[dontfollowme]

Just about to buy my first car and have £5K to spend. I was looking to get a Ford Focus. A bit boring I know but I've just passed and need to keep the insurance low and the Focus is a fairly low group. The only problem is £5K won't buy a Focus from a dealer but it looks like I can have my pick if I buy privately but knowing very little about cars I'm a bit nervous of this route. Privately I can get a Focus 1.6 Zetec, from a dealer I have been offered a VW Polo or a Ford Ka which don't really excite me. As long as the car has a full service history and checks out ok with the vehicle inspection and hpi check I should be fine shouldn't I? Cheers.

[a dense loner]

stick wi the focus, borin is good. can't go wrong wi a 1.6 zetec. we can't all ave scoobys  :wink:

[Jim]

Don't rely on complete service history, although it is preverable. I bought mine privately with complete service history and the clutch went a month later with no come back. When you buy from a main dealer your not just buying the car but an aftercare package. Worth looking at car supermarkets. I bought a couple from www.fow.co.uk cos you just buy the car and decide what extras you want eg warrenty etc... and they can be pretty cheap
I belive the RAC checks are supposed to be a waste of time and money. Best bet if you know a good mechanic, take them with you to inspect the car. Also research the car on the interweb and you should be able to find a list of common fault to check out.
Last but not least do not under any circumstances buy a ford KA as they should all be rounded up and destroyed for crimes against people with eyes

[Bubba]

Focus has a good rep as a nice handling motor.

Only buy private if you've got someone with you who knows a bit about cars, and throw away any rose tinted specs.

Most dealers will give you at least a month's warranty and some of the 3rd party warranties seem quite good, but as Jim says, do a bit of research on the web.

One car supermarket that gets good praise and has awesome prices is cargiant in London. The worse place is apparantly Carcraft - avoid.

Also consider a turbo diesel - I'm going for one now after the Scooby as they can shift but are cheap to run.

Parkers is very useful for research on all aspects of buying, and has a load of car reviews.

[Jim]

just to back up my point about rac checks this is taken from a car forum I post on (not written by me):

Having stood by while one of these RAC checks is done, i'd say it's worthless.
Car was in showroom. Dealership manager had a word with RAC man.
Said they had 'prepped' the car and didn't really want to move it.
RAC man walked round car, sat inside, completed paperwork and left.

Now i'm not saying this is typical, but having seen this,
in my mind an RAC check is now logged as purely a paperwork exercise.

[clm]

Tell you what mate, you ever thought of buying a rover??

[Bubba]

I've had AA checks done a couple of times. The first time it uncovered all sorts of horrible damage, but if I'd have just done an HPI check first it would have given enough info. Still, money well spent as it stopped me buying a minger.

The second time was for the current Subaru - the test was super thorough and even uncovered different paint depths where there had been some work done by using a laser to check the depths. Overall, the report was saying not to buy the car but I had spoken to the previous owner who explained all the paint work that had been done (somebody had run into the back of him in traffic at low speed). I believed him and bought the car anyway, and it's been perfect.

I wouldn't say they're worth it unless you're spending a fair bit of money but at the very least *always* get an HPI check done if buying private.

At the end of the day, there's plenty of cars out there and with something like a Focus, of which there are thousands, you should be able to find one that's got full history, clean HPI  and everything in order, so don't settle for any less. If it seems dodgy, walk away. I bought a Pug 205 GTi once, didn't bother with the HPI and ended up with a car that had previously been written off. You live and learn  :roll:

[dontfollowme]

Cheers guys. I really want my money to stretch as far as possible so I think I might just have to be patient and get the hpi and car check done when I see one that catches my eye.

[Bubba]

What about something like this:

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/CARS_popup.asp?modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&make=VOLKSWAGEN&model=GOLF&variant=tdi&keywords=&min_pr=4000&max_pr=5000&mileage=&agerange=&postcode=s8+8jn&miles=200&max_records=100&source=1&photo=1&sort=5&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH&start=5&distance=41&adcategory=CARS&channel=CARS&id=200420143386719

Group 8 insurance but 55mpg so you'll spend nowt on fuel

[dontfollowme]

Looks OK but as a new driver I'd prefer something a little smaller, bit worried about parking it

[runt]

Go for the golf! Another under 30 joins the grandad diesel estate club :wink:

[SamT]

yeah!!

[Bubba]

Looks OK but as a new driver I'd prefer something a little smaller, bit worried about parking it

They're only tiny, not like a real estate car....

I'm hoping to join the diesel club now, but I'm long past 30 so it's ok  

And I could point out that a remapped 330d esate will be touch near 150mph, so no slouch....

[runt]

And what d'you reckon the 330d would be with a NOS kit!!? got a quote of £437 for a non hdi diesel, wonder if I'll get past deutschland?

[Jim]

I recon if you got the 330d chipped and nos'd up with 100bhp nozzles you would have a seriously fast diesel

[Bubba]

fuckin hell you could have a laugh with an NOS'd diesel - go out hunting down poor hot hatches and subarus  :D

I'm really tempted by a 330d - I can only just afford a high mileage one and should really just get a Golf and save a bit of cash, but they sound awesome, and the money I'd save on fuel would soon make it worthwhile - the 194 version is remappable to about 225bhp and a ridiculous 370ft lbs of torque, which is more than things like a 911 Carrera 4, all at around 40mpg - nice.

[Jim]

remeber when you have then re mapped they tend to cosume more fuel as you drive them faster and accelerate harder  :wink:

[Bubba]

Aye, but I bet it's still about half of what the scoob uses  :D

[Bubba]

bit worried about parking it

I've been driving over 15yrs and I still can't park to save my life  :D

[dontfollowme]

Settled on one: T plate 1999, ford focus zectec 1.8 with air con, 32K miles. Price £4850. Hopefully collect it on monday or tuesday.  :?

Update: Scratch that, the guy wouldn't let me do vehicle inspection check and then decided he didn't want to sell it to me so I walked. The search continues  

[Bubba]

You did the right thing there - if he wouldn't allow an inspection, then there was definitely something wrong with it.

[dontfollowme]

Tell you what mate, you ever thought of buying a rover??

Nope, why?