Europeans:small secondhand car for a girl?

SuperStalin

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Feb 19, 2007
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My girlfriend to be exact. She has somewhere between 6000-7000?
for a second-hand car here in Serbia. Which one should be the best among the smaller, cute cars?

My vote goes for some VW Polo or Citroen C2, while she likes the VW Fox.
The second-hand market here is saturated with bad Peugeot 206's, VW Polo, Opel Corsa, and Ford Fiesta models.

Could you please throw in some suggestions, about which year is ok,
which model should she look for etc.
 
^Completely agree :)

I've driven a brand new Polo and Fox, and our Swift is a lot more fun to drive.. Much more involving. I would steer clear of the Fox, first of all it is horribly boring looking, and the drive is much the same.. It's not a bad car by any means, it's just not very fun.
The Polo is better than the Fox, obviously, but i'd still rather get the Swift. And go for the 1.3 model, the 1.5 is not worth it.. The acceleration difference is minor at most, and you get worse mileage..
Plus, i think the Swift is the best looking one of the bunch.. :)
 
stay faaaaaaaar away from the Swift 1.3 if you plan on going up a hill, it's useless, even my mom complained how useless it was, you had to plan ahead like you were driving a semi, "i got to gather some speed here, to keep some speed on the top of this long hill."
even had to go all the way down to first gear to keep the car going up some of the hills...

it's good for just messing around the city though, just don't head outside, where hills roam freely!

I've tried out the Swift Sport, now that is a fun car.

Small cars though, hmmm...
i don't really have much experience with small cars except the Swift, i've tried Ford Ka and liked it, but i never went outside the city with it, also tested the Peugeot 206CC, it's a revv happy engine, you need RPM to have power, so to me, it seemed to die out a bit even in small hills, without changing gears like a madman to keep the RPM's.
Opel Corsa... some seem to come without power steering, just making them useless for a girl going about town, and tryign to park in narrow spaces.
VW Polo, no real experience, except driving a diesel one in and out of a garage.
i'm actually a bit hesitant about suggesting one, but for just going about town, without any big hills.
Honda Civic, even the early 90's ones work well
or
VW Lupo, small, cute and cheap.
 
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you know what my answer will be :lol:
 
you know what my answer will be :lol:

it's odd. i'm actually looking at a New Beetle myself >.>

i found a version i like besides the RSi, the 2.3 V5 one, 20 valve 170hp 5cyl new beetle? yes please :p
 
I completely forgot about the Swift. I like the design.
The problem is, it's a rather small market, so there potentially could be no Swifts on sale.

The city we live in has no hills :)
 
OK, my answer is: NOT a vw. Got my secondhand vw for around 7000 euros, and it's had nothing but problems.
 
it's odd. i'm actually looking at a New Beetle myself >.>

i found a version i like besides the RSi, the 2.3 V5 one, 20 valve 170hp 5cyl new beetle? yes please :p

Actually the regular turbo sport ones are decently peppy. http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1198/Volkswagen-New-Beetle-Turbo-S.html You need to make minor adjustments to the suspension to make it handle very well though (I think it was about 1/8 of inch or something) The 1.8 lt engines chip well and you can get a decent boost off it. I just happen to have the slowest model you can buy :lol:


OK, my answer is: NOT a vw. Got my secondhand vw for around 7000 euros, and it's had nothing but problems.
lol I'll be honest, the bug is broken all the time. On the up side it's all electric issues so I can still drive it, but it's an expensive pain in the ass. Things that seem to go wrong constantly on a lot of VWs is the window stuck down and the tail lights going out. My tail lights have both gone out 2x due to various different issues. I also refer to the CEL as the "puddle light" because it goes off it I drive through a big puddle.

That being said it's a POS but a lovable POS. I'll take it over a boring reliable car any day.<3
 
And I'll take a car whose engine starts, tyvm. If it was only the windows stuck... that might be a different matter. Oh and the tail-lights... I've been pulled over by undercover police on the autobahn due to taillights out. Luckily no fine, but could have been less lucky.
 
...aaannd I was right, there are no second hand Swifts in Serbia ( from the 2000's ) to be found anywhere on the internet.

What about a Citroen C2? She thinks it's extremely ugly, but it's quite cheap and it's this one isn't so old.
 
And I'll take a car whose engine starts, tyvm. If it was only the windows stuck... that might be a different matter. Oh and the tail-lights... I've been pulled over by undercover police on the autobahn due to taillights out. Luckily no fine, but could have been less lucky.

That's really odd. The engines usually are sturdy. :blink:
Maybe the guy before you did something really dumb to it because if in my idiocy I haven't damaged mine...
I abuse the hell over that car I was driving with half the car up the snowbank yesterday...
 
Nah, the engine was fine, more like the electrical system for the ignition. But nobody knows for sure what was wrong. The mechanic just screwed around randomly, and eventually something fixed it. Mostly. Oh well, what the hell.
 
it's odd. i'm actually looking at a New Beetle myself >.>

i found a version i like besides the RSi, the 2.3 V5 one, 20 valve 170hp 5cyl new beetle? yes please :p

V... 5? How the hell does that work?
 
fiat panda?
 
Yeah, get a newish Panda!!!!
 
...aaannd I was right, there are no second hand Swifts in Serbia ( from the 2000's ) to be found anywhere on the internet.

What about a Citroen C2? She thinks it's extremely ugly, but it's quite cheap and it's this one isn't so old.

Which model C2 are you looking at? I have a VTS (1.6L manual) and I'm quite happy with it. It is solid, with no rattles and ideal for town driving. The engine has plenty of punch (provided you are in the right gear) and loves to rev (red line about 7400 rpm). The interior looks a bit cheap, but the plastics are not flimsy and there are lots of little storage holes. The seats are comfortable, but there isn't much rear leg room. I particularly like the split rear hatch. The only problem I have had with it has been that the steering rack became loose and needed tightening.

The only other model available (in Australia) is the VTR, which has a semi-automatic (sensotronic) gearbox .... I test drove this and found the automatic mode very jerky on the up changes ... it was, however acceptable on manual mode (so long as you remembered to lift on the throttle when you changed up (it must be one of the cheapest cars on the market with a genuine flappy-paddle gearbox).

Pic of my VTS after a good waxing:
GeriC2-13.jpg


Hope this helps. :)
 
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Thanks a lot, I'll show this to her tomorrow :)
 
Hmmmmm How about a VW Lupo? :D It has everything you want: small, cute and a real girls car. Oh, and really tough, my Lupo survived (and still is) 8000 km's driving on the sometimes horrible roads in Ireland. Sorry, I'm praising my car now... :p

I would stick with a VW. But that's my opinion.
Just visit a dealer and let them inform you about the different cars they have. I may say that the VW is good while someone else thinks it's crap. My housemate has a Peugeot 106 and she really loves it, while I NEVER, EVER would buy one... And every car can break down, that's my experience.
 
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