23-06-14, 10:35 PM
(This post was last modified: 23-06-14, 10:40 PM by Millietant.)
ChrisTo - have you looked at Nissan Micra's !
Seriously, they're not cool, but as cheap ultra-reliable and economical cars they're impossible to beat.
My brother had a 1.0 litre Micra S (a 1997 version) that he didn't even change (or top up) the oil on for nigh on 40k miles - and it ran like a Swiss watch (especially when it hit 100k miles of being ragged stupid and he changed the oil). Before the Micra he'd had a Corolla GTI 16v, a Golf GTI and then a BMW M3 - so you can bet that Micra got punished. When the Micra reached 120k miles he part ex'd for a 2002 model and the ragged that senseless until he settled down and sold it - to buy a twin turbo Audi S4.
As a result, we bought our eldest a Micra (new, it's a long story) for his 18th birthday. Now, he's a mechanical numpty (doesn't know what or where a dipstick is - except it's him), but that car has done 100k of totally trouble free miles in 6 1/2 years AND still runs like a dream. I drove it back from a valet (we were going to sell it because he's off to Thailand for 14 months) and I couldn't believe how smooth, tight and "together" it felt - better than our youngest's Clio which only had 16k miles on it.
I'd recommend them totally - My missus used to work in the OE car parts business (supplying engine components) and reckoned Nissan quality control on parts was the dogs bollocks - and Peugeot's was "shite" - another reason we've bought Nissan in the past.
Seriously, they're not cool, but as cheap ultra-reliable and economical cars they're impossible to beat.
My brother had a 1.0 litre Micra S (a 1997 version) that he didn't even change (or top up) the oil on for nigh on 40k miles - and it ran like a Swiss watch (especially when it hit 100k miles of being ragged stupid and he changed the oil). Before the Micra he'd had a Corolla GTI 16v, a Golf GTI and then a BMW M3 - so you can bet that Micra got punished. When the Micra reached 120k miles he part ex'd for a 2002 model and the ragged that senseless until he settled down and sold it - to buy a twin turbo Audi S4.
As a result, we bought our eldest a Micra (new, it's a long story) for his 18th birthday. Now, he's a mechanical numpty (doesn't know what or where a dipstick is - except it's him), but that car has done 100k of totally trouble free miles in 6 1/2 years AND still runs like a dream. I drove it back from a valet (we were going to sell it because he's off to Thailand for 14 months) and I couldn't believe how smooth, tight and "together" it felt - better than our youngest's Clio which only had 16k miles on it.
I'd recommend them totally - My missus used to work in the OE car parts business (supplying engine components) and reckoned Nissan quality control on parts was the dogs bollocks - and Peugeot's was "shite" - another reason we've bought Nissan in the past.