E reg 213 base model.
Excellent mechanical condition, a little rust.
Relative is hoping to sell before rust breaks out.
Bought for £600 12 months ago (price due to condition), hopes to sell for £400.
OK, £400 budget.
Needs:
-Cheaper insurance
-5dr hatch
-35mpg+
-Reasonable on motorway (she will moan if it struggles past 80...)
-Not a fiesta or maestro. Please, not again.
-Oh and the cheap tax is now for 1500 and under isn't it? Stepmother is adamant its still 1.3 and under.
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David
Having paid under £1000 for each of the three cars that I've ever owned I feel that I have a little knowledge to offer.
You said in your thread that the Rover was mechanically sound and that the only problem was likely to be the rust. In my limited experience, I have rarely known rust to signal the death of a car, it is usually the mechanics, especially if the car is shown a little TLC and introduced to some polish once in a while.
So, given that you have a budget of £400, I would say that it would not be worth looking to replace the Rover, better the devil you know and all that. Most dealers will see straight through you trying to straight swap the Rover and will either want you to pay money for a part exchange or will offer you something very dodgy in return. Selling the Rover privately for £400 will also not be easy.
Assessing the needs that you require from a future car, I doubt that many cars will offer a considerable insurance saving, or a considerable fuel saving for the money you are paying, and the 213 is already in the cheap tax bracket, I assume.
If you are adamant that you want to replace the car, retain an open mind. Work out what really is most important to you in a car, for example, a full service history or five doors, and try to haggle down someone selling a car for £600. It is worth remembering that it is, at present, the worst time of year to sell a car, which will both help and hinder you.
Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps anyway.
Yours
Andy
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Thanks for that, but its not for me - ive just been given the task! Her last car was a fiesta, and she keeps having close calls 'cos she's not used to having a boot. I'll pass it on but she has no real money to shell out, and I think the idea is to change before it costs her anything; also the idea of having a small hatch again.
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Just driving through (well, sat in a huge jam for an hour) Huddersfield this morning, and noticed a dealer selling an 'H' Reg Volvo 440/460 for £395.
Seems very cheap, but would be an interesting alternative to the Maestro/Fiasco and would certainly be fine on the motorway.
Maybe not a huge help, but another alternative.
Lee.
PS - Managed not to mention a shabbered ZX/BX - Doh!
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Just had a look on Autotrader.co.uk & the following meet your price & other criteria near my home in Essex
L reg Volvo 440 with 73,000 miles (£100 - could be a misprint)
D reg Nissan Bluebird £125
1986 3.0 Toyota Supra £500 (wahey !!).
Peugeot 309 1.9D 160K £500
J reg AX 1.4 Diesel
G reg Astra
88 Renault 5
C reg Peugeot 305 SRD Diesel Estate
1991 PEUGEOT 309 1.9 Style 5dr Diesel
KIA PRIDE 1300 cc, 1992, 5 door
VOLKSWAGEN JETTA 1.5 GL, 1982, Y reg Auto
Can anyone say that any of these will be better than hanging on to the £400, saving a bit more and buying another car when the Rover does eventually give up ??
I'd go for the Jetta but as it's an Auto maybe that's not the world's best idea.
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i saw the jetta when i was searching the entire country, it just a shame about it being gold.
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If the relative can get £400 for a rusting E reg 213 then he has excellent career prospects in selling cars professionally for four times what they are worth.
HJ
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HJ beat me to it. All the 1988 213/216 models I know of have been relegated to the scrapyard in the sky due to severe underbody rust.
David
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you need either a fiat tipo, or a nissan sunny.
the tipo is a good small hatchback, PAS is a must, the 1.4 can do an average of 42 mpg, NEVER go for the automatic, and watch out for the electrics, which often go wrong, i quite like the 1.9 TD which has PAS as standard.
the sunny came out in 1991, and are very reliable, nobody seems to want these cars, so are very cheap, but watch out for worn CV joints, oil leaks, and a noisy engine, PAS is standard, i prefer the 1.6 to the 1.4 as you get alot more gadgets.
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Good tip, I mean tipo, from Chrissama. Tipos are also electro-galvanized so don't suffer from the levels of oxidation that FIATs used to be famous for. PAS wasn't standard until July '93 and most 1.4's before then didn't have it.
HJ
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