€1,200 to buy a reliable used car!

JohnBoy26

The Pontiac wrote: »

^That was the model my mother had 1997, but the 1.3 engine. It was built in Japan afaik. Hard to fault them for reliability, but it had less mileage up on it than my Focus. Pretty bombproof alright. My mechanic is a big fan of the Focus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmx2e9FN8B4

Clarkson even ended up buying one. He mentioned during the Focus ST review that he had a Y reg (2001) and "it has never gone wrong once, it's the most dependable car I've ever owned". Skip to 5 minutes in here.

It's the same with people I know that own a MK1 Focus', unreal reliability.

Im not saying the mk1 focus is unreliable, far from it but they do give their niggley issues. Issues that japanese cars like that above corolla don't usually suffer from. The reason why clarkson bought a focus is because they are a good drive and tbh it's hard to fault them in that regard.

Now before you go accusing me of being brainwashed by japanese reliability, il just tell you that that it's the japanese cars of old I am talking about. I wouldn't consider recent japanese cars to be extreamly reliable, tbh many are only average and that includes models from Toyota.

JohnBoy26

blade1 wrote: »

Mazda 323 for reliability!!!

They are good but not as good as a corolla with the 4e-fe engine.

Toyota 1976

so all diesel corolla have 1.4,2.0 from 2000/2001 are soucred from toyota iE D4D they are meant to be something great have been looking into a diesel corolla this year have 1.4 vvti good but diesel might go a bit longer other they are great new on this site so still getting the hang of it lol

2ndcoming

Clarkson & Co praise Focuses because Ford at the time were a major employer in England. Throughout the years they've always been let's say overly generous towards Rover's, MG's and Jag's for the same reason.

The Focus is a grand car, but saying it's as reliable or economical as a Corolla simply isn't true. As mentioned before the water pump gives a fair bit of trouble and the clutches and gearboxes, like every previous Ford, aren't a patch on a similar Toyota or Honda quality wise.

The Pontiac

2ndcoming wrote: »

Clarkson & Co praise Focuses because Ford at the time were a major employer in England. Throughout the years they've always been let's say overly generous towards Rover's, MG's and Jag's for the same reason.

The Focus is a grand car, but saying it's as reliable or economical as a Corolla simply isn't true. As mentioned before the water pump gives a fair bit of trouble and the clutches and gearboxes, like every previous Ford, aren't a patch on a similar Toyota or Honda quality wise.

You're joking, right? They've slated British cars for years, especially on reliability.

The MK1 Focus was built in Saarlouis, Germany.

Subsequent models were built in Wayne (Michigan, United States)
Rayong (Thailand), Chongqing (China) and Vsevolozhsk (Russia).

The Focus was never built in the UK.

The Japanese manufacturers are bigger employers than Ford are in the UK. Your argument is a load of cráp.

JJJJNR

I like these myself.

JohnBoy26

Toyota 1976 wrote: »

so all diesel corolla have 1.4,2.0 from 2000/2001 are soucred from toyota iE D4D they are meant to be something great have been looking into a diesel corolla this year have 1.4 vvti good but diesel might go a bit longer other they are great new on this site so still getting the hang of it lol

No the the 2.0D4D engine wasn't launched until the E12 Corolla was realesed in 2002. The 1.4D4D came out in the corolla in 2005. Any 2000/2001 E11 Corolla have a 1.9 Puegeot diesel engine, which is no where near as good as the engine it replaced imo.

JohnBoy26

The Pontiac wrote: »

You're joking, right? They've slated British cars for years, especially on reliability.

The MK1 Focus was built in Saarlouis, Germany.

Subsequent models were built in Wayne (Michigan, United States)
Rayong (Thailand), Chongqing (China) and Vsevolozhsk (Russia).

The Focus was never built in the UK.

The Japanese manufacturers are bigger employers than Ford are in the UK. Your argument is a load of cráp.

It was also built in Valencia Spain. None of the European models we get were or are built in China or Michigan USA.

2ndcoming

The Pontiac wrote: »

You're joking, right? They've slated British cars for years, especially on reliability.

The MK1 Focus was built in Saarlouis, Germany.

Subsequent models were built in Wayne (Michigan, United States)
Rayong (Thailand), Chongqing (China) and Vsevolozhsk (Russia).

The Focus was never built in the UK.

The Japanese manufacturers are bigger employers than Ford are in the UK. Your argument is a load of cráp.

I didn't say the Focus was built in the UK and Ford have always been a much bigger employer in the UK than Toyota and Honda. Despite the fact that the two Japanese firms have invested hugely in their UK plants since 2007 and Ford have been winding down their UK operations since the 1990's, they still have over 7000 staff at their Dagenham and Dunton plants alone, more than the other two combined.

Although you found my argument crap over things you were actually wrong about you didn't take issue when I said Ford's have sh1te clutches, or the fact that the Corolla and Civic are both more reliable and economical than a Focus.

Farmer Pudsey

OP you are looking for a second car that will not do much milage. Do not worry about the year of car you buy you will have to do the NCT ever year on any car you buy. Look for a low milage car with a good engine.

Traditionally parts for ford and fiat are cheaper than toyota or madza's. I be keeping away fron renaults, peugeots citreons and a few more. VW are over priced for what you want.

A hyundail accent with low milage are easy to come accross however the 4 door version is much heavier on fuel than the 2 door version. A low milage Punto may be an option but it has it problems. Nissan Almera I think has the same wishbone issues as the old primera's but other than that are agood car but plain enough. Madza 323 and honda's are hard enough to come accross. So in mid range cars you are left with a focus or a corolla.

If you go down to less that 1L (cheap tax and economy mostly) these are a bit more expensive to but nowadays. You have a choice between a Yaris where you will have to go back to 1998 to get a clean one for the money you have a 00 Micra or a 02 corsa.

If going for a corsa you need a really low milage one < 70K idealy hard to come accross. The other issue is what type of roads you are on if it is all Urban after the first NCT issuse's with bushing's, wishbone etch should be minimun if low milage. At the end of the day when trying to buy an old car I always look at the most common one's around and ask a few people in the trade. some of these guys have preferences but always look for them to name 2 or 3.

In reality the Corolla, Yaris, Micra and Focus will always come up if you mention an accent they will accept that as well. If I could stand the extra 3-400/year for tax fuel and insurance I go with the corrolla boring is what you usually hear but that seems to be the major fault other than that a corsa may be worth a gamble if you can find a really low milage example.

Also watch around locally some person may be buying a car after having it for 8-10 years with low milage you could be lucky.

brokenarms

I have an 01 Almera which does six journeys a day. Each less than 5 mins.

Been doing it for the last 3 years.

Only thing it has ever needed was a light bulb and petrol.

Ye would probably get one for less money than your budget.

Hardly the most exciting car in the world though.