First car under 1500 euros

Eastern Europe, on a budget for my first car.
I want something fun to drive (handles well, rather than drive fast in a straight line) and decent fuel economy if possible. I need to daily it as well.
I've had my license for almost a year, so I would like to start learning to control my car better, since I haven't been outside the city too often, and there are some nice winding roads around here.

I'm looking at a 1997 Honda Civic MB (140k km) at the moment (which is based on the Domani). I found a model with the D15Z8 VTEC-E in this price range, a little rust at the rear wheel arch, but otherwise looks ok.

Is the engine any good? What about the handling? Or does it not have much in common with a normal Civic?

What else should I look for? I would get an E36, but the fuel economy seems a lot worse, and it's hard to find one that hasn't been abused/very high mileage.

No Miatas, since those are rare and expensive here.

Twongi for 1k

>Eastern Europe
buy a plane ticket from your 1500 euro down to germany, steal some base model 3 series bmw and drive back home like y'all do

A true slav would take the bus to germany

I could get any other shitbox for that price, I want something that handles a bit better.
What if it breaks down? I'd need to steal one with service history, etc, a lot of effort.
I'm Romanian, but I'd still ride the bus.

this shit is nice and doesnt rust because galvaniz

Just get a toyota

You are an orthodox cristian. Thats a honorary slav.

I was thinking of getting a 1.4MPI but I don't think it's that fun to drive, is it?
I wish I could, but those are very rare here. Maybe a bad Celica or something, but I'd rather not risk that since parts are impossible to find anyway for old models.
Alright, I'll accept that.

get a gti.
they arent the fastest but they rev nice to the redline

Are you going to make this fucking post once a week?

Lada from the 80s

Maybe to hard to find, but that would be nice. Are the regular 1.6 or 1.6 16v alright as well?
Dunno, at some point I'll find something I like and stop posting, or I'll give up on the idea eventually. I'm not trying to bother anyone, I just want to have a discussion with others so I can sort out my thoughts and maybe consider new options.
I've been looking for an E36, but I've only found a lot of bad imports or rusted/riced out cars.
Sure, why not a nice Dacia 1300 while I'm at it?

Volvo 850? Very practical, reasonably economical, and a lot more fun than you'd think to drive.

Are the "newer" Volvo models just as good? Like the V40?
I don't see very many 850s for sale, or older. Also, I need to keep it under 2.0L for insurance.

i have 1.4 8v and its ok. 1.6 8/16v should be better. interior is bulletproof and its big enough to fit a washing machine if you fold the rear seats down.

i have owned mine for 3 years and never failed even with hard beating on it. only issue it ever had was shifter seal leaking and it was cheap repair.

very cheap car to own and gas milege is 35 mpg(us) average on hard driving.

dont get silver color because that is boring, or spend 15$ on rattle cans and respray it like i did.

I don't know a ton about the newer models, but they seem reasonable. The V40s come with 1.6ls for insurance, but I'd go with a 1.8 or 1.9 diesel for economy.

If you can have 2.0l but not over, look for a V70, those are solid and pretty quick.

>electric steering
>fuckhueg pillars
>no storage space
>economical engine responds like a ocean liner
My dad drives a 2015 V70 and it's awful

I dont know what cars you can buy for 1500€ in your country, but in russia you can buy only lada or daewoo. But if you have enough time and money you can buy shitty 30 year oldmercedes, bmw, opel and other german cars

Any reason to get the Polo over a Seat Ibiza 6k2?
Ok, if I see one of those I may give it a try.
Hm, ok, but that's a 2015, I'm not going to even look at those.
I can buy Daewoo Matiz here for 600-700 euros, but there's a lot of newer (up to 2003) Opel, VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Ford, Peugeot, Citroen models at 1500 euros.

if i recall the seats are not galvanized so will rust. the vw has galvanized body and will not rust

Ok, thanks, there are plenty of Polos around here.

or get a mk4 golf gti those wont rust as well.

Can't get a Golf GTI at this price, and I've heard the 1.4 16v have oil issues.

get a hondovhic civiko for 1,000 bulgarian pesouros

How's the MB in terms of reliability?

just get what you like. do test drive in one.

>tfw own a 2.4 Turbo with LPG

Does LPG perform as well as running on gas? I know it's cheaper, but I heard the consumption also goes up.

actually depending where you are it is taxed like crazy. same with diesel

My first car was a Honda Accord 2.0L CG9 -1999. Not a super fast car, but definitely not slow by any means. It handled really well, and from what i've heard, its chassis is based on the Honda NSX (not sure if it is true though).
Pretty decent fuel economy and very comfy to daily (which i did for 3 years).
Also very reliable even though i more or less tortured the car during the first year of having a license.

Wow, that looks really nice. I found one for 1500 euros, but pretty high mileage (245k km), is that too much? Or are the engines strong enough?

as owner of 6k1, I agree

I bought mine at 220 000km and drove it to 245 000, then my father bought it from me to use as his secondary car, and it still runs perfectly. So no, for a first car i dont think 245k is too much. It is a lot, but i think the honda can take it.
The only real problem we've had is a very rusty exhaust system that needed to be replaced from the cat and back. So check the exhaust if you go and look at one.

very nice car

So you wouldn't recommend the Seat?
Ok, sounds good. I'll take a closer look if I get the chance.
I think it's slowly becoming my top choice, at least for now, thanks for the opinion.

Theres always the good old ford sierra, rwd and dead reliable and simple

Pretty rare, only a few offers in the entire country, I can't find one in good condition.

I wrote about having Civic in europe before, many did not agree with me but nevertheless I had problems with parts availability.

Sure you can order everything at stealership but cheap aftermarket parts are just not readily available.

It also has quite complicated (and expensive) suspension compared to same class euro shitbox with lots of bushings and joints which are all fucked up by now.

I'm all for jap cars, they're great even for euro while they're relatively new, when then get old it's much more expensive and hard to maintain it than vw, opel and so on.

Personally for 1.5k€ I would just get mk1 Fabia with 1.4 16v 74kW engine.

Dacia 1300 si sârmă. Can't go wrong with that.

>mk1 Fabia with 1.4 16v 74kW engine
This so much. The 8v 50kW is just not powerful enough. I have trouble getting up hills when I have more than one passenger. Otherwise it's a great little car and is cheap to maintain.

Hard to find one with 1.4 16v 74kW, most have the 1.4 16v 55kW...
Sounds like a plan, too bad there are so few left for sale after Rabla.
Is the 1.4 16v 55kW any better, or should I pass on it?

>is the 1.4 16v 55kW any better, or should I pass on it?
55kW doesn't really seem that much better. I'd say to go test drive one and see if it's good enough. My Fabia gets me everywhere it's just that you need to be a gear lower for hills and when entering a highway. If you do most of your driving in the city or on the plains 55kW should be enough.

I'll mostly need city driving for my first car, so I guess it will be alright, but I would prefer a bit more.

You can also try to get the 2.0 MPI 85kW version which is pretty powerful for that little car, but insurance might be more expensive.

>yuropoors cant afford independent suspension

Insurance is a problem, but it really spikes up after 2.0, so that would be the limit. There are pretty few Skodas with the 2.0 though.
Obviously, if I could afford it, I wouldn't be a yuropoor, right?