Fiesta 1.25
/close thread

 

MK5 (1999 to 2002) Fiesta 1.25. Easily available with aircon, cd player and electric windows. Parts are stupidly cheap and it's easy to work on.

 

Toyota Starlet 1.3, build quality will be better than a Fiesta. I haven't looked at prices so not sure if you can get a Yaris for this money.

Edit - Lots of choice for a Yaris under £1500

Or a Mitsubishi Colt 1.3.

 

Fiesta 1.25, or a Yaris. Both little shopping cars, but cheap to run and maintain, ideal for a runabout.

 

Just have a look on autotrader.

Yaris comes in 1.0 or 1.3, both should do well on fuel and Toyota are normally reliable so you should be fine.

 

Yaris 1.0 for the win. My sister got a 3 year old one then ran it for about 5 years. Never went wrong, did 40+ mpg and cost very little to run.

 

Oh BTW engine capacity is a poor yardstick of performance or cost to run. The 1.0 Yaris above had more power/performance than her previous 1.3 Ford Ka. Another example is my lovely Skoda. Me driving my 130bhp car to the dealers for a service - 58mpg. Me driving straight back the other way in the 1.2 65bhp courtesy car - 37mpg. And no I wasn't thrashing the ****s off it.

 

Clio 1.5 CDI

But shop around for something 2nd hand thats done atleast 8,000 miles - theres a few issues from new that pop up before that - and test drive to make sure no bad interior rattle/squeaking.

Great MPG, suprisingly nippy, responsive engine and generally good for about town driving.

 

If you want a car that notoriously breaks done get the Clio, my mate had hell with his 1.5 CDI.

Fiesta 1.25 gets my vote fantastic Zetec engine and like has been said the parts are so so cheap.

Mine is fantastic and never once let me down in 50k miles, very nippy around town and excellent economy.

 

If you can stretch to it then get a 1.6 Focus. It doesn't cost much to run at all.

And it's gonna be a much better car for the kiddiwinks as there is a bit more space in the back. In a Fiesta it's gonna be seriously cramped.

I bought a 2.0 Focus when my missus fell pregnant and the extra space really helped.

 

To be fair, that can be true of any car. You will get some that go forever without a hitch and some that cost a small fortune and forever seem to go wrong. Myself and a lad at work have Clio 1.5dci's. He has done 90,000 miles trouble free in his and it's now 7yrs old. Mine is 5.5yrs old and did 50,000 miles trouble free then i had to spend about £1200 this year getting things fixed.

Suitability of the car for the OP, probably not, as with using his bike during summer he won't really be racking up enough miles to make diesel worthwhile.

The Fiesta 1.25 as you say is a good little car, but if i apply the same premise that someone i know had problems with ford fiesta's (the worst car for breaking down i have owned is a ford fiesta) then i t wouldn't be recommended.

Personally i would go through the autotrader and look at small petrol engined Corsa, Yaris, Fiesta, Clio, Micra, Polo. Have a test drive of some of them and see which you like (driving position, controls, extras etc), then make a decision from there. (Benefit of staying with smaller engined cars being, hopefully, lower insurance & lower road tax)

 

1.6 Focus will do pretty much 40mpg and comfortable to drive. Cheap to maintain, I only had to change the oil + plugs(twice) , Wipers and 2 Anti-roll bar link arms in 2.5 years, and the car was 7 years old when I bought it. Only reason I got rid was I wanted a quicker car

 

Audi A2 1.4 TDi .

 

Mitsubishi Colt CJ

 

If all you want is cheap motoring then a micra will do you very well, very reliable and economcal. My mum had one for years and nothing except routine servicing ever had to be done, and they're chain driven so no cambelt to worry about.

 

I think any more than 1-3hp from an aftermarket exhaust on the micra would be a tad optimistic, more for the noise than anything.