Best cars for around £3000?

My car is ****ed and I need a new one. Preferably cars that are fairly reliable and that will will be under 80/90 thousand miles for under 3 grand. Insurance isn't too much of an issue.

Cars that I have considered so far are:

Mk 4 or 5 Golf
Honda Civic S Sport
2007 Punto
Vauxhall Astra Sxi
Ford Fiesta Climate; and
BMW 3 series although Im not sure if these will be too old?

Are there any of these which I should stay away from? And are there better alternatives for that price?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

Sgt.Incontro

Original post by Jordooooom

My car is ****ed and I need a new one. Preferably cars that are fairly reliable and that will will be under 80/90 thousand miles for under 3 grand. Insurance isn't too much of an issue.

Cars that I have considered so far are:

Mk 4 or 5 Golf
Honda Civic S Sport
2007 Punto
Ford Fiesta Climate; and
BMW 3 series although Im not sure if these will be too old?

Are there any of these which I should stay away from? And are there better alternatives for that price?

Avoid the BMW 3 series, any examples priced around 3k will be tattered.

Civic is good, but you may need to lower requirements.

Also consider a Focus.

Reply 2

Alfissti

Original post by Jordooooom

BMW 3 series, at this kind of budget best not to touch them as it would be a 10 year old one with lots of stuff needing to be fixed.

Fiesta is always a good choice, I think early versions of the current generation one should be within your price range and definitely a good car.

Astra, you got to like it to want one. I personally don't as I don't like the interior and somehow or rather feel it isn't a very well built car.

Punto, presumably 2007 is the new shape ones you are talking off. Good cars and well styled, durability improved a lot with this model as it is a GM platform and many parts are shared with an Opel Corsa and the Alfa Romeo MiTo. It does have a problematic power steering system though so make sure the one you are buying doesn't give a Steering Failure message as that means the Electric Power Steering system is buggered and requires replacement, if you are in UK it isn't expensive to fix as there are many rebuilt ones that addresses the shortfall of this system.

Civic, the best car of the lot. However you got to buy a good one and good ones don't come cheap.

Golf, overrated and not something I'd buy.

Reply 3

Y333EEE

Get one of these. This is mine, picked it up in December. Had 96k in it, cost me £2400 with my old Fiesta in part-ex (avoid Ford, from my experience its an acronym for Found On Rubbish Dump/Fix Or Repair Daily). Done 10k miles in it, other than general wear and tear the only things that've gone wrong is a door lock which was fixed under warranty and it had a wheel bearing replaced. If you need any advice on VAG cars I'd be happy to help :smile:

The Octavia!.jpg91.0KB

Reply 4

MrWhosane

Avoid the Punto. Avoid anything FIAT, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault and now the modern Nissan. (Cept Nizmo & GTR's) Most of these cars are incredibly unreliable and ridiculously expensive and difficult to repair. Not all are, but the vast majority. Basically anything French & Italian, unless it's parent company is German.