£800 for a 12 year old Cav? - someone's taking the piss.

Look for a MkI Mondeo. Should be able to pick up a good condition petrol
example for under £500.

Alternatively, and this would be my choice, a MkI Primera. I just sold a
2.0SLXi for £350. Great commuter car, but a bit too dull for my liking.

I assume you mean NOT prone to rust. Otherwise I'd suggest a nice 10 year
old Rover 214

Yup, if you're after a reliable engine, cheapish to run and prone to rust,
then a Cavalier will fulfill your requirements perfectly.

Peter

Something galvanised might survive the works, old audi or newer fiat.

I'd recommend an old-shape Rover 416/216. I was left a 94 example of one of
these by an uncle back in April, and I've been pretty impressed with it. Nice
and easy DIY maintenance prospect (unlike my Renault, which is an
expensive nightmare to look after), looks nice (especially if you get a later
one with the chrome grille and smoked rear light clusters), and reliable
(has a Honda engine and gearbox, though the Rover engine is nowhere near as
unreliable as some people would have you believe, especially in the later
versions which had an improved inlet manifold gasket). Unusually, and in
contrast to the original Rover 200 / Honda Ballade version, the Rover
versions of this car are much better for rust resistance than the Honda
version (the Concerto) - mine's 10 years old, and has no trace of rust
anywhere (check carefully, though - especially under the plastic covers on
the A pillars). Within your budget, you should be able to get pretty much
any model - SOHC or DOHC, and you can have an auto or manual gearbox.

Fairly cheap to run, though service parts for the Honda engine are a bit
expensive (tenner for the air filter, and I had to shop around for that. Fuel
filter another 12 quid, fiver for the oil filter). Other bits I've coughed up
for are a backlight bulb for the clock (tuppence ha'penny), rear
silencer (35 quid) and a couple of CV boots (fiver a throw).

Brian.

Go to www.autotrader.co.uk to see what you can get for your money. You
should be able to get something around 8 years old with a mileage under
100k. The main thing with cars in this price bracket is how well they've
been cared for and driven. You must also get a long MOT.

I've an M Reg Renault 19 Diesel in Hull that I will be putting up for sale
in a few weeks for half your budget. There are similar vehicles at similar
prices in the Autotrader, but if you're interested, mail me at
temp @ 78b . com

Why don't you just use the Puma?  You bought it to drive right?  It'll
depreciate anyway.

Nissan 200SX.  Reliable maybe not if you drive it like the asks to be
driven or start modding it but it comes with good web support and a
social life.  People arrange barbecues to encourage a team to come
round and fix them.

It will save the Puma, you will be happy to put it up on blocks and
save it for posterity.

--
Peter Hill
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