Car Ideas?

[newpersn]

I drive a little 1.25 fiesta currently and ive been offered a Focus ST170 for 2k. I know the owner whos had it for a last year. It was a CAT C. But it has been repaired.

 

Insurance isnt much higher (+ £250 higher)

 

What to do

[mb2k01]

Dont let the Cat c bit put you off. I've had quite a few ex Cat C and they've turned out to be the best cars I've owned.

If You think the price is fair for the year, mileage, condition etc then take it for a test drive and see what you think (and if you're anything like me, take someone who knows a bit about the stuff under the hood!)

[newpersn]

guy whos got it now. i can trust. hes done most of the work on any cars i had.

 

I will try and get a test drive out of him when i next go up. 2003 not high mileage. in gd condition.

[michael2k6]

The other thing to bear in mind is gunna be tax. And why is he getting rid?

[rad]

Petrol or diesel?

I had a 1.8 petrol and it drank the stuff. All depends reply how old your fiesta is and what your daily mileage is?

[newpersn]

The other thing to bear in mind is gunna be tax. And why is he getting rid?

 

 

Tax is £140 for 6 months, its a 2.0 petrol

 

He's just brought a land rover

[newpersn]

Petrol or diesel?

I had a 1.8 petrol and it drank the stuff. All depends reply how old your fiesta is and what your daily mileage is?

 

Sorry for the double post

 

Mines a t reg mk4 lx doing 45 miles a day back and forth work

[Kitkatninja]

Personally, I wouldn't let the fact that it's a CAT C vechicle put me off - as long as the car has been checked out (unless I implicitly trusted that person to repair/mod cars) and that I fully inform my insurance company that it is a CAT C car.

 

What would put me off though is the running costs of:

 

1. Insurance

2. Road tax &

3. The increase of the fuel bill.

 

-Ken

[newpersn]

Scaring me now, ... I know that's the only things I'm worried about, just bored of driving the fiesta unless I use the st170 as a weekend car.

[mb2k01]

Scaring me now, ... I know that's the only things I'm worried about, just bored of driving the fiesta unless I use the st170 as a weekend car.

 

With the new (stupid) continuous insurance law, you would need to cover the car as a second car on your existing policy or to take out an entirely new policy.

I wouldn't have thought fuel would increase too much. Depends how much time you spend thinking about mpg every time you visit the station I guess!

 

Tax and insurance would be the two things I'd think carefully about, but... my view is if you want a better car then you have to pay for a better experience. (That was my thinking behind my 2.6ltr v6 vectra!) I still dont think the costs are too bad considering the enjoyment I get from it... and the fact I can overtake tractors now! (Yep - living in Cornwall means you end up considering things like that!)

[sted]

the st170 is a good car. its not the fastest car out there but its fun. Like a vtec engine its got a split personality keep the revs down and its a normal focus n(all be it with niceer seats and a firmer ride) boot it and its a different car (being able to go from 0-70 with 1 gear change is useful lol just change gear as soon as you hit 70 cos when you hit the limiter the deceleration is huge)

 

i managed to get mid to high 30's mpg and on a run over 40mpg so its not terrible on fuel

 

probably been sorted but watch the throttle cable in the cold (<2ish ) it can be hard to engage from 0% when its cold this is fixable and it should of been done years ago under warranty

[newpersn]

well im torn currently. the there other half wants me to get a senceable car. but i been looking at a 1.6 TDCI mk2 foucs Sport.....

 

Tax = £95 a year

MPG = high 50s

Insurance = Same what im paying now. (if not less)

 

ST170

 

Tax = £250 a year

MPG = 30-40mpg

Insurance = £200 more

 

 

what to do.

[rad]

I'd stick with what you have got personally. The fuel economy will hit you, trust me I had the petrol 1.8 for so long as soon as I got the.diesel it meant I didn't have to search for a garage every 300 miles.

 

For 2k something better will come up, I would avoid a cat c, although it might be repaired properly, unless you run it into the ground, you may find it hard to sell on

[newpersn]

The fiesta isnt really big enough for me. Im 6ft4. Plus the underside needs abit of work on it. MOT is due in feb which gives me enough time to sell on.

[tom_newton]

The wife drives a civic type r. It costs about 4 times as much as the previous car (diesel type s) in fuel alone, but even i get plenty of fun from the joyous acceleration it brings, we both feel we did the right thing, though I admit that I had a moment of doubt when we renewed the tax. The caveat here is that the wife is a complete petrol head and has sometimes suggested she prefers the car to me ;-)

 

Long and short of it is that you can get by with almost any vehicle. This is not a decision to be made on practicality - if it was you'd have made it by now. Ask yourself if you enjoy driving that much...?

[john]

Must admit having a car that is fun to drive is always important, if its boring and you hate it you won't enjoy having it. I changed my Golf GTI to a Tiguan Sport and its not quite as much fun but still brings a smile to my face when I burn the local chavs off

 

@tom_newton would enjoy his Civic Type-R even more if he did actually drive though

[Kitkatninja]

You could see how much a Ford Focus 1.8/1.9/2.0 TDCi is and see about getting it chipped (with eg Bluefin), then insuring it with an insurance company that is mod friendly (eg Adrian Flux has been recommended to me by a mate when I was thinking about modding my car). It may not have as much PS/BHP as an ST, but a chipped TDCi is nothing to be sniffed it either

 

-Ken

[tom_newton]

Must admit having a car that is fun to drive is always important, if its boring and you hate it you won't enjoy having it. I changed my Golf GTI to a Tiguan Sport and its not quite as much fun but still brings a smile to my face when I burn the local chavs off

 

@tom_newton would enjoy his Civic Type-R even more if he did actually drive though

 

No I wouldn't it is HER type-R and no-one else is to be trusted driving it.

[newpersn]

Could be right there. Will start looking round next month. (get the overtime in so far)

 

Do need something thats fun to drive. Im in it enough times.

[Butuz]

If you expect to get 30-40mpg out of an ST170 you will be seriously dissapointed. I used to get average 29mpg out of my 2.0 ghia and that had about 50HP less. I recon you'll be running 25 - 30mpg in evereryday town driving on an ST170.

 

Butuz

[newpersn]

Not town driving all the time tbh. Im more looking in to a focus currently. (tdci)

[sted]

If you expect to get 30-40mpg out of an ST170 you will be seriously dissapointed. I used to get average 29mpg out of my 2.0 ghia and that had about 50HP less. I recon you'll be running 25 - 30mpg in evereryday town driving on an ST170.

 

Butuz

 

i dont think i ever got much below 30 out of mine and once managed 41 on a run

 

[Gibbo]

If you're tall, want something with a bit of power but also fairly economical you can't go wrong with a Peugeot 307 dturbo. There's also lots of scope for remapping and upping the BHP.

[oalcock]

I used to deal with cars privatley, and have worked at quite a large car retailer. At the moment I live in the BB postcode, and do around 1,000 miles a month. I have a little run around which isn't amazing to drive, nor is it a very manly car - but it's a Peugeot 107. It's a 2009, and when I bought it it had 14,000 on the clock with one female owner. It cost me £4,800 and I have had it for 10 months now. The road tax is £20 a year and it gets around 65MPG. It's a bit like a tin box, the stereo sounds like a wind up radio and it's noisy on the motorway, but looking through my bank statements I am putting in less than £100 a month in fuel. Also it is a group 1 insurance vehicle, but with me being in the BB postcode it is still £1,000 a year for me with me being 20. I recommend the 107 to anybody who wants a good cheap run around, if you do lots of motorway miles and you want comfort don't buy one. If you are skint and only have like £500 to spare for a car for example, I would use the £500 to put down as a deposit on one of these cars and pay something like £99 a month, as the £99 you will be spending will be a saving for the fuel on a 1.2 standard car so you would be getting a decent car and be spending around the same. I used to have a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2, and I am saving £100 a month on fuel now on average.

[Gibbo]

Also it is a group 1 insurance vehicle, but with me being in the BB postcode it is still £1,000 a year for me with me being 20.

 

Its worth bearing in mind that car groupings sometimes have no bearing on price. I've just gone up from a group 9 to a group 19 and the insurance came down by - wait for it - 2p!

 

My younger brother also got quotes for a group 1 1L petrol Corsa and it turned out a 2L diesel Peueot 306 dTurbo (the sporty one) was cheaper.