I'm buying a used car

So my 15 year old VW Polo is getting pretty tired. I have 4-5k € and so I want something that is simply younger. I'm thinking Skoda Fabia, Octavia or Opel Astra, but cant figure out which of these cars are any good and which are not.

Any suggestions, recommendations, experiences?

ford mustang

my mate just bought a 250quid f reg mazda from some bird cos she was fit.

he's got to drive it to the arctic circle for charity....and the passenger door doesn't close. dopey bastard.

With Mr. Fusion option.

If I had this car some gangsta boys would demolish it on the first day out.

this one looks quite comfy

I've bought a used 2006 5-speed Scion (Toyota) xB last year, used, one owner with 61,000 km to replace my 96' VW Jetta. I don't think they sell that model in Europe, but it's been quite reliable.

Have no idea what maintenance costs are for Japanese cars in Slovenia though. Good luck!

  On 3/28/2010 at 9:38 PM, joshuatxuk said:

I've bought a used 2006 5-speed Scion (Toyota) xB last year, used, one owner with 61,000 km to replace my 96' VW Jetta. I don't think they sell that model in Europe, but it's been quite reliable.

 

Have no idea what maintenance costs are for Japanese cars in Slovenia though. Good luck!

Really? I would have kept the Jetta.

i got my Xa in 04 and have never had an issue

mk2 golf GTi, mk2 jetta GTi, mk2 scirocco

And with the money you saved buying one you can do this

Golf is an option, pimping the car is out of the question.

One important thing is benz oz diesel?

vw golf or ford focus hold their value pretty well

  On 3/29/2010 at 12:29 AM, Craig Anderson said:

actually I really like these. Edges, not curves.

i'm actually serious aswell lol

  On 3/28/2010 at 9:43 PM, Ron Manager said:

  On 3/28/2010 at 9:38 PM, joshuatxuk said:

I've bought a used 2006 5-speed Scion (Toyota) xB last year, used, one owner with 61,000 km to replace my 96' VW Jetta. I don't think they sell that model in Europe, but it's been quite reliable.

 

Have no idea what maintenance costs are for Japanese cars in Slovenia though. Good luck!

Really? I would have kept the Jetta.

 

Ha! Yeah, my xB is black and carbon fibre trim, I didn't want anything loud. I loved that VW, but it was getting way too costly to fix. If I had a history of tuning it, or if it was a V6, I would of hung on to it.

Ford Focus, in my opinion you just cannot go wrong, fathers owned an 04 plate from new, fucking nothing has ever gone wrong with it, apart from two very obvious and "made clear from purchase" jobs that need to doing after about 90k miles. That being the ball joints for the front arm suspension links (The Focus has completely independent suspension all round, which totally transforms the handling), and the coil pack replacement.

Other than that just your usual services, cambelt change (10 years or 100k miles) etc as you would do normally on every other car.

I've raced many Focus ST's and fuck me these things are absolutely spot on for handling, the ST170 imo is unrivalled by any other hot hatch, I've driven them all, and my lap times in the ST are a good 3 seconds quicker than cars with 30% more power.

Golfs however will go on forever, and this is why they hold their value, their newer marks are not every appealing to look at from my perspective, but reliability its pretty steady. I begrudge paying £3k for a 9 year old car though, and you can get something that's only 6 years old for the same price and will be a lot more appealing to the eye, and something more sporty to drive (an Octavia as mentioned in your first post is a prime example, you can get a VRS model, 6 years old, for £3k).

It seems from your OP though that the Golf/Focus route is only one avenue of thought? As you suggested the Octavia too, if you were to look for something a little bigger, I'd look no further than the Mondeo, an Octavia is a VW underneath, but the build quality is SHIT, and they look pretty fucking dull imo. Again, Mondeo fucking GREAT fun to drive and will meet all your needs for your budget.

I'm biased as I've always been a Ford man, due to being brought up on their racing pedigree (and it's some fucking pedigree I can tell you, Ford have fingers in pies I can't even pronounce).

You'll notice I haven't mentioned Vauxhall, which might seem odd to some of the uk'ers here, as I live in the very Town that Vauxhall was born and bred. The reason for this is they are shit. Trust me, the chassis are fucking terrible, they handle like a fucking marshmallow on jellied eels, the bottom ends have a habit of going and the amount of recalls Vauxhall have had in the past 4 years is PHENOMINAL. Rover have a bad egg which follows them around and it's the classic head gasket failure problem, well not many people know it, but Vauxhalls head gasket problem far fucking outweighs Rovers, just that no one knows about it. I know this because I used to work for Vauxhalls, and I used to work for a race tuning/building/modifying company (I basically worked on touring cars y0!)

So buy a Golf/Focus/Mondeo

Thats my 2 cents :-), good luck!

(although you've probably made your purchase by now).

  On 3/29/2010 at 4:38 PM, joshuatxuk said:

  On 3/28/2010 at 9:43 PM, Ron Manager said:

  On 3/28/2010 at 9:38 PM, joshuatxuk said:

I've bought a used 2006 5-speed Scion (Toyota) xB last year, used, one owner with 61,000 km to replace my 96' VW Jetta. I don't think they sell that model in Europe, but it's been quite reliable.

 

Have no idea what maintenance costs are for Japanese cars in Slovenia though. Good luck!

Really? I would have kept the Jetta.

 

 

Ha! Yeah, my xB is black and carbon fibre trim, I didn't want anything loud. I loved that VW, but it was getting way too costly to fix. If I had a history of tuning it, or if it was a V6, I would of hung on to it.

my mom has one in silver, screw the new version though eh?

i'm sure you could get a civic for a good deal Garrg

get a trabant

no no get 5 trabants

or one of these guys

  On 5/22/2010 at 5:41 AM, yek said:

 

 

i'm sure you could get a civic for a good deal Garrg

Won't get a newish one for the budget, would be looking at an 8 year old one.

  On 5/22/2010 at 5:43 AM, yek said:

or one of these guys

 

LOL

  On 5/22/2010 at 5:38 AM, abusivegeorge said:

Ford Focus, in my opinion you just cannot go wrong, fathers owned an 04 plate from new, fucking nothing has ever gone wrong with it, apart from two very obvious and "made clear from purchase" jobs that need to doing after about 90k miles. That being the ball joints for the front arm suspension links (The Focus has completely independent suspension all round, which totally transforms the handling), and the coil pack replacement.

 

Other than that just your usual services, cambelt change (10 years or 100k miles) etc as you would do normally on every other car.

 

I've raced many Focus ST's and fuck me these things are absolutely spot on for handling, the ST170 imo is unrivalled by any other hot hatch, I've driven them all, and my lap times in the ST are a good 3 seconds quicker than cars with 30% more power.

 

Golfs however will go on forever, and this is why they hold their value, their newer marks are not every appealing to look at from my perspective, but reliability its pretty steady. I begrudge paying £3k for a 9 year old car though, and you can get something that's only 6 years old for the same price and will be a lot more appealing to the eye, and something more sporty to drive (an Octavia as mentioned in your first post is a prime example, you can get a VRS model, 6 years old, for £3k).

 

It seems from your OP though that the Golf/Focus route is only one avenue of thought? As you suggested the Octavia too, if you were to look for something a little bigger, I'd look no further than the Mondeo, an Octavia is a VW underneath, but the build quality is SHIT, and they look pretty fucking dull imo. Again, Mondeo fucking GREAT fun to drive and will meet all your needs for your budget.

 

I'm biased as I've always been a Ford man, due to being brought up on their racing pedigree (and it's some fucking pedigree I can tell you, Ford have fingers in pies I can't even pronounce).

 

You'll notice I haven't mentioned Vauxhall, which might seem odd to some of the uk'ers here, as I live in the very Town that Vauxhall was born and bred. The reason for this is they are shit. Trust me, the chassis are fucking terrible, they handle like a fucking marshmallow on jellied eels, the bottom ends have a habit of going and the amount of recalls Vauxhall have had in the past 4 years is PHENOMINAL. Rover have a bad egg which follows them around and it's the classic head gasket failure problem, well not many people know it, but Vauxhalls head gasket problem far fucking outweighs Rovers, just that no one knows about it. I know this because I used to work for Vauxhalls, and I used to work for a race tuning/building/modifying company (I basically worked on touring cars y0!)

 

So buy a Golf/Focus/Mondeo

 

Thats my 2 cents :-), good luck!

 

(although you've probably made your purchase by now).

your car posts are such a pleasure to read. i know nothing about cars but your love and expertise makes me enjoy every word. also, it makes me feel "cool" that i was really happy with the focus i rented a while ago.

  On 3/29/2010 at 2:34 PM, ezkerraldean said:

 

i'm actually serious aswell lol

Yes!

Thanks A/D, another member I've always been fond of. Gotta say I get vibes off members in this place within reading just a couple of their posts and they're either good or bad. Either sides always ring true after time on the board.

Never known anyone to be unhappy with the driving pleasure of a Ford Focus to be honest :-)!

and yes those golfs are awesome! And you'll get a minter for £3k, but it will be 15 years old AT least, as they were the best mk without a doubt.

mk 1 GTI though, fucking creamy pants time.

ford e-250

so you can please the children with extra leg room