Ok i know very little about cars but i may need to buy one soon. id like something small easy maintained as im thick. and good on juice what would you suggest? oh and diesel vs petrol.
>>4357 Diesel is pointless now. If you're driving mainly long-distance, stick with petrol. If you're doing mainly city driving, consider electric or hybrid, though bear in mind that to make the most of a hybrid you need to do enough mileage on the ICE to recharge the battery.
Have a look on Autotrader for an older hatchback with one owner, low mileage and a decent service history. If it ticks those boxes, it was almost certainly bought from new by a very careful pensioner who has now died or given up driving. Nissan Micra, Fiat Panda, Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Fiesta, that sort of thing. There are loads of them knocking about and they're surprisingly cheap because they're so unfashionable - for £2,000, you can get a car with less than 20,000 miles on the clock, which is absolutely nothing for a modern car.
Don't worry about age. A lot of these cars will be knocking on for 20 years old, but that means nothing as long as the mileage is low and there are plenty of stamps in the service book. Check around the sills and wheel arches for rust if you want, but you're very unlikely to see any significant corrosion.
The only thing to really look out for on these cars is the clutch and gearbox. Old dodders have a tendency to really chew them up, so make sure that changing gears feels positive and doesn't involve any nasty noises. Faded paintwork or minor scuffs and dings are nothing to worry about, but do check around the driver's seat for wear - if the clock says 12,000 miles but the steering wheel looks battered and the carpet is balder than Ainsley Harriot, the clock is probably lying.
>>4357 M8. How hard is it to properly format your post to the standards expected of this website? Your thread is otherwise fine, but the way in which you've chosen to present it will always be a deal breaker on .gs.
For that budget you could probably get a c. 10 year old Ford Fiesta or Kia Ceed. It depends on your taste, really. You could also look at something like a Seat Ibiza or Vauxhall Corsa.
>>4357 For 2 grand you can get a lot of really good deals and get something that is nice to drive and has enough space for almost anything you might decide to do with it.
Japanese cars tend to be very reliable and you'll get another 100,000 miles out of it easily. That's about 5 years worth of driving, if you're commuting to Bournemouth.
It looks tidy enough, but I'd want to see a service history before buying anything with that sort of mileage. 150k is a perfectly reasonable mileage for something that has been well looked after, but it could be on death's door if the owner's idea of routine maintenance is "take it to the garage when the grinding noises get unbearably loud". The assortment of stains on the upholstery aren't a great sign. It's also being sold on trade terms, so you're pretty much shit out of luck if it's a lemon.
I've just passed my test and I'm looking a runabout. Unfortunately at my current residence the insurance seems to be extra wank, so I've had to downsize my expectations from superminis to city cars.
That in mind I've been looking at Hyundai i10s mostly, and also found a Fiat Panda 1.1 from 2010 with 39000 miles on it.
There's those peugeot/toyota/citroen city cars in the same cost bad but they've got no space in the boot at all so I want something boxier for when I want to carry things.
I just want someone to give me an opinion before I go have a look. I like Pandas too; they're pleasingly boxy and practical, the cabin is less hideous than the toyota Aygos of similar vintage and the body is better looking than the blobby i10 or old kia picantos.
>>4419 Panda is definitely a good choice for what you're looking at - but don't write off those Toyota Aygos; you might think they look a bit shit for your first car, but the bit you haven't discovered yet is maintenance, and those Japanese cars are way more durable and reliable than the Italians.
>>4420 Aygos are rebadged citroen/peugots built in the Czech republic.
Yeah they're more or less reliable and cheap to maintain but they're not toyotas underneath.
