Has central locking, elec windows/mirrors and AC. The car is reasonably quick for a 1.3 as the car is light. Also insurance is cheap. He has a 2WD but 4WD are available as well. The one my uncle has never missed a beat, no problems, change oils, filters and pads and it will keep on going. Ticks all your boxes, plus it's ugly 😉

He has the same one and in bright yellow 😀

Car has some race pedigree as some race them in the super 1600 class.

I am interested to know about Rover and how parts and the like are available now they are a defunct company?

My boss had a 'smallish' accident in his Rover 75…after the insurance messing him around for 6 months (him in a hire corsa) turns out they couldn't source the replacement parts and paid out as a right-off…sure the parts could have been found in a scrap-yard but it sounded like a lot of bother.