my head gasket has just blown on my old punto so I’m in need of a new car, I’ve got about 4 grand to spend. thinking of a leon or a focus but open to ideas. so what should i get

4k gets you a fair amount of Volvo V70 these days!

volvo v70 is too big looking for a mid sized hatchback

you would get a very low mileage leon or focus for 4 grand in a credit crunch.
A late original shape focus/first major facelift with 20-30k on the clock should fall into that price range easily and you will have money to spare in most cases. I would go for a focus, very reliable and fantastic handling- we have one and it actually handles better chassis wise than my jaguar xkr although obviously lacks the power and performance otherwise! Ford clutches tend to go at 50k (all 3 of my fords have although I didn’t own any from new, not sure how they were driven beforehand) but are not expensive to replace- 300-350 from a good independent garage. This is the most expensive maintainence by far on the Fords I have had and all garages know them well/lot of aftermarket parts available so you wont be ripped off.
Hope that helps

Get yourself a new bike, and use the balance for a car.

andy7t2

my headgasket went on my punto at the start of the year!
went out and bought meself a peugeot 306 estate low tax and insurance,
£2000-£2500 gets a top spec model,
lots of them about so not too difficult to come by,
servicing and parts should be cheap aswell,
the diesels are mean’t to go on forever aswell.

or a golf estate, they are pretty handy, but more expensive to run,
4 grand gets you a lot of car

Skoda Fabia VRS?

Get the punto repaired and save you cash for more bikes!! 😆

bikers round here are buying Peugeot/Citreon Partners

Ford Mondeo? I know it’s a bit bigger but you get a lot more mondeo for your cash than focus. I recently got a 55 plate with 55k miles for £3500.

For that sort of money, Focus every time. Tons around so plenty to choose from, and are great to drive. Also they won’t go expensively wrong as often as French cars

I had a focus bought it for 5k 4 years ago it had 40k on the clock, sold it 8 months ago for 3k wi 106k on the clock, never had any problems with it except for the battery went and the clutch went and i drove it like a mad man, always balanced the car on the clutch at lights and it lasted to 100k then blew up, haha. Deffinatly get a focus, can not go wrong with them.

I had a mark one focus from 12,000 miles to 85,000 miles, only thing that ever went wrong was the electric window motor.

How big do you need?

For the money I’d have a look at Seat ibizas. You can pick up the 1.9TDI 130 Sport for under £4k, it’s plenty rapid (it’s a Fabia VRS dressed up differently), cheap to run and insure (I get >55mpg and it’s IG 7, tax it £115), and mine has so far been very reliable.

Only downside is crashy suspension.

Other than that I’d be looking at Focus or Mondeo, although a mate of mine recently got a 1.6 Astra for an absolutely ridculous price.

I have a Fabia vRS, though I like it the light coloured seats show every mark from biking and you can’t fit a towbar for towbar mounted bike racks. The Seat might be a better bet for those reasons. I’m changing cars soon so was thinking Focus/Golf sized hatch or small estate.

Carbis….one of the reasons I opted for the Seat over the Fabia. I really didn’t fancy the chances of the seats (nice though they are) staying white for very long.
Ibizas were also about £1k cheaper for same age/mileage.

Why can’t you fit a towbar to the VRS? Is it the rear bumper or something? I know on the Seatcupra forum there are a few people who have fitted towbars to Ibiza FRs and Cupras even though Seat say you can’t. It’s something to do with the bumper getting in the way, but most people fit removable tow bars and cut a small square from the bumper to allow it to fit. Someone did a great fitting guide on the Ibiza forum a while back.

Focus – petrol 1.8/1.6 would be reliable, affordable, comfortable and fun transport.

Again another vote for a Ford Focus, loads about second hand in that price range.

Or Mazda 3 if you want something slightly different, I think they share quite a bit with the Focus anyway.

Ianpinder, did you sell your car to someone laundering money? Were they the secret millionaire?

looks like the focus is a popular choice

cheers for the advice

How come no one ever recommends 307s? Cheap tax & ins on 1.6 hdi, 50mpg, is there something no ones telling me about them?

Mine can fit 3 bikes, me and 2 kids in.

How come no one ever recommends 307s? Cheap tax & ins on 1.6 hdi, 50mpg, is there something no ones telling me about them?

They hit every branch of the ugly tree?! 😆

is there something no ones telling me about them?

and they’re made of paper. Badly.

TheLittlestHobo, I chopped his hand off for it, i was going to run it into the ground, but i couldn’t say no to that. I bought a £100 corsa and a nicolai st 😉