My mates Punto is now on it's last legs and is looking for a replacement. He has a max of three grand to spend and preferably wants something diesel. He's not that into fast cars just wants something reliable to get him from A to B and hopefully back to A.

Are you looking for advice, or for people selling one?

£3k is quite a decent budget.

What type of car is your mate looking at? Does he wantneed space of a larger car or want something the same size as the Punto?

Drivers car?

Either a Fiesta they are quite fun to drive

Fabia - good to drive and quite solid.

Also look out for the Hyundai Getz

something larger.....try the Focus or even bigger try a Mondeo all vary in prices

If he doesn't drive hard/fast then a petrol will be economical too.

Fiesta 1.4 TDCI, Polo 1.4 TDI, Fabia 1.4TDI

May be biased as i own a clio but the 1.5 dci is supposed to be a good engine.

Not sure about what sort of example you'd get for 3k though. Plus it is french and build quality inside isnt great. Depends what you want i suppose.

Focus TDCI

Fabia TDI

VW Bora

Another vote for the fiesta

I had a 03 fiesta 1.4 tdci before my fabia. It was only 67bhp but it went well due to the torque. Handled well too. Returned about 45-50mpg in the roundabout capital of the world (Milton Keynes).

Mine was on 75k and still going strong apart from needing a new steering rack! Ford had a problem with it between certain years of manufacture but never admitted to being at fault when cars were out of warranty! New one is £599 from a dealer or £250 reconditioned, both plus fitting! Do some research