Long story short, suddenly find myself without a car, and need to borrow money (0% credit card) to purchase a new one quick smart.
Am paying off a large debt over 2 years already, so am trying to keep a mental budget of £1500 or less.
Always been a VW fan.
60-70 miles per day roundtrip commute.
Have sourced 2 local Polo's and verbally bartered both down to what I consider pretty good prices, at least for a banger with potential to last me a couple of years.
First, 1999 1.6, Auto (75bhp), 1 owner, genuine sub 20k miles, 5 door, FSH, a couple of minor bumper scrapes otherwise rust free and 12mths MOT. Advertised at £1200, seller receptive at £850
Second, 2002 1.4 16v Sport, Manual (100hp), 2 owners, genuine sub 30k miles, 3 door, less scrapes than the first (not far off mint), Air-con, part S/H (MOTS back up mileage), recent timing belt change as well as suspension freshen up work, with receipts to prove, Advertised at £2000, seller will accept £1600
Second is much more 'modern' looking, with a few more mod-cons and 3 door appeals - plus peppy little engine. Stretches budget but feels possibly worth doing so for.
First is dated but 'retro' (perhaps?) with bonus of super lazy auto driving, and of course, virtually half the price.
No brainer?
I'll buy the car with most votes*.
*(I might not)
I'm somewhere in between
...but how did you manage to find two 'old' cars with such incredibly low mileage?
The one that isn't falling to pieces.
You want to avoid one that's falling to pieces.
EDIT: 20 seconds! Damn you.
Whichever one isn't Falling To Pieces, obviously.
Edit - bah, beaten to it!
🙂
Your life is falling to pieces mate.
(ps. [i]60-70 miles per day roundtrip commute.[/i] - definitely 2.!)
Ah STW friends, I knew I could count on you 🙂
...but how did you manage to find two 'old' cars with such incredibly low mileage?
I seem to excel in manically obsessively scouring the interwebs for leads when it comes to parting with money for a car. I like low mileage motors.
Plus, millions of Polo's were bought by oldies and used infrequently.
2nd one. Air-con would swing it for me if I was commuting.
pps. weird coincidence - of all the 1000s of songs on my NAS, this one played while I was mowing the lawn yesterday.. 🙂
I'm somewhere in between
Bravo!
VW fan as well, the second one without question - really fun chassis to drive and that engine is nice n' revvy for traffic light GP's. I used to own a 2001 polo gti, brilliant wee car for shits n' giggles on a twisty road at sensible speeds.
Road tax and insurance costs ? Those would factor in for me, otherwise the second one would shade it for me.
As an aside my wife's 10yr old Micra is worth about £1,500 - brilliant little car and loads more life left in it (70,000 miles), its not for sale but a random fyi type comparison. IMO a Japanese car will serve you very well but appreciate it's VW that has your eye (as it does mine)
Neiher.
Skoda Fabia?
*Edit +1 smaller Japanese cars.
2nd one. Air-con would swing it for me if I was commuting.
Unlikely to be working after 15 years though.
Are the autos not going to give higher fuel consumption so should be avoided if you're doing 300 miles a week?
Bravo!
Thanks, I went for the less obvious option 🙂
Wild card - have also been offered a 2002 Golf Cabriolet 2.0 8v avantgarde, Auto, with 3 owners, and sub 50k, FSH, 12mths mot, one scrape to wing but otherwise very clean, for £1500..
Crikey you are saying you have debts to pay off - presumably you aren't exactly rolling in it? Then why buy a VW? Go Japanese. Honda Jazz or Toyota.
Or a Ford of some sort. You could get a Focus or Fiesta for that money and the 1.6 TDCi would handle that kind of journey well enough.
Like this one... [url= http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201705195628828?onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&radius=1500&model=FOCUS&sort=price-desc&advertising-location=at_cars&transmission=Manual&price-to=1500&postcode=cb236dw&maximum-mileage=50000&make=FORD&page=1 ]Ford Focus[/url]
The second one.
And you don't want a 2 litre auto if you're trying to economise.
Unlikely to be working after 15 years though.
Tested it, ice cold.
Go Japanese.
Old habits die hard I suppose.
Is there a small Jap with performance to match at that price point?
I like the 16v VW engines, plus I like an auto with some torque behind it, not a fan of tiny breathless motors
75bhp - 2 litre auto - don'tfinkso 😉
Mileage isn't a concern - my gf's Polo has done 140K miles and just had (according to her) it's very first service! 😆
Always been a VW fan.
Any reason why?
I'd be looking at a Suzuki Swift or Fiesta for a car of that size with that money.
Let him live a little and get a 15-year-old VW hatchback, eh?
Just don't buy one from DezB's missus.
Just had to sell my Swift Sport, couldn't bare to get into one of their anemic 1.2 variants instead.
Don't mind the Fiesta but 'Ford' is generally a dirty word round these parts.
I would be firmly in the Honda Jazz camp. Nippy enough and with a lot of internal room.
Just had to sell my Swift Sport, couldn't bare to get into one of their anemic 1.2 variants instead.
I bought a new 1.2l swift 6 months ago for our son, great wee car and reasonably nippy.
[i]Just don't buy one from DezB's missus.[/i]
Sound advice.
Let him live a little and get a 15-year-old VW hatchback, eh?
😆
Yeah. I'm going to shut up now. 😉
If your journey involves creeping along in traffic and lots of junctions (i.e. lots of clutch work), I'd go for the auto.
Otherwise go for the manual one 😀
2nd one for me.
Auto with 75bhp is going to be sluggish at best, plus economy will probably take a hit.
Timing belt change & suspension work is probably worth a fair bit.
Personally, I'd be looking at an Ibiza or a Fabia inside your budget as Polo was very over-priced when I was looking for my last car (much better spec Ibiza with less miles was £1k less - £7.5k v's £8.5k for a Polo)
But you say you're a VW fan, so fair enough...
2nd one - that said, I really like automatics these days.
Wild card - have also been offered a 2002 Golf Cabriolet 2.0 8v avantgarde, Auto, with 3 owners, and sub 50k, FSH, 12mths mot, one scrape to wing but otherwise very clean, for £1500
Plot thickens every day..
What colour are they both?
Both silver
Agree that 75hp doesn't sound much, but iirc, the 1.6 had fairly good torque figures.
Fortunately I avoid most of the stop/start driving on my commute, but that's not to say my piss doesn't boil when stuck on M25 or elsewhere at other times - developed a bit of a love for autos with my old Golf cabriolet when my commute was mainly M25.
If number 2 was auto I'd grab it hands down, saying that, I think all 16v autos were limited to 75hp..
The 100hp version is a revvy little thing
I'd be checking the MOT history to see which has had most/least work to give you an idea of how well they have been looked after.
And also scrutinising the service history of both cars.
A low mileage old car isn't necessarily a good thing. I'd be more inclined to buy a newer car with more miles. Short trips aren't particularly good for engines.
A 75hp auto will be a horrible place to spend a couple of hours a day.
Do these engines have cam belts, or chains ? Some years ago when my wife inherited a mint, low mileage, 1-owner Orion (1.6 Ghia !) from my grandfather it promptly shredded its cambelt within a week, bending four of the valves. It had probably never been over 50mph before.
Giggedy.
Valid points Glenn, I am aware of what they say re low mileage engines. Fortunately it hasn't failed me yet when it comes to bangernomics. Although, granted, £1600 is much harder to swallow than £800 should it go wrong.
Have driven number 2, it goes like the mileage would suggest it should, tight suspension and steering, smooth delivery. In fact, took it up to 70mph and was very pleasantly surprised to feel some refinement having come from my Swift which had the most road noise of any car I've owned.
It has part history from last several years but MOTs back up the mileage. Plus new timing belt fitted.
Problem with threads like this is that you can ask a simple question, and no one listens.
+1 for the little 16v, it's the later shape so despite a little extra outlay it's going to feel a lot more modern and resell for better money when the time comes (I do love the older 6N shape though - I had a 1.6 manual in metallic pink - suave I know 😀 )
16v Polo should be fun and likely to be much more so than likely Japanese options. I would pass on the older Golf.
Have driven number 2, it goes like the mileage would suggest it should, tight suspension and steering, smooth delivery. In fact, took it up to 70mph and was very pleasantly surprised to feel some refinement having come from my Swift which had the most road noise of any car I've owned.
It has part history from last several years but MOTs back up the mileage. Plus new timing belt fitted.
Car 2 gets my vote then - more powerful engine, newer and sounds like it has been well maintained. Plus I don't think a 75bhp is well suited to an automatic gearbox (it'll probably only be 3 or 4 gears so will be forever changing gear up hills, etc - plus more to go wrong/more expensive to fix).
Where are you finding these? All I can find on gumtree in this price range are cars with one month until MOT and "should be fine".
Trying to decide whether to replace radiator and fuel tank on the 15 year old yaris when it will probably fatally fail it's MOT in November, or buy something slightly less decrepit.
On search filters I just round mileage down to, say, 40k or 50k max, set my upper price limit with a little room for negotiation (£2k in my case), then hit go and see what pops up.
Missed out on a Panda 100hp last night that went for something like £1650 on eBay with FSH and 35k on the clocks. Billy bargain.
As I get older though I'm less adventurous with distance, this Polo im likely to buy is less than 10 miles away - I've caught planes to drive cars home in the past!
Out of your choice - no'2. Better car and nicer to be in.
Problem with threads like this is that you can ask a simple question, and no one listens.
Back and forth, the OP sways with the wind.
First, 1999 1.6, Auto (75bhp), 1 owner, genuine sub 20k miles, 5 door, FSH, a couple of minor bumper scrapes otherwise rust free and 12mths MOT. Advertised at £1200, seller receptive at £850
That is not going to be much fun to drive, in fact I reckon it'll be like a rocking horse, accelerating slowly, the nose comes up, then the nose will drop as it slowly changes gear, then the nose will come up as it accelerates slowly, rinse and repeat.
Like the Citroen C1/Toyota iQ/Peugeot 106, which are not much fun, although if you ring the piddly little motor's neck and use the paddles it's a bit more interesting.
Nah, 2nd one all the way.
Holy shitballs, I think we have pretty much agreed on a majority verdict?..
I may head out to see a Fabia this evening, otherwise I think I'll be putting? a deposit on no2.
putting? a deposit on no2.
Is that another Mike Patton reference?
Bought the 16v.
Will be back to blame you lot if it breaks down.
Do not get a 75hp auto, the second one for me. But the Golf sounds far more fun! 😀
Do not get a 75hp auto, the second one for me
Maybe a tad late.... 😉
@slimjim - hope you have many trouble-free miles in yer new motor 🙂
yep deffo #2, get some dinitrol/waxoyl in the sills though over this summer and double check the timing belt change. I had a similiar era low mileage Polo bought off a widow, shredded its timing belt shortly after.
Decent spark plugs, oil change/oil filter/air filter change (standard filter, k&n filter oils up the throttle valve) and it'll be a wee go-kart that'll put a smile on your face and be very reliable.
Good choice btw 😉