Cheap Runaround Car

[hitman67]

Ok, Becoming quickly apparent that running the Land Rover just really isn't viable on the pittance I am earning atm, So am looking at the option of Sorning it, cashing in Tax ect and picking up some little Insurance group 1-4 car to run around in until situations improve.

Anyone got any good suggestions on said small cheap car, want everything as cheap as possible and around £800 max.

Cheers.

[staffsMike]

the fiesta 1.25's of old were very good and reliable as long as you did the most basic things like keeping the oil topped up.
Should be somewhere around group 4- 6 on insurance.

Rover 214's(bubble shape) again are very easy to maintain as long as they aren't thrashed (head gasket will go around 60k if they arent looked after), cheap insurance and tax and have a bit of guts.

[Guy]

Erm 106, fiesta? you should be able to pick up a tidy one for around £600

[hitman67]

Just ran the following 3 cars through compfused.com and got the same price:

Ford Fiesta 1.3 1994
Vauxhall Astra 1.7D 1996
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 1997

So looks like those are some good lines to follow to begin with.

[Akwaaba]

If you can find a good one, I'd suggest a Peugeot 405 - I've had 2 in the past (a petrol saloon and a TD estate). Reliable, well built, economical, handled well and cheap to service & insure. They are a little more spacious than the other suggestions - but quite a bit older! The revised models (late 93 on often came with power steering & air conditioning).

Had a quick look on Autotrader, only a few around it seems. One caught my eye: a 95 PEUGEOT 405 1.8i GLX Estate in blue. Although it was just under £800 maybe the seller would accept an offer but it have lots of MOT & Tax, one owner, service history, A/c, PAS and the advert claimed it was in very good condition. Probably worth travelling for if its the type of car you'd want.


Happy hunting

[jimbouk]

If you're after saving money then anything below 1.55L (before 2001) will be half the price on road tax than above that.

As above on the cars really, stick 1L-1.3L, max price £1000 and however far you're willing to travel in auto trader and see what you can get!