nickwrxstiV2

I'm after a small petrol car that's economical and reliable.


Just getting some work done on my V2 Scooby ready to sell it, then I'll be looking to get something to commute to work. 25 miles a day with a mix of A roads and traffic.


I've looked at -


1.2 16v Corsa 'C' (2005)
1.4 Audi A2 (2001)
1.1 Smart ForFour (2005)


Has anybody any experiences of these cars? Or have I missed any obvious choices?


Thanks,


Nick.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

I'd got for a Honda Civic executive. Get heated leather and more reliable than those mentioned above.

nickwrxstiV2

thanks. Just had a look. Nice spec but tax jumps up and MPG drops about 10mpg across urban/combined/rural.


What about the 1.2 or 1.4 Jazz? Any good?

BLU

iTrader: (27)

Why petrol? Have a look at some of the small engined Diesels, they're good for 60+ mpg and most are around £30 yr to tax! They're actually quite nippy! I run around in a 2005 1.4 TDCi Fiesta atm, 550 miles to £42ish of diesel. Lasts me 3-4 weeks, stark contrast to my nearly weekly fill in my Scoob!

nickwrxstiV2

I had thought of the Fiesta 1.4 TDCi but thought 25 miles a day wasn't really enough to justify getting a diesel.

RS_Matt

We looked at an Audi A2 TDI - 5,000 miles to the gallon and quite Nippy. Price was a bit high though. Got a PD130 Golf in the end which too was a bit overpriced for the 2,000,000 miles on the clock.

Get an Honda Civic with the economy vtec!

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Got to say I've recently bought a 31yr old Golf MK1 td and it's a revelation in fuel costs 700km to 36L of fuel which cost roughly £30 filling up around once every 3 weeks instead of once a week with the subaru.

Failing that Honda civic is a good shout, jazz is pretty much the same car in a different frock, Nissan Micra is a hell of a car too.

Not a big fan of modern diesels or modern cars in general, hence the 31yr old mini tank, lots of research required into specific problems of any prospective purchase needed if going down that route.

dpb

Most populous car on the planet Toyota Corolla... For a reason

You probably won't go cheaper more reliably than a micra though

RS_Matt

I have a Toyota Corolla sticker on my WRX. Don't ask.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

I'm pootling about in a 1.5 Suzuki Swift VVTS. Admittedly it was £1,750 for a 56-plate one but its such a good little car and great fun to drive!! 40-45mpg on an average tank of petrol commuting to York and back from Scunthorpe twice a week and town miles etc.

Awesome little cars even if I look a bit silly as a bald 31 year old in one ��

Andycat

Astra 1.4/1.6 can get say 04 one for £1000ish 50k fsh

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

For £1K to be honest you are looking at cars that you don't want to sink cash into, either from build quality/reliability issues or previous owner neglect/abuse unless it has providence in the form of a file of recent invoices of repairs and historic maintenance. I see plenty roll in and out as we have a few car dealers who deal with this kind of junk...erm...Premium class of small cars LOL

Corsa C: Cheap parts (new and used) with plenty of availability from most parts stockists. simple to repair and work on. Cons: lots of bangers out there. there is the odd gem out there (we have a 30K mile Corsa C as a loan car, can't fault it) Timing chain rattle...get it warm, if it rattles or rattles on start-up, walk away. ECU can fail from a faulty throttle body or Alternator spiking (if side lamps flicker at idle, replace alternator ASAP)

For Four = Mitsubishi Colt. Bit of a tin can IMO. Not seen enough of them to make much comment other than if parts for Smarts are anything like Mitsubishi, nothing is in stock at the dealers and you have to wait, and non-dealer parts suppliers (Andrew Page, Euro car parts etc) don't cater much for them either other than service parts (brakes, filters etc).

Jazz; Anything Honda is good, but beware of failing ABS units on the Jazz...£400+labour and the electric PAS seizing up which makes the steering heavy and not self-center.

A2: Different (better) class of car. Heavier, so not as quick or frugal for the same engine size, cars at this price could be pretty rough or pigs with lipstick and had a hard life. Personally I'd rather opt for another VAG with the same running gear; Fabia, Leon, Polo etc.

Micra = Renault clio + Nissan Tax. Nissan parts are always more expensive. May as well have the Clio....both equally horrible to drive IMO and both suffer gremlins...electric power steering failure, wipers, heater etc.

Old "proper" Micra = Rot box. Most will be ready for the scrap yard unless its had the subframe and sills sorted, or never driven on a wet road.

MK5 Fiesta TDCi...Same as Peugeot/Citroen with the same Dv4 and DV6 lumps. They were great when they were new, but rack up bills very quickly when they get old tired and neglected. Not nice engines to work on; Chuffing injector seal, glowplugs, fuel leaks (air in fuel system = non-start), and top-end or turbo failure on cars that have not had the oil changed enough. Rest of the car is ok

So...I'd rather have a Fiesta 1.25 or 1.4 petrol over the diesel. Worst thing is coolant leaks popping the head gasket. Or the cylinder head core plugs leaking. Rest of the car is pretty robust, simple and reasonably priced parts with plentiful availability.

MK4 Fiesta (and older) or MK1 KA...ALL of them are rot boxes.

MK2 KA = Fiat 500. Nowt wrong with them bar gearbox issues and rear axle beam rotting through on the spring supports (Panda suffers the same).

Grande Punto ...its a Corsa D with a more revvy engine I'd rather have the Grande Punto over the Corsa D...or a Corsa C. Avoid models with the multiair engine (usually badged as Punto EVO), these fail and cause a big £700+ bill.

I could mention Peugeot or Citroen....hmmm, maybe not LOL. So that's my lot

nickwrxstiV2

Wow, thanks for taking the time to post so much info. Much appreciated!


I looked at the Grande Puntos but I think they are out of my price range.


I did find something like this Punto -
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...code=p&adPos=2
Any good?


Or, a 1.9PD TDi Ibiza -
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...code=p&adPos=7
Again, is this model any good?


Thanks again!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

The Ibiza looks ok. Its my favourite diesel engine

Few things to know about them though...Timing belt is every 4 years on these (PD engine) and if its not been timed properly with the right locking tools it throws the fuel consumption right up the wall (as the camshaft also influences the injection timing).

They need to use VW spec 507.00 or 505.01 oil otherwise it wrecks the camshaft. As well as regular fuel filters as soot gets in the fuel return.

So its a little more expensive to maintain. But I've seen these PD lumps with over 200,000miles if cared for.

They can go wrong though, so a injector failure, tandem pump, injector wiring/connector, turbo, dual mass flywheel are all expensive items which whilst uncommon can happen. I don't want to scare you off it as this worlds above the Ford/PSA engines in terms of reliability.

Other stuff at that age...it probably should have had a pair of front lower arms by now, and get someone to check out the bushes of the rear axle beam. And check for rusty brake pipes whilst under there. Not the end of the world if they need doing though. And the sump plug....if it leaks the threads in the sump have probably been stripped (can be re-tapped though)

VAG central locking motors playing up is a given, so check they all work, same with the windows motors as the wires in the doors car fray.

Air con compressors can fail if its the variable rate type (can't remember which one these have). The fixed rate ones are fine though.

Punto, meh..on par with the clio/Micra IMO. Unless its mint I'd want to pay a bit less for that.

jonnyboy82

iTrader: (10)

Audi a2 really you want the diesel version although the petrol are just as good. I've had a few and they are great cars!

nickwrxstiV2

Thanks guys.


I've had a B5.5 Passat with the PD130 engine. MPG was insane for such a large car. I had to replace the turbo and the DMF was on it's way out when I scrapped it. AC pump was seized too.


Thanks for the info.


So, looks like a SEAT Ibiza or VW Polo I think.

lozgti1

Most helpful post

BLU

iTrader: (27)

I do 16miles a day with the odd longer run now and again! Cracking cars, don't seem to rot, not bad build quality and great fun to drive! Mines on 151000 miles and still drives like new. Pick them up for not a lot if you shop around! I paid £1100 not so long ago for my 3 door 2005 car! 5 door TDCis can be had really cheap!

I disagree with Ali BTW, they're an easy car to work on, no more difficult than its petrol equivalent!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Blu I was talking about the engine itself; the DV4 is a pain in the ****. That's why I said the 1.25 or 1.4 petrol is the better choices as the rest of the car is fine

BLU

iTrader: (27)

The TDCi PSA engine is no more trouble than the 1.25/1.4 petrol engine!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Not from the ones I keep having to deal with. Yours might be fine, but they do have common issues.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Was in the same situation looking for my sons first car. I was initially looking at Polo/Fabia/Ibiza but from researching as much as I could they all seemed to suffer their fair share of problems, and from looking at a lot of car ads a fair portion of them said that the car had the eml light on, or one of the electrical faults that Ali mentioned, so ended up getting him a mk6 fiesta 1.4, as these appear to be one of the most reliable of this class of car.

Have to say even though it has done 90 odd thousand miles, I'm quite impressed with the way it drives. It's good on fuel as well, although I couldn't give you an exact figure.

jonnyricer2

iTrader: (9)

Yaris micra corrolla and civic

BLU

iTrader: (27)

Oh dear To be fair you show me an engine that doesn't have common issues!
The two I've had have been fine as has my sisters car (all over 120k) and 65% of the vans at work have either the 1.4 or the 1.6 variant and they've all been fine (and boy they get given a hard time!!) its the stupid Pug gearboxes and electrics that give the issues!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

True, in fairness discounting routine maintanece which is the same across the board, the only othertime I see any car is when there is something wrong with it. Fiesta is a common car, so law of averages do mean there is more to go wrong.

RB5 Boyo

2002/2003/2004 Toyota Corolla T3 1.4 or 1.6....simple cheap to maintain and cheap to buy and look reasonably normal. Can be got for £700 to £1200

nickwrxstiV2

It's just the MPG that puts me off. That's not that different to my Passat which is a 2.0 16v Turbo.


What are the 2.0 Diesels like in the Corollas?

nickwrxstiV2

What's the 1.7 DTi engine like in the Corsas? Only thing I know about it is it's made by Isuzu.

Thanks,

Nick.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

too many known faults for my liking

Had one of the last of the cavaliers with an Isuzu 1.7 td in it. Went well and wasn't a bad car. Had a few combo 1.7 dti's (corsa vans) where I used to work. Horrible vehicles to drive, crap gear change, terrible steering feel and very uncomfortable. Mk6 fiesta miles better in comparison. Only thing I don't like so much is the fairly high seating position.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Fabia vrs are cheapaschips but diesel is what i'd go for, pd 130 engine 50mpg and good for 500k pick one up for 1500 quid with 150k on the clock it's barely run in.