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New car under a grand? 3 Series/Passat/A4/Golf/Leon
dhutch - 16/10/12 at 08:25 AM

Whats the consensus? Need something practical but not too huge, a mondeo, or stupily thirsty!

Open to the floor before I add my thoughts.



Daniel

40inches - 16/10/12 at 08:36 AM

We have got two SAAB's, 2001 9-3 htp with stage 1 upgrade (235BHP) 200k miles when we got it 2 years ago, 230k now, just passed it's MOT, no problems, paid £460 for it. Does around 25mpg around town and a touch under 40mpg on a run.
Also a 2001 9-5 Aero HOT (250bhp) Estate, 97k, had it 6 months, just sailed through it's MOT, cost £850, does around 23mpg town and 38mpg on a run.

tegwin - 16/10/12 at 09:29 AM

VW Bora 1.8T petrol or 1.9TDI seem to be pretty cheap these days.... same platform as the passat but cheaper... With decent wheels they can look quite cool too..

motorcycle_mayhem - 16/10/12 at 10:44 AM

I've just done this!

Why?, simply because our old Mundaneo (1996) was too thirsty for the wife's commute, 2.0 Silver Top Zetec.

I've gone all French for under a grand. Purge-outs were just too cheap and plentiful to ignore. Seems nothing wrong with it (207, 1999), totally bland, a giant leap from the Mundaneo in terms of fuel consumption and tax. So many to chose from.

froggy - 16/10/12 at 10:45 AM

Octavia or the smaller Fabia,s tend to be pensioner transport and don't tend to have the starship mileages of the vw equivalent . The ones I see yearly seem to be 6k per year on average .

zilspeed - 16/10/12 at 10:49 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
VW Bora 1.8T petrol or 1.9TDI seem to be pretty cheap these days.... same platform as the passat but cheaper... With decent wheels they can look quite cool too..


Bora is transverse engine A4 platform.
Passat of the era to suit the budget will be most likely B5 or just maybe squeak into a B5.5 facelift car with longitudinal engine.

Not the same platform then.

However, there's good news and I speak as a past owner of a B4 a B5.5, and currently own a B6 Passat.

The Bora being Golf rather than Passat based is a much more sensible buy if looking to run it on a budget.
The Passat in the era you would be looking at has multi link front suspension with a multitude of front suspension links. Not good come MOT time.




I'd go with a Bora if going VW. The Leon has rather firm suspension for a cooking everyday family car. Needlessly so IMHO.

A grand will buy you a pretty sharp looking 3 series from 1999 onwards and with the correct factory alloys can look very presentable.

I'd have a Bora or a Golf in 100bhp TDI form. They fetch less than 130bhp models but have more than enough low down grunt for everyday motoring and will do mid 50s all day long.

D Beddows - 16/10/12 at 11:16 AM

+1 for the Bora - the 1.9 PD Tdi engine is quick enough not to get left behind and as Zil has just said will do 50mpg combined all day everyday (obviously if you it drive like a tw*t it wont but for most people )

mark chandler - 16/10/12 at 11:36 AM

V40/S40 Volvo, around 2002 should be easily possible.

Well screwed together, Renault diesel so good for 200,000 miles, get the top model.

My V40 has been great

tegwin - 16/10/12 at 11:39 AM

Any idea what power and torque the diesel passat is?

zilspeed - 16/10/12 at 12:02 PM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Any idea what power and torque the diesel passat is?


Depends on the model.

Mine had 130bhp and 229lb/ft of torque from 1900rpm, but that was a 4motion.
FWD cars have 100bhp or 130bhp but a bit less torque. Around 200lb/ft.

It all arrives in one big lump though.
Below about 1800rpm there's little then it all comes chiming in with a thump up the backside.

If you want more progressive and refined, an HDI is a far nicer thing in terms of power delivery and refinement.

I say this having owned both and currently owning a VAG rather than a PSA engine.

dhutch - 16/10/12 at 12:33 PM

Interesting comments.

Valid point about the Passat (which would be a B5, prolly estate) costs, bora's a nice car and might be better option.

Not seen any Octavias for the money really, and the Fabia can tow a ton which is a requirment. Where golf (another option) is normally 1200kg

Had a line of 306's and have look at another and the 406 becuase they are just very good but also fancy a change.

Need to get ringing round and see what I can see one evening or on Saturday.

probablyleon - 16/10/12 at 02:58 PM

Another massive thumbs up here for Saab. I can't believe how much car you can get for your money these days. Last week I bought an '05 9-5 Aero Hot for £2300. I was blown away with the ridiculous depreciation of Saabs in particular. Is it because they went bust??? Either way, I'm assured it won't be a problem to get parts for. I usually spend circa £1000 on my daily drivers but in this instance I could't resist 250bhp, leather seats and all the gadgetry

[Edited on 16/10/12 by probablyleon]

britishtrident - 16/10/12 at 06:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mark chandler
V40/S40 Volvo, around 2002 should be easily possible.

Well screwed together, Renault diesel so good for 200,000 miles, get the top model.

My V40 has been great


Most Renault Diesels are well screwed but seldom together. Type Renult Dci into Google and without prompting the first thing Google auto complete suggests is "Renualt Dci Turbo Failure"

Or to put it another way how many mini cab drivers use Renault Diesels ?

The reason is mainly historic, about 10 years ago Renault and Nissan were specifying a deadly combination of over long oil change intervals and not specifying full synthetic oil, with a car that has been pampered all is life no problem but we are talking old cars with a long history ............................

Renault weren't the only motor manufacture to have lubrication related problems around this time longer service intervals caused problems for Vauxhall, Opel, Saab and Toyota but the blow ups in Renaults can spectacularly costly.

40inches - 16/10/12 at 06:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by probablyleon
Another massive thumbs up here for Saab. I can't believe how much car you can get for your money these days. Last week I bought an '05 9-5 Aero Hot for £2300. I was blown away with the ridiculous depreciation of Saabs in particular. Is it because they went bust??? Either way, I'm assured it won't be a problem to get parts for. I usually spend circa £1000 on my daily drivers but in this instance I could't resist 250bhp, leather seats and all the gadgetry

[Edited on 16/10/12 by probablyleon]


After 20 years running Beemers I wish I had discovered SAAB's years ago, fast, comfortable and all the toys for free
I believe that the parts arm of SAAB was independent of the car manufacturing division, so is carrying on manufacturing.

dhutch - 16/10/12 at 11:25 PM

Leaning ever more towards Mk4 golf which just gets in under the price bracket, basically just the vag equivalent of the 306, which is the worse thing about it because all the arguments for it say i should just get another 306 and I dont want one, writing off, breaking, and replacing two is enough!

The Saab 9-3's can be had for very little cash for there age, although many are still over a grand.

However, I think that if I can get a lift tomorrow im actually going to look at a 316i E36 Compact....

Heart says yes, head says maybe!