€10,000 for a used car. Your recommendation?

Bluehair

unkel wrote:

Well said. The diesel was (deliberately?) underpowered by BMW so it should easily chip to around the 140-150bhp mark

@€;10k it's a lot of car for the money

Normally I'm not the biggest fan of black, but it sure looks good on your car, Bluehair

Thanks I waited to find one in black for a while, all polished and waxed it looks great.

You're right about BMW deliberatly de-tuning the engine which was part of the arrangement to allow Rover to put it in the 75, basically they just didn't want to allow it to compete with the 3-series directly.

As you mention many owners remap it (in fact Upsolute here can do it) to close to 150bhp. Alternatively you can get a tuning box to achieve the same end. I was going to go for the former but got a 75 specific tuning box from a member of the mg-rover club for GBP £99, brings bhp from 114 to about 144 and has now got fantastic power where it matters (i.e 40-60 and 50-70).

unkel

Bluehair wrote:

got a 75 specific tuning box from a member of the mg-rover club for GBP £99, brings bhp from 114 to about 144 and has now got fantastic power where it matters (i.e 40-60 and 50-70).

£99? :eek:

Looks like you are used to getting value for money

How much did the torque go up?

Bluehair

unkel wrote:

£99? :eek:

Looks like you are used to getting value for money

How much did the torque go up?

From 'Rover_rons' rolling road printout; 40% more torque AT 2000rpm, 30% more at 1500rpm, 45-50% more bhp at 4000rpm. His latest results are here.

Overall he reckons you're getting 95% of max torque from 1900 - 3500rpm now with, say, 50-70 in about 7 seconds in 5th (quicker than a 330d!).

I'm fitting a new mafam too (which he also produces specifically for the 75) for £50 which should ensure I get the most out of unit.

Kell Tr

Hi,
i have an immaculate 1999 Honda civic 2 dr coupe its really flash but all std from factory it has full service histroy with 55000 miles i am willing to let it go for 9000€, call 0873857331, Private sale.

ambro25

Skoda Octavia - with no hesitation whatsoever.

VW reliablity and build, minus the badge psyche = Champagne at Cava price.

Fairly good score on the ole bland-o-meter, though - but no more than earlier propositions... in fact, a bit less

Or *if you're feeling adventurous* (although you don't seem the type, from your earlier posts), a '98 / '99 Impreza 2.0L (non-turbo) from the UK. A clean, good, unmodified/unabused 1- or 2- previous owners, under 65kmiles, with HPI/RAC check/Logistics/VRT, should come in at or just below your €10k mark.

They don't come much more reliable than that. Looks are... an acquired taste (but it grows on you ), interior is no-frills but functional and perfectly laid out. More of a knacker magnet than a Passat, but they usually turn tail as soon as they spot it's not a turbo (which is easy: no bonnet 'scoop'). Better off servicing in UK, avoid IE main dealers (differential of some 650% - don't say I didn't warn you!).

positron

Considering a new (secondhand) car on new year, and I have exact similar requirements to that of maidhc! Sorry for butting in maidhc, but this has been a very useful thread, and my list at the moment looks like this, in that order:

Skoda Octavia/Fabia
Audi A4/A3
Rover 75 (its a bit too classy for me, still...)
May be Alfa and possible Hyundai Coupe (02 or newer models)

Though Octavia is on top of my list, it is a bit boring when it comes to the looks, especially the dash etc. May be its just the model that I checked out. Any comments?

Gaz25

I'm looking to buy a car myself after i get back from holidays in the new year.
I would recommend one of these makes:

*VW Volkswagen Golf
*Ford Focus
*Seat Leon/Cordoba

The main thing about the 3 are they are all very reliable and they are built to last. My first choice would have to the VW Golf.

Best of luck

el diablo

ds20prefecture wrote:

The Rover 75 diesel is a metric mile ahead of the Mk IV Golf in terms of space, performance, comfort, ability and style. As long as you buy it at the right price, they are an excellent ownership proposition.

ha, ha, I laughed out loud when I read this. Rovers are the worst cars on the road and I certainly wouldn`t reccommend them.....

I`d take the Golf MK IV any day...... it`s far classier and far better resale value...

unkel

el diablo wrote:

ha, ha, I laughed out loud when I read this. Rovers are the worst cars on the road and I certainly wouldn`t reccommend them.....

I`d take the Golf MK IV any day...... it`s far classier

I think you'll find there are a few people out here laughing about your post now

maidhc

ds20prefecture wrote:

What an incredibly well thought out post.:rolleyes:

By the way, in English, the apostrophe looks like this ' not `. I only point this out as it somewhat degrades the value of your opinion when you appear to struggle with a simple device like a keyboard. I cannot imagine how trying choosing something as complex as a car must be for you.

A bit harsh.

I know NOTHING about Rovers, but I presume since Rover are dead, and VW are far from it, many people feel this way. I know this is a simplification and totaly ignores the crap cars (25, 45), the unions, and bad management that probably contibuted significantly.

(I think someone gave me the credit of being the OP... )

junkyard

I'd say a Ford Focus would be worth considering as they're very reliable and good spec too for the price.

maidhc

junkyard wrote:

I'd say a Ford Focus would be worth considering as they're very reliable and good spec too for the price.

I think fords are the most maligned and under rated cars on the road.

el diablo

ds20prefecture wrote:

What an incredibly well thought out post.:rolleyes:

By the way, in English, the apostrophe looks like this ' not `. I only point this out as it somewhat degrades the value of your opinion when you appear to struggle with a simple device like a keyboard. I cannot imagine how trying choosing something as complex as a car must be for you.

no need for the insults. I just made a simple observation. perhaps you should step away from your P.C. and get a life.you seem to have far too much time on your hands.....:rolleyes:

junkyard

In fairness to Ford they have come a long way in the last few years, but the older one's, around the 80's to 90's were a bit of a joke. The engine in the Escorts was the same one from the 80's to the last one and was getting dated for sure but the Ford range of today has certainly got its act together. Fords are nothing flash but they are a great middle of the road car.

unkel

junkyard wrote:

In fairness to Ford they have come a long way in the last few years, but the older one's, around the 80's to 90's were a bit of a joke

I never liked Fords much in general but I have a lot of respect for FMC in how they completely turned around quality issues. Never mind Ford branded cars over here*. Over the last decade they have turned pieces of utter crap that disintegrated by looking at them, like the Jaguar XJ-series and the Range Rover into reliable cars on a par with or even more reliable than BMW and Mercedes

I suppose we'll have to live with the other side of the coin. Aston Martins having Ford Mondeo buttons. The Jaguar X-Type being a Ford Mondeo with an extra pair of driven wheels

* As an aside, both the original Focus and the Mondeo Mk II were class leaders when introduced. A lot of good things can be said about recent Fiestas too. Did I mention Ka or Puma?

Borzoi

ds20prefecture wrote:

By the way, in English, the apostrophe looks like this ' not `. I only point this out as it somewhat degrades the value of your opinion when you appear to struggle with a simple device like a keyboard. I cannot imagine how trying choosing something as complex as a car must be for you.

Yeah, yeah, call the grammer police:rolleyes: No need for it ds20.

maidhc

unkel wrote:

* As an aside, both the original Focus and the Mondeo Mk II were class leaders when introduced.

Was the MkII not just a MKI with a different bonnet and boot?

I think the turnaround happened in 1993 with the launch of the Mondeo MkI. The first nice ford to drive, with fine Zetec engines, Mazda V6. (Only the Diesel (my car) was the fly in the ointment, but in comparison to the Primera and Carina of the era it was a flyer.)

The modeo also proved to be reliable, and soon after its launch ford went about fixing the rotten 91 model escort, which they had right be 1995. Then they fixed the Fiesta, and brought out the 1.25 yamaha engine. Jaguar started to improve within about the same timeframe.

Fey!

There are a few cars mentioned above that I'd agree with, those being the Rover 75 (class car), the Focus (seems reliable), any Honda (reliable, although I've driven a couple of '96 to '99 Civics recently and wouldn't go back to them - I traded my '95 Civic Coupe for a '95 Accord Coupe), and the Skoda Octavia (how many Skoda taxis do you see these days?). The Skoda also comes in a model called the Superb, which offers a lot more legroom.

For €10,000, you could also get a very good '98/'99 BMW 520 or 523 with (Nikosil).

Con_316

Hello. I'm a bit late joining in with this but Have you considered a volvo? Only real problems are that there arent many dealers and body parts are expensive due to being made of high grade materials and things like doors and bumpers being re-enforced for safety. You can get a great volvo for 10k or less. Since you're 27 and have NCB, and the fact people (including insurance companies) think theyre really safe and sensible, insurance on lets say , a 2 litre volvo is actuallty better than many smaller "young people's cars". Theyre very comfortable and very reliable. at least the ones ive had and/ or driven. V40 1.8, S40 T-4, S80 2.0 and 2.4, 440 and 460.
A neighbour of mine has an '88 340 with 198,000 miles that's just passed it's nct for two years and now work's been done to it since last time apart from oil changes. Now thats an achievement