Fun Commuter that the Wife can Stomach - £12k budget

[Fiisch]

My master plan of buying my wife and I a new Fiesta ST to share as a second car for occasional B road commutes and general second-car runaround duties has seemingly failed on account of the semi-conductor chip shortage and Ford continually pushing back the build date.

So I've decided to buy the second car outright plunge £12k into a fun commuter - fairly low annual miles mostly on rural twisty B roads. We have a Superb as our main family car, so this one will only very occasionally be called upon to carry small children.

Must haves:
- Fun, and preferably fast;
- 4 seats;
- Integrated SatNav and Heated Seats (wife requirements!);
- Not excessively expensive to run;
- Would like a car >8 years old and under 50k miles;
- Budget £12k max.

Top of my list is the Astra VXR (GTC shape), but seems to be a struggle to fulfil all those criteria, especially from a dealer forecourt. Sensible decision is the mk7.5 Fiesta, where budget gets a very low mile example off a dealer forecourt, and I suspect the ST will be somewhat cheaper to run.

Anything else I should be considering? WWYB?

[pistonhead345]

Golf Mk7 Gti ? Might be slight over your budget atm thought

[Canon_Fodder]

Cooper S / JCW?

Heated seats are possible I believe, although you may have rummage

[Mr E]

Mini. Swift sport (not sure about the heated seats).

[ninjag]

The Astra VXR does seem to fit your requirements and this one looks nice:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202202262...


Maybe the Kia Ceed, although perhaps not quick enough:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204214...


Nissan Juke Nismo? (I don't like them personally)

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203243...


Peugeot 208 GTi? Looks smart as well

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204074...

[a.foster3785]

A little stretch on the budget, but for a little extra this could be had . .

15 Plate JCW 2.0 with 30k on the clock



We’ve just had our 2022 LCI 2 JCW delivered on Tuesday, same sort of criteria. Wanted something small, fun, 4 seats etc

[pb8g09]

If you could squeeze a couple more grand into it then you've basically nailed the brief for an Audi S1.

[CG2020UK]

We had the exact same criteria for my fiancée.

Peugeot 208 GTI Prestige is perfect.

Great drive and the suspension is softer than the ST. Returns over 40mpg. Nice cabin. Been really reliable.

[AyBee]

I assume you didn't mean greater than 8 years old? It doesn't quite meet your brief, but I had a Scirocco R up until last year, good fun, relatively practical, not hugely costly to own and lost c.£500p.a. in depreciation (selling into trade) - worth a look.

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say go for the Astra GTC VXR they're a very good steer & with the adjustable dampers are supple enough for commuting too:

GTC VXR just over budget but well worth a look:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203163...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203143...