Recommend me a hatchback up to £1500

[Rave]

Hi,
As you may recall my Mum's '98 Polo 1.4CL 3dr was nicked a few weeks ago. Although she'll hopefully get in the region of £2700 as an insurance settlement, she doesn't really want to spend more that £1500 on a replacement as she doesn't really do much driving. She wouldn't mind a slightly larger car than the Polo, but no bigger than the next class up. It has to be reasonably reliable and economical and cheap to insure as both my brothers will be insured on it; one is 23 but has 3 points and a few insurance claims in the last few years from when he worked as a removals van driver and the other is 18 with a Provisional Licence. On balance they'd probably prefer a 5 door car this time although they've managed alright with the three door for the last 5 years.

The two options I've come up with are: a) Nissan Almera 1.4 of some description or b) Peugeot 306 1.4 or preferably 1.9TD. My thoughts on each are:

Nissan: Boring image so it's cheap to buy and insure, apparently nice to drive, should be reliable, I like Nissans.

Peugeot: V. Nice to drive, Turbo Diesel especially should be nippy with good economy, might not be as reliable as the Nissan, more expensive to insure?

So- am I thinking along the right lines? Anyone got anything to add about those two cars, or can you suggest any other options? £1500 is about the limit people, don't go suggesting Focuses or similar please.

Rich :¬)

[Zak33]

Nissan.....bullet proof....need to spend more dough than that on a 306 to get a good one....

Nissan Sunny is most likely....pre Almera

Dull...yup....

but so is a bullet...just a hard bit of metal really....

does the job tho

[Shad]

What about a Clio? Or a Corsa? Saxo?

[Rave]

Nissan Sunny is most likely....pre Almera

There are plenty of decent looking Almeras from maybe 95-97 on Autotrader for less than £1500, they start at about a grand. Parker's book price for a 96N 5dr 1.4GX is £1520, so we're in the ballpark.

You think a 306 will be more trouble than it's worth? Shame, I was warming to the idea.

What about a Clio? Or a Corsa? Saxo?

All about the same size as the Polo- we want something a smidge bigger this time.

Rich :¬)

[Angus]

I'd go for the Nissan; I personally prefer the 306 but, as Zak says you'd be lucky to get a decent one for the sort of money you're looking at.

I've got a friend that swore by his primera (until someone shunted into the back of him and wrote it off) because it was so reliable.

[Knoxville]

Personally i'd hold out for the 306 as imo they're cracking cars but as has been said unfortunatly to get a decent one you're prolly looking at a bit more cash unless you drop lucky.

[Raz316]

you can have my 1996 1.6 306 if you are willing to go slightly higher than 1500

[Zak33]

old 306's are.....risky.

Bad electrics to the doors (windows , central locking) and lots of them leak through the roof aerial....

and the 1.4 is SO SLOW it hurts...

Immobilisers with key pads get very unreliable.....etc etc etc.

Great car....but European

Japanese rule when older

[Rave]

Can't afford more than £1500 Raz, nor do we live anywhere near Suffolk- sorry.

and the 1.4 is SO SLOW it hurts...

They're coming from an 8 valve 1.4 Polo, remember. That thing was a SLUG.

Immobilisers with key pads get very unreliable.....etc etc etc.

Great car....but European

Japanese rule when older

Hmm, I'll tread very carefully then. I thought the 306 was built in a top-of-the-line factory in Coventry or somewhere? (And yes, I know Coventry is in Europe).

Cheers for the advice,

Rich :¬)

[Zak33]

306 is now made in France....206 is Cov NOW..but 306 used to be there...

either way..makes no difference WHERE it was made...its HOW it was designed...

listen....306 is GREAT.....but its a higher risk...AND the 1.4 IS SLOW>...

it weighs more than a Polo and has 75 bhp....and thats an ALLEGED 75bhp....

theye are DULL.....BUT..immensely economical.

Series 2 is better by a mile for quality.....can you see any L or LX or GLX models...they are series 2.

Series 1 were XN, XL, XR XT (in that order)

Dont forget...im number 1 306 fan boy world wide....but id say £3000 minimum not £1500

for that dough.....Nissan all day long

[malfunction]

Hard to say for sure as I don't have that much experience but for what it's worth I (well the wife and I) bought a 1.4 XL 306 (M reg / 94) for just over 2K - nearly 2 years ago - and it's been an interesting time (new back box, new drive shaft, head gasket / head skim, new clutch and I've probably forgotten a few bits too)... Now the back box is fair enough (it's just wear and tear), the drive shaft is worrying (we picked it up with 70k on the clock IIRC), head gasket is unlucky (top hose from radiator split and the 'twonk' from the recovery company said it was a dodgy sensor and told us to drive home even thought the stop light was on for 7 miles) and the clutch is a bit worrying too... The car is (touch wood) well sorted now but that was for slightly more than your budget and I can only presume a 1.9 TD would be much much worse for that kind of money (as they hold their value better than a 1.4 IIRC)

Also - not only is the 1.4 glacial slow it also has a bare minimum of kit - I'm sure somewhere someone bought a kitted up 1.4 but ours - and every other one I've seen - are XLs. So certainly no ABS, no power steering, no air con, no electric windows... Well no nothing really - ours is even carb not injected. Which is good and bad - if you know what you're doing you've got a simple engine in a huge engine bay - apparently they're very easy to work on.

I've been told by the mechanic owner of a local citroen / pug specialist that the engine will go on and on but that the rest of the car can be entertaining - and specifically that the drive shafts - part that goes to each wheel are particularly weak on the low end models (hung over and can't remember exact term - think it's drive shaft but I don't mean central bit from engine - or does that only apply to RWD cars?)

Other plus points are the insurance - the 1.4 is only a group 4 - and the looks (IMO it's aged a lot better than other cars of similar age).... Though having said they're nice to look at externally the interior is often truly disgusting (though I doubt that's an issue for £1,500)...

If you like the 306 though how about a Citroen ZX - AFAIK it's 99% the same car apart from the bodywork... Not nice to look at (like most Citroens) but you ought to be able to get a better one for that kind of cash...

[Rave]

Yeah, I guess the sensible money's on the Nissan. If it was for me I might take the risk, but my Mum won't thank me if I saddle her with an unreliable car. I'm still fairly unconcerned about the 1.4 306's turn of speed though, a friend of mine had one (probably still has, I haven't spoken to him in ages unfortunately), and I never noticed it being particularly sluggish. As for unreliabilty, I dunno: it needed a new crank at one point, but I think that was because my friend (who didn't pass his test until he was 20, but then became obsessed with driving everywhere) had thrashed it to breaking point. That got fixed, but a couple of years later we were pulling into a car park when the engine stopped with a jolt and just made a death rattle noise when we tried to start it again. The AA man confirmed my fears: a slipping cambelt. I asked my friend how many miles it had done since the crank rebuild: he reckoned about 30,000 miles. Then I asked him if he'd had it serviced or even changed the oil in that time....you can guess the answer.

Anyone got any cautionary tales about Almeras, anything to look out for? I'll probably try and find a GX, the Si model is an insurance group higher and all you seem to get is sportier seats and a CD player(?). We'll probably buy privately, can anyone recommend a cheap HPI place? I've heard that you can get a check via text message for a couple of quid, are those reliable?

Edit: I hadn't considered a Citroen ZX, I'll investigate further, cheers! Can anyone confirm that it's the same as a 306 underneath? ZXs are dirt cheap; I wouldn't want to risk £1500 on a potentially unreliable car but £500 might be worth a punt....

Cheers,

Rich :¬)

[Howard]

I'd recommend a ZX too. Good cars. I reckon you can get a 1.8 (I think?) diesel for around £1500. My dad sold his for around that a couple of years back.

Good solid cars.

[elglg]

ZX's are the same as 306's but for some strange reason are a higher insurance group. IIRC the 1.9TD ZX is group 11 compared to 5 for the 306. Which I find strange as I would have thought the 306 was the more desirable car...

[Zak33]

unusual things about Almera's....hmm...*thinks*

yeah....they do a nice 2.0 Turbo 4x4 in Japan

Seriously tho.....that or an older Corolla.

Dont forget those Mitsubishi's either....Colts and stuff...

pls dump the 306 plan....its a GREAT CAR...but only in as much as a drivers machine. It aint bullet proof...and NONE of what the other guy suffered from /\ up there is unusual...

[Angus]

I've got a friend whose 306's brakes kept failing.

Until he almost wrote the thing off (didn't stop in time).

I don't know how common that problem is though.