Vroom vroom. Have got three grand for a new set of wheels. But what to buy?

[Toots]

Just wiped up the drool caused by reading about the nice big cars in the people carrier post.

Can the more modest of molecule and moolah advise me on upgrading. Currently squishing dp and dd and mountains of tat into Fiesta for multi-annual sojourns to Wales. Looking for an upgrade on limited budget (£3,500). The brief: Big boot, five doors, cheap to insure and fix.....that's probably a good place to start. Was looking at Almera but boot seems small. DP needs persuading out of another Fiesta as I definitely want to go a bit bigger for the next baby. Are Japanese makes much more expensive to fix?

Toots - if you're not bothered about street cred - go Korean. As reliable as Japanese but much cheaper. Hyundai Accent is Escort sized - plus you get all the electric windows, air con, power steering etc as standard. But dirt cheap.

Do you have any Skoda dealers nearby?

Why not try for a second hand Skoda Felicia Estate. Fits your spec, especially the big boot.
Good, solid car - basic inside but comfy and practical for young family.

HTH

butterfly

ps found this - seems to be for North England area but not had a good look at site to see if they have other areas, still will give you an idea

Second Hand Skoda Felicia's

focus?

What about Citroen Berlingo/Renault Kangoo/Peugeot Partner?

Put your details in on:

auto trader used cars

and see what comes up.

I love them - but they are not stylish!

you can have my mondeo for three grand toots - very comfortable, very reliable but ... AS DULL AS HELL!

I just bought a peagout 406 a few weeks ago and am deligted with it. Our old car a vauxhall cavalier was also a lovely car but we wanted a change after having it for 7 years.
The Autotrader website is a great place to find a car as you can select how much you have to spend, model and area.
Good luck but think long and hard to make sure you get your money's worth!
A great book you can buy to help in choosing a new car is called Parkers guide. It lists every single car and what features each model has. It also gives you an idea of what they cost, their insurance group and fuel consumption. We bought our copy in Tesco for £5.99

Thanks Tinker and Butterfly mum, I'll look into both of these. I'm pretty excited by the Hyundai idea but dp is fearful of modern electronics going wrong and bankrupting us. Are Hyundai's reliable? The Fiesta has been a little dreamboat and cheap as chips when it does go flakey.

Cods' These haven't got old and cheap enough yet for us.

JanH will look. Not a area I'd considered. Ta.

Space Monkey thanks for the offer of your Mondeo, I know it's daft but Escorts and Mondeo's make me come out in a rash. I think it's that teenager in me that thought 'God, I'd NEVER live THERE in a house like THAT' which is of course exactly where I do live. On that basis Space M, I'll be round for your motor in twenty years! By the way, what Reg is it?

Thanks for the Parker's tip, Kid. Will also look into Peugeot and Cavalier. God I love mumsnet. Knew there'd be some fiercely intelligent consumer opinions out there!

Toots, you can get parkers guide on-line

parkers

and also Glass's (which I thought was only available to trade!):

Glass's Guide

i can tell you toots, i don't drive it out of choice

Toots

The driving supplement of Saturday's Telegraph is great for this. You can email Honest John at
[email protected], give him all your requirements and how much you can spend and he'll make some suggestions.
Or there is a website www.honestjohn.co.uk which i've never been on but I imagine it has a similar option.

I own a Hyundai Amica (bought it new 2 years ago) and absolutely adore it. It's very small on the outside, but big on the inside and does have 5 doors. I have two kiddies (2.5 and 10 mo.) and a dh and we fit fine in it. It's great for city driving, though probably a bit small for frequent motorway trips.

don't know about korean, but japanese cars seem to go on for ever and never go wrong. toyota as a manufacturer has come top in that huge reliability survey for the last 3 years I think - streets ahead of anyone else. And they drive very well as well...

Another vote for the 406 here, huge car, very cheap.

demented
is your 406 blue by any chance?
From all the other 406's I see, there are lots of blue ones about!

LOL yes it is blue, although we have had a red one and a green one in the past - serial car changers, we have had 7 cars in 7 years of marriage, not all 406s.

Actually it reminds me of an experience I had in the car park near our leisure centre, I came out my class and up to my car and tried the key in the lock, the key was just turning right round and never opening the car, I tried and tried, went round to the passenger side and tried, no luck, I was starting to panic (DH at home with kids, DS2 waiting for b/feed) when I looked on the back seat of the car to see some sort of leg brace and thinking to myself "What on earth is that?" and "Who does it belong too?" before it finally dawned on me it wasn't my car, mine was two spaces up! DH did the same thing a couple of weeks ago. So there is perhaps a downside to a 406 particularly a blue one!

Sorry make that 8, I can't count.

Another vote for autotrader - they have a great search facility if all you know is the price you want. Just been looking and there's a lovely mondeo zetec estate 1.8 dual fuel with loads and loads of extras on there at the mo for £3000.

What about a Daehoo (sorry can't spell) you get masses for your money - dh bought one just before xmas for £4000 and it was only 2 years old with everything you could wish for!

By the way there's nothing wrong with escorts!

This is another good site for sourcing cars www.fish4cars.co.uk.

Japanese cars are great as they're solidly built and go forever with few glitches. The downside to a japanese car is that they spend so much time and money on developing a mechanically sound car that they neglect the interior. The interiors tend to be a bit cheap and plasticky looking.

LOL about the leg brace Demented! Thanks for all the suggestions. Had a wild evening with the Parkers 'chooser' JanH. It suggested Megane and Skoda Octavia from my requirements. I'm beginning to enjoy this game.

Just a note for anyone thinking of buying a car.
I bought a car on 26th june, without any tax. I had to wait until my insurance cover note arrived in the post (29th june!) but then I would have had the tax backdated to the 1st june. I decided to wait until the 1st july so I didn't loose a whole months worth of tax!
So when you buy a car try to get it at the begining of the month if you can.

Toots have you had a look at the KIA,they seem really good value for money my DB bought a 4x4 and it was reaaly cheap (for a 4x4)he is really pleased with it.I have got a Megane, well I did have till last week when I crashed it and I love it ,It is nice and roomy inside and has a great sized boot.

Codswallop, you were right, Focus might not be miles out of price range afterall, and it's the only Ford I like the look of.

Message withdrawn

dadslib - are you male with that name? Only asking because once I had to hire a Mondeo for work. Felt it was designed for a man (or a taller person). When thh seat was in the right position for the steering wheel, I really had to stretch my legs to get to the pedals - and I'm 5'6" so pretty average for a woman.