16vmarc

Will be required to do about 70miles per day mainly on national speed limit b roads in all weather.

Cheap as possible obviously! No silly engine sizes as has to be good on fuel. Diesel seems the best bet. Size not important but only i will be using it i guess.

What do people recommend?

SCOOBYD00

Whats cheap?... Cheap as chips... £400 old Mk3 golf 1.6 or 1.8... tuff as nails. Or if you can stretch to £800-£100 for for the TDi of the same.. solid cheap reliable. Depends.. an old stinker of a Mondeo? Loads around.

RON

I've got a 1995 Rover 218sd turbo...... good as gold on diesel, and cheapish to buy.... if you can find a lowish milage one their very good......

RAJ27

Rover 216sli. Best £100 I have spent. Nice 1.6 Twin Cam Honda 16v Engine , coupled with a Honda gearbox. Done 7k in the last 12 mths and no parts needed. The car has done 127k (1993 on a K plate) and everything works.... electric windows, central locking etc. Find a good un and it will last for ages.
You won't get power steering/ew/esr/cl and some other goodies in a basic Micra or Pug. You'll miss some of that if your doing 70miles plus

brickboy

There was a thread recently about Peugeot 106 diesels -- cost about a grand and does 60 to the gallon

Brendan Hughes

You haven't said size or carrying capacity. Frankly you could get a 1.0 Nissan Micra for that, it would be cheaper to buy than a diesel, run on fumes and be depressingly reliable. If you don't need any power, a little reliable petrol will be fine.

16vmarc

No bigger than mid sized and i want a bit of power, i hate underpowered cars. Only needs to carry me. A 1.0 Micra would be very frustrating on b roads.

TopBanana

We bought a 1.0 Micra and it was brilliant fun! You had to work really hard to keep the speed up, brilliant!

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Phase 2 Mondeo (from '97). Shedloads around so plenty of choice (even dealer prices are cheap), reliable, heaps of room for shunting crap around, cheap parts, choice of engines to suit your needs.

I was considering cheap cars to run around in and kept coming back to it. So I got one a few months back Haven't had cause to regret it yet.

...and the insurance is only £250 comprehensive with zero no claims bonus.

Duck_Pond

I bought a pipe & slippers Rover 420Di for a grand, back in Feb. It's got just over 100bhp, does 60 in less than 11 secs, averages 48-52mpg, and has done 14k miles since I bought it, with only the occasional hiccup. One of the hoses burst (£40) and the transponder for the speedo went (£50).

The Di also has air-con, electric windows, mirrors (heated) and ABS. I just wish the fecking bulbs were easier to change!

Mine's done 82k now, and should be good for another 100k at least, unless I get bored and buy a vRS afterall...

hades

Got to admit to looking at doing the same thing for a 70 mile each way (mixed motorway and B roads) commute, aiming to spend 1-2 grand. Rover 200 or a 306 with the 1.9TD seem favourite to me at the moment - both have enough go, will do 50mpg and won't have lost a lot of value by me putting several thousand miles on it when I come to sell in a few month's time. To my mind, Micra/106 etc are just going to be too much like hard work if you're spending 2-3 hours a day in them.

SCOOBYD00

whats the difference, phase 2?

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Because phase 2's are better than phase 1's apparantly, according to parkers guide

T5OLF

iTrader: (4)

Corsa turbo diesel M reg 60000 miles 900 quid?? and its 4 door!!