Help Belatti choose a new economical vehicle

[xxChrisxx]

Plus people won't hate you for driving a Ford, meaning you'll be able to get out of busy junctions. As a big bonus you don't have the stigma of driving a car that looks like a warthog of you get the old one. The new 1 series looks ok.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

BMW 1series has no stigma attached...a 3 or a 5 yes.
The one series is a far better car to drive(everyone in the know agrees, as do I having driven both) than the Focus while being almost as good at carrying things, cheaper to run if your a private owner (depreciation) and you will have a higher quality of car than the Focus.
Dispute the above if you please, but try using facts like richard in leeds.


Totally irellevent anyway as Belatti wants neither.

Belatti I have a lovely silver 190E that can be yours for 3000US$ plus taxes.....??
Its not mine, but its advertised on Autotrader and is a rare manual with 87,000 miles. Be all the car you ever need, rear drive bomb proof build and very cheap to run!
And you will be safe in the knowledge that Fangio owned one too!
How good is that!!!

[xpensive]

One of my less fortunate mistresses drives a Ford Escort 97, a lttle rusty but runs ok, I'm sure you can have it for a grand,
but then there's shipping to Buenos Aires of course.

[dumrick]

That would be great news.

Since we are here trying to help Belatti choose a new car, can you explain that comment? If you have any bad info concerning the car, that would be helpful.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0J35f0XjAM[/youtube]

Ah, ok

[Belatti]

10 grand what? what kind of money we talking here argentine dollars? I helped my cousin buy a decent 93 vtec prelude the other day for $1200US.

I agree these tall & narrow cars are butt ugly

how is the buildquality of the brazilian cars?

Here a prelude vtec costs $40.000 ARG, thats $10.000 US...
And arg/braz buildquality sucks bigtime.

That's a restyled 206

Yes, Brazil, Argentina, etc. get what's called in some european markets as the 206+ badged as 207.
Anyway, those markets' cars are mostly re-engineered (or facelifted) models that go out of production elsewhere and the manufacturing gear is exported there.
Nice exception are the european Dacias that get the Renault badge, but are, anyway, recently developed cars. Don't you have the Sandero there, Belatti?

Yep, "our" 207 is a restyled 206. At least it brings rear brake disc and the 1.6 16v that is decent. We have got the Sandero and its more expensive than the Clio.

If you're looking into consumption too, than 1.5 DCI diesel is a way to go.

I have used a Clio 1.5 DCI diesel to travel to other plants in my last job. Great engine, but with our sulfured fuel in only lasts 100.000kms.

Mercedes 190E expensive?

I will export one to you for $5k!

Just double that...
http://www.autocosmos.com.ar/autos/usad ... z/190.aspx

And its not the E version...

[Richard]

BMW 1series has no stigma attached...a 3 or a 5 yes.
The one series is a far better car to drive(everyone in the know agrees, as do I having driven both) than the Focus while being almost as good at carrying things, cheaper to run if your a private owner (depreciation) and you will have a higher quality of car than the Focus.
Dispute the above if you please, but try using facts like richard in leeds.

LOL - you keep trying. A BMW may have better depreciation, but it does require more cash to get it off the forecourt. If you can only afford to spend £10k you can get a 2 year old Focus with 20k on the clock. Compared to a 4 year old BMW 1 with 40k or 50k miles. I suspect most people will go for the Ford.

Actually, I'd buy neither.

[dumrick]

BMW 1series has no stigma attached...a 3 or a 5 yes.
The one series is a far better car to drive(everyone in the know agrees, as do I having driven both) than the Focus while being almost as good at carrying things, cheaper to run if your a private owner (depreciation) and you will have a higher quality of car than the Focus.

Really? JD Power rates the Focus and the BMW equal in predicted reliabilty and the Focus higher in initial quality. People I know who own that BMW usually don't have the most flattering impression...

Furthermore, the specialized magazines (Vehicle Dynamics International, e.g.) rate very highly the ride and handling of the Focus (wasn't it developed by most of the team who did the last decent Golf?)

[adam2007]

Go for the ford focus zetec-s 1.6tdci

fantastic looking car in 3 door and lots of mpg. keep away from that ugly looking 1 series

[Belatti]

Go for the ford focus zetec-s 1.6tdci

fantastic looking car in 3 door and lots of mpg. keep away from that ugly looking 1 series

You must be referring to the "ugly" hatchback... the 135 is one of the most beautiful cars there are in this now not so green earth.



I like small cars

[manchild]

Wow, had a look at the Argentinean pricing of the Renault range and it seems the Sandero is is placed upmarket from the Clio, in terms of available engines and prices. Of course, in Europe the Sandero is sold as a Dacia and cheaper than a Clio, but then again, our Clio isn't that one anymore . The only 1.5 DCI available is in the Sandero.

Sandero shares platform of Clio III while one sold in Argentina is Clio II, so Sandero is a better car and logically more expensive.

If he looks for something indestructible, easy to self-maintain, with 4-5 liter consumption of worst possible diesel than this is a way to go:

[domdogger]

VW should have released the Pheaton as a Bugatti.

c'mon who wants a luxury VW

[ISLAMATRON]

So any initial leanings yet Belatti?

[Just_a_fan]

For the money there were allegedly better cars.
Shamefully I dont even know how much it costs But like I said...it looks the part. I think it needs a fire breathing range topper to let the filtration effect go through its modle range.

The Swift Sport is about £12k. It's only a 1.6 litre with c.125bhp but it loves to rev and pulls well from lowish revs (which is unusual in small cars).

Very chuckable, decent brakes, good spec. I found the seats to be excellent too as is the aircon and the standard fit cd-radio.

If I was buying a small "warm" hatch then it'd be the Swift over the Mini for me. Not to say the Mini isn't good but I prefer the Swift.

[Belatti]

So any initial leanings yet Belatti?

Not yet. All used car dealers want to get rich with a poor boy like me who wants to change car . One of them wanted usd 4.5K to change my A3 1998 auto for his 2001 manual

The only 0km dealers that will take my car are Audi-VW.
If I want a Renaut or a Peugeot I have to sell it myself, my car is published in several sites here but few people its interested.

[andrew]

We have a Toyota IQ pool car at work. It's a 1.0 ltr engine but is good enough for in town driving. Not exactly the most spacious though and the ride is a bit bumpy if you go fast enough. I'm about 1.8m tall and have the seat nearly as far back as it can go. You can get a set of golf clubs on the back seat so not all bad. It does around 35-40 mpg if you change gear when it tells you. Maybe too small.

I had a Vauxhall Astra 1.8 on-hire for a couple days last year and if I remember right the mileage was pretty good.

There is a Mazda 6 2.0 diesel at work also and it does a really good mileage, has really good range and is very spacious. I had it on a 150 mile round trip a while ago and it was excellent. It's the sports version (basically fancy trim and a couple other gadgets) and I believe it cost around £20,000 (not sure how much that is in Argentina). Lower spec versions or the Mazda 3 would be well worth a look. If you want mileage go for diesel (I can't believe I just endorsed diesel!).