Looking for a family car for a maximum of 3k
 

Some of you might have saw my previous thread about leasing a car. We have decided to buy a cheap car as she is only using it to go shopping and ferry the little one around. I will also be driving it at weekends.

I would like something with a lot of spec and something that looks alright with a big boot.

Would prefer a diesel but as we are only spending a few grand I am not bothered if it is petrol.

So far I have thought of the following

Audi a4 estate would need to spent a big more to get a nice one.

Vw passet estate

Seat Leon cupra I like this a lot but is it silly

Alfa 157 but could be un reliable but I think they look good.

Ford St170 or something they seem to go for about 2k.

Would also need to be four door

Any ideas would be great

Thanks

With such a small budget why spunk it on a badge? Scrub the VW/Audi in favour of Skoda for instance.

Glad to see you have seen sense, bangernomics is where it's at.:)

Avoid diesel if all your doing is lots of small journeys, they really don't like it, and diesels tend to cost circa £1k more than the petrol equivilent, add to that the higher cost of diesel, possible injector, egr, dpf failures and the extra 10/15 or so mpg is not worth the risk.

If it's a big car your after something like a honda accord is ideal, 30 ish mpg big boot in the hatch and saloon versions, all the toys, and honda reliability.

The mpg is not fantastic, but big diesel cars don't do much over 40mpg unless it's an audi, and you don't want to go there with all of the faults above being well documented on the vag forums, what you spend in fuel will be more than compensated for by the reliability factor.

And a personal favourite of mine is the Rover ZS 1.6, 42 mpg 5 doors decent boot and you can pick a tidy one up for £1500 no problem, and despite what people think about them, they are a very good car, they handle really well, don't go wrong, despite what people say about the head gaskets, you can get one thats already been done with an uprated gasket or add £500 to your purchase price and stick into a specialist for a day and away you go, trouble free cheap motoring.

i'll be getting the diesel version next year.:thumb:

P.s the skoda above looks nice and bang on budget, not my kind of run around though, i'd make that my "posh motor" lol.

Hi

I bought a run around, was costing me a fortune to drop kids off etc in a navara.

Take the kids in it so wanted decent build safety wise.

I bought a 03 plate golf gt tdi 150, silver, 5dr with 100k on it for under 3k.

Drives mint, getting 50 mpg local driving, 60 on the few long runs i done, has all the toys i want, just needs climate regas, but i just open window....

Serviced it myself for 50 quid, part worn tyre for 25, tax was 135 for a year i cant fault it....

Oh, its pretty dam quick too, i was surprised...

Last few weeks navara aint moved......

:Suspiciou

Bit ironic if you wanted a safe family car? You can buy ditchfinder tyres new for little more than that :lol1:

Are Golf's rally that cheap now as they just hold onto their value for some reason...

Agree with comment....its a first for me

It wasnt from a random garage tho, its a family friends business, to the degree his kids go in the car. I know that doesnt mean much to some people when making money, but some people you know you can trust.

I was suprised how much....was north of glasgow, wonder if it would fetch more down south...

Honda accord estate

:thumb:

I got a very reliable & genuine Honda Accord Type S for sale. 93k Honda history. T&T 2 previous owners, last being a bank manager.

Excellent saloon with great comfort & enough power. Wanting less that 3k

PM if interested

Subaru's a family car haha whats wrong with you! :P

+1 - A few days ago, picked up pretty much same car for similar money, tidy 5 door GT TD150 golf, returning similar MPG, comfortable, plenty of room for 3 in the back and still has a decent sized boot. And goes well enough to still keep suprising me and others.

Before this I had the golf 1.8T which was equally nice, but the TDI feels markedly quicker, and puts another smile on your face when you keep seeing average of arond 50mpg for local driving.

Ive just put a buyer off mine, changed my mind about selling for a while

its a bit battered 54 reg Megane estate Privilege 1.9dci
it has -
half leather (decent seats)
keyless entry / start / stop / lock (key in pocket)
full closure
cabase cd unit, single din in dash 6cd with auto vol on speed
tyre pressure sensors
traction control
elec fold mirrors
auto dim mirror
auto lights
auto wipers
lots of storage

I have a lead foot but avg 48mpg

103k and asked for £995, had sold it but decided to keep for a bit, then past MOT without issues
you wont get all that for the money I asked but look for a decent Privilege model and they are top motors, this is my 2nd in 6 years (as well as other cars incl the scoob)

get a good one, change the oil and filters regular and they are okay esp for the money