Yeah well those are advertised numbers. The engine in your Astra has lost some due to age. The 206 though, like I said, does better than what's advertised. At least mine did; on paper it should've been 13.1 Km/L, but in reality I averaged about 16 and I've got a fairly heavy right foot. The only time I got to that 13 is when I took it into the Ardennes, it lacked the power to tackle those uphill stretches.
if you're not into looks or feels - look at Fabia 1.9 TDI 100hp - cheap, economical and affordable maintenance, but at the same time you can maintain 180km/h and have much power to overtake easily at almost any situation..
just make sure the engine is in order - 1 of the 4 pump duses in the engine costs ~500eur new..
why didn't anyone promote turbo diesel? it's easier on the mileage by 1-2/100 and doesn't notice when AC or 4x4 is on either
also in Scandinavia you might find some with diesel heaters (I think)..
Mister_s is Dutch, that's why. We've gone over this before, diesel is not affordable here unless you drive crazy amounts (tipping point is somewhere between 22000 and 30000 km depending on the car).
I'm in the market for a second car, advise would be appreciated. A list of what I want and what I don't want. Budget is 6000 euros.
What I need:
* reasonable fuel consumption (1:15+)
* 4 doors
* good acceleration (top speed unimportant)
* sturdy, so I don't have to fix something ever two months
* max. 150k KM and min. 2006
* a sedan if possible
What I don't need:
- no diesel, taxes
- not very heavy/big, taxes
- Looks aren't very important, but not fugly
- not a peugeot 206, since I have one
Forget about VAG, not gonna find that for 6000 EUR here. At least not with one of the good engines, they're all gonna go to 12-13 seconds for acceleration because you only get the 1.2 (*maybe* 1.4) for that money. Again, we get taxed quite heavily on cars here (based on all sorts of things, emissions too). Even our neighbours to the east generally get their cars 10-20% cheaper.
@ Mister_s: depends a bit on what you're comfortable with in terms of brands. There's a few eligible Japs you could look at (Swift + Colt, both with their 1.5L engines - they're pretty small, but nice to drive). Twingo 1.2T, but I personally dislike that one a lot, not pleasant to drive at all.
You'll hate me for it, but in that price range one of the best you'll find are still the 206 (or its uglier, younger version, the 207) and 307. Depending on mileage you'll find the 1.6-16v/1.6 VTI with low mileage or the 2.0 versions with a bit more on the clock (around 120-140k I reckon). You might find a Mini Cooper 1.6 as well, seen a few those around here.
And there'll be plenty of crappy cars: Yaris, Stilo, Grande Punto. Stay away from those. Renault has good engines, but be prepared for plenty of tiny electrical issues. Should be plenty of Lagunas and Meganes with the 2.0-16v though.
Out of all the cars you mention I only would buy the Swift, if I realy had no other options So I'm left with Peugeot? I really would have liked a different brand, but I'll check the 307 (it seems the 206 is already a bit small for us). Cooper is really nice (my wife loves it), but I feel like I'll be paying for the brand name. You don't really get what you pay for.
How about a Mazda? I've seen it named as reliable and quite fast on other forums.
Swift is a good recommendation, very nice cars to drive and the ones my friends and family had weren't troublesome. My parents had one as a second car, ended up doing my practice driving with it. That one was a 10+ year old one tho, but we hadn't much problems with it.
I drive a Fiat Bravo (197) and I think it's a nice car. I drive the Diesel version though, wouldn't know how the petrol engines behave, but my 120PS are quite quick to accelerate (no problems on the autobahn, reaching 200 is a piece of cake) and going up a hill isn't taxing at all. It's spacier than a Golf (even bigger than a BMW 1) and I'd say it's definitely not fugly
Mine came with park sensors (mandatory on this car, as the view to the back is a bit obstructed, but with the sensors it's easy going) and a city mode button. If you press it the servo will make your steering wheel really easy to turn, perfect for parking.
Only things I had to do was changing the waterpump & belt (mandatory for diesel) at 110.000 and I changed the discs, brakes and the tires once. Ah the clima was broken when I bought the car.
No problems with rust or anything similar. Bought it at 96.000 KM and am at close to 150.000 ~1.5 years later. Also had some longer drives without any problems (17hour drive) and the Diesel is quite ok with the fuel usage. If you drive regularly at ~160 it is around 6-6.2L/100KM. If you drive ~120 it's at 5.2-5.8L. If you drive it ~90-100 it's at 4.2-4.7
Their diesel engines are an entirely different breed though Pumpy. Really can't compare them to the petrol ones unfortunately. And you're comparing diesel to petrol, that doesn't work
If you want a 4 door sedan, I'd recommend the Mitsubishi Lancer, with the 1.8 petrol engine, I know they came out in 2008, but with a mileage over 100k, I think it's not impossible to find one in your budged. You can also look at the previous Lancer, which had a 1.6 engine, but that one isn't a looker.
Mazda 3, Honda Civic sedan are good choices, Jap cars are sturdy and very reliable in time. Stay out of PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) cars, maintenance and parts are very expensive.
Mini is nice, but it's small, expensive to buy and to maintain.
My personal choice would be a Golf 5, with the 1.4 TSi engine, 120hp (single turbo) or 170hp (also known as GT - which had both a turbo and compressor) - this one isn't a sedan, i know.
If you want a 4 door sedan, I'd recommend the Mitsubishi Lancer, with the 1.8 petrol engine, I know they came out in 2008, but with a mileage over 100k, I think it's not impossible to find one in your budged. You can also look at the previous Lancer, which had a 1.6 engine, but that one isn't a looker.
Just to give you guys yet another clue of just how much more we gotta pay; cheapest one I see is €7950 with 97k clocked.
Cheapest 2008+ Lancer altogether is a 2.0 Wagon (Jan-08 ) at €6600 with 119k clocked.
Quote:
Stay out of PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) cars, maintenance and parts are very expensive.
What? You're confusing French (PSA at least) with German now
PSA is often even cheaper than Japs, because unlike a lot of Japs they use European manufacturers for their parts. Parts for a 206 are cheaper than parts for a Colt
Quote:
My personal choice would be a Golf 5, with the 1.4 TSi engine, 120hp (single turbo) or 170hp (also known as GT - which had both a turbo and compressor) - this one isn't a sedan, i know.
Again, not in his budget by a long shot.
You guys really need to get to grips with the fact that whatever you can find in Romania/Bulgaria/AnywhereButNL, you can probably add 30% to it to get near our prices. There's 1 Golf V under 6000 at 5500, 2004 2.0 FSI with 145k - this one's a fluke, because the next one up in the list is almost identical, but costs 6900. There's something off with the 5500 one (no photos of it either).
As for the GT, good luck finding that here. That was only sold as a very limited edition, near impossible to find.
Stay out of PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) cars, maintenance and parts are very expensive.
What? You're confusing French (PSA at least) with German now
As for the GT, good luck finding that here. That was only sold as a very limited edition, near impossible to find.
Idk about where you guys are located, but in Romania, French cars are more expensive to maintain and the parts are more expensive as well. German cars are also expensive, but there's a LOT of car parts companies which have aftermarket parts and sell for a lot cheaper prices. These work for cars which are off their warranty period.
We don't have the GT either, but we do import a lot of cars. Just give a look on mobile.de and search in Germany only.
Stay out of PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) cars, maintenance and parts are very expensive.
What? You're confusing French (PSA at least) with German now
As for the GT, good luck finding that here. That was only sold as a very limited edition, near impossible to find.
Idk about where you guys are located, but in Romania, French cars are more expensive to maintain and the parts are more expensive as well.
We don't have the GT either, but we do import a lot of cars. Just give a look on mobile.de and search in Germany only.
autoscout24 works too.
Mister_s and I are both in NL. Maintaining a French car (PSA more so than Renault) is cheap as hell. Bog standard parts, in most of them there's lots of room to work in, so not much in labour either. Even Mitsubishi parts are more expensive, let alone German cars where the parts are much more expensive and there's 0 room to work with. Replacing the headlight in a Golf V means taking off the front bumper and the whole unit out
Again, importing doesn't work for us. Importing a car still means pay the taxes on top, making it no cheaper at all. Otherwise we'd all buy our cars in Germany.
You picked a Golf V with a 1.2L engine, which has ample room around the engine and different headlight units.
Now try again with a 2.0. I'm happy to take some pictures of mine. I'm pretty skinny but I can't wedge my hand in there. And it's worse when you have the factory Xenon.
Edit:
Enjoy
Note how far the unit sticks out into the car; you have to squeeze your hand into that hole to get to the bulb. Obviously in this video they replace the entire unit, but it shows perfectly how little room you have.
wait, the entry for the bulb is next to the plug for the cables, and he neatly put his hand there to plug/unplug them.. so he can replace the bulb easily..
it's right there on the thumbnail - his hand is behind the headlights up to almost the elbow!
No mate, that's only where the plug is. On that side are the city lights. The headlights are on the outside, so *behind* where his arm is
There's maybe 6, 7 cm behind the opening to the headlights and then you have to reach another 8 cm or so inside - and *then* somehow apply the force to get the bulb out (not that simple either). On the Golf in that video they have the smaller unit, which doesn't go back into the car as much and the bulbs use a slightly different mechanism to lock.
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