Which make and model of car is best for me to buy?

Question

I have up to £2500 to spend on a used car.

1. First and foremost it has to be reliable, as I travel 46 miles round trip every day to work, and I can't use public transport.

2. What kind of mileage should I be looking at? I was thinking 50K under, or is that asking for too much?

3. Year of the car - I was thinking 03 plate or newer.

4. I'd prefer an engine up to 1.3 - any higher and I think insurance will be high.

I'm not bothered about how the car looks - eg box shaped cars etc.

As I said tho reliability is a must!!

What kind of make/model would be best?

Thank you.

Answer 1

On that kind of budget, the choice is vast.

I would consider a Ford Ka or Fiesta,  Vauxhall Corsa or even the Nissan Micra (thats one ugly car though!). Any of those are reliable and cheap to run/maintain. Depending on the roads you commute on, I would go for as high a trim level your budget will allow, purely for comfort!

As for mileage, the average for a car these days is around 10,000 per year, so you're about right with your expectations, though small cars tend to do slightly less than average.

Most small cars these days tend to be fairly reliable, but as a personal choice, I would stay well clear of anything Fiat have to offer.

Answer 2

I have met this kind of problem before,here is the resource I found useful.http://car-insurance.bestips.info/car-in...

Answer 3

toyota yaris 1 litre cheap on insurance,road tax and reliable..look on auto-trader....but you might be pushing it with £2500 for an 03 reg.

Answer 4

Recommond Ford - I've been a ford owner and driver since 1960 - never had a problem yet.

Links re Ford cars UK

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=na...

Answer 5

Hmm I'm not sure how much 2500 euro would be compare to us dollars but I know some of the most reliable cars are Nissans and Toyotas. Nissan and Toyota engines can last up to 300,000 miles as long as you keep a good maintenance on it. Also you travel 46 miles a day you may want to look into something that saves gas like a Toyota Prius or Yaris or for Nissan it would be something like a Nissan Versa. The insurance shouldn't be too high for those cars because they're just regular family cars.  

Answer 6

you could get a oldish VW polo, they are german so probably more reliable and you could get the 1.4se which will not be much on insurance but will be nippy if you are traveling that many miles in a day

Answer 7

Re the second answer: This -£- is a British pound symbol, NOT a Euro symbol.

I'd suggest Japanese for economy & reliability, they are far ahead of such things as Fords in this respect. Pay £2,500 for a Ford & you will spend on repairs, it's that simple. I've had a few Fords, every single one has had to have pretty expensive repairs at some oint, contrary to one of your other replies.

For your money & requirements,

something like this would be ideal;

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www...

Economical, reliable, and you can keep £500 for tax & insurance.

Answer 8

Have you thought about purchasing a Diesel as the modern diesel car has say a low insurance group and is very economical.

what you need to do is visit the Parker's guide web site at: http://www.parkers.co.uk/choose/

You can then select a make of car and see the details ie MPG/ insurance group etc. When you have chosen or decided on a model try WWW.autoexpress.co.uk/ web site and read the review for the chosen vehicle it will tell you all about the possible faults and what models to avoid due to reliability issues.