Beetle, 2cv, minor/traveler as dailys

Had a Beetle, drove it daily and it never ever let me down. Was even more reliable than my Capri if I'm honest. When I got it it had been of the road for a couple of years, needed some welding, brakes suspension bits etc, serviced it, got it through an mot and a week later drove it straight down to Cornwall, all around and back to Bristol and didn't miss a beat. Was more than capable as a daily driver.

have a look on the morris minor owners forum page ( not the morris minor owners club )to see some modded minors .

As the owner of both a Minor and Beetle, both would make a good daily. Both have been very reliable in my ownership.

The Minor, to drive, feels lighter and a little less grippy. The 1098 engine seems a little underpowered when the car has 4 people in, especially on faster roads and hills. Then again my Beetle was a 1600 engine, and it's been a long time since I've driven it.

Beetle probably more comfortable on longer runs, and has slightly better build quality, although by now it's equally as much down to how well previous owners have looked after any individual car.

I've only been in a Dyane/2cv once, and it was awesome. Build quality and handling reminded me more of the Morris than the Beetle.

Go for any one of them - whichever you like most on a test drive. They're all good fun and capable as daily drivers.

If you're going to get a Beetle, take a look at 1302/1303 models too. They're objectively uglier than the earlier ones, but have better front suspension and are more practical.

I voted Beetle, partly as it was my first car, and partly as it's a slightly more grown up, solid feeling car than the other two. But they're all good

Obviously, I went for the Minor. You should be able to pick up a usable late saloon for that money. A traveller at that price will either be a resto project or a money-pit. I'd also be wary of Beetles at that price.
If you're used to modern cars, the Minor won't be much of a culture-shock. The 1098 models (late '62- onwards) keep up with the traffic around town, but you may find them wanting on the open road in stock form. There are loads of upgrade options, but keeping it simple with a 1275 swap along with a 3.7:1 diff makes for a very usable car.
If you want to go down the Minor route, pm me and I'll give you a list of what to look for.

I used a beetle as a daily driver for 3 years. Everything was fine apart from the lousy heaters in them. They blow air over the manifolds into the car and unless all the heater lagging, pipes & heater channels are 100% & both levers by the handbrake are working, then expect no comfort.

It's normal to have frost on the inside of the windows and frost on the steering wheel.

Almost gassed myself once after somehow exhaust fumes were getting inside the car.

It's an extremely poor design - Manifolds with water in them do exist but it will need the piping into the car & a fan. Not impossible.

Don't ever rely on the original heating and budget for the water type replacement.

i had a look at buying a beetle recently with a similer budget to yours, and soon realised my only choice was either a shed or a money pit. I looked breifly at morris minor saloons and came to conclusion that if i was going to do it, id get a much better morris than i would a beetle, and thinking forward, because of the moggys more conventional design, if an engine swap had to happen it would probably be cheaper than doing a swap in a beetle, and id have more choice of engines. So moggy all day long, unless you crave for the vw scene. The traveller is cool, but someone i work with has one and wen you see the wood go bad, you realise youd probably be better off without. Ive never driven a 2cv, but id love to have a go in one, probably the most fun looking.

I voted moggy, in 2dr saloon flavour, and as that black lowlight shows, they can be far cooler than a beetle.

Yes, 2CVs are flimsy. Fun, nimble but made from tin-foil.

2CV all the way

I'd get the best condition one of any that came up. They can all be loads of fun and charm the socks off you.

However a ropey one will drain your wallet faster than a misfiring Maserati and put you off classic cars for life. I've had quite a few Beetles and a good one was superb, a rough one was depressing. At the same time my brother had a Morris Minor and it was quite nice, but it was a cared for example.

You can't really say that a Beetle without a working heater will be terrible because any car without a working heater / windscreen wiper / headlights will be terrible. The tough bit when I owned them was finding good quality heat exchangers, the GSF rubbish hardly exchanged any heat and rusted out quickly but it would be the same for a Minor with ropey heater core.

How about something else which would be better value? You can probably get a better condition Austin A40 for your money and they're a laugh to drive.