Where to buy a car?

My dad has a Toyota Corolla automatic of a similar vintage that still runs great and has never needed any money spending on it at all - pot luck really but as others say that goes for all used cars not just cheap ones.

Would also give a shout out to Skoda Fabias - I've got a mk1 auto from 2006 that has been completely trouble free and a similar one would surely not set you back very much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzim1iYhmGA

In also looking around this week. I'm using Autotrader and Ebay as standard. I find on autotrader, location / dealer searches are sometimes a bit more fruitful as it stops you staying within the realms of cars you like the look of. For example I saw a mid 00 Mazda 3 in a fairly unattractive (but fine) silvery blue last night for under 2k.

My advice is, if you're really concerned about reliability, take a mechanic to the car first. The payment for that is going to be minor compared to whatever might be wrong with that car. Other advice would be the same as others have said - Japanese, or small petrol. If you happen to live East I can maybe recommend someone.

This isnt the oracle but you can also run an MOT check on DVLA which will give you some idea of how the car may have been treated at least in terms of tyres, consumables (wipers, oil, windscreen washing fluid). Sounds silly but if the last owner didnt top up their oil and windscreen fluid its a fair bet they didnt care much for the vehicle, which at the age you might expect for the budget is quite possible. First car I bought was exactly that.

Apart from posting unhelpful songs, my advice is to try word of mouth - tell everyone you know you are looking for a cheap car and you may well get lucky to find someone who's grandma is ready to give up driving or similar. If you can find a deal this way you get a little more peace of mind, and might get a good deal as the vendors won't have to go through the hassle and expense of advertising.

I once bought my mate a car for £200. Old vauxhall nova, looked like a kid's drawing of a car, did him over a year and then he passed it on to someone else. Car he bought in replacement was a disaster, cost him so much time and money.

isn't the answer: you don't need a runaround in London? Cars are shit. Buy a cargo bike and carshare or uber if you have to.
you're welcome

Thank you

I got a ULEZ friendly 2004 Ford Focus for £750 and it’s been great!

There’s a sweet spot of petrol engineering around the late 90’s early 2000’s imho- frugal but without the later complexity. By that token, I’d be getting the oldest petrol car I could that’s still ULEZ compliant- so early 2000’s.

As above, a Micra is a great shout.

It takes ages to find the right car- I’ve always bought privately and out of london and been guided by vibe. You’re looking for that rare, well cared for car on a fancy driveway. They’re 1 in a million seemingly but they do turn up. Alas, mostly on car forums.

Good luck!

Audi A2. Polo with a more fun look and better mpg because alloy space ~age~ frame

Edit: I don’t know how to do strike through

Well, obviously:

https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/hou/6565526716.html

tbf, I've driven Corollas in dodgy offroad stiches in places like Iraq and seen them used where only 4x4s are used in Somalia, Afghanistan and a bunch of other stans. It seems to be a reliable vehicle.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/378831/#comment16677789

Exactly!

You'll be able to snaffle a decent 1.0 or 1.3 Yaris for that. They're bombproof chain driven engines.

My mate is selling hia wifes VW Polo 1.4 auto black and 4 door new and recent service all good and ULEZ and cheap insurance .base in wandworth. Oh price £1500

Another Micra recommendation - they tend to soldier on without major issues, except mine (an 07) had both central locking mechanisms fail (~£150 per door to fix), a known issue apparently. The petrol engines are all chain-driven so no cambelt issues like small petrol VWs. One caveat is that the rounded roofline means you can't fit bars to carry bikes.

Yaris is a great shout also

If this isn't taken I'd be interested, could you send me more details if so? Cheers

Thanks for bump, sadly had the cat stolen recently so stuck with a big lump of aluminium at the moment

Is cat theft a thing? Shit, sorry mate.

Thought it was only in the US

I spent some time on Gumtree when I needed to replace my dear old 205. I looked outside of London, and found an ‘04 Ford Focus in Cambridge for £700. The guy bought it from an old friend for his wife, and it had a full, and I mean full, service history and every receipt since new. I think you just have to take your time and sift through the ads til you spot one that fits the bill, and is genuine.

Someone had theirs stolen from the carpark at work. I thought it was for the exotic metals but he said Honda stopped making cats for their older cars and that made second hand prices rocket. His cat had a second hand value of about £800 apparently.

2010 Ford focus owner here .
Long term bangernomics advocate .
Get a petrol and something that has obviously been taken care of .
That second generation of focus was really well sorted and a nice car .
Look for as late to 2010 as you can get , the zetec 1.8 would be my choice .

1.8!? Maybe if you’ve won the lottery. Had a 2000 (maybe 2001) focus, 1.6. Probably my favourite car, but absolutely drank petrol. And the road tax will be £250+

Mine’s the 1.6 and yeah it’s a bit thirsty, certainly compared to my old 1.3 206. But it’s so well built in comparison and you can virtually buy spares in Aldi, so swings and roundabouts.

I agree with others that Micra/Yaris/Jazz are where it is at