Unsurprisingly the little lady’s Rover 25 has gone pop. Suspected terminal gearbox failure, on top of the fact that it’s pretty much a heap of $h1t anyway. Why she bought it in the first place god only knows…

Anyway, a replacement will very probably be needed and of course the timing is perfect in that cash is in short(ish) supply. Probably got about £2k to spend and needs something small, cheap, reliable and cheap to insure as she’s written two cars off in the last three years…

Badge status unimportant, she had a Daewoo Matiz previously which she loved (until she put it through a hedge and into a tree…) Doesn’t want something quite that small again though.

So, go crazy, whilst I look on Autotrader for Fiestas and Yarises, what else should she buy?

If she is unbothered by badge, anything Korean and small?

Toyota Corolla. They’re terminally dull, but easy to live with. And get her an advanced driving course. Seriously, anyone with that driving record needs to get some better skills.

The Yaris is a great little car, but keep an eye out for anything Skoda or Seat. You might get something decent in that price range with a little looking around. Or a Corolla, as above. Dull, but very well made.

bought a perfectly nice condition internally and externally with full service history 1.4s mk4 golf on a 52 plate with 80k for that kinda money in march last year to replace a 1.5 mazda 323

whilst its woeful on power it serves its purpose as a town car for the mrs going to work and returns more mpg than my van.

presumably cheap because its an unpopular engine choice due to it being a bigger car.

found super minis like the yaris etc all rather expensive for what you get – lots of miles and big engines in little cars – also expensive to insure ! the golf is 230 fully comp with only 1 years ncb !

corollas and carena were also on my short list for reasons above … both had the 2litre TD engine.

Seat Ibiza – my diesel just keeps on going. I’ve put 152k miles on it in just over 5 years.
Only things replaced (apart from discs & pads) have been a front bearing at 38k miles, a knackered intercooler pipe (that failed as it had the wrong connector on it from the factory) & the aircon compressor needed replacing earlier this year. Admittedly that was £500 fitted, but if I didn’t use the car so much, I wouldn’t have bothered having it done; it’s not exactly essential.

How about a Nissan Almera – they seem particularly unloved as second hand buys so can be had for peanuts.

Corolla is a good shout for dull yet unkillable. Would be quite a sell though, even for her.

I’d like to get her a Polo, but I’m a bit of a VW snob (based on owning two Golfs and putting 110k and 130k on them. I’d have kept the 130k one too, but I sold it to buy a Transporter). Can get a 61K 1.4 for the money…

if its not ancient has good service history and doesnt look like a bag of bolts id snap up a 1.4 polo for that kinda money

Fabia. Bombproof motoring.

I really don’t think you can go wrong with a fiesta or ka. They have sold so so many for a reason.

tails – Member
I really don’t think you can go wrong with a fiesta or ka. They have sold so so many for a reason.

I meant to suggest this as well. Only caveat being to check for rust. OH had an 02 reg Ka from new. It was never in an accident, so had no dodgy repairs and was driven regularly, so didn’t spend long periods standing on the drive, but she had to get rid of it a couple of years ago as the chassis was rusting so badly. Bodywork looked fine though.

I had an older Fiesta that was the same. They were great cars though – very reliable & cheap to run. When something did go wrong, it was generally very cheap.

Fiat Panda 1.2 petrol – basic, but not flimsy feeling… solid engine, practical…

Gf has a Renault Clio diesel, does something daft like 60 mpg and tax is only £35 a year

How about a Nissan Almera – they seem particularly unloved as second hand buys so can be had for peanuts.

That’s because the 00 -> 56 (or whenever they stopped making them) plate ones have a known engine fault (premature timing chain failure), which is supposed to be quite common, yet very very expensive to fix (well over a grand at a dealer, £250 or more for the parts). (see http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/faulty-secondhand-car-consumer-rights#post-3337047 for how I know this)!

Nissan Micra, k11 can’t go wrong.

joemarshall – Member

That’s because the 00 -> 56 (or whenever they stopped making them) plate ones have a known engine fault (premature timing chain failure), which is supposed to be quite common, yet very very expensive to fix (well over a grand at a dealer, £250 or more for the parts). (see http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/faulty-secondhand-car-consumer-rights#post-3337047

To be honest, I was thinking older than that one in your link. And they can’t all have the same engine with that ‘known’ fault’?
I mentioned the Almera as a mate of mine bought an Almera GT off an old bloke for something like £1400. I think it had a 1.6, although might have been 1.8 engine. It had low miles and was in mint condition. He used it for years and as far as I know he never had any issues.
I think he bought it as a car to tide him over until he had a bit more money but ended up keeping it for ages, as it never went wrong….

To be honest, I was thinking older than that one in your link. And they can’t all have the same engine with that ‘known’ fault’?

Yeah, is the petrol engines, I think both the 1.5 and 1.8. From 99 or 2000, can’t remember. Previous ones had a very good reputation for reliability. Annoying because like you say the rest of the car seemed very reliable.

Micra or a Civic.

Two grand? Thought you said cheap??? How about a later model 306? Our estate is going strong at 160k miles, had it since 90k miles, cost me £300 quid. Servicing and a few bushes aside, it’s cost me pennies. Recommend.

My wife has a Kia Picanto, pretty much as small as a car gets but can’t fault it for the money. Did some research before buying it and considered very reliable.

How on earth has she crashed so much?

I’ve had two Fiestas. Great little cars. Parts plentiful in breakers etc and fairly cheap to run too, and not particularly slow either.

Agree that rust can be a problem, it started to become one on mine but great otherwise. I recently had to get rid of my 2001 Fiesta as one of the valves went which I could have fixed myself with enough time and shelter but didn’t have either so stretched myself out to a Berlingo….

How on earth has she crashed so much?

In her defense, the first was a brake failure. The second, however, was a failure to brake.

One more parameter – must be big enough to allow a bike in the bike with the front wheel off. Will a Ka? She seems to like the idea of one of those.

you can in a ka – you can also get a snowboard for a 6 ft 6 person inside one !

would i suggest 1 – no … but it would be akin to having a metal spike in the front wheel for her driving safety improvements – look at the crash test results for kas …. horrendous

If you a a fan of VW Skoda Seat cars i have done quite well out of my 2003 1.4 Polo FSI, I was looking for a replacement to my 98 polo (first car) and was thinking a Fabia or an Ibiza may be cheaper but the Polo came up and was chepest of them all.

Things that i have come accross to look out for on the 2002-> Polo have been suspension bushes ( I am told it’s common problem accross entire VAG range of that size car). Wheel bearings can be expensive when they go as they are sold in a package with the hub – this does make replacing them a much quicker job.

Shopping round for brake disks and pads pays divedends over OEM replacements. My car is disks all round so i have replaced them myself.

I’ve had the clutch go on my car but think that was more to do with the previous owners rather than part (ex demo then old woman), this was the most expensive repiar to date at £400.

Insurance on my car seems a little expensive for what it is. It may be worth having a look into insurance costs of your shortlist if you are on a tight budget too, in hindsight i would have been wise to do this as a friend has a Skoda of a similar age and has a smaller insurance premium.

I’m going to suggest a late-spec 306 dturbo. mechanical injection, cheap as chips, 40-45mpg, super simple and cheap to fix and handles reasonably well too. Old, but run forever and rarely get anything serious wrong with them.

One more parameter – must be big enough to allow a bike in the bike with the front wheel off. Will a Ka? She seems to like the idea of one of those.

Yes, KA’s are pretty dire in crashes so I’ve heard, plus of course they are entirely fugly.

I became a master at fitting things in my Fiesta. If its just her in the car I am sure she’ll fit a bike in with just the F-wheel off with the passenger seat down a bit. She may do it without too.

I got 3 mountainbikes and 3 people in mine once. I also regularly used to take my creekboat(big Kayak) in mine which at over 8ft long is no mean feat. I had to lower the passenger seat and open the glovebox so the end of the tail of the boat would just get an extra few inches inside the glovebox. Worked quite well.

Fiestas are great IMHO.

I have a R reg Almera (1.6L petrol), 133K miles on it and I’ve basically changed the oil twice in it’s lifetime – my wife bought it as a stop gap to travel to her new job, but it just kept going and going and going…
Forward about 12 years, I’m still driving it to the office daily and have still done nothing to it. Had a new clutch (failed on the way to fitting it as I’d noticed it slipping for months), cost £180.

Only thing I can think of against it is that you could probably get something with cheaper VED by buying post 2001 and smaller. It’s even reasonably fun to drive, but it’ll send you to sleep looking at it and you sort of have to like velour in unusual patterns. Mmmmm, soooo soft…. 🙂