Cheap but fun(ish) 4dr snotter, £2.5-3k

Original Poster

20 posts

147 months

Saturday 8th March

I’ve got a small chunk of change left over for what will essentially be my runabout for work. Unlikely to see much motorway but mustn’t be completely hopeless on them or uneconomical if it does. Must be 4dr. And have a proper handbrake. £3k absolute max, likely more like £2.5k though.

Looking for the best compromise in running costs (no more than £35 tax, low as possible insurance) and handling. Not expecting any miracles here, just need to try and avoid the things that are totally devoid of steering accuracy or agility.

Do all roads point to Fiesta? Seat Ibiza perhaps? Honda / Toyota score highest in my book for reliability, but can an old Yaris or Jazz be anything other than planet vagueness in terms of steering?

Really would love a CR-Z but even then the insurance costs aren’t all that low for me (low enough to swing it as a ‘budget conscious’ option anyway), plus it seems they’re not anywhere near as economical as their hybrid status suggests.

Suggestions on where you’d put your money please.

Edited by petrolJim on Saturday 8th March 13:40

Edited by petrolJim on Saturday 8th March 13:47

ZX10R NIN

28,905 posts

137 months

Sunday 9th March

Pickle_Rick

452 posts

72 months

Sunday 9th March

If it was my money I'd forget the fun factor and just go for a Toyota.

For something interesting, maybe an alfa of some sort. Probably 159 with the 1.9 engine. Not exactly quick but tax is almost reasonable at £250ish.

Nickp82

3,524 posts

105 months

Sunday 9th March

Consider a 1.2 Suzuki Swift also, unless you need a decent sized boot.

Original Poster

20 posts

147 months

Sunday 9th March

Cheers for the thoughts guys. My work situation is hopefully due to improve within the next year or so. At the soonest possible opportunity I’ll be looking to upgrade to something spicier. This is the car for right now though, so it being cheap to run is a non negotiable.

Nickp82 said:

Consider a 1.2 Suzuki Swift also, unless you need a decent sized boot.

This is what I suspect I’m going to go with. Checking one out that’s local to me, tomorrow possibly. Sound like they tick my brief pretty well.

griffter

4,116 posts

267 months

Monday 10th March

Putting those criteria into Autotrader brings up a surprising number of options. I thought £35 tax would horribly choke the “fun” factor meaning more modern and so far less car for the money.
But no. If you also limit to RWD there are still over 100 BMWs that fit the bill, the vast majority of which are manual. This one for example:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025020989...

Original Poster

20 posts

147 months

Monday 10th March

griffter said:

I like your thinking, very much.

So insurance would likely not be low enough for me on that one. A 116d is group 16 though so I’ll run a comparison search for that and see where I end up. I do wonder a bit though whether that’s getting into the territory of ‘is rwd always better’…? Which to be clear, I’m usually always on the side of ‘yes’, but when I’m weighing up that at 1300kg vs a Swift at 1020kg…

Mr Tidy

25,974 posts

139 months

Monday 10th March

I'm running a manual Cat N E90 BMW 330i that owes me less than that and drives brilliantly.

But at £415 a year it doesn't quite fit that requirement!

Original Poster

20 posts

147 months

Monday 10th March

Mr Tidy said:

I'm running a manual Cat N E90 BMW 330i that owes me less than that and drives brilliantly.

But at £415 a year it doesn't quite fit that requirement!

I like-a your style sir. But yes, kind of smashes the cheap-to-run brief to bits a bit! I’ll be joining your ranks of proper bang-for-buck motoring as soon as life circumstances allow me, that’s a promise.

Matt_T

755 posts

86 months