Corsa vs Polo

cunnins4

Alright lads, wanna get my first car. Was lookin at either a corsa or polo ('97-'99) don't wanna spend more than 3k. Like the look of both, prefer the corsa though. anyone got any words of wisdom about either? good/bad? reliable? easy to drive?

any advice is welcome!

cunnins4

cunnins4 wrote:

Alright lads, wanna get my first car. Was lookin at either a corsa or polo ('97-'99) don't wanna spend more than 3k. Like the look of both, prefer the corsa though. anyone got any words of wisdom about either? good/bad? reliable? easy to drive?

any advice is welcome!

http://parkers.co.uk/

and

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/

Should be your first port of call!

colm_mcm

Don't buy one without power steering

bazz26

Personally myself I would buy neither, I would go for a similar year Fiesta with the 1.25 litre Zetec engine.

To answer your question I would probably go for the Corsa because they tend to be cheaper than the Polo which means you probably could get a year younger car than the Polo plus the Corsa was more common with power assisted steering than the Polo.

unkel

What tickles your fancy, cunnins4?

If looks is the most important, go with that, be it a Corsa, Micra, Polo or Fiesta, or something completely different. If economy, prudence and budget are crucial, go with the Micra. If you want a driver's car, you'd have to get the Fiesta, preferably the 1.25 16V Zetec that bazz26 mentioned

With all of these cars, you should be able to find a good quality, low mileage '99 or '00 in a private sale for around the €3k mark or less

Lex Luthor

I agree with bazz, the fiesta would be the best choice.

My wife was looking for a car back in 97 and she drove all of the super mini's

The fiesta was top of the list but it was slightly out of range so she opted for a Punto. For the spec she wanted it was costing an extra £800 or so in the fiesta over the Punto but the fiesta was difo pick of the bunch

I think only the Punto & Fiesta had power steering back in 97....things may have changed in later years

legs11

i'd got for a zetec fiesta as well over the others, you might pay more but you will have more ooomph to pass out other cars relatively safely and you will get power steering standard with electric windows etc.
polos are over priced and not much creature comforts.

zilog_jones

Power steering wasn't standard on Fiestas during the above mentioned years AFAIK. It may have been standard by '98 - not sure exactly. And electric windows were definately not standard - my '98 LX doesn't even have central locking

vengeance52

zetec is a better spec model than the Lx so it should have power steering.

maidhc

vengeance52 wrote:

zetec is a better spec model than the Lx so it should have power steering.

It isn't.

In this case the Zetec refers to the engine, which was a class of engine fitted to the Fiestas before the Duratec.

As a result you can have a Zetec LX Mk4 Fiesta. However Zetec on a Mk3 Mondeo, Mk6 Fiesta, or Focus, just refers to the trim.

vengeance52

maidhc wrote:

It isn't.

In this case the Zetec refers to the engine, which was a class of engine fitted to the Fiestas before the Duratec.

As a result you can have a Zetec LX Mk4 Fiesta. However Zetec on a Mk3 Mondeo, Mk6 Fiesta, or Focus, just refers to the trim.

I stand correct, actually im tired so ill sit corrected. Still go for the fiesta, my mate has one and she loves it.

cunnins4

cheers for all the replies. The ole fiesta seems to be a popular one. I got a quote for one and it's 400 quid dearer than the other two with quinn-direct.

My priority really is to get a small cheap car, get me from a to b and not cost the earth, so preferably a 1litre would be the way i'd like to go(for fuel economy) Electric windows and central locking really aren't important to me, although they would be nice. Power steering would be fairly important i guess. i could probably stretch to 3500 if i really had to to get a model with this. Would it be more than that(for just power steering, nothing else)? As for power - i really don't care. I won't be modifying a thing, maybe a cd player if it needs it, but power doesn't concern me.

As for looks, well, they're not really all that important, although i do prefer the corsa to all of the small cars. I read reviews on the polo,corsa and punto on the websites listed my ronoc - cheers, quite informative. They all seem to have drawbacks of some form, but all quite decent cars.

My dad had a punto, it fell to bits. He's probably to blame though cos he never took any care of it and the mechanic he went to progressively spent more time in the pub so i think the standard of the work done on the punto went down-guess i dunno if it was the car/my da/the mechanic who was it's downfall.

I'd say my mileage per week would be at the most 60-70 depending on how busy i am. My gf lives in ballinteer and i'm in glasnevin, so it's mainly for going over to hers more frequently. won't really be using it for college. maybe work on a sunday cos it's free parking in town.

cheers for the replies lads. i'm gonna keep my mind open to the idea of the fiesta, and maybe try to up my budget for power steering. My bro and a friend got raped for the price of their first cars with dealers, so i think i'll bide my time and go private. Take a friend to see them and just be patient and wait for the right one.

thanks again. any further advice is most welcome. (sorry for the lenghty reply)

legs11

your better off getting a nice specced zetec fiesta, might cost 300-500e more, but you will have nice features like remote locking, airbags, electric windows, not sure about abs. but for the sake of a fw hundred quid it makes sense. buy private, lots of deals to be got there, just haggle the cash and bingo.
get the car checked from the chassi number and see how things go regarding servicing and crashes if you buy pricate of course.
i never bought a car from a main stealer ..........

DarkJager

I have to say Polo....I drive one myself and its one of the most reliable cars I've ever had. Plus, I've been through a severe enough crash with it and they really are built like tanks. Flipped the car onto its sidethrough a fence beside a roundabout (rear wheels spun out). Both wheels needed replacing and some medium damage to the doors but that was it.

mendo

Hi cinnins4,

I was looking for a car in January and after few weeks I've ended up buying a 3 door '99 1L Polo (no power steering) 44.000 miles, for 2500 euro from a neighbour.

See the pictures here "mendo.myphotoalbum.com" .

The car is OK (the model is based on the reduced chasis of an older Golf), electric/heated mirrors, passenger and drivers airbag.

It has only 3 doors (very hard to go in and out if you have a baby car seat at the back) and no power steering (not very pleasant).

The road tax is 151 euro and the insurance is 426 euro with AXA fully comprehensive (I'm a male, 34 and had 4 years NCB).
It swallows 10l/100km in the city, but this is because I drive it hard.


You have to expect that you are going to spend some money on the car (I had to change the tyres - 200 euro - and all the filters - 30 euro).
I still have to change the oil and the filter.

I had to fix myself a problem with the airbag and I only have one key (both expensive if you go to a main dealer and in my case I can't do the key myself using a locksmith, because of the newer type of key and transponder).

Plus, you will have to change the timing belt.

My advice, buy a car from a neighbour or familly if you can.

Make sure you can get a mechanic to check the car.

Buy a car with as less mileage and as new as you can aford (it will pay on the long run).

It is better to buy a car that is newer (more money initially but has only few things to replace, less money on the long run) rather than a car that is older (less money initially and more likely to go wrong, more money and hassle on the long run).

If you want low insurance buy the 1L Polo (4 doors , with airbag, electrical mirrors and power steering if you can) but expect a very basic car.

In my case, is exact what I need.

Mendo