[Sharky]

Hi all.

Well, it's been quite a while (probably most people here don't even know that I existed). Anyhow, many things have changed since the last time I was here (including getting married, having lived in NL for a bit over a year and now living in the UK for a bit over two years).

Anyhow, I have been pondering the purchase of an old car and who better to advise than the people at the forum, right?

Anyhow, here's the situation. Living in London I am looking for a weekend car to drive around the UK and the EU, hence mostly for motorway and road use (little if any urban). Main priority is reliability. I just want a hassle-free ownership.

Overall it's all about having the least running cost possible (including fuel) in a relatively comfortable car (Golf size or bigger).

Budget is max £5,000 (would go as far as £6,000 if absolutely necessary) and ideally not looking for something with more than 80,000 miles (if diesel, not sure about equivalence with petrol).

Thus far I've been looking at two main options: VW Golf mk 5 1.9TDi and Ford Focus 1.6TDCi (the 110bhp one). However, I'm not married to either of the two. Would have a preference for anything that is either Japanese or German (at least german-built). Have also looked into somewhat larger cars such as the Audi A4 2.0 (petrol) and even Mazda 6 but fuel consumption and insurance costs are an issue.

Oh, and BTW, the purchase will likely happen in the second half of the year. Have to save up the money and I still have the small issue of not having a UK license (yet).....but that's a whole different story and I hope to have it resolved in a couple of months.