£3K Family car

[5lab]

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW...00536207004524

there arent many for that price, granted, but there are a few.

if you just need the extra seat (or 2) occasionally then yer estate + 2 seats is an option, and you will get a bit more for your money - i believe there are companies who can do teh conversion to any car too..

you could get a volvo v70 7 seater, but it would be older than other cars on yer list. it shoudl be more plush, and last longer, but if it goes wrong you might suffer higher costs..

406 is a good choice if you want a 7 seater (2 babyseats in the back, then 2 older kiddies in the boot)

[wedge22]

I will see what we have at work for you mate.

[J4MES]

Pug 806? Big, comfy, there's a diesel too...



this one's £2795 from here

[Elmo]

we've just purchased a 51 plate, 5 door, 1L corsa, done ~60k miles and it was £3.5K

It runs, it does the job, there's tons of space in the back seat (the reason we bought it!) and is cheap to run. But not many people like corsas

[Butuz]

Mazda 323f 1.5 (1994-1998); £2K should get you a minter, look in the private Autotrader adds...

Decent choice - my dads had a 1998 one from new and its still going strong.

My choice would be an early 99 Focus 1.6 or 1.8 should be able to pick one up for £3k odd now.

Butuz

[Fox]

You will have lots of problems getting a decent Zafira or Multipla for £3k. You might find the odd one but this is well below what the earliest examples are worth, so they'll be ultra high mileage, or be shabby, or have something wrong with them, or something.

For this sort of money IMHO you should be looking at a Ford Mondeo. You'll get a really tidy 1999 or 2000 Mk2, they are very reliable, plenty of room, and the later 2000 models are pretty well specified even as an LX. You could get a decent 2000 Ghia or Ghia X for this sort of money, this will give you aircon (climate control on Ghia X), velour seats (Heated leather seats in Ghia X), cruise control, computer, full electrics, etc.

Get a nice 2.0 16v and they are cheap to buy, cheap to run, and do more than 40mpg on the Motorway.

The Focus is an excellent car but only worth buying if you dont like the Mondeo - despite the fact its a smaller car and cost less new, the equivilent Focus will cost about £1000-£1500 more than the equivilent Mondeo now due to supply and demand. Yes, you'll just manage an early high mileage 99 Focus for £3k now, but if you bought a Mondeo the same age and mileage it'd be well under £2k. And more spacious

As It's a Ford, even if it does need some work doing any garage can do it and it's pretty damn cheap. Put it this way, I'm a lowly uni student and I can afford to run my 2.0 Ghia X