What to buy?

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GB - 28 Oct 2009 13:18 GMT

So, the position is that a lovely lady drove into the door of our 1995 3
series**. It's clearly repairable, but probably beyond economic repair -
it's still driveable for now. Hopefully her insurers will pay for the
damage.

The real question is whether to trade the car in under the scrappage scheme
or buy something secondhand? We need:
Automatic gearbox (as wife can't drive manual)
4/5 seats
Reasonably safe (if not very safe!)
We don't do many miles at the moment - maybe 3-4k a year.
Would prefer hatchback or estate.
Price range up to £25k, but would prefer under £10k if possible

So, what do you gurus suggest, please?

** Her comment was that I shouldn't have had the door open if there was
traffic coming - like she couldn't drive round it like the other cars did.
There was plenty of room. Grrr.

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Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first
trip.

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Scott M - 28 Oct 2009 21:26 GMT

> We don't do many miles at the moment - maybe 3-4k a year.
> Would prefer hatchback or estate.
> Price range up to £25k, but would prefer under £10k if possible

For 3-4k miles a year, don't spend £10k, let alone 25. If you aren't
precious about mileage then £7k will get you a choice of 4 year old
ex-fleet stuff (I bought a 54 plate 320d at 3.5 years old & 120k miles
for £7k - runs & looks the same as a 54 plate car with 20k on the clock)
with a fair chance of finding an auto.

For the sort of change found down the back of the sofa you could
probably have your pick of previous shape Mondeos at 6 or 7 years old
(for a well regarded car they lose money faster than HBOS) but always
assuming they didn't inherit the autobox problems of the MK II.

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Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

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GB - 30 Oct 2009 00:47 GMT

>> We don't do many miles at the moment - maybe 3-4k a year.
>> Would prefer hatchback or estate.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> (for a well regarded car they lose money faster than HBOS) but always
> assuming they didn't inherit the autobox problems of the MK II.

Thanks. How do you find out which autoboxes to avoid?

I found a bunch of 5 year old Honda Accords for around £5k - seems pretty
good to me.

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Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their
first trip.

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AstraVanMann - 30 Oct 2009 06:55 GMT

>> For the sort of change found down the back of the sofa you could
>> probably have your pick of previous shape Mondeos at 6 or 7 years old
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> I found a bunch of 5 year old Honda Accords for around £5k - seems pretty
> good to me.

Ask around - in general smaller cars tend to have crapper autoboxes,
particularly anything that's a CVT one. Also, look on peachorlemon (google
it, can't remember if it's a com or a co.uk) and the owners' reviews section
on parkers.co.uk - look for reviews of auto versions of different cars, and
you'll notice patterns of which autoboxes people generally tend to say are
shite.

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"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

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Doki - 30 Oct 2009 23:40 GMT

>> We don't do many miles at the moment - maybe 3-4k a year.
>> Would prefer hatchback or estate.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> £7k - runs & looks the same as a 54 plate car with 20k on the clock) with
> a fair chance of finding an auto.

I'd dodge the 320D if I wasn't particularly after that combination of
frugality and performance, which probably isn't necessary for someone doing
3-4k. Nasty habit of eating their turbos. And generally the petrol version
will be cheaper.

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