I have £11,000 to spend on a new car. First and foremost, after owning a Freelander and an Alfa Romeo in the space of 5 years I want something RELIABLE and relatively safe (so no microcar). The rest (kudos, looks, etc.) is unimportant. I would only do 6,000/7,000 miles a year in this car, it really is to go from A to B (36 miles a day) 95 % of the time. Citroen seems cheap and cheerful but reliability an issue as it seems.
Warranty Direct points towards Mazda (we have one already but too soon to judge its reliablity) but are they to be trusted ?
I want at least 1.5 engine with air con. I thought a Mazda 3 or a Civic be best. Any advice ?
|
|
Civic sounds ok to me, or a Focus, or a 307, or an Almera, or a Corolla....the choice is pretty good in this market, my advice would be to weigh up the engine size/trim level you get in each for £11k, test drive them and go from there.
|
|
|
|
Hi buy a second hand mercedes benz c class. c200 or c 180.
|
|
If you want reliability go Japanese - Honda or Nissan or Toyota. Do as Hawesy says and try 'em out. I've seen plenty of Honda dealers knocking out 1.6 Civics for 11K.
|
|
I would agree - The Civic gets my vote every time.
|
|
Do you mean that they're getting rid of the old Civic ? And what about Mazda ?
|
|
|
|
Definitely a Civic or Corolla, dunno about Mazda 3. Maybe even a Focus if you pick carefully?
If you don't mind slightly smaller external dimensions (but still a lot of space inside) the Honda Jazz is a nice package, and at 50mpg an economical one too.
Mike
|
£11K Civics will be (I would imagine) runouts of the 03 model - but they look well specced with met paint and some with climate & leather seats.
I had a look at one recently - my only reservation was the boot seemed a bit small.
|
|
Agree with the comments about Civics. As an alternative have you considered a VW - the soon to be replaced Golf should be available at keen prices - new-cardiscount.com has the 1.6 Match 5 door at £11,061 with a/c.
|
|
If it's your own money, for heaven's sake buy japanese (and preferably japanese-built japanese) and sleep easy. You know it makes sense.
|
|
The civic is very good to drive, fantastic handling and loads and loads of room for back seat passengers. Interior plastics are easily scratched though. Boot is deceptivly big.
|
What about a nice Ford Mondeo 2.5 Zetec S?
Fords of Winsford www.fow.co.uk have a 52 plate with 13700 miles for £10999.
It's a lot of car for your money, and if you have a decent local Ford dealer (hard to find I know) then you'll be sorted.
Alternatively you should be able to get a brand new 2004 model Mondeo 1.8LX for your money from the likes of Motorpoint, again a lot of car for your money.
PP
|
One point not picked up here - it's all very well talking about buying run-out versions of the Golf, Focus or Astra cheaply - but your residual value will also take a dive, too ! All those cars are being replaced next year, and give it a couple of years and the old models will really devalue. Since catalyst is doing low mileage, this makes a REAL difference to the cost factor. I do huge mileage, so don't mind what value my Corolla ends up being after 5 years / 165K miles !
My choice:
Diesels are nice, but you aren't going to recoop the costs on such short journeys, so:
Golf 5 - if you can hang on until January, the 1.4 FSI looks a good choice.
Seat Leon - the 1.6 Petrol is only 11k, loads of kit including air-con & alloys, handles nicer than the Golf 4.
Toyota Corolla - of course ! Only problem I've had is my gearbox, but to be fair its done 110,000 miles in 3 years, and that has been the ONLY problem. Handling on new Corolla's very nice. For 11k at www.broker4cars.co.uk you can get a T3 1.6 5 door with lots of kit
Honda Civic - go for the 3 door, I really don't like the handling on the 5 (plus it looks ugly). Again, several brokers will get you a 1.6 with full spec for 11k.
|
Buy a 3yo Omega 2.5CDX for £6K
www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/index.htm?news_id=1205
Then, when it collapses in a heap, buy another.
As an alternative, as an ex 626 owner, consider a Mazda.
V
|
Crikey I sort of knew what to buy 2 days ago, I'm really confused now... I must say sthg in me tells me to buy
Japanese, so thanks for adding the Jazz I hadn't thought about it. Toyota parts are renowned to be VERY expensive, am I right ?
|
|
I think Toyota parts prices being expensive is a bit of a myth,anyway its a Toyota,you will only need service parts.
|
SWMBO has a 5 door Civic Auto - she doesn't like leather seats, so we bought a "SE plus" from Bob Gerrard in Leicester - a Cyprus import that matched the then UK Exec spec less the leather. BG tends to be better value for autos, about £500 extra saving over the manuals.
The car is a delight to use and drive, with mega interior space and mechanical refinement, but the interior is, well, Japanese - and noticeably less tactile etc than the Golf, if that kind of thing matters to you. Its true that the harder plastic marks more easily that the soft-feel in the "European" brands.
Had it been a company car it would have been a Golf or maybe a more seductively styled 307 - but as has also been said, when its your own money...
|
Ah sorry, the Jazz has "only" a 1.4 engine so doesn't quite meet your 1.5 litre criteria. If you are flexible on this it might be worth a test drive though while down at the Honda garage looking at Civics...
SWMBO preferred the Jazz over the Civic even though she refused to look at one initially, thinking it the same size as the Toyota Yaris...
mike
|
|
|
