£5k for a car

[s4ch117]

cousins got £5k for a car and wants to know what he should get for it he needs it to be

Insurnace group 10 or less
3drs
nothing bigger then a 1.8 ( must be quite cheap to run)
hatchback or small saloon

[5lab]

theres a million choices in that range - i'd guess one of the best value for money options would be a very well spec'd focus or similar 2nd hand

[Shad]

Toyota Yaris, the VVTi one. Can be found for 5k and insurance is grp 7 I think. Almost keeps up with my CRX in 1st and 2nd gears, surprisingly quick cars!

[Vimeous]

Skoda Fabia 1.4 petrol or 1.2 diesel
Cheap to insure and run. Shouldn't break. Bigger 90bhp diesel (1.9) is quick in gear. Better value than Polo or Ibiza. Personnally prefer it to almost all other small hatches including Fiesta, Punto, 206 for all the above reasons.

Ford Focus 1.6
Loads to choose from. Steers well. Good all-rounder.

Loadsa other stuff out there.

[Butuz]

What about my silver 1999 ford focus 2.0 ghia? Ok, its 5 door hatch, and its bigger than a 1.8 but its still only ins group 8 and not expensive at all to run. Its specced to the max, top of the range and been very well looked after.

I only want £4400 for it so that gives him £600 to cover a years insurance too!



Butuz

[tfboy]

I'd suggest a fabia. But then again, it has 5 doors and I am a little biased

What kind of driving? Long distance? mostly town?

If he's covering any distance, I'd go for a TD. Cheaper to run, hold residuals better and the torque in a WAG TDI PD is awesome

[Craig]

Butuz, if that Focus was for sale four months down the line i would have snapped it up like hotcakes Need a new car soon!

Craig

[Butuz]

Well no ones been to bloody see it yet so it may end up still being for sale 4 in months. Its cheap as chips ffs! Buy it!

Butuz

[Craig]

It really is cheap as chips, and trying to find a *decent* 2l Focus Ghia or Ghia X for sub £5k is H A R D

Craig

[Fox]

It really is cheap as chips, and trying to find a *decent* 2l Focus Ghia or Ghia X for sub £5k is H A R D

Craig

Finding a decent 2.0 Focus Ghia X for under £5k is more than hard - its impossible The Focus did not go as high as Ghia X in trim levels, despite the fact the previous Escort did. Don't know why.

Closest you'll get is a Ghia to which somebody has added the optional leather interior. As you've probably found, this is rare, and still isn't exactly a Ghia X specification vehicle.

If you want a Ghia X and you've got £5k to spend then have a look at the Mondeo instead. Full leather, cruise control, climate control, dual front and side airbags, onboard computer, heated electric seats, CD changer blah blah blah. And the best bit? It'll be about a grand or two cheaper than the equivilent Focus Ghia due to the depreciation they suffer. An X reg one can be had for between £3-4k, whereas the same Focus Ghia is about £4-5k. Looks are not everyones cup of tea but luckily the Sports Appearance Pack (Most people call it the ST24 kit, but thats not the proper name) was a factory option on them.

My V plate Ghia X Mondeo was under £3k over a year ago. Compare that to the price of an X reg Focus now (ie, the equivilent age at the time).

Bargaintastic. You pay less, and get more. So whats the catch? Well, there isn't really one - the reason for this is simple. Larger cars depreciate more becuase they are less popular on the used market. Focus's are highly saught after cars, becuase they are not too small and not too big in most peoples eyes. Performance between the two is very similar, as is fuel consumption and servicing and parts costs, as well as reliability. The only main difference in cost is the insurance group - a Focus 2.0 Ghia is Group 8, whereas a Mondeo 2.0 Ghia X is Group 12 and the 2.5 Ghia X is Group 16.



Of course this is completely useless to you if there is a specific reason you like the Focus but I thought I'd better mention it incase you'd not considered it

[Butuz]

And the other thing worth mentioning i suppose is that the focus has generally been accepted to be the best driving/handling car in its class since it was brought out (and is still only today beaten by the new focus and the new golf), whereas the mondeo...is nothing special in terms of drive, better than a vectra tho of course

Butuz

[Son of a gun]

My mate just brought a pug 206 gti for 5k, he picked it up today. It's very nice. V reg with 29k on the clock

[Fox]

And the other thing worth mentioning i suppose is that the focus has generally been accepted to be the best driving/handling car in its class since it was brought out (and is still only today beaten by the new focus and the new golf), whereas the mondeo...is nothing special in terms of drive, better than a vectra tho of course

Butuz

Actually thats not strictly true

The Focus is indeed the best driving/handling car in its class - it really handles far better than a car of its type ought to. But to say the Mondeo is nothing special in terms of drive is plain wrong. The Mondeo is *also* regarded as the best driving/handling car in its class (The models we are discussing, anyway). It won't handle quite as well as a Focus obviously, its a bigger car, but it's far from nothing special

[schmunk]

I had a latest-model Mondeo 1.8LX as a courtesy car for my ahem (coughs) ka.

It was like a barge, wallowing around the road...

Well kitted for a low-spec model though.

[javalord]

My mate just brought a pug 206 gti for 5k, he picked it up today. It's very nice. V reg with 29k on the clock

Watch out for the "sudden dead" syndrome. On Watchdog about it.

[xs11ax]

buy my car