Need advice please!

[Chesh]

Hey everyone, haven't posted on here since the passing away of my clio but the bug has bitten again and im back!

The reason im posting is that in december i will be 19 with (hopefully) one years no claims and i am stuck about what car to replace my 306 with.

At the moment its a tie between an mk astra 1.8 and a clio 16v. Both would work out around the same price wise - astra being more expensive to buy but cheaper to insure and the clio vice versa.
Its simply the reliability and running costs that is now the deciding factor. Obviously with the clio being a lot of years old its going to be less reliable and im sure parts arent getting any easier to find but that is the car that i would REALLY want! But the running costs is putting me off.
I am a student at university and am not earning a huge amount of money but the whole of my loan pretty much goes towards my car so do have a bit to play around with.

I just wanted people's (unbiased) opinions, I know thats asking a lot on a clio forum lol but i will be posting this on the astra website as well.

Cheers everyone!

 

[cat171]

Being a student I think you should go with a more reliable car which is cheap to run etc.
If the valver goes wrong it'll bite you in the wallet big time. It was hard for me to get a mint one about six years ago, I dread to think what the majority of them are like now.
There are a few nice ones still out there, but that's it really, there are only a few.

Astra wise, no idea on them really no way i'd wanna tool around in an old astra.

 

[Chesh]

lol no it wouldnt be an old astra, would be one of these

but not the same

well i dont need a car to get to work or to get to uni so it wouldnt matter about it being off the road but as you say its the running cost of the valver that is making me think twice

 

[Poopensharten]

As said above mate, take the valver if you have deep pockets, the problem with renaults is that if they suffer any kind of neglect then they suffer big time.

As for the astra thats a diffrent car all together, that coupled with the fact that the Astra is far more likley to draw you attention to the four-by-twos than any old looking clio. On the plus side i beleive the astras are chain driven as opose to belts so you dont have to worry about cam belt changes and things.

If it were me and for the money id try and get a mint Civic VTi or Jordan, high mileage doesnt phase a Honda. Cheap to insure and 158bhp respectivley.

Clio could be expensive but then the vauxhall could be a Dis-Astra aswell!

 

[Chesh]

Did think of a civic a while ago but im not a huge fan and theyre really expensive to insure for what they are!

Why do you think that the astra would attract more attention, i would have thought that the clio would be seen as a more boy racer are tbh.

Lol i like what you did there, dis-astra, very cunning

 

[Poopensharten]

From what you would save on fixing the Clio and spending on the Astra to look good you could insure the Civic, as you know the build quality is second to none. Why do you say its expensive to insure? You can get a 1997 Civic VTi for £3000-£4000 (it would be minted at this price)

10 year old cars arent the worst to insure!

And it would certainly burst any Astra unless its sporting a GSi or VXR badge ofcourse...

VTi ftw!

 

[cat171]

What is your budget mate ??

 

[Chesh]

id say around 2700 all in is my budget, thats including insurance and buying the car itself. i got quotes for both cars an it would be around £1700 for the clio and £1200 for the astra.

well the civic vti is insurance group 16! that is expensive to insure, the clio is group 12. but to be honest thats neither here nor there, as i dont really like civics.

What are the chances that i would find a decent condition clio for around £1000?
Has anyone had any really bad problems with valvers, i have noticed that pretty much all of them nowadays are being used as track cars, presumably because the people that can afford to run them can afford a track car lol!

 

[kenny172]

id say around 2700 all in is my budget, thats including insurance and buying the car itself. i got quotes for both cars an it would be around £1700 for the clio and £1200 for the astra.

well the civic vti is insurance group 16! that is expensive to insure, the clio is group 12. but to be honest thats neither here nor there, as i dont really like civics.

What are the chances that i would find a decent condition clio for around £1000?
Has anyone had any really bad problems with valvers, i have noticed that pretty much all of them nowadays are being used as track cars, presumably because the people that can afford to run them can afford a track car lol!

tbh mate a cant see you getting a good condition valver for 1k

i agree with danny buy a civic

 

[cat171]

A decent valver for a grand, hmm you might get one that's mechanically sound for that, but body wise it's likely to be rusty, or have been repaired (loads have)
Even if the rust has been done (they rust badly on the rear arches & sills) It will come back, unless whoever did it did it properly (cutting the rotten stuff off & replacing with new, that is costly though) So most just get it removed & filled etc, which is a bodge as in a year or so the rust has returned.


I doubt you'd get a car that body wise is fine & mechanically it's fine, it's likely to be one or the other really, or they both might be bad.

 

[Chesh]

yeah all the ones i have looked at so far have had rust on the arches, my last clio had it as well, seems pretty much all mk1s have!

To be honest im not all that fussed about mint bodywork etc its more reliability for me, is the engine still going to be fairly reliable after all these years? I supposed it depends on how wel its been looked after, but are they strong engines?

 

[cat171]

They do takes miles well, only if they are looked after though. Regular oil changes etc & letting it warm up fully before giving it some beans.

 

[Poopensharten]

If you go with the valver your next post will be "Clio 16v for sale..."

lol, good luck whatever you decide to do!