FOAK: Car advice needed

The girlfriend's car has apparently 'started making a noise' (I've not
heard it yet), and I've persuaded her that she should think about
changing it. It's a 1999 Peugeot 306 hatch with about 65k on it,
average condition, so unlikely to be worth much more than a grand, I'd
reckon.

Today we were having a look on Autotrader to see what sort of
hatchback you can get around the 5k mark, 3 years old or less.
There's the Peugeot 307, the Renault Megane, the Ford Focus. What
else should we be looking at for a 5 door hatchback, which mostly just
runs around Gloucestershire but occasionally does a longer run?

An alternative option is to spend a bit more (say up to 10k) and get
something that's only 12~18 months old, on its first owner. Again,
what should we consider?

I throw myself at the FOAK...

 

Multipla. No question.

 

Golf or Focus. Avoid French shite at all costs.
(IMHO of course)
JB.

 

I did look at Golfs, but they always seem overpriced compared to
everything else.

I had to talk F into considering a Focus, cos she looks down her nose
at them for some reason. I'm no fan of Fords generally, but I think
the Focus has had good press, and Alex F always seems pleased with
his.

heh. But surely the one thing the French do is build good small
hatchbacks? F has had her current Peugeot for nearly a decade, from
new, and would quite happily buy another one as it's had almost no
problems. Personally I've always quite liked French cars [1] [2]


[1] Ever since I was a very small boy and first saw a DS 19
[2] And then my first car was a Renault 5, which was good enough not
to kill me when I rolled it three times and left it upside down in a
ditch

 

How about brand new:

http://www.monzasport.co.uk/specialdetail.asp?stockID=2

Yes, it's an Alfa.....

They're part of a cancelled order from Malaysia, which Alfa couldn't
officially sell in the UK.

Some independent dealers did a deal to buy them, and are selling them at
not far off half list price.

My Sportwagon came from that order and I couldn't be happier with it.

 

@news.individual.net:

I ran an Ibiza for 7 years. Cheap to run. 5 door versions available,
although a bit small compared to Focus. Big brother Leon is supposed to be
good.

 

Try suggesting these over on the car NGs, and you get a torrent of abuse.

FWIW, my 2003 VW Passat has been pretty much trouble free since I got it in
January, and the 2001 Mk4 Golf estate that my dad has (which was mine, and
which I bought off a work colleague of DNC about... hmmm... coming up for
five years ago now?), has been absolutely spot on the whole time we've had
it between us, bar needing one AFM (1), something which 'they all do that,
Sir'.

Both are TDIs.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

What sort of insurance group is it? In fact, what sort of car is a
147 anyway?

You're one of the people I was hoping would contribute to this thread.
Now you've got the Alfa recommendation of your chest, what else is
there?

 

It's a 156 with a bit chopped out of the middle, which is no bad thing.
I nearly bought one, but found the 156 Wagon by chance and bought that
instead.

Not sure of the insurance group, but my 'wagon is the same engine and
gearbox - costs me £500 FC for 40k business miles / year with 7 years
NCB. Katie has the manual version and paid around £210 FC with 10 years
NCB.

As others have said - something by VAG.

Previous shape Golfs are excellent. Not the most exciting car in the
world, but really well built, reliable and hold their value. OK, this
means you pay more up front, but it'll be worth more when you come to
sell. GT-TDIs are excellent, but I'd want a 1.8T GTI myself.

Current shape Octativas are good, old shape cars not so good - they're
very low rent inside, but they do last well and are cheap.

I like the Leon - pretty much an Audi interior in a Seat shell, with
Golf oily bits.

A3s look the part, have all the good bits that you'd want a Golf for,
but have a much better badge.

If you're looking at the higher end, then the Volvo V50 is a superb
small estate - really well designed and screwed together interior,
decent diesel options, or a high powered petrol.

Personally, I hate the Focus, having had a couple as hire cars, so I
wouldn't, but most people seem to like them.

Pug 307 / 308 weren't the best cars Peugeot produced, with dodgy
handling and ride in comparison with the 306, but great diesel engines.
I think I'd avoid them myself.

Fiat Bravos are pretty damned good and very cheap - the new one (been
around a couple of years) has a decent interior, handles well and comes
with a good range of turbo petrol and diesel engines. Had one as a hire
car for a few days and loved it.

As a wild-card - the 'compact' version of your shape BMW has to be worth
looking at (but only available as a 3-door). I wouldn't bother with the
1-series, though - early cars (which are in your kind of price band)
have shocking interiors and are still far too much money for what you
get - also, 5 door cars are ugly, they're cramped in the back, and the
boot is a joke.

Astras have good diesel engines, 3 door versions look pretty good, 5
door versions are a bit ugly and the interiors are horribly cheap.

I think that sums it up for me - I've driven quite a few cars in this
class, either as hire cars / courtesy cars or test drives when looking
to save a few quid on company car tax. Still came back to an Alfa,
though.

 

Bad form, but Fiat were doing some crazy deals on the Bravo recently.

5 years 0% finance and 5 years warranty.

Surely worth looking into?

 

'Nothing in life is free'

Much as I think the Bravo is actually a reasonable looking car, the only
reason they'll be doing a deal like that, is because they can't shift
them... and if they can't shift them, what chance will Joe Public have at
shifting them a few years down the line?

None, unless they'll take peanuts for it.

A false economy methinks...

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

They all bang on about the Ford Focus more than anything.

Notably, none of them actually seem to own one. ;-)

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

I hope Ford have got rid of that stupid, STUPID, wash-wipe system
where you can't find out whether or not your washers have frozen up
until the wipers have completely smeared the windscreen.

 

Pikey? PIKEY? I'll have you know I put plenty of stuff in the washer
bottle, but it still evaporates from the nozzles - which then freeze
up.

OK, Andy's put on a bit of weight, but that remark is well (sorry, I
mean completely) out of order.

 

Don't be silly.

<g> I've lost 2 1/2 stone since I last saw you.

 

Gnomish.

Now I'm off to bed.

 

Mine was a Comfort.

A mate had the vRS at the same time, and that had the same sort of door
cards, albeit with nicer trim in the middles.

Actually, that was quite a hoot really - went *really* well, and the 0-60
times don't do it justice in terms of 'real world' performance.

The main Skoda forum, Briskoda, was, (and I suspect still is), littered with
posts from people experiencing the same issue.

Skoda refused to do anything about mine as it was just over three years
old... and denied it was a known design fault, even though they sold a
sealant kit to specifically address the problem.

What made it more annoying, to me at least, is they'd been around for...
hmmm... four or five years before mine was made, yet they'd never addressed
the problem at the factory.

And yes, I've read about a few cars which this fault showed up in when
reasonably new, so it's not like they weren't aware of it by then.

Well... the Focus bonnet catch problem I've described elsewhere has cost
someone rather a lot in labour and parts today... so always worth
considering stuff like this IMHO.

Oh... in that case they'll be buying a Mini then, which if new, shares
engines with the Pug 207, or if older, has an unreliable donk sourced from
Chrysler.

The one good thing with those is they hold their money... the main bad thing
with them is that everyone thinks you're a bit of a ponce as you drive round
in them. ;-)

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

Go for the fnord rather than the french stuff, they last forever and
dont have stupid problems like having to remove a wheel to change a
headlight bulb.

 

Absolutely not the 307. The 306 was generally regarded as 'ok', although
my missuses one was horrible, but the 307 is well regarded as shit.

Personally, from that list, I'd go with a Focus.

Can you get a Mini for that cash? Good warranty and maintenance deal.