Looking for a reliable, 2nd hand family car....

[twain]

as title - just suffered the fate of buying a lemon (bad luck more than anything, but lets say i wont touch anything french at all...ever)

the list of needs/wants:

big boot space (don't mind an estate) and good storage nooks/crannies...
reliable - i'm a big fan of Honda/Toyota/Nissan but understand its very much 'how the car has been cared for' as much as it is the make...
5 door
easy to carry out basic services (oil/oil filter/air filter/bulb changes etc - you'd be amazed how difficult some cars make it to change a bloody headlight bulb these days!)
reasonably/cheap priced parts with good spares availability (wing mirrors,light clusters etc for the inevitable bumps/dings and scrapes, as it will be abused a bit/i don't mind buying a car that needs some bits replaced if it gets me it cheap!)
easy to mod the sound system! (i like a bit of bass!)

my dream is a beat up Hi-lux (think ISIS choice of transportation), but the Mrs wont let me put the kids in the back with the stray rabid dogs these trucks seem to come with....


Budget is under £1000 - or, depending on when i get myself out of debt, under £2000.
so, just looking for inspiration really.
i'm on the south coast, so nothing north of the M23 really...which probably narrows down the search a lot

what have you lot bought recently/bought used in the last year and got on with??

 

[legrandefromage]

Oooo...

The world is your oyster at that price range.

I know you dont want French but for others reading:

Many old petrol Renaults are alarmingly reliable (1st gen Scenic etc) but avoid complicated Laguna

Zafira A, petrol, tend not to set fire to themselves but can have electric/ rough idle issues

Astra estates, some factory LPG still out there.

Crusty old Mercs, plenty of good value estates still about but rust and fuel consumption may put you off.

Then theres Nissan, Honda etc. Hondas at that price are the thirsty older engines but never really go wrong. Loads of those Civic things about that look huge.

Certain Mazdas rust then rust a bit more just to let you know they rust and they hide it too.

Primera estates, saloons are getting thin on the ground, same with Corrollas and other older bigger Toyotas.

Focus? Plenty about, plenty of pattern parts, not too painful to own. Mondeos are just too old with their 2007 replacements completely batty with electrical and fuel system issues. Later Focus generations suffer factory immobiliser faults and dash dry joints can cause mayhem.

I bought a Mercedes 300TD E-class last June and so far it has been the most painless thing I've ever owned, that was a 1998 300td with just 60,500 miles for £1300.

A nice E220 16v petrol has a huge boot and speaker holes for 4x 6 inch subs in the metal parcel shelf.

Suzuki Ignis is quite big and sturdy with its Toyota engine.

Avoid early Korean stuff as their road tax can be very high plus parts can be 2, 2 1/2 times their Ford equivalent.

Look at dealer part ex's, some quite nice older stuff that can be very low miles that they wont want to put on the forecourts or send to auction.

Avensis! forgot about them, and VAG stuff.

 

[legrandefromage]

Just had a quick look - loads out there!

 

[twain]

Re:

Didn't consider VAG stuff till today actually. Avensis was what I nearly went for a few years ago. But went 2010 Fabia, which is great, but boot space leaves me wanting. Chain cam engines I like, but would want a low mileage one.

 

[highlandsflyer]

You arrive at this need at a great time. There are shed loads of large estates or MPVs going for buttons these days. Look for something low miles and young, or high miles and Japanese and you can't go wrong.

 

[66 triumph daytona]

Re:

You want bulletproof reliability?Honda FRV or Toyota Verso.Forget French or VAG.

 

[legrandefromage]

My neighbour had to blow £1600 on her FRV due to the diesel injection system deciding it didnt want to inject any more (plus a whole host of other bits). This was only a few weeks ago too, regular long journeys, regular servicing .

I was a bit surprised but a googlethon soon found they are not as infallible as you'd expect.

http://www.breakeryard.com/honda-car-pa ... honda-fr-v

BUT that pales into insignificance when during the same week, a neighbour two doors down with his 60 plate 2.0 HDI. Its fuel pump decided that it no longer wanted to be a fuel pump. It took out the cam, sent crap into the injection system and some other bits costing some £1000 in parts and £900 'mates rates' labour to get the thing back and running.

Older diesels run at around 200 atmospheres, later common rail systems can run at anything up to {A VERY BIG FIGURE!} of pressure. You can see why fairly 'recent' models decide not to work after a few years.

I work with cars' electrical systems every day and have to understand imobilisers and fuel delivery systems so as not to damage anything when investigating faults with vehicles.

Its very rare to have to attend Japanese or Korean but Nissan with their reliance on Renault engines are starting to filter to us. Lexus diesels have a recall for a common issue that we get blamed for.

Fiats are simply barking mad and fail miserably. Run screaming from Dodge, Cheverolet and Chrysler brands. Chevrolet are GM and their issues have bled into seemingly good value cars like the Antara which has a habit of just deciding its not a car anymore at inopportune moments.

Chrysler have teamed up with Fiat so that Jeep Renagade is a Fiat 500X :facepalm:

Even the Ford Ka is a 500 built by Fiat right down to the keyfob.

Not entirely relevant I know but I'm trying to get a new job and just seeing how much I actually know without Google!

 

[legrandefromage]

If its of any use, if my next job supplies me a van, or I can cycle to work, I'll be buying an old petrol Merc again. Plenty of pattern parts, plenty of support from Mercedes themselves if really needed and loads of second hand spares.

 

[mattr]

Older diesels run at around 200 atmospheres, later common rail systems can run at anything up to 20,000 atmospheres of pressure. You can see why fairly 'recent' models decide not to work after a few years.

Think you've added a zero in there somewhere....... latest gen is about 3500 atm at peak. Current production stuff is between 1800 and 2300 atm. Ish.

 

[legrandefromage]

Older diesels run at around 200 atmospheres, later common rail systems can run at anything up to 20,000 atmospheres of pressure. You can see why fairly 'recent' models decide not to work after a few years.

Think you've added a zero in there somewhere....... latest gen is about 3500 atm at peak. Current production stuff is between 1800 and 2300 atm. Ish.

Apologies!

I'm getting my atmospheres muddled with psi, lsi, tdi, hdi, dvd, mfi etc.

Its still a huge amount of pressure and if anything gets through with the fuel thats the injection buggered.