Hello,mera 1.4 or 306 1.4

B

blata39

hello my name is Sam and i live just outside of manchester in a town called Glossop.
Im 17 and a half ( :) ) and i currently ride a 125 moped. but i have been learning to drive for a while now and pssed the theory test afew months back, and i am soon to be taking the practical.

now after carefully reading Parkers review's of both the 1.4 306 and the almera i decided that the 5 door almera was the car to get, with jap reliability, more space, more power,and better used examples about for the same money (£700).
but i was first attracted by both thses cars as they are both said to handle very well. but does the 306 have the edge on handling? i know the almera is slightly faster with 85bhp compared to the 306 75bhp. there both insurance group 4. but which would be cheaper? thanks.
 
glossop eh? home of the ferodo brake pad! what a claim.

sorry don't have much useful to say, would think insurance is bout the same. even if the pug handles little better, it won't handle very well being fixed in a layby as the mera you should have bought flys past!! ;)

306s are evrywhere too, and you easily sort handlin out anyway.

welcome along mate.

think that's about the biased response you can expect, mera everytime. :D
 
cheers. yeh most pugs are a bit messy at this sort of price range. mera it is then.
yeh i go past ferodo every morning on the way to buxton college. stinks of brakes. it used to make me think my scoot was burning lol. anyway hope to pass soon and find a nice mera. and when i do ill be sure to send my £15 off. i would possibly buy one now if theres any going. but cant be si(6 points :( ), just the basic models, but i would like colour coded bumpers :)
 
Hi fella, i hope i can pass some usefull knowledge on...

Im 21 and own an almera GTi... when i was 18 i had a Pug 306 D-turbo, brilliant car and handled vwell cheap to insure and at 95bhp didnt hang around as far a diesels go.

As i liked the car after 6months i decided to upgrade to a xsi model (125bhp) and i loved this car spent a small fortune on modding it BUT spent ALOT more on fixing it! I owned it for a year or more and by the time i sold it it the central locking had broke, the heater had broke, id blown a gear box, headgasket and various other parts!

Since then ive stayed well clear of french 'crap', they look nice (maybe sometimes nicer than jap) and handle well, and have good spec equipment, but you'll soon get tierd of putting your hand in your pocket for repairs rather than being able to spend that cash on mods!

The almera ive had for 6months now and hasnt missed a beat. I also have a mate who works for nissan who tells me he's seen the SR20 engines come in with well over 200k miles on the clock and are still going strong!

Verdict: If your heart is set on a pug, IMO get a diesel, as nearly all the petrols are crap. And avoid high milers as everything falls apart, especially electrical parts...

The nissan might not have the same street cred, BUT as ive said atleast you'll be able to spend your pennies on changing that, rather than replacing bits!

Hope this helps, sorry if ive waffled on abit :P
 
I would push the boat out on insurance and buy a 1.6 SRi,
you get a lot more than just the extra 0.2l too...
Better bumpers, fog lights, Spoiler, GTi interior etc ;)
 
thanks for the info, to be honest i am now in a worrie about the insurance. i have 6 points from the moped and the online quotes are stupid. and can even a normal 17 year old insure a 1.9 td? i was hoping the mera to be £1500 or so. do you think i can get as low as this?
 
I was 18 when I first insured my almera,
Its a 1.6 SRi, Insurance group 7.
I had 3 points and a claim which was my fault, no no claims bonus.
and my insurance was around £1300 for the first year.
When I turned 19 it dropped to £1100..
 
1.4 almeras are good little cars, had one as my first car and loved it. not especially powerful but there enough to be fun, very very predicatable handling, mine had Pi springs and GTi alloys (slightly wider) and it handled well, would have been even better with decent tyres. decent spec on them aswell, mine was an Si and had electric everything etc, only think i could have wanted was air con but cant complain.

mine got 13k of abuse by me, sold it on 94k, still running sweet as a nut, pulled as well as could be expected, drove perfect etc, my mates now got it and its still running well. cant fault them really, extra powers good but as im finding out now petrol consumption goes silly aswell, and more speed doesnt always mean more fun.
 
blata39 said:
thanks for the info, to be honest i am now in a worrie about the insurance. i have 6 points from the moped and the online quotes are stupid. and can even a normal 17 year old insure a 1.9 td? i was hoping the mera to be £1500 or so. do you think i can get as low as this?
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1.9 TD's are like group 5 or something plus do like 50mpg, problem is becuase of this they hold their money well.
A mate of mine passed when he was 18 and had one, cost hime about a grand TPF+T IIRC. :cool:
 
I was surprised at jap car insurance costs when I started driving - they were quite a big chunk more than the equivalent ford or pug. I had my 1.4 gx(?) as my first car for a couple of years, and I only had one problem (a pipe in the power steering went, I assume it was gold plated from the price). I then had a 1.4 si which had something seriously wrong with the brakes and the front axel, and the engine was completely different to the previous one, so there are dodgy ones around that look perfect with fsh, give it a good drive. No 1.4 is going to be quick, so don't base your descision on power, they're both pretty slow and you'll be thrashing the bollocks off them.

I've also found insurance groups have little relevence to the price of insurance. Make sure you check the individual car and don't rely on any group.
 
I was just 18 when i got my sri. i swapped it for a moped and it looked a little sorry for itself, s i dont think he previous owner looked after it vey well, (but i dont think he did much milage so there was no serious damage).
Anyway he traded it because he coulnt afford to MOT it because there was a fust whole in the sill and he cudnt afford to pay it. It cost £200 to get through the MOT and after 1 clutch (which was going when i got the car) and a few tirs it hasnt cost me anything to repair.
Its a fantastic little thrash.
I drive quite alot of new cars with work because they are always hiring them for me, and even though they are all nice and dont have hose squeeks and rattles, and have radio buttons on the steering wheel, i never enjoy driving them. They have no personality.
I always love geting back from a buissiness rip so i an send the hire cars back and i can get back in the mera. Its absolutly wonderful. My friends ar all upgrding there corsa's and puntos for something better, but im not because my mera still does the shit after 22k miles with me (total 124k) and still beats most things that my friends can throw at it. Mera all the way.
 
look for a 1.4 Si

you get all the good bits with a small tax and insurance friendly engine. add some mods and you'll love it. i do :)
 
Damo-Sri said:
French cars are shite.
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Wrong. They don't rust as bad either. What's the point in having an engine which "they" (often wrongly) say will do 250k without needing so much as an oil change when the rest of the car isn't up to it? ;)
 
Almera all the way mate. I had a 1.4 N15 for my first car the insurance was cheaper by about 400 compaired to a 1.2 or 1.4 corsa
 
TropGreenGTi said:
Wrong. They don't rust as bad either. What's the point in having an engine which "they" (often wrongly) say will do 250k without needing so much as an oil change when the rest of the car isn't up to it? ;)
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because even when they rust you normally still get a good 15+ years out of them without needing major bodywork (ie most peoples life expectancy from a car), plus even if you spend the odd few quid on welding its cheaper than major mechanical problems
 
right, i was in this position not that long ago!

ALMERA, reliabilty, give it a 'rag' and still wont rattle to bits,

306,common, common, un-reliable, and common!


on the other hand it is costing me £1600 as an 18 no-no claims on fully comp and its an si, but to be honest i'm glad i got thhis car hasnt let me down in nearly 2years only thing is rust but your gonna get it on a car thats 10yrs old or more! and for a 1.4 its got a bite!
 
well cheers lads. it is decided, almera! but i really have no clue what to do about insurance. did a quote yesterday over the phone which came to £3900 for a 1.4 equation almera. but the bird on the phone said i should give quinn insurance a try as they could knock a couple of grand off that. sounds to good to be true. ill give em a try 2moro
 
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