We currently have a T reg (1999) Mazda 323 F 1.8 petrol. Its getting a bit long in the tooth and whilst nothing significant is wrong with it, we’re looking to get something a little more modern and economical.
Budget is around £2-3k.
So the requirements are:-
6000 miles a year on mostly local roads, very little motorway use.
Similar in size to the current car.
Able to take a least 1 bike without stripping bike into its constituent parts
Decent fuel economy, pref with lower VED banding (currently £240 PA)
Diesel seems to be a strong contender in terms of economy and VED

I was thinking of perhaps a Golf TDI or a Focus TDI from 2002 ish?
Any other suggestions or things I havent considered?

Don’t think a diesel is the right choice for 6k per year. Stick with petrol. Generally cheaper to fix too.

Yes agreed re diesel, smallish engine petrol 1.3 or 1.6. I would avoid the premium priced/much loved cars like Golfs given your criteria. TBH the 323 is the sort of car you want, ultra reliable but a bit “unloved” so cheaper.

3k will get an 07 petrol cmax with about 65k miles on it. if you have not driven a newish Ford you will be surprised how nice they are to drive. much nicer than a similarly aged vw. because the cmax is unfashionable it is cheap, and it is really practical as well. petrol engine is bullet proof

Don’t think a diesel is the right choice for 6k per year. Stick with petrol. Generally cheaper to fix too.

Diesel doesn’t make a case for itself any more until you’re doing doing probably 15,000 miles a year or more.

With your budget, find the best condition 1.6 petrol Focus you can. Difficult to recommend anything else to be honest, as the Focus is just such a good car, and because they’re so common, they depreciate rather rapidly so make a good used buy.

I’d recommend a Golf, but they’re heavier, slower, thirstier and only the (expenive) diesel’s are worth buying (and only if you’re doing the milage).

I was going to recommend a Focus too. Common, good to drive, cheap.

I have fond memories of a 323 from around that vintage – my folks had one that my brother and I thrashed the life out of…
2002 golf is MKiv – great cars, but heavy and not great economy (dunno exactly about the oil burners of that vintage), but the take a bike inside no bother. Seats down and front wheel off.
Early 2000s focus seems to be the obvious choice here – gave the golf a run for its money on handling and economy. Wait, wasn’t there a 5 series for 700 quid around somewhere….

find the best condition 1.6 petrol Focus you can

Hmmm, my 1.6 Focus is quite slow. Enough to be annoying to someone who normally has no interest in going faster.

Diesel doesn’t make a case for itself any more until you’re doing doing probably 15,000 miles a year or more.

See, I considered that recently and I don’t think that’s true.

Sure, there’s the cost you offset by buying the diesel car over the petrol model but provided you keep it long enough you’ll probably recoup it.

That sort of money is Mondeo country if you wanted it, easily get a Focus. If going for diesel it needs to be old enough to NOT have a DPF, provided you can meet that criteria smaller journeys will be fine.

Budget is around £2-3k.

At that kinda money your main requirement ought to be, not going wrong.

Just go look locally (distance search on Autotrader/Ebay etc) for another Japanese car.

If going for diesel it needs to be old enough to NOT have a DPF, provided you can meet that criteria smaller journeys will be fine.

Not necessarily. A diesel will have a dualmass flywheel, EGR valve and turbo – all very expensive to fix when they go wrong. They cost more to service as well.
At only 6,000 miles a year you would need to keep it for years for the fuel savings to recoup the initial and extra ongoing costs.
Petrol all the way would be my advice – and I’m not just a keyboard warrior – rescuing broken down cars is my job so I see the kind of thing that is breaking.

Diesel / Petrol doesn’t really boil down to mileage per year – some petrolhead site worked out some sort of calculation to work out how many miles you’d have to do to ‘suffer’ a diesel and it seems to have become ‘fact’ but it’s horribly outdated and well… They’re petrol heads, not diesel heads.

Really it comes down to the sort of jorneys you do – for example my wife does more miles a year than me, she’s a district nurse so does loads of short trips totalling 30-50 miles a day – she’s lot a little 1.2 TSI Ibiza DSG, great on fuel for her, on the other hand I generally stay put in work, but when I do travel it tends to be in the hundreds of miles and the same goes for my weekend driving – it’s pretty much all motorway stuff so I’ve got an Exeo 2.0 diesel (we’re not Seat fan boys, it just sort of happened that way) again 50-55mpg is the norm for me.

If you’re going VAG, the 1.8T engine is nice, available in various shells and is reasonably economic for a quick engine. Later 2.0TFSI engines are smoother, more economical but a bit more sensitive. I had a MkIV 1.6 golf. It was nice, big but heavy and then the gearbox broke.

Thats everyone, interesting that the diesel thing doesnt really justify itself until higher mileages.
My mum has a Focus 1.6 and its a bit sloooow, is the 1.8 any better? Im wondering if a 1.8 Focus estate might be worth a punt?
I’ve had quite a few jap cars and they’ve always been pretty reliable, but nothing jap from the last ten years really floats my boat (excluding the Lexus LF-A or a GT-R, but I think they may be out of budget).

the OP states a 2002 year car. It’s not a new car so there is very little difference in price between petrol and diesel and it will be before a lot of the problematic parts were introduced.

I’ve got a 2002 Peugeot with a HDI engine that has none of the troublesome bits. A similar aged petrol car would give me 35 ish mpg and probably wouldnt still be going with 150k miles on the clock where as my HDI still gets 50+ mpg and still runs very clean.

Golf TDI or a Focus TDI from 2002 ish?
Any other suggestions or things I havent considered?

RUST.

Im in the south of England, so rust really isn’t an issue. Its only the poor souls who live north of Watford that have to deal with salted roads for 6months of the year.

@andyl, this was my logic, get a car thats fully depreciated that has a nice high mpg and reap the benefits.

the OP states a 2002 year car. It’s not a new car so there is very little difference in price between petrol and diesel and it will be before a lot of the problematic parts were introduced.

Exactly my point.

My 2003 Civic doesn’t have a DMF, yes it has turbo issues but they stem from bad over speccing rather than the turbo itself. EGR is annoying but hardly a big deal to clean out.

bigyinn – Member

Thats everyone, interesting that the diesel thing doesnt really justify itself until higher mileages.

Unless you like how they drive, anyway. Focus 1.6 petrol is a dismal engine imo especially bolted to the 5 speed box, far too revvy for the car (and it’s by far the most common model), but anything bigger is nice. Believe it or not you do still need to worry about rust a little, they have a massive sponge built into each front wheel arch that helps keep the arches and sills nicely wet. No really! Mine rusted straight through both sills right at the front, absolutely sound everywhere else. Not happy. I spent a wee while looking for another mk1.5 a couple of years back before I got the mondeo and loads of them had problems emerging (or repaired already).

Foci seem to have a bit of a price premium, I’m not sure I’d buy another £1000 one, you don’t get as much for your money as you could.