yeah im not a fan of French cars either. Ive driven quite a few saxos and clios and they dont really have that German solid feel to them. Seat Ibiza is a good idea...

Here's an example of a very decent golf mk3 1.4 off the bay...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-GOLF-1-4-BL...QQcmdZViewItem

Ofcourse, as hiscarsavw said, dont buy before you try!

Tell us what you go for......

Oh last point, if you're really on a tight budget, nothing beats an old fiesta. I had an old mk3 fiesta. Little blue one, with a 1.3 petrol engine. It had 59 bhp which was more than enough for town run abouts and motorway trips (believe it or not!) and was extremely cheap to insure..

I found one which has done just 40k for just £700 2 years ago and it never let me down once. They are probably the cheapest cars to repair as well...so an all round very economical choice if you're not concerned about image

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