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Looking for another car for our middle son.
Never had much regard for Japanese stuff before - my experience of it was a 1977 Honda Civic my Mum had which had front suspension mounts that rotted out. But since we got our 2009 Honda FR-V 2.2 CTDi, my eyes have been opened!
For our first son, a neighbour of my Mum's was giving up driving and kindly gifted her 2002 Mitsubishi Space Star to us.
I gave it a service, and had new tyres and a cam belt fitted, as the service history was full of holes.
There were also a few bits that were broken that needed fixing.
My terror with an older car is the cam belt snapping and forking the engine. So I was relieved to learn the 1.3 petrol Mitsu lump is a non-interference engine, which shouldn't be irreparably damaged in the event.
In the time since, he's done around 6K with zero engine issues.
So, now that I know the Mitsubishi is a reliable thing, I'm wondering if we should stick with what we know and buy another, buy another small Japanese car, or something else altogether.
I don't want to get the smallest cars (like the Aygo) but the next size up or bigger.
Cars like Corolla/ Auris, Jazz/ Civic, Mazda 2, Swift, Note.
Quite happy to have a smaller-bore Diesel (thinking about insurance costs for a young 'un with a larger lump). I have heard great things about Toyota's 1.4 D-4D engine. I know Nissan's Note uses the 1.5D Renault engine. Not sure about Mazda, do they used Ford's (PSA's) TDCi (HDi) engines? Although I think they can have issues with injector seals.
The budget would be rock-bottom (around £1K - £1.5K), including any servicing or work needed.
Never had much regard for Japanese stuff before - my experience of it was a 1977 Honda Civic my Mum had which had front suspension mounts that rotted out. But since we got our 2009 Honda FR-V 2.2 CTDi, my eyes have been opened!
For our first son, a neighbour of my Mum's was giving up driving and kindly gifted her 2002 Mitsubishi Space Star to us.
I gave it a service, and had new tyres and a cam belt fitted, as the service history was full of holes.
There were also a few bits that were broken that needed fixing.
My terror with an older car is the cam belt snapping and forking the engine. So I was relieved to learn the 1.3 petrol Mitsu lump is a non-interference engine, which shouldn't be irreparably damaged in the event.
In the time since, he's done around 6K with zero engine issues.
So, now that I know the Mitsubishi is a reliable thing, I'm wondering if we should stick with what we know and buy another, buy another small Japanese car, or something else altogether.
I don't want to get the smallest cars (like the Aygo) but the next size up or bigger.
Cars like Corolla/ Auris, Jazz/ Civic, Mazda 2, Swift, Note.
Quite happy to have a smaller-bore Diesel (thinking about insurance costs for a young 'un with a larger lump). I have heard great things about Toyota's 1.4 D-4D engine. I know Nissan's Note uses the 1.5D Renault engine. Not sure about Mazda, do they used Ford's (PSA's) TDCi (HDi) engines? Although I think they can have issues with injector seals.
The budget would be rock-bottom (around £1K - £1.5K), including any servicing or work needed.
