Cheap, Reliable Family Car Wanted.

[Will]

The first and last ones look alright, but the 44k miler is £3250 - probably a bit over budget.

Middle one’s last MOT:

 

[neilrr]

OK, you're right.

OP, don't consider a C Class. They're all sh1t.

 

[Will]

Not all, but there’s a a lot out there.

For someone who knows little about cars, is on a limited budget and wants something cheap and reliable for a few months personally I’d not recommend a 20-25 year old Mercedes.

 

[E55BOF]

I know damn-all about Golfs; never had one, never wanted one, probably never will want one. Of what has been suggested, personally I'd have the Focus, or I'd be looking for Japanese, but he really wants a Golf.

He's my nephew, not my son, and he lives in Twickenham. His maximum, not his target, price is £2000.

Bob, that's a good idea, but I don't really want to do all the legwork; I'm hoping to find a good one first time, go and see it and find that it's genuine, and advise him to buy it.

Mike, the one he has suggested is not a £2k golf; it's a £1400 Golf. It may not be a poor example; I've only just spoken to the seller. He's going to go through the history file - no service book, but invoices - to see how many services it has had; he thinks 15, but he's not sure. He'll see if it's had any cambelt changes too, and will call me back.

The 2007 is much newer, and looks good too, but it's the same mileage as the other one, and £1000 more. For a runabout for a few months, if I had to have a Golf, I'd have the cheaper one (assuming the service history is OK).

Thanks Will, but he wants a hatchback, not a saloon.

Stop Press: The goalposts have moved a bit. There's no great rush now, and he'll be keeping whatever he buys long-term as a second car now, doing mostly shopping and short local runs (his wife is an NHS physiotherapist who goes to patients), so petrol it will need to be. Sounds like the 2007 Mk. V Golf just reached the top of the list...

If it were me, I'd now have Smart 320's A210.

 

[Will]

Honda Civic?

Yaris - if it’s big enough?

It wasn’t me who suggested a saloon btw.

 

[91dm]

Would anyone give £1500 for a 2001 Golf! We sold a 2004 MK5 TDI Golf 3 years ago for £800. The MK5 is a big upgrade from the MK4 but has it common expensive faults like any car that age I suppose.

 

[E55BOF]

The seller got back to me. It had a cambelt at 40K miles in 2015, and the full MDSH is correct - but only since 2011, when the last owner acquired the car! Eleven invoices, apparently, which no doubt include the cambelt. It's highly unlikely the first owner never had it serviced, so I assume the service book was mislaid.

That same last owner is the one who had most of the 'running-it-into-the-ground' type MoT failures, too. I think the 2007 one Mike found is a better bet.

 

[grober]

I hear its good policy to routinely replace the water pump at the same time as the timing belt on these engines?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

[QUOTE="E55BOF, .........If it were me, I'd now have Smart 320's A210.[/QUOTE]

Like you, if it were me, I'd buy an A210 over a Golf any day of the week.
But I understand why he wants a Golf, and I'm sure there are plenty of well kept family Golfs out there. Just avoid the ex-learner / first driver cars.

 

[Mr Filipov]

Right, golfs. They are good cars. We had a jetta in the family for 7 years with next to no issues for that time.

Things to point out are avoid automatics, be it mk4 or 5. Mk4 auto is old fashioned, slow and inefficient. The mk5 has the dsg box, but that is best avoided in the first few years of production. Many known issues with the mechatronics.

Engines. Avoid anything that starts with a 1 for the engine size. Only exclusion on this is the mk4 1.8t and 1.9tdi. Other than that you can get a 2.0, 2.3, 2.8 and a 3.2 in the mk4. All of these inc diesels are ok. Mk5 you want 2.0 and above, either diesel or petrol.

Strongest and best proven engine by far is the 1.9tdi in 130 or 150 form on the mk4. They are known to last for donkeys.

 

[E55BOF]

Thank you for that, but it will need to be a small engine to keep the insurance costs down, and a diesel would not be suitable. The 2007 1.4S manual in the thread is favourite at the moment.

 

[popuptoaster]

I would avoid any older auto given the choice, in my experience of being skint and buying cheap cars for many, many years I've had FAR more problems with autos than i ever have with a manual box, I remember reading somewhere that the failure rate within a year of rebuilt auto boxes was something like 30%.

 

[Darrell]

I think I’d be buying a nice classy Saab convertable.

 

[merc85]

If he likes a VAG why not a Skoda Fabia? My Daughter has a 1.4 8v and that was very cheap to insure, Low mileage to, it had covered 20k is 2001 reg and we got it for £695

 

[Will]

Sounds like a bargain Gav

 

[Mr Filipov]

Thank you for that, but it will need to be a small engine to keep the insurance costs down, and a diesel would not be suitable. The 2007 1.4S manual in the thread is favourite at the moment.

That is fair enough. The reason I would not recommend the smaller engines is due to a number of well known design flaws and failures on them. Again, all I can do is offer my knowledge. Best of luck with whichever one he goes for

 

[E55BOF]

I wish I could persuade him to get a Honda, Toyota or Mazda...

 

[E55BOF]

He's determined to get a Golf. Any thoughts on this one?

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[grober]

Perhaps one lesson for your son in this car buying process at this end of the market is that its almost as important to look at the seller/paperwork of the car as much as the car itself. Seems a clean example of what might be termed a "low profile" car - a mark in its favour.

 

[Smart320]

A210 still for sale