Hi,

I plan to buy some car, and what I could afford (and feed) is something small like Renault 5 or Peugeot 205 and like. Any advices what to check while buying, other advices, recommendations (maybe other car), everything else is more then welcome :)

Regards.

Are Renault 5s or Peugeot 205s still made? I thought the Clio and 207 were the current models...

Tom.

Of course they are not made anymore, I simply can't afford 10.000 euros for new Clio. I can give about 1,500 euros, and Renault 5 and Peugeot 205 are about 1000-1,500 euros here.

A Renault 5 that I owned several years ago developed a very strange, and scary problem with the tires leaking air either at the welds holding the steel wheels together or past the beads.
Unless I wanted a project, I wouldn't buy any car that didn't have fuel injection, most especially an R5, its carburator needed continual maintenance.
OTH, my R5 was a fun car to drive, and it stood up to numerous long trips through the California desert.

If it would fit your budget, I think I'd look first at VW's however.
I have no idea what's common in Bosnia though.

Here VW, especially Golf (Rabbit in USA) is considered as "peoples car". Golf 2 is proven and still hold high values in car thief circles :). German cars in general here are 1. choice. But, French cars are more comfortable to drive than VW :). I have nothing against Japanese or Korean cars. USA cars have 2 negative points, not common here and that means hard to get and hard to maintain, and fuel consumption. That is why I think first about European, then Asian, then American cars.

VW retired the dumb Rabbit name here some time ago, they are Golfs here too now. I owned one as well, after the R5.
IMHO a Golf would be more comfortable at least in comparison to my R5, certainly they are more sturdy. I drove the Golf for about 340000 KM before I retired it.

I drove Golf 2 a lot (only car I half owned, with my brother), little Renault 5, Opel kadet, tried Renault Megane, Lada, BMW. I wouldn't go for Golf after mine experience. It worked OK, but never feel comfortable drivig it.

I owned a Renault 5 (not Super 5, but the real 5). Mine had 5 gears and needed no more than 4 liters per 100 km. The only issues I had with it (except the final accident) was with tyres too old to resist (the lady who drove it did not drive regularly and the tyres were more than 10 years old), and an ignition problem that was fixed easily. Never had any issues with the carburator in 100000 Km.

I think one of these would be the ticket :D

The 2CV is a fine car if you are 19 and don't value your life - can we say tin can on wheels? They've resurrected the Rabbit name for the VW Golf here in the US now, complete with little running bunny logo. Perhaps a VW Polo, which was one size down from the Golf, if you want something inexpensive and fuel-efficient.

It is perhaps a different story in Bosnia as to parts availability, but I would consider a Japanese car if it is practical. I have a brand new Honda Civic, and have owned several other Honda cars in the past - the only time I have ever had to have the cars serviced has been for routine maintenance. I had an older Civic SI that I had to replace a timing belt, about 40,000 miles past the recommended service interval for it. Oh, and the carburetor on a very old (1983 or so vintage) Accord melted down in the heat here at around 100,000 miles on the odometer. Other than that, they have been faultless. I have a friend who has 250,000 miles on her Accord sedan and it still runs strong.

Haris, Here on the Balkans the best think you can buy is Volkswagen. I have owned Renault (8 and 19), I have owned Lada and Mitsubishi and after that I bought VW Polo and understood why so many people like them. Not a single repair for four years of hard driving. I eventually sold it, but only because my family grew up and we needed bigger car. I now own VW Golf 3 and would change it only for a Land Rover Defender (which is very unlikely to happen with those gas prices . . .). The French car comfortableness is highly overrated and they are much more prone to damage! And the insurance is a definite move against a thief.

Ouch, I forgot the Fiat Fiorino, which I also own right now for my business! Stay away!

I would rather go with a Peugeot 205 than with a Renault 5, parts on the R5 are getting more difficult to get (depending on where you live of course) while the 205 still is more common. Japanese cars are good value for the money but remember that the parts tend to be more expensive than for European cars. You may also look into a Opel Corsa (Either B or C type, stay away from the A type, it's just too old). I did some serious clicks with one (a B type) and never had any problems with it.

VW retired the dumb Rabbit name here some time ago, they are Golfs here too now. I owned one as well, after the R5.
IMHO a Golf would be more comfortable at least in comparison to my R5, certainly they are more sturdy. I drove the Golf for about 340000 KM before I retired it.

No-No... it's back, here is the link:http://www.vw.com/rabbit/en/us/

I had friends who had a "Le Car" and an "Alliance" both Renaults sold here in US. Not so hot, lots of electrical problems, but when the le car was running it was pretty fun to drive.

Thank you all for advices.

Andrey, I would soooo much like to go away from VW, but it seems it still is best option here, as you said :) In Sarajevo are much more Renault 5 than Peugeot 205 cars. Opel I don't know, once I had chance to get Kadet (small type, we call it here "tear") but they have body problems. Corsa is also option...

Car thiefs here steal your car, then they call you and offer you to sell you your car again for relatively reasonable price. If you say you don't mind about car and they can keep it, they start to make you problems. Thing is, money I can spend on a car is in Golf 2, Renault 5, Peugeot 205, Corsa... range. Of those cars, VW are most likely to be stealed, and have biggest fuel consumption. Exactly because of reasons Andrey said VW is popular here, and because of that most stealed cars here. And those are also easons for trying to avoid them :)

Oh, looking at that Citroen image, I could get Opel Olympia (production year around middle 1950es) for about 250 euros :)

I have nice memories about that car. It was car my father bought day I was born to bring his son to house in a new car. I have photographs of me, age 2, behind stearing wheel of Olympia. I would like to restaurate it, strenght body and put new motor, gear box and else needed in it and drive it :)

My other half inherited her 1987 Pug 205 from her mother with 7,000 miles on it. Eighteen years later it has 240,000 miles and is still going strong. It has had replacements for all the bits that wear (brake discs, clutch, bushes, bearings) but I did the first welding job on it only a few weeks ago and the engine has never been apart. It hasn't been mollycoddled and seems to have thrived on a carefully planned schedule of "routine neglect".

Steve