Buying a new car, opinions wanted

[stevie1556]

I'm going to be selling my car next month, which is a top spec Civic 2.2 diesel, to get rid of the finance, and also the fact that the car is too nice to be putting the amount of mileage that I do on it.

So I've been looking around, and with a budget of £1500 (wedding and business setting up are both money pits!) I'm looking for new cars. My Civic has everything near enough, auto lights, auto windscreen wipers, bluetooth, cruise control, voice control, auto climate control, sat nav, the lot. So I would like my new car to have as many features as possible, but the cruise control is a must. It also needs to be diesel (I'm doing 15-18k a year), a reasonable amount of power, but most importantly, reliable. I work shifts and don't want to be stuck on the motorway at stupid hours.

I've narrowed my list to:
Mazda 6
Renault Megane
Ford Focus
Seat Leon
Saab 9-3

They are all the same size car more of less, all between £1000-1500, all 1.9L diesel engines, and 03-04 plates.

Does anyone have any experiance with any of the cars, and if so, would you recommend them or avoid them? And other other cars I've missed?

 

[Russ146]

"Suggestion"

Why dont you use the £1500 to pay off the finance or some of it and keep what you have and run it into the ground?
Hondas last for years

Thats what i have always done, you wont get much for it and better the devil you know.....

my current car is a 17 year old Audi cabriolet which ive had for 5 years and has just gone straight through the mot for the fourth year running, i'm hoping to get another 10 years from it.

In this weather its driving heaven

PS, the focus will fall to bits in no time, its a "Ford" remember

 

[BackToBasics]

I had a 52 plate Magane that had many redeeming features but unfortunately reliability was never one of them (showing up hot-hatches was fair game though).

As a current Audi owner I'm tempted to suggest the anything from VAG so Seat and VW would be top of my "to try" list. Audi would be top but the age/price trade off may be too steep. Similar to Russ, I'm hoping for many years of driving joy from my Audi (an A3 in this case).

My brother has had and, more importantly, liked both the old and new version of the Mazda 6. The latter was an (unexpected) upgrade from a BMW 3 series. The former (an '05 plate I believe) was a decent enough motor.

If I was in the market for a second hand car I'd definitely be looking at either German or Japanese engineering. In the end I'd probably buy a Golf but, given your short list, the Mazda is miles in front.

The only Fords I've known have been a pick-up truck from my Dad's business days and my brother's 56 plate ztec. Both of which were "okay". Solid but uninspiring.

Saab's look nice but other than that I've no experience.

 

[oldbloke]

Why dont you use the £1500 to pay off the finance or some of it and keep what you have and run it into the ground?
Hondas last for years

I'm not a big car expert (made the mistake of buying a second Vauxhall last time around) but I agree with Russ here. My Accord had to go but I should have got another.

 

[Cononthebarber]

Agree, if you know that you like the car you have then I would try and keep it, use whatever cash you have to get rid of the finance. Sound like a great car and if you change and the new one turns out to be not as good you wil regret getting rid of the Honda :thumb:

 

iv got a ford focus estate iv had it 3 years and its a great car but its petrol ...
i had another one before this one and have to say there the best buys iv ever had ...
but as i said my fords have both been petrol 1.8 fantastic cars ...

regards mick... :hat: .

 

[mickthetrick]

my best friend has a car breaker's yard and we have talked about which is best. his oppinion is buy jap. he says when the crusher comes in there's maybe 500 cars to crush. out of the 500 theres only maybe 20 jap cars in there. you would be surprised at how many fords and vw`s he buys in with knackered engines and gearboxes.
if i was you i would try and work out a way of keeping your honda. they are very good cars. :thumb:

 

[Russ146]

and also the fact that the car is too nice to be putting the amount of mileage that I do on it.

So you are going to give it away and let somebody else have the benefit of a really nice car while you drive round in a £1500 shed?

That is not good business sense my friend

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Stevie have a look at the reviews here - https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... Cg8T4YITXA

 

[danb]

id go for the leon mate had a golf 1.9 tdi which will be the same engine. the vag 1.9tdi engine is a brilliant engine and if looked after will run forever

 

[morethanworts]

I've had around 8 or 9 fords and a vauxhall, one Daihatsu and a Rover. All were reliable. I don't think there are many cars around nowadays that are inherently unreliable by design or build, though I'm sure there are exceptions. So, while we all want a reliable car, I think you'll be splitting hairs to compare 'reliability' by the brand or model at the £1500 level. The history and condition of each particular car will be far more important.

Personally, I'd get an old 1.8 Diesel Focus. I hired one once and it was a pleasure to drive, pulls and cruises really easily, and has a great chassis. I've driven an ST and I have a Mondeo 2.0 130 estate, but I'd still be quite happy with the 1.8 TDCi any day, if I didn't need the extra family/bootspace. Shouldn't be toooo much of a disappointment after your Honda 2.2. Cheap parts too and plenty to choose from, because (quite rightly!) they were very popular. Just avoid that horrid green colour they did :sick:

 

[Antony]

Volkswagen. I have a Seat Leon and its alright, fair bit of road noise though on motorways.

 

[wezil]

Hi keep the Honda! I used to work for a guy who destroyed two Porsches gearboxes in short order, and he also had an old civic with to the moon and back mileage and it never went wrong!!

 

[TRXnMe]

From your list I'd go for the Focus, Fords are incredibly good cars now, very well built and robust. If you still think they are in the 1970s and Fix Or Repair Daily then get onto Honest John and take a look at the reliability indiex on them :)

If you just don't like Fords the SEAT is the next best motor from your list.

The SAAB might have chassis problems, the early 9-3 was built on a Cavalier chassis (I think) and it's not up to rest of the SAAB.

As a wild card, take a look for a Rover 75 Diesel, CDTi Conniseur SE is the one you might be interested in. BMW M47R diesel engine with a turbo that isn't made of chocolate. Buy a one from 03 or earlier for the ultimate cheap luxury motor, full leather, dual zone climate, sat nav (might be a bit out of date now mind ) heated seats, on the SE the seats have position memory set to the key, so if you share the car the seat goes where each driver wants it :)

I've got the tourer (estate) and get 38 going to work and bacck which is a 7.5 mile each way trip, on a run to my parents I'll get close to 50 MPG cruising at 70, the saloon is better again on fuel.

 

[goodolpete]

From your list I'd go for the Focus, Fords are incredibly good cars now, very well built and robust. If you still think they are in the 1970s and Fix Or Repair Daily then get onto Honest John and take a look at the reliability indiex on them :)
Just paid out over 1000 quid as DPF failed on my Focus 1.6 TDI diesel.
Google returns millions of hits on this fault.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The problem with DPF's is if you don't take the car for a good blast at least once a week the cars ECU will trigger an Active regeneration, if you do not let this finish because you are only making a short journeys eventually the filter will block and it will cost a lot of money to repair.
The bottom line is if you only make short journeys and rarely get the car above 40 mph for long periods don't buy a car with a DPF fitted.

Regeneration is either passive or active

Passive regeneration

Passive regeneration takes place automatically on motorway-type runs when the exhaust temperature is high. Because many cars don't get this sort of use car manufacturers have to design-in 'active' regeneration where the engine management computer (ECU) takes control of the process.

Active regeneration

When the soot loading in the filter reaches a set limit (about 45%) the ECU will initiate post combustion fuel injection to increase the exhaust temperature and trigger regeneration. If the journey is a bit stop/start or you take your foot off the accelerator while the regeneration is in progress, it may not complete and the warning light will come on to show that the filter is partially blocked.

It should be possible to start a complete regeneration and clear the warning light by driving for 10 minutes or so at speeds greater than 40mph.

If the regeneration is unsuccessful the extra fuel injected will not burn and will drain into the sump. Oil quality will deteriorate as a result of this and the level will rise. It is important that you check that the oil level does not increase above the maximum level on the dipstick as diesel engines can run on excess engine oil – often to the point of destruction.

If you ignore the warning light and keep driving in a relatively slow, stop/start pattern, soot loading will continue to build up until around 75% when you can expect to see other dashboard warning lights come on too. At this point driving at speed alone will not be enough and you will have to take the car to a dealer for regeneration.

 

[oldbloke]

It was all so much simpler when we had distributors with points and real carburettors...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

And feeler gauges to set the points at regular intervals and suppressors to get rid of radio interference. :lol:

 

[Vossy1]

I'd go for Russ's 'run it into the ground', but then again if you want your credit cleared for another purpose, ie to move, I'd sell. If I were to buy I'd choose a car that was reliable and where spare parts abound, that would have to be the Ford, or possibly Mazda which has a lot of ford parts fitted. I've owned 2 fords for 5+ years and both have been totally reliable. I presently have a Citroen Berlingo which has never broken down and only had the back box replaced in the 7 years to date....I'm intending to run it 'into the ground'.
As a 'flip side' we have a brand new Peugeot 3008 with 4000 miles on the clock, I drove it for the 1st time yesterday and the sun visor mount came away from the roof on first use

 

[cask is best]

No brainer, Keep the Honda :thumb: Excelent motors. The only three makes i buy are in no particular order are Honda, Toyota and Nissan. All jap cars but all built in England.