What would you buy if that was all you had to spend on a car? I'm
thinking maybe a Ford Focus or old Nissan Primera.

MichaelS wrote:
What would you buy if that was all you had to spend on a car? I'm
thinking maybe a Ford Focus or old Nissan Primera.

Perhaps a Focus, a Xsara (might get a HDi if you want a diesel) if I were
looking at the cheaper end of that bracket.

On Tue, 06 May 2008 11:26:23 +0100, MichaelS wrote:

What would you buy if that was all you had to spend on a car? I'm
thinking maybe a Ford Focus or old Nissan Primera.


Whatever looks like the best buy at the time. & get insurance quotes.

On 6 May, 11:39, "Duncan Wood" wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2008 11:26:23 +0100, MichaelS wrote:
What would you buy if that was all you had to spend on a car? I'm *
thinking maybe a Ford Focus or old Nissan Primera.

Whatever looks like the best buy at the time. & get insurance quotes.

What he said. Once cars have got to that sort of age, the difference
in reliability between 2 cars of the same make and model is likely to
be much more than between 2 different makes.

That said, if I cared more about reliability than performance or
handling, I would look at the korean cars. You are likely to get a
much newer one of them than a european car, and I have only heard good
things about there reliability. And if I was spending that much, I
would not want an old anything unless it was interesting (read fast).
You can get a quite new car (6 or 7 years old) for well under a grand
these days, so there is no point in going old.

wrote:
On 6 May, 11:39, "Duncan Wood" wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2008 11:26:23 +0100, MichaelS
wrote:
What would you buy if that was all you had to spend on a car? I'm
thinking maybe a Ford Focus or old Nissan Primera.

Whatever looks like the best buy at the time. & get insurance quotes.

What he said. Once cars have got to that sort of age, the difference
in reliability between 2 cars of the same make and model is likely to
be much more than between 2 different makes.

That said, if I cared more about reliability than performance or
handling, I would look at the korean cars. You are likely to get a
much newer one of them than a european car, and I have only heard good
things about there reliability. And if I was spending that much, I
would not want an old anything unless it was interesting (read fast).
You can get a quite new car (6 or 7 years old) for well under a grand
these days, so there is no point in going old.

Going rate for an 8 year old Focus looks like £1-2k. I recently picked up a
5 year old 406 HDI estate for £2.5k. If you avoid the German makes, the
depreciation is pretty vicious and the cars end up damned cheap for what
they are.

With fast stuff, you can easily be looking at a 15-20 year old Golf GTI at
that sort of money. Fast stuff tends to hold it's value.

On 6 May, 12:08, "Doki" wrote:
wrote:
On 6 May, 11:39, "Duncan Wood" wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2008 11:26:23 +0100, MichaelS
wrote:
What would you buy if that was all you had to spend on a car? I'm
thinking maybe a Ford Focus or old Nissan Primera.

Whatever looks like the best buy at the time. & get insurance quotes.

What he said. *Once cars have got to that sort of age, the difference
in reliability between 2 cars of the same make and model is likely to
be much more than between 2 different makes.

That said, if I cared more about reliability than performance or
handling, I would look at the korean cars. *You are likely to get a
much newer one of them than a european car, and I have only heard good
things about there reliability. *And if I was spending that much, I
would not want an old anything unless it was interesting (read fast).
You can get a quite new car (6 or 7 years old) for well under a grand
these days, so there is no point in going old.

Going rate for an 8 year old Focus looks like £1-2k. I recently picked up a
5 year old 406 HDI estate for £2.5k. If you avoid the German makes, the
depreciation is pretty vicious and the cars end up damned cheap for what
they are.

That seems quite expensive. I am driving around in a 7 year old 2l
mundano that I picked up at the auction for 600 quid. It has 150k on
the clock but does the job. I belive people like focii a bit more,
but presumably they are pretty similar in how well they are put
together.

With fast stuff, you can easily be looking at a 15-20 year old Golf GTI at
that sort of money. Fast stuff tends to hold it's value.- Hide quoted text -

They are considered classic cars arn't they? But anything that is
thought of as more that a way to get from a to b is going to be a
whole lot more money.

"Doki" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Going rate for an 8 year old Focus looks like £1-2k. I recently picked up
a 5 year old 406 HDI estate for £2.5k. If you avoid the German makes, the
depreciation is pretty vicious and the cars end up damned cheap for what
they are.

The speed of depreciation on cars always surprises me. My Focus 2.0 ESP is 7
years old in June, hasn't gone wrong in the 4 years I've had it, does
everything just as well as a new car but is worth only a tiny fraction of
the price. High depreciation makes more sense with cars that rust badly but
the Focus doesn't do that. If the government really wanted to do something
about the environment they'd make it more financially attractive to keep
running older cars rather than squandering resources building new ones.

How about no road tax on cars over 10 years old?

Instead most countries are trying to reduce the average age of the vehicle
parc on the grounds that newer cars are less polluting and more fuel
efficient than older ones. I beg to differ. The average mpg of the cars I've
owned has hardly altered in 30 years and we've had compulsory catalytic
converters for over 15 years anyway. What's actually happened is that cars
have got steadily heavier due to all the safety related features they are
required to have so any gains in engine fuel efficiency have been more than
offset by the increase in weight you have to burn fuel to lug around.

Back in the day an average hatchback weighed about 850 to 900kg. My Focus
weighs nearly half as much again. That doesn't make much difference at high
speed when aero drag is the main resistance but round town it's all extra
weight that has to be accelerated and braked constantly.

In 1983 I bought a Mk 1 Astra GTE. It was the dog's ******** in its day
although it would look a bit basic by today's standards. No ABS, leccy
windows, air bags etc. Over 47000 miles it averaged 31.0 mpg. The Focus has
just hit 47000 miles and has averaged 30.3 mpg.

If we want to save oil then modern cars aren't making a scrap of difference.
The only thing that will is if we all drive very small, light, low powered
cars rather than fat bloated ones packed full of safety features. To save
medical costs the best way would be to leave out the weight bloating safety
features and train drivers to drive better. That means work though rather
than just enacting legislation so it'll never happen.
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines

wrote:
On 6 May, 12:08, "Doki" wrote:

With fast stuff, you can easily be looking at a 15-20 year old Golf
GTI at that sort of money. Fast stuff tends to hold it's value.-
Hide quoted text -

They are considered classic cars arn't they? But anything that is
thought of as more that a way to get from a to b is going to be a
whole lot more money.

I suppose you could term the MK2 a classic, the MK3 is relatively disliked,
but still commands good prices. If you think of something like the PPC £999
challenge, most of the quicker cars are jap turbos, but there's no saying
what state they're in at that money.

On 6 May, 13:19, "Doki" wrote:
wrote:
On 6 May, 12:08, "Doki" wrote:

With fast stuff, you can easily be looking at a 15-20 year old Golf
GTI at that sort of money. Fast stuff tends to hold it's value.-
Hide quoted text -

They are considered classic cars arn't they? *But anything that is
thought of as more that a way to get from a to b is going to be a
whole lot more money.

I suppose you could term the MK2 a classic, the MK3 is relatively disliked,
but still commands good prices. If you think of something like the PPC £999
challenge, most of the quicker cars are jap turbos, but there's no saying
what state they're in at that money.

I was thinking 15 - 20 years ago would be a Mk1, Mk2 was early 80's?
But yeah, anything that appeals to young men is going to be expensive
and likely to have been abused.

wrote:
On 6 May, 13:19, "Doki" wrote:
wrote:
On 6 May, 12:08, "Doki" wrote:

With fast stuff, you can easily be looking at a 15-20 year old Golf
GTI at that sort of money. Fast stuff tends to hold it's value.-
Hide quoted text -

They are considered classic cars arn't they? But anything that is
thought of as more that a way to get from a to b is going to be a
whole lot more money.

I suppose you could term the MK2 a classic, the MK3 is relatively
disliked, but still commands good prices. If you think of something
like the PPC £999 challenge, most of the quicker cars are jap
turbos, but there's no saying what state they're in at that money.

I was thinking 15 - 20 years ago would be a Mk1, Mk2 was early 80's?
But yeah, anything that appeals to young men is going to be expensive
and likely to have been abused.

MK3 arrived in 1992/3 - 15 years old. MK1s came in around 76 and went in
around 82 IIRC, so they're getting on for 30 years old now. If you can find
a good one it'll cost way above £2k.