Cheap car suggestions?

[Fox]

Fox I hate to admit it but I do kinda like the look of your Mondeo, did yours come looking like that or is there some sort of kit fitted?.

It's a Ford factory bodykit - I fitted mine but you can buy them with it already on, it was fitted as standard to the 2.5 V6 ST200, 2.5 V6 ST24 hatchback, 2.0 16v Zetec-S and was an optional extra on the 2.5 V6 and 2.0 16v Ghia X and the 2.5 V6 ST24 saloon and estate.

[Barakka]

How about a Fiat Marea 2.4JTD? £2k for a 5-6 year old example, 130BHP as standard and chippable to 190BHP for about £300. Never driven one meself but I really fancy one.

You would be lucky to find one unfortunately, it's the Marea 130 JTD you'd be after and they're like rocking horse poo, it's the Alfa 20v 2.4 JTD boxer engine they used in the 156.

The Alfa 156's are a lot more common, you can pick up a high miler (150k+) for around &#163;2.5K or a decent (<100k) example for around the &#163;3.5k mark and get the same remap to 180bhp. Plus you're getting a car that was about &#163;20k when new, so electric everything, climate control, etc. etc. and gorgeous outside and in

Although the Marea has a great sleeper quality to it.

[Fox]

Personally I think you'd have to be mad to consider a 150k mile Alfa.

[Howard]

Or just any Alfa

[kameio]

The Alfa would be a big miss for me as I went with a mate to reading to pick up what we thought was a nice 156 nicely loaded in black with red leathers and the flappy paddle box, only for the car to overheat before we got more than 3 miles from the trader, amazingly my mate still wanted the car and we went back the following weekend to collect it and then 10 days after the gearbox stuck in 1st.

Fox cheers for the info on the kit I did have a trawl through auto trader and saw a few ST24's with some fairly high miles on 'em which was a bit worrying as I have no idea what they are like after a lot of use.

The Octavia TDi didn't really do it for me in looks department but seems to represent fairly good value, but I don't think I can be that sensible I'm already hurting over deciding to give up my Bm.

I'm one of the worst parkers in the world so me in a Land Rover would be causing a great injustice to every innocently parked car out there, though a 3.5L V8 would put a smile on my face on the morning drive to work

I did have a look at some 406's and I'm amazed they are so cheap were they not pretty pricey new? once again though for what I'm looking to spend they have some pretty high miles which is to be expected but I can't get over my paranoia that within 6 months I'm going to be facing continuous repair bills.

Ok now I know this probably goes against what I'm looking for but after having a chat with one of the guy's at work he suggested a MK2 Golf GTI which at first I flat out said no to but he showed me one on eBay that has me seriously tempted, I'm not sure I could justify spending over 2.5k on a 16/17 yr old car but I do like the way it looks, but don't think it really falls under the category of cheap to run sadly.

Ok I am drawing up a shortlist of cars and hopefully will go to a few traders over the weekend and see some in the flesh, if anyone has any more suggestions they are welcomed as I cannot believe how difficult it is just deciding what make/model car to buy let alone finding a good clean example.

Cheers for your input.

[davidstone28]

Just punch in &#163;3000 on autotrader and that will come up with a good range of cars for you to consider. Then just hope along to www.carsurvey.org for user / reliability reports.

[Rave]

You would be lucky to find one unfortunately, it's the Marea 130 JTD you'd be after and they're like rocking horse poo

True.

it's the Alfa 20v 2.4 JTD boxer engine

'tis a straight 5 not a boxer. You'd struggle to make a boxer with an odd number of cylinders I reckon.

The Alfa 156's are a lot more common,

Still very few on autotrader at sub-4k unfortunately. Auctions might be a better bet I suppose.

[kameio]

Just punch in £3000 on autotrader and that will come up with a good range of cars for you to consider. Then just hope along to www.carsurvey.org for user / reliability reports.

Cheers for the URL, looks like a good bit of reading there.

Rave I've never done the Car auction thing, are there still bargains to be had as it seems a fair few people are doing that as private buyers nowadays.

[5lab]

yes but i recon ebay is a better bet - i got a car for under a grand that would have been over 2 at a stealership

[Fox]

Fox cheers for the info on the kit I did have a trawl through auto trader and saw a few ST24's with some fairly high miles on 'em which was a bit worrying as I have no idea what they are like after a lot of use.

I bought mine 2 years ago today (hurrah!) with 114k miles on it. So far, it's been fine. Now I've said that it'll obviously break down on my 320 mile round trip this afternoon, but hey

[kameio]

lol well good luck for our trip, I'll definately be looking over a few mondeos over the weekend something I never thought I'd do before so thanks for the heads up, seems it won't just be me looking as another guy at work is looking for a car with a 3k budget so I sent him over to this thread and I think he was still checking autotrader when I left for home.

[Fox]

Well 32 hours and 467 miles later I'm afraid the Mondeo loving is not letting up. I still don't think you can find a better all round car for under 3 grand - feel like I could jump back in and do the whole trip again..

... perhaps after I've washed it, as it's totally white now.

Oh, and 38.2mpg overall, not bad given most of it wasn't Motorways and it's not a diesel.

[5lab]

Oh, and 38.2mpg overall, not bad given most of it wasn't Motorways and it's not a diesel.

bet you're yet to get 600 miles from a tank

[Fox]

bet you're yet to get 600 miles from a tank

Nope, I can manage about 450 but it does mean I don't have to put up with that dire 1.8TD engine plus I'd lose my cruise control and trip computer if I had the TD

I get some performance as well, ok its only 140bhp so not much, but every little helps!

[joshwa]

Seat Toledo 2.3 V5 (150 - 170bhp?)

[kameio]

Good to see the Modeo is good for distance driving, I've got a few lined up to check out this sat all ST24's, I dream of getting 450miles to a tank I barely manage 220 and thats spending over &#163;50 to fill up.

Joshwa I was looking at some Audi's and Seats as a mate pointed me in the direction of Revo tuning boxes which give some scary bhp for a simple box.

http://www.wheelbase.uk.com/revo-performance.asp