mario's possible new run-around/work horse

right i am planning on buying a second car sometime next month and i cant make my mind up what todo, when i get said car the punto will be coming off the road and begin its transformation into a butterfly with a chainsaw and an uzi lol, so as you can imagine its going to be off the road for a long time as i want it right when it hits the road again, in the mean time i am looking for a general all round car but it has to be abit special cos if it aint i will end up spending money on making it quicker instead of spending money on the punto lol

The car and my requirments
it must be comfy
it must be good on fuel
reasonable insurance and tax
and my budgy will be around £1000

i am open to offers as the range of cars for this money spans from 1.1 seicento's to 765i BMW's,

i kind of like the mk1 octavia but my ex had a 1.9tdi and i found it abit flat,
i like the looks of the marea 1.9tdi but its a fiat so i will spend a fortune keeping it going
i like the looks of the the passat (like ricky's) but can only find 1.8t in my price range and cant see them having great mpg
i am finding myself drawn to the rover 620tdi but they are starting to get long in the tooth

guys i really need some help lol

What about?

audi 80/90/100
ford focus/mondeo/escort
honda accord/civic/crx
mazda 6/626
mercedes 190
volvo 240/440/460/740/760/850/940
vauxhall astra/corsa gsi/vectra gsi
vw golf/polo

audi 80/90/100:- are abit too old for me
ford focus/mondeo/escort:- mondeo mk4 maybe
honda accord/civic/crx:- nope been there and they are expensive when they do break
mazda 6/626:- dont really know much about them and dont know anyone thats had one
mercedes 190:- too expensive to insure
volvo 240/440/460/740/760/850/940:- love volvo's but too heavy on fuel unless they are deisel and then they are flat unless new (please feel free to correct me on that jay)
vauxhall astra/corsa gsi/vectra gsi:- nope not a vauxhall fan
vw golf/polo:- ok but i was hoping for saloon or estate

vw golf estate? lol nice car that (the mk4)
audi a4 or a6 estate?

find a stilo 1.8 dynamic. Great cars, good on fuel and very nippy too!

Good looking car to only in the 3 door model nearly bought one myself

we have a nice silver Volvo S70 2.5 170bhp for sale at work for a nice easy £995, drive it careful and it'll manage 37mpg plus and its a trusty car lol

also have you considered volov S40 1.9D ?? you might have to scrape over 1000 but they are quick, super economical, handle well, look okay and have an estate option, Volvo name..........

failing that why dont you just save ££££ and buy another cheap tax and tested Punt0 1.1/1/2 to tie you over........i have plenty of fun in my 60 and to be honest i wouldn't swap it unless a very good car came along

thanks

Jason

i must admit i have been looking at the stilo and thinking mmmmmm lol

jay if i'm going deisel it has to be turbo'd and i did think of another punto but i would end up doing what you have done and tuning it as well lol, i do have to admit i am a fane of the s40 but unless they do a tdi version i think i would end up with a t4 lol

the more i look the more i am thinking i want a turbo that i can just leave stock and still be fun, now punto GT's are fetching way less than 1k now but do i really want the hassle that comes with GT ownership.

the S40 i mentioned above is indeed a turbo diesel mate, 1.9 TDI, they do a 115bhp and a 120bhp both of which pull very well and map to around 150bhp.
But id imgaine a good S40 diesel would be over your price range.

jason

i have found a couple of t4's in my budgy and a couple of early tdi's but guessing they are the 115bhp, if i get a tdi of any make i think i would do simple mods like fmic and a re-map and maybe a de-cat

i was looking at a pug 405 1.9tdi and they are a decent motor but getting very old now,

what do people know about saab 9-3's??

there are loads of turbo versions for next to no money, 1 i saw was for 695 on an S reg with 6 T&T i know they are petrol turbo but i'd leave it stock if they are decent little runners

worked on a few Saab's, they seem to be very well built and not massively problematic. The engines are tough and to be honest the older ones before Vauxhall had any influence were just like Volvo's.......tough old boots!

the S40 TDI has a half decent FMIC as stock mate so the need to upgrade isnt huge, they benefit from a panel filter, decat and map though i drove one recently that had been mapped alone and it was quicker than the 163bhp D5 v70's and was showing an average of 47.4 while i was feeling the power lol

Jason