Recommend me...

[Cavcraft]

..a dizzler for under about eight hundred sovs please. I'm doing twice the daily mileage now due to taking junior to work/back and I'm getting a bit pissed at the fuel I'm buying.

 

I'd like something five door, enough room for fast growing kids (14 and almost 17) that needs to be reliable and cheap to run.

Don't want a Golf Mk3 (had one, hated it) or an Astra with a slow blow engine.

Hatchback or estate preferred, not arsed about the badge or any fancy toys but power steering would be good.

 

Suggestions please?

[mouseflakes]

ZX estate?

[trigger]

Mk 2 Mondeo?, O.k i know the 1.8TD aren't the greatest of fun and they are starting to get old but i still think they are a bloody good car.

 

I would of thought £800 would get a you a decent late W plate Ghia with it's original bumpers still intact.

[Volksy]

306?

[Guest]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-X-REG-ROVER- ... 0620371340?

And you get change

£699.00

[Burnside]

Cavalier diesel perhaps ? Decent sized car with 4/5drs good boot space an got pas too. Still plenty about an should bag a tidy 1 for less than £500.

[warren t claim]

http://liverpool.gumtree.com/liverpool/59/60214659.html

 

How about this?

[Station]

I'd go for Astra mk3 TD! Well built, reliable, everything works, 300 quid!

[meggersdog]

Pug or Citroen with a Bosch pump for that "it'll run on anything" cheapness

[Station]

How about a nice BMW 5 series E34 525? Sub 500 quid!

[Father Ted]

Pug 306

Pug 405

Pug 406

 

Citroen ZX

Citroen BX (hahahahahahahahahha!)

Citroen Xantia

 

I think out of that the ZX / 306 option would be best.

[Milford Cubicle]

Commer C7 with a TS3 'knocker' engine.

[Cavcraft]

Some good ideas there, cheers.

What are the engines like in those Rovers please? Take it they're not as failworthy as the K-sealies?

[Lukas]

There´s only one choice for you really! Don´t think about all this Euro-****** and buy a Toyota Carina E 2.0D or D-turbo. They are very slow (2.0D with 72hp) or a bit slow (D-turbo 83hp) but run forever on everything, are mega-reliable and have a quite good rust-protection. You could get a Corolla E10 or E11 with the 2c-engine too, but the Carina E would be better for driving with two fast growing kids.

 

L

[M'coli]

Some good ideas there, cheers.

What are the engines like in those Rovers please? Take it they're not as failworthy as the K-sealies?

I believe these engines are good.

[Pillock]

Late 306HDi, good engines and nice to drive

[FredTransit]

how about a Mk5 transit minibus with a bosch pump and run it on veg oil?

[MK5 Escort]

That Sierra is a bit of a 'mungral', unfortunately. It has the original wheel trims for one of the earliest '90-91 revised examples, which come in late on the 'G' plate. However, the interior is from a pre-90 car. It should have Astral Grey Velour and a Four spoke steering wheel (the one on this example is an original Ford jobbie, but certainly not original to that Sierra). If it's an LX, which I very much suspect it is/was, it should also have electric front windows... The '90 revision also got rid of those little red stubs above the door handles to lock the doors. Instead, you just pushed in the handles. In short, it's a '90 car with a pre '90 interior. The smoked numberplate surround is also missing, but that could have just broken off or been nicked...

 

Seconded on the mk2 Mondeo 1.8 TD estate - except for the now standard gaffer-taped bumpers. They drove better than I expected and were refined enough motorway cruisers. Not exactly quick, but pulled well enough for me. We had a couple at work as company cars several years ago and they were generally reliable. I found them more relaxing to drive than the mk3's. There’s a 'V' plater which we sold about seven years ago which I still occasionally see knocking around locally - and from memory, had done a shade under 130k when it was sold...God knows what it's covered now.

 

I'll also second the comments on later Peugeot 306's. Very decent to drive and the engines, if serviced properly, generally last forever. A work colleague of mine had an 'S' plate 306. He bought it nearly new and had it until about 18 months ago. The electrics were terrible but mechanically it never missed a beat for him. He raved about it.

 

Early mk4 Astra estates should now be getting close to or on the £800 budget, although don't expect a low milage car. I actually find these to feel more spacious than the mk5. They're solidly built from my own experience too. Much underrated cars and considerably less 'insulting' on the eye than the original Focus if you ask me. I've never experienced the 1.7TD’s in these though, only the rarer 2.0 DTi’s. Not exactly refined, but they really shifted.

[dollywobbler]

I'll vote Mondeo diesel too. My Dad's old boss used to have one. Lived on a diet of neglect and thrashing yet took until 330,000 miles for the crankshaft to fall apart.

 

Of course, you know the real answer is a BX TZD Mr Cav!

 

Though failing that, try and track down a Renault 21 diesel to see how the other half live. (I'm finding my 21 is like the BX (comfortable, handles nicely) but without both the charm or the unreliability!)

[Guest]

Leyland Martian.

[dieselnutjob]

rover 600 diesel ?

[MrDuke]

Pug 405td estate. The saloon version was incredibly nice to drive, I doubt the estate would differ that much. XUD being possibly the best diesel lump of its time, as well.

[Albert Ross]

Mk3 Astra 'F' with the 1686 Isuzu engine. I had one, M plate pre-facelift Estate. I tried to kill it, couldn't, sold it to greenvanman, he couldn't kill it, offered it back..... dunno what happened to it.....Top motor. Took loads of abuse, kept going, and going, and going. 17/10 for reliability. Tweaked the pump too.... good for 3 figures with ease!

[Pete-M]

You're looking for a cheap dizzla. Buy whatever is working well and has a decent amount of mot.

 

Whatever you get will be dire as it's diesel. Why worry about the flavour? For a few hundred quid, if it goes bang it is gonna be going one way over the bridge anyway.

 

Can't go far wrong with a Xantia TD or Pug 405 though.

[Guest]

I'd go for Astra mk3 TD! Well built, reliable, everything works, 300 quid!

....and rusty as fuck, otherwise accurate.

[HillmanImp]

You're looking for a cheap dizzla. Buy whatever is working well and has a decent amount of mot.

 

Whatever you get will be dire as it's diesel. Why worry about the flavour? For a few hundred quid, if it goes bang it is gonna be going one way over the bridge anyway.

 

Seconded.

 

I was looking for exactly this sort of thing a while back. I got my 1999 Megane Scenic for £300 with 190 thou on the clock in an attractive radioactive babyshit green. 10 months MOT, a bit rusty round the arches, but should hopefully cart my mountian bikes and me around for a bit. I love it, it does its job perfectly, I have other cars that I can drive like a dick.

 

For that kind of price, if it never gets through another MOT I will still be happy with it, although I do not see a reason why it should not pass.