I am looking around at cheap run abouts, and don't know which to be looking at.

I am after something with enough space for the family, and to be reasonable on insurance. Preferably a diesel, but not to bothered, as I am only looking to have it for a couple of months till I can get something a little bit better.

What would you all recommend, or do you have anything, or know of anything that fits the bill.

Would like it to be only a few hundred pound, as its just to get me started again.

If possible, would like something VAG.

Cheers.

Chris

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Pug 405 seem pretty indestructible.....

Chris

Plenty of choice of mid-90s Escorts/Astras, most with less than 100k on the clock.

Or a tidy Hyundai Accent 1.3 - cheap insurance, cheap to run, well screwed together albeit not very refined...

Rob.

I was going to suggest looking for an older passat, or a couple of my firends run older cars, ranging from a volvo 850, granada cosworth, sierra, etc, so on this basis they are reasonably cheap to run.

Personally i would trawl ebay and the local freeads, autotrader etc.

At that price you should be buying entirely on condition rather than fixating on a single model.

Do a search on ebay for anything within 25 miles in your budget and go round and look at a few.

If you find something in decent nick you should get back every penny in a couple of months.

As an example a friend bought a t-reg mondeo TDI for 300 quid (it had done 230k miles) but it ran for year only needing a new handbrake ratchet and two new tyres plus a basic service. I think he sold it for the same price

Auction is the way to go at that price.

No mark up from dealers and if it doesn't go you can always put it back in.

Long MOT and mechanical simplicity is a must.

Being a Skoda site there is 1 car worth looking at - a felicia

At that price you should be buying entirely on condition rather than fixating on a single model.

He's absolutely correct.

Another thing to try is to go into a dealer and ask what they've had on P/X that they'll sell to you on trade terms (ie no wash, polish, service or warranty). A good idea is to pick a brand favoured by the elderly, Hyundai, Honda etc as the cars they take in p/x are normally low mileage & good condition, just old & therefore worth very little.

Whatever you buy, make sure it has a good long current mot, and some tax. Last thing you need when buying at the budget end is to spend 300 on a car and that again to get it through an mot.

I Agree with an earlier post, dont get set on a particular car. Condition is the key, also dont worry about s/h very few budget cars will have any.

My brother looked at budget cars a while back, and good ones sell fast, so you have to move quick.