£3k max, 4-5 seats, diesel, lovely to drive and pretty inside. Post 2002.
Alfa 147, anything else?

Seat Leon, great spec compared to Golfs, the old shape is still a stunning looking car on the road

It looks a bit boring inside despite being lovely outside. Anybody else?

147 wins on value for money (plus your criteria above). I’m off to buy one today.

Once you’ve driven some proper miles, would you share your experiences please? I find it stunning inside, have great experience with all things FIAT and like being told my car will break down by every “expert” (that’s why I drove a 1000 miles last week in my Peugeot 🙂 ).

Will do. The difficulty so far is weeding out the crap, I called about two low mileage cars with “FSH” yesterday, neither of which had actually been serviced for four years…

Diesel? Gotta be a golf….

Yes, that’s true. That’s the only reason I could consider a petrol car although being poor makes it a no.
BTW When I bought my Pug it hadn’t been serviced for yonks, sometimes it isn’t critical. Worth checking out FIAT fora for feedback related to those engines, I’m doing it now. Some reading here.

Mulacs, golf is the most boring car ever, reliable and possibly well-built but more boring (in the diesel form) than John Major’s speech.

‘lovely to drive and pretty inside’

Not going to happen for 3K…

No? Can’t see much wrong with this.

I can – it’s 8 years old and has 154K on the clock. It might have driven nicely when new but it’s not going to now, more like a bag of old spanners.

Mates got a 147 diesel, lovely looking car but he reckons the engine is very lacking !!!

My peugeot has 185k miles on the clock and drives better than when it was younger, it revs more freely and gets to speeds previously unthinkable (100 mph twice this year already 🙂 ). I’m not afraid of high mileage diesels, would be vary of an 8y.o. car with 30k only.

Perhaps the higher top speed is due to the speedo not working correctly anymore 😀

Seriously though, sounds like this may be down to taste and expectation. I hate old/high milage cars, just feel tired and loose to me.

I’d love to be able to afford a brand spanking new one, sadly that’s not an option now and almost certainly won’t be for many years to come (I need my own house first, sick of renting).

Fair enough mate, just don’t expect too much for a modest budget. At that price I’d be looking at reliability, not driving pleasure, but good luck to you.

I already have it with the 406, when I change it’ll be for a more enjoyable ride.

At the expense of reliability when money is tight?

Seat Leon is all the best bits of the Golf (reliability, economy, strong engines) with most of the crap removed (Leon actually has steering feel, and goes round corners well).

Why does the interior bother you that much? Surely functional is better than pretty in a sub £3k car?

FWIW you should get a tidy, sub 100k mile 110bhp SE model for less than £3k, with a FSH. This engine is the most economical of the bunch, and probably the most reliable. It also still easily remaps to about 140bhp very readily.

An alfa with 154k miles on already though? Less heartbreaking to burn the money I’d say! Your Peugeot I’d not be surprised at the milage, those old 1.9td’s were strong engines that went on a long time, I know of cars that had more than double your milage.

@angeldust, my experiences of FIAT are great, never had problems with them (it’s my family thing to be driving them), can’t see why this time it should be different. Beside, Alfa’s how-to-do’s are available on-line, a neighbour uses them for his 156.

@mboy, Seats are indeed nicer than VWs but diesels I drove were boring (petrols were great OTOH). Re my Pug, I give it another 100k before anything should be needing serious work so I’m not in the rush.

I bought a petrol 147 today, mahoosive value for money (2004, 50K, £1800). I will keep you informed…

Thanks, good luck and I’m so jealous!