Best early 2000 1.5-ish car?

shnaek

Need to hit ye with a ceist! My gf is looking around at cars at the mo. She's mainly looking at early 2000 1.5-ish cars. She has looked at peugot 306, ford focus, alpha, and vw polo so far. I am suggesting looking at Toyota and honda. What do you guys reckon would be the best car around those specs?
Cheers!

Anan1

The best advice anyone could give you is to take her on a tour of the garages to look at and drive as many different makes of car as possible. You'll be amazed at how many cars will then be excluded for one reason or another - making your decision a lot easier!

Audioslaven

Can't beat the Jap cars!! If I was her I would be looking at Toyota,Mazda,Honda or Nissan. My girlfriend had a Nissan Micra 1997 up until last July and it never gave a days trouble. She went an purchased a newer one 2003 and the depreciation from 1997 - 2003 was 5,000 euro. Cheap to tax and cheap to insure!!!

We actually bought privately as a garage will be more expensive and if you have an idea about cars (or know someone that does) buy privately!!

Thats just my opinion!!

Lex Luthor

Most reliable - Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla (also most expensive along with Golf)
Dullest - Toyota Corolla or Nissan Almera
Nicest - Ford Focus
My opinions only.

My choice is the Focus

as anan1 says, get her to drive the lot and see what she can afford & likes

maidhc

A 00 Corolla with a 1.4 VVTi will be a nice car with a decent turn of speed, and they are also cheaper than the Golfs. Downside is the 5dr hatch looks like it came from Mars and there are some pretty funky colours about.

Focus definately should figure too.

shnaek

She just texted me about a 2000 opel astra for 6k. What do ye reckon? It gets a rating of 77 on CBG reviews.

rob1891

maidhc wrote:

A 00 Corolla with a 1.4 VVTi will be a nice car with a decent turn of speed, and they are also cheaper than the Golfs. Downside is the 5dr hatch looks like it came from Mars and there are some pretty funky colours about.

Focus definately should figure too.

We had this 5 door hatch until last week when someone decided to almost died at the wheel of his van and crashed into it parked up outside the house :-(

It does look goofy but you can put so much crap in the back! Might not be a priority for her, but if say you are driving a saloon yourself and find the need to ferry stuff to the dump or recycling centre ... heh heh, her car will do nicely :-)

rob1891

shnaek wrote:

She just texted me about a 2000 opel astra for 6k. What do ye reckon? It gets a rating of 77 on CBG reviews.

A few people I know who've had Astras have told me not to get one ... we'll be trying to replace our car with another Corrolla or a Mazda 323.

shnaek

rob1891 wrote:

, but if say you are driving a saloon yourself and find the need to ferry stuff to the dump or recycling centre ... heh heh, her car will do nicely :-)

lol! Sorry to hear about your car though.
I have advised her against the astra and sent her on numbers for places with both corollas and focus's. Cheers for the advice! I'll keep ye posted...

shnaek

She went for a VW polo in the end. I recommended a different car but that's what she went for. Are polos a decent car?

colm_mcm

No great shakes to drive. not especially reliable. but have nicely built interiors and very strong image

Lex Luthor

neighbour had a 01 polo and had a few more problems than he expected to have with it. Bit smaller than what you seemed to be looking for but at least resale will be good on it.

shnaek

Cheers for all the help. It is smaller than what she was looking for, but it will save her money that way too. Good resale value is a definite bonus. The mileage is very low on it so hopefully it will serve her well.:cool: