£1500 budget: Ford Fiesta mk6 vs Renault Clio 1.2 TCe

[Levi1501]

A family member is looking to purchase a “new” car as a cheap runaround with a budget of £1500. The car must be a 5 door petrol which is reliable and cheap to run. The two cars we’ve narrowed it down to are the Mk6 Fiesta 1.25/1.4 petrol and the Clio mk3 1.2 TCe. I was wondering if anyone had experience of either of these cars and wondered which is best. From my research, the Clio is faster and more economical, but less reliable than the Fiesta. However, from experience Renault’s haven’t been unreliable, have we just been lucky?

[gman88667733]

The Clio will probably develop more random electrical gremlins than the Fiesta. But I doubt it'd be expensive to run either.
The MK6 Fiesta is a bloody good car though, very decent to drive, not a lot goes wrong either. Not the best on fuel, but about average.
Can't comment more on the Clio, but I haven't heard any horror stories.

[scoey1001]

I've heard that the 1.2 tce is a really good engine.

[Levi1501]

scoey1001 said:

I've heard that the 1.2 tce is a really good engine.

In the past we’ve had the 1.2 16V 75bhp (same engine just without the turbo) and it was a good little engine to be fair. Very economical and other than a throttle body fault, no issues at all.

[ZX10R NIN]

Both are good reliable cars try to get a Dynamique if you go for the Clio, I'd probably go for the Renault with it little bit of extra torque making driving easier.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011126...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011035...

An alternative to lookout for is the Mazda2 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010265...

Fiesta Ghia

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010145...