If you can get hold of a sport version for your money (thats the one with the centre exhaust) then you are laughing honey ! For a little run about though as Warren said the 1.4 diesel is great for economy and power.

Good luck with your search and dont forget to get the lassie to sign up and show us all her wee beastie (sounds so wrong) when she gets one :D
 
yep there will be a thread up as soon as we get one!

the search has been put on hold until next weekend due to being away
 
I think you must have had a bad one as ive owned 3 arosa tdi's since 2001 and they have been truly amazeing. there are some real nice models out there. so have a good look. i don't know what model you looking for however ive just put my wife's 2001 blue tdi up for sale. its going on ebay at 19:45 tonight only done 42000 miles with full service history in excellent condition.
anyway what ever you go for good luck! i can almost guarente if you find the right one you will be very happy.
let me know how you get on!!!
kind regards
carl.
 
its a shame your in cardif which is a bit far away for us to be honest other wise we would have come and had a look!:)
 
Well, it's good you checked that Arosa out, you have already found the common faults that are associated with these cars. I guess it was under £1k. with all these problems. I'm afraid you'll have up the budget a bit to find a good un. Don't let the year of the car put you off, there are abused ones 2 or 3 years old and there are good ones about 10 years old. Carry on looking you will never find the perfect car in the first one you look at.
 
You do seem to have found the worse arosa ever!

My 1.0 has had a few problems, but they were mainly down to the dealer not having a clue what an engine is, never mind how to go about fixing one!

TBH the 1.0s ARE the most reliable out of the petrol Arosas, the 1.4 petrols, mainly the sport, can be trouble as the miles creep up. Things like pedal boxes (sounds like the one you tried was failing) can fail, which can wear the clutch as it fails, then it will snap and leave you with no clutch pedal. The 1.4 can also be bad for engine wear and gearbox issues!

HOWEVER, dont let that put you off, if you find a good one you should be fine with it. Although i would say if your set on a 1.4 make sure the clutch is light, a heavy clutch will put more strain through the pedal box and risk it going.

Ive heard of very very very few 1.0s having that problem, their gearboxes last as do the engines. I have seen 1.0s with well over 150K for sale. One i saw a few months ago was an 04 reg 1.0S Arosa with 145K miles! So obviously a lot of motorway mileage in that time.

1.0s are ok on the motorway, they do pull quite well once your up to speed, they can sit at 90 if you really want, but the engine is reving quite high then. Most comfortable around 60-70.

Tdis are a fantastic engine, well suited to the Arosa, with plenty of power on tap and low running costs too.

You should be able to find a good one, my little 1.0 drives like a dream, i still love driving it, even after having it over 4 years now.
 
i had a few issues with mine being rattley on startup and problems with light condensation and bearings etc... but after the garage put the right oil in n fixed the problems i am soudn now... just need to go pick it up tomoz :) apparently problems gone!!.. n thats a 1.4 16v sport 03 plate :)