Suggest me a car.

[_Will_]

Ok, so i don't like the cold anymore, i leave for work early in the morning and its getting on me tits, i'm not enjoying riding in rain or cold so bikes going and i need 4 wheels to get me to and from.
Me and t'other 'alf share a car, which leaves me to get more of a toy/personal car.

I have a budget of about £1k- Max of £2k.
I like the look of some jags like sovereigns from about 95-98ish.
Also like saab 9-3's from the same time.

Of course this is me being a little silly,(still might go ahead with it though ) because i'm now getting some nice insurance quotes.

So, i like petrol/diesel prefer manual but autos maybe for certain cars saloons/hatchbacks etc

Go'ed suggest me.
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|

[Eddmond]

As much as Volvo's are hated among bikers you can get a lot of car for yor money i've just got a V40 P reg with full spec for 600 quid. Massive boot for all my tools and not too slow either.

[MaybeGuy]

you can pick up a ford cougar for under a grand.
i think theyre pretty.
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[G]

You could just get some appropriate clothing... less cold than a car as there's no waiting for it to warm up .

After that, the cars you list don't say 'fun' to me.
Something like a MX5, MR2, 3 series 'sport' BMW, Impreza, or even a light weight hatch back all seem to be more 'fun'.
Saying that, I still quite enjoyed my Laguna and it's terrible body roll as I knew it's limits and could easily hold it there.
Also, 200sx (s14a is pwetty), 300ZX, Sunny/pulsar GTiR, Celica, Integra if FWD is your thing.

If you're more into your 'barges', I've often fancied a 7 series BMW for the 'wafting', Subura Forester to pretend you drive across fields, or some mildy modified 4x4 for to actually take off road. Big mercs can often be ok value, less so big Audis (A8) and some interesting deals on better specced passats.

If you don't know, pistonheads is an excellent resource: https://pistonheads.com/sales/

[bacon]

get a six pot beemer?

i really miss my e36 325 coupe, not the quickest 0-60 but dead comfy, fairly fast and sounded great. Also rear wheel drive to get your ass twitching in the rain, mine didnt have traction control haha

quite thirsty though, i used mine when i was contracting doing 550miles a week, i got 28mpg but did 100mph on the motorways when i could so not so bad.

Around town though was sub 20, dunno if thats a factor for you but still

oh and even though i had a coupe you can still have a good shag in the back, just enough room

[Phoenix]

325 diesel is not bad either, give you 50mpg and is still pretty quick with 140bhp, cheap as hell now. My E36 didn't have traction control but tbh it wasn't that scary, you need proper power and crap suspension to know what scary is in the wet, 300hp rwd V8 with no traction control is scary...so much so I just don't bother in the wet unless I want to slide everywhere, even on tickover you'll go sideways out of junctions. My 530D E39 has all the electric gismos and you'd have to be a right 'tard to lose control, it still slides but you just have loads more time to bring it back.

Volvos are all nice and comfy but they're all really bad on petrol and not very quick in comparison to similar cars. If your budget is 1-2K then i'd say insurance is what will decide which car you get because if you're young then half that budget will be to insure it.

[G]

I'm still looking to get a racelogic traction control unit for my M3 - heard good reports on them in various places.
Good point on the insurance, even not too young and some of the cars I listed (300zx especially as well as any others that are imports) are going to be quite nasty to insure

[_Will_]

Yea insurance might be better but its not fantastic, I'm only 21
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|

[G]

[Robby]

I've got a 1990 Jaguar Sovereign at the moment, with the 4 litre straight 6. I paid £550 for it in good condition.

It is a lovely car to drive. Smooth and powerful. They are well built and take mileage well - mine has done just short of 200k and doesn't feel it.

However.

They are thirsty 25mpg is a significant achievement, with 20 being normal. It will return 30mpg on the motorway at 70 driven carefully. The tank costs over 80 quid to fill, and no matter how long that lasts it always feel expensive.
You will tinker with it a fair bit. Parts are fairly cheap, and pattern parts generally come from a fairly specialist supplier and are of a high quality. It is designed to work on, and quite traditional in many ways - for instance you need to strip and grease the wheel bearings every 30k, but they last for ages and replacements are cheap. Double wishbone suspension at the front means two balljoints and lots of bushes per side, which wear over time and need replacing. 80 quid for the rebuild set, but you need a special spring compressor. Brake parts are expensive. The engine takes 7 or 8 litres of oil.

It is a very heavy car. Different places quote different weights, but they seem to agree with it being over 2000kg. You have about 240hp (on a pre-cat model) and lots of torque, if you put your foot down it will go fast and push you back into your seat. I have to be very gentle pulling away on hills in the wet, or it will spin the back wheels easily.

I'm not sure if I would recommend one. One the one hand, it is a lovely car to be in, very cheap to buy, and a different driving experience to a big merc or BMW. On the other hand, they are expensive to keep on the road, and you should always be aware that one major component failure will render the car worthless.

Buy a cheap one, look after it, and either sell it for what you paid for it, or sell it for nothing when something big goes wrong.

[Dischord]

Can't go wrong with a Honda Civic or something.

For £1800-2k you can get yourself an EK4 VTi, nice comfy car with 160bhp, if you can't afford the twincam get a single cam VTEC still plenty of fun and can be picked up for chips.

Some of the Peugeots perform quite well if you can get over owning a Peugeot, have a look at the 306 and 106 XSi models.

I would only get a basic little hatchback if you just want to stay warm over winter, cheap maintenance if anything does go wrong, easy to park and drive, lots to choose from etc
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2012 KTM EXC 250

Check out my vids - https://www.youtube.com/user/KTMSparky/videos

[effit]

bit of a grandas motor but have you thought about a Vauxhall
Omega? you can pick one of them up for 1-2K.
They have usually had a good life, unless taxied, and are very comfy.
I had a loan of one and it had electric everything, good engine and cheap to maintain...

[G]

[_Will_]

Don't really like the omega's.

I drive an 05 accord at the moment as our main car, the missus did say she wouldn't mind getting a small work runner and letting me take the accord to work....could be an option.

Quite like the Ford cougar & pumas, she would look ok driving them too.
If keeping a big jag is going to cost me the earth i may steer clear, i don't mind lower mpg's but if things are going to fall off or wear quick then no ta.

Am being swayed to some of the mid nineties bm's, what are high mileage reliability models?
Also keep seeing mr2 and musing.
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|

[Dischord]

[G]

Fast for a hatch back no doubt, but doesn't stop it being boring to drive . (And (a spoiler) the KTM was set to 'poor fuel' setting I later found out, never mind the fact it was a fully loaded trail bike </excuses>.)

[_Will_]

Quite like some of these.

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110453487585&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_731wt_1167

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360204694420&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_1302wt_1167

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120487222412&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1182

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250525283850&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1182
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|

[mistergixer]

[NSR Mick]

The amount of different cars you can get for 1-2k is silly.

If it's just a commute hack get a Mondeo diseasel.
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If you dont like the way that I ride.......Stop trying to keep up!!!

[dodgydog]

Audi a4. cheap, smooth, comfortable, well made (galvanised steel, no rust). great choice of specs and engines. Had mine for 8 years and it never missed a beat, still regret selling it.

dodgy
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not exactly what I meant

[_Will_]

It will be a keeper, not just a hack as i will need a car next year for wedding photography.
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|

[Noxious89123]

Ford Ka?
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'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi

[_Will_]

[Phoenix]

Any BMW will go for silly high miles aslong as it's been maintained, don't bother getting one without history because there's plenty with full history for not much more. I'd expect 250K minimum out of a well kept BMW 6 cylinder, mine is currently on 183k and runs great. With the diesels you obviously have a turbo that is a risk, the petrols don't so it's less to go wrong.

The problem with most cars isn't really engine longevity it's the expense of keeping the rest of the car in working order, suspension, bushes, bearings, driveshafts, joints, electrics, exhaust, rust, just because a cars engine can hit 300K it doesn't mean the rest of it won't all need replacing by 150 due to bad maintenance or the fact that it's just reach the expensive replace stuff point in it's life.

Neither of those BMWs you list are inspiring, a 318 is nothing special and it has some wretched alloys on it, the 320 is an M3 replica and you're better off just getting a 320 that looks like a 320, the 323 or 328 can be cheaper as they're less popular than the 320/325 and make good power, expensive to insure though especially a coupe.

[_Will_]

So heres what i ended up with.

2000 Vw passat 1.8 s 20v
77k
Mint in and out, fsh drives like new.

Not bad for £1200.

https://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u247/vee88photo/Picture1-14.png
https://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u247/vee88photo/Picture2-4.png
https://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u247/vee88photo/Picture3-1.png
https://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u247/vee88photo/Picture4.png
https://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u247/vee88photo/Picture5.png
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|