Car Buying Recommendations UK

[mpw]

12 daddy G's really don't go that far anymore do they...

No they don’t.

It's a shame your company isn't willing to allow you to go to a Car SuperMarket and find something nearly new with the remaining manufacturers warranty.

Unfortunately living on an island makes that kinda’ difficult. In an ideal world I’d nip over to France and grab a dirt-cheap right hand drive model but it’s just not worth the hassle. We’re limited to one franchise for each manufacturer and then the entire market is owned practically by one company. You just don’t get great deals when there’s no competition from the salesmen. The following are all sold by one garage;

Aston Martin
Audi
Bently
BMW
Chrysler
Citroen
Jaguar
JEEP
Landrover
LDV
Lotus
Mercedes-Benz
MG-Rover
MINI
Mitsubishi
Peugeot
Porsche
Rolls-Royce
Saab
Skoda
Smart
Suzuki
Volvo
VW…………and there are probably more I’ve forgotten.

Personally I'd go for the 90PS 1.4 TDi A2, it's a relatively rare car and it has that sense of style that no other small car can match, don't forget to haggle for the full length glass roof as well

I’ve not got a price list from Audi yet but it’s in the running although I’m no fan of it’s styling.

Also in the running might be a bottom of range new Merc. A-Class

I'd avoid the MINI.... far too ubiquitous, and the MG is a REALLY OLD car, what about a Tigra?

The Tigra’s a great idea but Vauxhall haven’t managed to make a good one yet imo and I’m inclined to agree about the TF but it’s still in the running as it’s RWD and that might be fun. I’d love an MX-5 but think it’ll be out of budget, any stock clearance specials they do this summer will be fully loaded and nearer £20k but still good value.

Now if anyone can come up with something not from those makes above than competes with the MINI I’d be grateful. What about views on the Yaris/Jazz/Corsa/Fiesta.

 

[petej]

Having explored but not driven the Jazz, it is a work of brilliant packaging and a bit funky with it. Honda make some great engines. I flirted with an easy-rentacar Merc A class - original model - and hated it. One of the worst things ever produced by MB. MB does redeem itself in my books be backing SMART. Have never driven one but the 2 seater and the roadster are hits in my book even if they don't have huge performance. Not so sure about the 4 seater though. As for models not in your list, I would echo a previous post about SEAT - VW's for a younger market. How about a self-build Caterham 7 for 13k - would your company object to that?

 

[geese]

Ever wanted to be a 2 car household?

Buy 2 Perudua's: http://www.alluk-motoring.co.uk/perodua.html and buy £2000 worth of accessories

 

[mpw]

One year on...

One year on and I've just made a decision! The trade in got put on hold for a while due to a busy period at work so they gave me another £2k, unfortunately the Clio was only valued at £2.5k so budget didn't really improve. Anyway today I put an order in for a brand new *drum roll* Honda Civic *deflated sigh*

OK maybe not the most car I could've got if I'd been in the UK but it's not going to go wrong and does have 140bhp to play with and a huge boot for moving bodies etc.

Quite excited for such a mundane car, gotta love that new car smell.

 

[FireArse]

didnt check the thread for thr date!!

One year on and I've just made a decision! The trade in got put on hold for a while due to a busy period at work so they gave me another £2k, unfortunately the Clio was only valued at £2.5k so budget didn't really improve. Anyway today I put an order in for a brand new *drum roll* Honda Civic *deflated sigh*

OK maybe not the most car I could've got if I'd been in the UK but it's not going to go wrong and does have 140bhp to play with and a huge boot for moving bodies etc.

Quite excited for such a mundane car, gotta love that new car smell.

I thought it was March of this year!! LOL

I think the older style Civic was much better looking. For £12.5 can u get a 1-series BMW? I would quite happily drive one of those Toyota's or the Honda hybrid. No money to Ken for the congestion charge!

F

 

[drlunanerd]

Good choice! The patriotic option too - they're built in Swindon. The most British mass produced cars you can get these days are Japanese
I assume you've gone for the 2.2 diesel S spec?
Would be interested to know how you get on with it.

I'm waiting patiently for the Type-R, although the new Mazda MX-5 you mentioned previously is tempting at the price.

I ride Honda motorbikes and admire their engineering, although like most manufacturers the underlying quality has actually dropped over the years.

 

[zerolight]

You should check to see whether or not TSB Car Select qualifies, since their cars are sourced from UK dealers. They tend to be quite a bit cheaper. I've ordered an Audi and saved a couple of grand whilst still getting the same trade in price that the dealers were offering on my current car.

 

[mpw]

...I assume you've gone for the 2.2 diesel S spec?...

No. There is no S trim diesel and anyway I wanted A/C so SE trim was the lowest I'd go.
I went for the 1.8 petrol SE as it's about £1,585 cheaper.

 

[iGav]

Anyway today I put an order in for a brand new *drum roll* Honda Civic

didn't realise you were that old mate.

 

[mpw]

didn't realise you were that old mate.

Neither did I!

When I took it for a test drive I turned up and the salesman apologised that the test car was out but would be back in a moment, would I like coffee etc.

When it pulled up in the car park the guy testing it before me was Dereck Warwick, so yeah it's obviously a retired mans car but at least he's a retired F1 driver.

 

[EGT]

What's wrong with the Civic? It's a good car. It'll last you a long time and it's reliable.

I've decided my next car will be German or Japanese. Never buying a Ford again.

 

[drlunanerd]

What's wrong with the Civic? It's a good car. It'll last you a long time and it's reliable.

I've decided my next car will be German or Japanese. Never buying a Ford again.

Don't be too hasty. I don't know what problems you've had with Ford, but in Europe the Focus is more reliable than the Golf, the Mondeo more reliable than the Passat. It pains me to admit that since I'm a lifelong VW nut, but the stats prove it.

Go with Japanese certainly, but I'm afraid the Germans have let quality slip a great deal in the past few years. Just look at the problems Mercedes have caused themselves. Audi are getting a reputation for arrogance and build-quality problems in direct proportion to their growing market share. I could go on.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

hmmmm...might have to consider not spec'ing the floor mats to help on the budget?

Latest idea is a Mini ONE with alloys and black leather. I’m not a massive fan of the styling or pretend heritage but it does drive well (I read) and they’re holding their value at the moment anyway.

Anyone drive a Mini, specifically the ONE, and have any thoughts?

You can get a really nice Mini Cooper second hand through Auto Trader, I was having a look last night. I used to own a Mini Cooper and it was the nicest car in he world ever mark 3. The minis are simply beautiful cars and they are *lovely* to drive. It was with a heavy heart that I had to give her away. I've driven a Mini and a Cooper S too. Didn't like the Cooper S that much although the One was nearly identical to the Cooper unless you put your foot down.

I got pretty much all the accessories on my Cooper although the only ones that I would probably get again are the heated leather seats, multi function steering wheel, cd player and then most of all, the climate control. I had a sunroof and stuff but never used it. The climate control was my favourite accessory of all and I don't think I ever want to get a car without it!!

If you do got for a One make sure you get one with alloy wheels and the basic accessory pack (I can't remember what i was called for the One). For Coopers, get the Chilli pack at a minimum and if you can find one, get climate control. Its fantastic.

Did I mention that the climate control was fantastic?


Edit: Just saw the date of the thread!! Whoops!! I see you've already ordered a car and made your mind up months ago!! Sorry! The Honda Civics are good cars too!

 

[emotion]

german car. small audi or a VW?

Given the budget a Seat Ibiza (FR or TDI) would be a nice vw-related choice

(My partner has a seat tdi sport...by far the best car I've ever driven...and I've had a lot of VWs...corrado vr6/16v, golf gti etc etc)

edit: must read whole thread before replying

 

[mpw]

You can get a really nice Mini Cooper second hand through Auto Trader...

The Mini was knocked off the list because it was so little car for the money compared to your Civic/Golf/Leon etc. (also the garage that sells them here has crap agter sales)

Given the budget a Seat Ibiza (FR or TDI) would be a nice vw-related choice...

The Seats were on the list and I drove them but just couldn't get comfortable in the Leon which would've been my choice from them.

The biggest disappointment was Skoda, both the new Octavia (Golf) and Superb (Passat) were in the running but the garage selling them (same as the Mini) had them at ~£1,700 and ~£2,000 ABOVE list price!

 

[emotion]

The Seats were on the list and I drove them but just couldn't get comfortable in the Leon which would've been my choice from them.

Fair enough. It's a personal thing, the Ibiza is fine for this for us.

If I wasn't going VAG then I'd probs go with something Japanese. I love diesels though and VAG have the TDI thing nailed from what I can tell.

 

[drlunanerd]

VAG TDIs are generally excellent, but the Honda 2.2 diesel is also a very good engine. Shame you went for the 1.8 petrol, I know you said the price was the decider but did you test drive the diesel? All the reviews I've read pan the petrol engine, for being too raucous I think. Having said that I love high-revving Honda engines - especially in their motorbikes Big gobs of torque in a diesel is probably better in the real-world though when you don't get chance to rev the nuts off.

 

[emotion]

VAG TDIs are generally excellent, but the Honda 2.2 diesel is also a very good engine. Shame you went for the 1.8 petrol, I know you said the price was the decider but did you test drive the diesel? All the reviews I've read pan the petrol engine, for being too raucous I think. Having said that I love high-revving Honda engines - especially in their motorbikes Big gobs of torque in a diesel is probably better in the real-world though when you don't get chance to rev the nuts off.

I read a review of the Honda engne and it more or less said it sounded like a bag of hammers with performance to match. I was suprised by this as I would have though honda would have got this right.

 

[FFTT]

With your budget I would go for a rice burner for sure.

Toyota or Honda if at all possible.

Use Mobile 1 after your first oil change and never look back.

 

[drlunanerd]

With your budget I would go for a rice burner for sure.

Toyota or Honda if at all possible.

Use Mobile 1 after your first oil change and never look back.

He's already bought the car - a Honda Civic. Good choice save the petrol engine.

Common mistake people make when buying modern cars: you need to give them a good thrashing when running the engine in!

Yes that's right. Because they increasingly come with fully synthetic extra long-life oil so the maker can claim long service intervals, the pistons don't bed in to the cylinders unless you rev the nuts off the engine some of the time. Loads of people thus complain that their shiny new petrol BMW, VW, Audi etc. use litres of oil in the first few thousand miles. It's because they're treating the engine like a 1970s Ford. These days they are made with much tighter manufacturing tolerances and need caning to get even bore wear.

As long as you've run it in properly then stick with fully synth. If you haven't, any to-spec semi-synth is a better choice as it'll allow the engine some "good" bedding-in.

 

[MacEffects]

german car. small audi or a VW?

I like the VW Golf Sport its far nicer then a Honda or anything like that... Well then again I much rather drive my Buick LeSaber Custom (w/ v6 3.8) of course I know gas if far more in Europe how much more well, I don't know, but I know the smaller engine the better. Unless your job is a racer and your boss wants a sports car

 

[mpw]

I like the VW Golf Sport its far nicer then a Honda or anything like that... Well then again I much rather drive my Buick LeSaber Custom (w/ v6 3.8) of course I know gas if far more in Europe how much more well, I don't know, but I know the smaller engine the better. Unless your job is a racer and your boss wants a sports car

The Golf would've been more expensive and statistically less reliable plus the local VW dealer is crap.

Gas prices here is $6.08 a gallon, how's that compare with where you are?

 

[MacEffects]

The Golf would've been more expensive and statistically less reliable plus the local VW dealer is crap.

Gas prices here is $6.08 a gallon, how's that compare with where you are?

Oh, well I meant use, but since the dealer is crap anyway I suppose that wouldn't help any, but I'd imagine a cheap little import (as long as you don't think you can race people with a 4cyl). Used cars are the way to go I have a Buick like I said it is a 1994 and it is very nice, with tons of goodies, and has 145,000 miles, and I have not replaced or repaired anything since I bought it, GM makes great stuff (minus the Hummer - **wonders** any crazies in the UK with Hummers at those gas prices). Well our prices in the USA are currently $2.97 per Gallon, of course this will vary place to place, but I am glad its not that expensive. But yeah a little car would be good for you

 

[FFTT]

Man we're getting hozed here at $2.53 per gallon.

It seems like the rest of the world call fall to ***** as long as the oil companies profit.

The new mini Mercedes is kinda cool, but waaay to much for my blood
My '99 Tacoma has 162,000 miles, running great.