Peugeot 206 / First Car

[digit]

Cheers kalniel

Now I know I'm probably going to be shot....but what about a Ford KA...and yes, I'm aware it may be considered a girlie car, but their price:age:mileage seems to be pretty good on autotrader. Insurance is also low and it's only ever going to be used for a run about.

Looking into the others above now. Think my budget is at about 3.5K (not including insurance), although I'm starting to see that at 4K I could do a lot better for my money.

You'd be mad to spend that much on a KA ... Every one I've been in without fail has been terrible and really uncomfortable whether for a short or a long journey. You'd be far better placed to spend that money on a fiesta, focus or mondeo which has a build quality and confort level far beyond what a KA can deliver. Plus you won't lose man points

The 1.25 engine I really liked when I test drove a fiesta of that shape during my last car search. Really pokey and felt quite nippy A friend at Uni has an 04 plate with that same engine and has had trouble free, economical driving since he started uni.

[kalniel]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...48ej?logcode=p

Is also close to me, any comments?

That looks great to me - better miles/age ratio to. 1.25 is a good engine.

1.9 I think will hammer the insurance for me sadly. What's the kind of mileage I should be looking for?

Insurance is cheap - group 5.

My rule for mileage is 10k/year is average. Diesels I'm happy to go up to 15k and typical run-abouts maybe drop to 7k/yr or so.

[Guy]

The 1.9tdi'd Fabia's/Ibiza's are quite low insurance wise, don't always look at the cc and assume the insurance is going to be sky high.

[Funkstar]

It's all about risk categories. A larger diesel can be a lower risk category because generally the high risk drivers (neds/chavs) won't touch them. I've heard of decent 1.9TDI saloons being far less for insurance than little 1.x hatch backs. they can also be more efficient when it comes to fuel, depending on what kind of driving you are doing.

[Zak33]

first off, the mileage doesn't count for toffee.. if it's high miles and cheaper, but drives well... fair play.

Let's face it ... I've been doing 48000 miles per year for 4 years.. if I have a 3 year old car it would be at nearly 150k and would still be on the first clutch, first exhaust and prolly first rear brake pads.

if it were 15 years old with 100k, driven by my sister, around town all day it would be screwed.

So... miles aint all that important.

SERVICE HISTORY IS. If it's got no service history, the person who owned it didn't deserve to drive a car in the first place. if yuo don't know a car needs regular proper servicing, you also drive too close to people, park like a fool, and wonder why it stops working one day.

I'd look at a Ford Ka without a doubt. Great great cars.

Focus 1.4 /1.6 is ok too, not too bad on insurance.

Personally I'd be looking for a Peugeot 106 1.1i with power steering.

[Agent]

You'd be mad to spend that much on a KA ....

To be fair if I was going to get a KA, I would spend a LOT less on it and keep it for a couple of years, at which point I'd buy new (preferably one of the hybrids that's coming around).

Well after a few hours of ringing, I've come to the conclusion that Autotrader has a lot of idiots, scammers and people who don't even know basic English.

A KA I went to see yesterday was quite clearly a respray and had been in a accident. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than one car to be honest. Yet he was adamant it was nothing more than I'd see on other models for the same price. The rust was falling off it (04 model), with my sisters 01 model having absolutely no rust in the same places.

Today I've rang a few about some of the models you guys have suggested, so far Ive had:

Call 1
They pick up the phone with "WHO THE **** IS THIS"
Me: "Ermm...I was just ringing about the car off Autotrader"
Them: "Oh yeah, sorry about that, forgot I had it listed"
Unsurprisingly, he turned out to be a total jockey when I asked a few questions and hung up.

Call 2
Them: "Hello"
Me: "Hi, I'm ringing about the car off Autotrader, do you still have it"
Them: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah" (yes, 4 times)
Me: "Where about are you based?"
Them: "Why do you need to know that"?
Me: "Because I'd like to come and see it"
Them: "I can meet you in a pub car park, but I don't give out my home address in case it gets stole"
Me: "Ok thanks, bye"

Call 3
Them: "Hello"
Me: "Hi, I'm ringing about the car off Autotrader, do you still have it"
Them: "The car is sold, but I might have it back next week" (???)
I tried to get more info out of him, but he was just talking nonsense so I hung up.

Why is it everyone I have rang is either a nutter, can't actually speak English, or simply a conman

[kalniel]

Why is it everyone I have rang is either a nutter, can't actually speak English, or simply a conman

They knew you were coming?

Tough luck so far. Try a local 2nd hand dealer? At least they put a professional face on the conning Whereabouts in the country are you?

[finlay666]

2.0 tdci Ford Focus

You will be surprised how fairly low it is, especially if you have current NCB

Diesels wont hammer your insurance, my 1.9dci megane (2001) was far cheaper to insure than a 1.4l VW polo (1997) that was obviously worth less

[Guy]

2.0 tdci Ford Focus

Over budget.

The cheapest Mk2 Focus's (Focki?) are the ones that had an option for the 2.0 TDCi engine, and the cheapest for anything like that is £4.5k, and then it would be a 100k+ (not that mileage makes any difference to me, but hey each to there own.)


A Mk1 Focus 1.8 TDCi falls into budget, VERY nice cars, getting on a bit now, but other than that there a sound buy. Fairly well equiped, excellent to drive, reasonable parts, and insurance isnt that high.

[Agent]

Just seen a Corsa 1.7 D Envoy Diesel for a very good price, that's in excellent condition with a warranty. Insurance seems to be about the same for this as a 1.x petrol

Avoid, or at least worth a look?

The added bonus of a lower price means I can build up some NCB before buying new later on, along with being able to spend the money on something nice for my new pad

[PetrolHead]

Toyota Yaris?

Bullet proof engines, hold there value well, can pick up a decent one for about £3k+

[Spud1]

pfft i'm gonna bring this full circle.

I've got a 2004, 1.1 peugeot 206, and i've had it for nearly 4 years now, with very minimal problems. The issues I have had with it so far have been:

1x Airbag sensor (£5 fix, took 10 minutes to sort)
1x Reversing light switch (£7 fix, took 15 minutes to sort)
and also a problem with my rear lights which was my own fault for messing around with the cables when fitting parking sensors. Oh and I had a flat tire once.

Other than that, i've not really had any problems with it, lovely little car and I totally disagree that it's underpowered for its size..it fares perfectly well in the city and on the motorway. Of course it's no speed demon being a 1.1, but as a first car..it's great. I will be looking ot replace it in the next year or so as funds allow, but that's only because I will be able to afford to run a bigger car, not because there is anything wrong with the 206 itself.

You would be right to stay away from any pre-2003, which is when they introduced the multiplexing system, as they were pretty atrocious to be honest and were very basic, but a multiplexed 206 is still a solid buy in my opinion, and one of the better looking cheap small cars on the market. I get around 40mpg in mine still and I don't drive *that* well.

Don't dismiss it out of hand, have a drive in one and see what you think..and stick with the lower engines, plenty of time for a powerful car that drinks petrol later in life!

[finlay666]

Over budget.

A Mk1 Focus 1.8 TDCi falls into budget, VERY nice cars, getting on a bit now, but other than that there a sound buy. Fairly well equiped, excellent to drive, reasonable parts, and insurance isnt that high.

Missed the budget bit

Absolutely for the 1.8 tdci

Just had a quick shifty on auto trader, fair few 2000 -2003 cars with the 1.8 (older ones possibly TDi?) and under 80k on the clock for around £2500 or so Even a couple of ones above the basic LX trim, like the Zetec/ghia (2002 with 80k on the clock for 3k)

[scaryjim]

I'd second the Ibiza / Fabia suggestion, but also add to it - if you can find one - the Seat Arosa 1.4TDi - a smaller car, but nippy, very economical and apparently very nice to drive (I've not driven one myself, but I know a few people who have including my step-dad)...

[Agent]

Cheers again all - I'm off to see a 2003 Ibiza this week hopefully. Saw a few pics online and really like the look of it compared to some of the others. Insurance isn't too bad either. Not as cheap as a KA, but not over the top either
About 50K on the engine, but from what I've been reading they are very good engines?

[kalniel]

Cheers again all - I'm off to see a 2003 Ibiza this week hopefully. Saw a few pics online and really like the look of it compared to some of the others. Insurance isn't too bad either. Not as cheap as a KA, but not over the top either
About 50K on the engine, but from what I've been reading they are very good engines?

The 1.9TDI? Yeah absolutely solid, bags of torque so driving is just unfussed - overtaking/hills are no problem. Only downside is refinement - they sound like tractors