My rusting Eunos had to go, Im already thinking of its replacement, tho impending job loss makes this more of an idea than a project for now.

Looking at warm hatches up to £2K or so, Sportka (or Streetka but I think it’s slower and bound not to handle so well) and Panda 100.

Former a few years older and available from £700, latter £1700.

My Q: is there any guide as to serving costs/horror vs age (and thus price)?Obviously each car is individual so is it just increasing (and impossible to ascertain but possible to estimate) risk of something big going wrong?

Feel free to suggest alternative motors!

Ford Ka is a simple beast, think the streetka et al had a 1.6CVH engine? Red simple things. Just rusty and electrical problems of any car that age.

£2k puts you into the Clio 172/182 market, that not appeal more than a Ka? All the important stuff is pretty solid, tends just to be niggles in them (as you say yourself though, each car is different)

Pick up a tidy focus, good chassis, for about £1200 and spend the remainder on good tyres, sport springs and a remap.

Civic Type S. 2 litre VTEC and not as lairy as a Type R.
2004ish will be in your price range

Thanks. Had thought of a Clio, won’t they all have been ragged?

Fuel economy and running costs are relevant BTW.

Not really no, I’ve now had mine for 3 years and it’s been basically hassle free (for an 11 year old car). Even if it has been ragged, if the belts are up to date there’s not really much to worry about. Get a Cup and you’ve even got less to go wrong inside it. Worth a look on Cliosport.net to see what’s for sale there

Mine averages 35mpg on a pretty rubbish commute, can easily get over 40 if cruising around 60. With a mix of driving it’ll return 37-38

I’d be more tempted by a 1.7 Puma than a Ka. Supposed to be an excellent chassis and a decent engine. Certainly less of a jump from the Eunos than the Ka.

The wife had a Ka. Things to look out for are rust around the rear wiper mount, rust in the arches and rust around the petrol cap. Also, headlight bulbs are an total pain in the hoop to change if you have hands larger than a 2 year old’s.

The Type-S is a definite second for me. Will run forever (engine will run long after the rest of the car is dead), only thing to look out for is electric steering rack failure. It used to mean total replacement as parts weren’t available but that changed a few years back, not sure how servicable they are but it’s only the torque converter that needs doing IIRC.

168hp, plenty of room inside, VSA & cruise control on facelift models and really predicable handling (just getting rid of same shape diesel).

38mpg book, Hondas of that age are quite conservative in their economy figures and you cna easily better them with considered driving. The VTEC is economy based so it’s nothing like as thirsty as it’s 3 door brother but will still go when you want it to. Type R tuning parts are mostly incompatible due to the different setups or body lengths but if you’re not bothered about that it’s not a biggie.

Look for one in facelifted form (reflectors on rear bumper) and half leather trim; full leathers look nasty, cloth seats look cheap.

Get a decent Puma for that much cash (as mentioned above). That’s where my money would be going.

Generally Fords are cheap to maintain….but the main problem seems to be rust. Not sure why they are so far behind other manufacturers when it comes to rust protection.
We got rid of my Wife’s Ka because it was rusting away underneath even though it Had never been crashed, never had any bodywork repairs etc….

Small Fords rust so badly I would avoid -if it passed a legitimate mot this year it will probably fail next year – waste of money.

Panda 100 prices vary massively for no particular reason, £3500 for a rotter, £1700 for a stunner, so look around.
Not had ours long enough to comment on running costs, but nothing has looked that expensive (except bootlid micro switch assembly).

Mr2
Toyota corrola. The one with the lotus exige engine?

Dull but goes like a stabbed rat

Mini Cooper or Cooper S or mini One with a bluefin chip

Are you fussed about bike-lugging capability?

MR2? Maybe a bit long in the tooth now though.

Fabia?

Get a Puma. Only get the 1.7 and buy a good example and care for it. They are going to appecriate one day. I had s beautiful 1yr relationship with a T reg one for £900 a few years back.

It needs to take a bike, if even on a rack.

I’m wary of anything as old as a MR2 and if I went that way I’d just get another MX5.

I’m also attracted to less boy racer stuff like the Streetka and Panda 100.

maybe you should by a golf..

Nice classic.

FRP pumas are collectable, and therfore expensive for the few decent remaining examples.. but the standard 1.7 is basically just a fiesta with a decent engine..

The Audi S3 is basically a Skoda Golf with a nicer engine too. 😉

The Puma- is a beaut and with a good engine. Tinworm will drive up the prices of the remaining ones.

The Puma- takesa MTB with the rear seats down.

If you can find a good Puma they are worth considering. I was looking at getting one last year, but pretty much every one I found had rusty rear arches and/or needed the timing belt changing.

Ford used a carpet type arch liner, which soaks up the road spray and rots out the arches. Check behind the lining to see if they are rotten. You need special tools to change the timing belts apparently, and the pulleys are not keyed so can fit on in any position. I tend to do my own car servicing to keep costs down so I gave up looking and decided to keep my existing car for a bit longer.

If you can find a puma without rusty arches I’d be impressed, we had one for a bit it was great to drive but I hardly used it and could see it turning into a bit of a money pit, they rust terribly, so I got rid.

I’d be more tempted by a clio 172/182 for similar money.

Toyota Corolla T Sport

Toyota celica, you can get a gen7 for £2k. The 190 bhp version is brisk enough, check/change the lift bolts (very easy and cheap) and there’s not much to go wrong, timing chains last easily into 250k, the rear wishbones can wear tyres unevenly on inside but not an issue. The 140 bhp version avoid anything pre facelift as they drink oil. I had them in the past can fit a bike in with rear seats down, really enjoyed driving it – underrated fwd chassis. 190 bhp was very useable. It’s the car I miss most

Marmite image though

Oo good call. The only issue (for me) is the rear quarter styling. It needs to be the right colour/wing shape to hide that rear designm

I’m thinking about replacing my MX5 (newer Mk2 but the sills are starting to go) and a Clio 172 / 182 are way out ahead at the top of the list. Celica and Puma are also on there, on the off chance I can find a good Puma at all or a nice Celica in budget.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/skoda/good-spec-skoda-fabia-vrs-tdi-130-bhp-px-swap/1158192878

The Fabia VRS 140hp diesels are pretty solid cars. Cheap parts, cheap fuel at the minute, easy to work on but not much to go wrong and torquey compared to everything else of a similar age.

My mate has a Panda 100hp and she doesn’t like it because it’s “needy” but in reality it is just thirstier than a non-hot hatch and goes through tyres quicker. It’s a pretty cool little car, loads of fun and quicker than the 9.2 0-60 suggests.

Or stretch your impending DSS payments out to £3k and get a Renaultsport Twingo 133, which are really cool.

Can get a Fiesta ST for under 2 grand now. 2 litre engine in a NA Fiesta is much fun.

Autotrader – £1,890 Ford Fiesta 2.0 ST 3dr

You can have my mk4 golf gti for much cheapness 😀

Parker’s usually lists big servicing things to watch out for?

Suzuki Swift 1.5 GLX you’ll get a very decent one for 2k and they handle really well not super quick but plenty enough for a giggle and they are reliable, cheap to run/repair and have an unbreakable chain cam toyota engine. As you know fun comes from handling and these go round corners properly.

Fiesta Mk6?

Nice to drive, economical, reliable and (contrary to claim above) I can’t find any rust on our nine-year-old one.

i would avoid a puma. a few mates have had them and the rear subframe bushes all went and the bill from the garage to fix it was iro 800 notes – its a complete pig of a job apparently.

my brother has an st170 focus on michy pilot sport tyres and all properly serviced. the amount of grip is remarkable. truly impressive, and it goes well too, but you do have to rev it to get it pulling hard. great fun and you will struggle to spend more than 1500 notes on a good one. he has taken it on a couple of track days and it didn’t miss a beat, even the brakes were fine at snetterton all day. only mods are ferodo ds2500 pads and ATE superblue fluid.

Beside cars from JapLand how about some KorLand car like Hyundai i30 or Kia something? Cheap and cheerful?

Cheers again. Luke that’s good info (I presume you meant nerdy?)

Oly it was looking at your Golf that started this!

Lots of suggestions…what appeals is a light car, new enough not to be too rusty, ideally not needing to have the crap revved out if it for fun* (which means bigger or diesel engine?)

I’ve seen a Schumacher Seicento that really appeals bar *

No, she called it needy. But it is needy in the same way anything that has a higher performance petrol engine is compared to the standard version and as you have owned sporty cars and sheds on wheels before I think the Panda will actually end up pretty low maintenance for you. The one issue she has is an irritating noise similar to when a wheel bearing dies that took some investigation to sort but was, I think, relatively minor.

They are also swines to fit towbars to.

How about the previous shape Fiesta, in Zetec-S guise….?

I test drove the 1.6 diesel, but the petrol would be my choice if I didn’t need the high mpg for commuting.
It handles really well & I would think easily fits into your budget.

Or after this comment:

cynic-al – Member

….ideally not needing to have the crap revved out if it for fun

the previous suggestion of the original Fabia vRS with the 130 BHP 1.9TDi engine is a good one. Same car (basically) as the Ibiza I have just got rid of. The Ibiza seems to depreciate more than the Fabia, but the build quality of the Fabia dash is probably better & I think the suspension is a bit less crashy on the Fabia.

The Ibiza was also available in a 1.8 petrol version (the Audi 1.8T engine) with 150bhp.

Diesel:
http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201602030661256?keywords=fr&make=seat&search-target=usedcars&sort=default&page=1&model=ibiza&radius=1501&postcode=PE6%208QB&price-from=1000&searchcontext=default&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&price-to=2000&logcode=p

Petrol:
http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201602030661256?keywords=fr&make=seat&search-target=usedcars&sort=default&page=1&model=ibiza&radius=1501&postcode=PE6%208QB&price-from=1000&searchcontext=default&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&price-to=2000&logcode=p

i saw a ka in a field on the way to work today – pointing the wrong way.

I thought of you Al and how it was crying out for spoon mods !