Cheap to run 5 door for student Midwife

[AllyBassman]

The Wife is returning to Uni to train as Midwife, so we need to get her a cheap to run 5 door to handle trips to Uni and Hospital placements for the next 3 years.

5k max budget (cash)

Currently only have the one car which will handle family duties, road trips etc but we'd like her car to still be able to take two adults and two kids under 6 to the shops, across town to the grandparents etc.

Uni is 10 miles away around the M60, Hospitals will be in the Greater Manchester area too.

Reliable, Petrol, manual, A/C (only option she wants) 5 doors.

All suggestions welcome!

[A500leroy]

Fiat Panda,kia picanto, hyundai i10,aygo.

[georgeyboy12345]

Honda Jazz 1.2 i-VTEC
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204064...


Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205095...


Kia Rio 1.25
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205065...


Mazda 2 1.3
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203314...


Suzuki Swift 1.2 SZ2
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204154...


edit: looks like that Honda Jazz has a 44,000 mile gap in its service history, which is a shame. Though for most of the other cars, they are not listing when they were serviced. My pick out of these is probably the Mazda.

Edited by georgeyboy12345 on Monday 16th May 11:24

[anonymous-user]

Chances of the aircon working on any ten year old car? I had the same amount of money to spend and everything just seems massively over priced and a total gamble.

I ended up ordering a brand new Dacia Sandero Essential, at the time they were £12,995 and putting £5K down meant the monthly payments were £72 a month. I just felt like paying £72 extra a month for a brand new car, 3 years warranty/breakdown, 2 years servicing, no MOT for 3 years was a no brainer.

The normal Sandero is now £12,295, the figures work out at

Cash price £12,295
Customer deposit £5,000
Total amount of credit £7,295
Monthly payments £68
Optional final payment £5,544
Total amount payable £13,806
Duration 49 months
Representative APR 5.9% APR
Fixed interest rate per annum 5.90%
Annual mileage 6,000 miles

Six month waiting list though

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 16th May 11:34

[georgeyboy12345]

Joey Deacon said:

Chances of the aircon working on any ten year old car?

Pretty high. Just check when you test drive.

What a silly thing to say.

[anonymous-user]

georgeyboy12345 said:

Joey Deacon said:

Chances of the aircon working on any ten year old car?

Pretty high. Just check when you test drive.

What a silly thing to say.

Just my family currently own 7 cars in this age range and not one of them still has working aircon. I personally think you will struggle, and if it does work it won't work for long.

[AllyBassman]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, we checked out a Panda at the weekend, it would be my choice but don't want to settle on the first car we see!

No reason why a 10 year old car wouldn't have working air con. My 2012 car is still ice cold and our old 07 Focus shed had working air con up until we sold it last year.

Quite like the look of Dacia Sandero Stepways - our budget only gets us cars with 80k + miles... not sure if they would end up being too needy with regards to maintenance.

[AC43]

Joey Deacon said:

georgeyboy12345 said:

Joey Deacon said:

Chances of the aircon working on any ten year old car?

Pretty high. Just check when you test drive.

What a silly thing to say.

Just my family currently own 7 cars in this age range and not one of them still has working aircon. I personally think you will struggle, and if it does work it won't work for long.

My current Merc is 12. Perfect a/c. Sold my previous one at 12. Ditto. Sold the previous one at 11 years old. Ice cold. My wife had a Clio as her last car. The a/c was still fine 18 years in.

[georgeyboy12345]

Exactly. I have owned a 10 year old car and a 12 year old car and both had ice cold air con. JoeyDeacon must either be unlucky or buying really bad cars.

[georgeyboy12345]

AllyBassman said:

Thanks for the suggestions guys, we checked out a Panda at the weekend, it would be my choice but don't want to settle on the first car we see!

No reason why a 10 year old car wouldn't have working air con. My 2012 car is still ice cold and our old 07 Focus shed had working air con up until we sold it last year.

Quite like the look of Dacia Sandero Stepways - our budget only gets us cars with 80k + miles... not sure if they would end up being too needy with regards to maintenance.

Pandas are good cars, massive inside for the size they are. Which engine would it be? The Twinairs are pretty cool and really cheap to tax, etc. The 1.2 FIRE is good also, just make sure the cambelt gets changed when due.

[AllyBassman]

Any love for Citroen C3 & Pug 208's?

Decent buy or nightmares in the waiting?

[AllyBassman]

georgeyboy12345 said:

Pandas are good cars, massive inside for the size they are. Which engine would it be? The Twinairs are pretty cool and really cheap to tax, etc. The 1.2 FIRE is good also, just make sure the cambelt gets changed when due.

Was the 1.2, Cambelt and water pump had been changed according to the stack of paperwork. Looked really clean and honest. I was surprised by the interior size! Wife put off by boot size which is fair enough, not ruled out yet though!

[A500leroy]

AllyBassman said:

georgeyboy12345 said:

Pandas are good cars, massive inside for the size they are. Which engine would it be? The Twinairs are pretty cool and really cheap to tax, etc. The 1.2 FIRE is good also, just make sure the cambelt gets changed when due.

Was the 1.2, Cambelt and water pump had been changed according to the stack of paperwork. Looked really clean and honest. I was surprised by the interior size! Wife put off by boot size which is fair enough, not ruled out yet though!

That ones a keeper, cambelts are every 5 years, have a peak underneath at the spring cups to check condition ( wire brush and dinitrol if you buy it) then just run it.

Be careful of the 208 it shares the timing chain proplem of the MINI (same engine)

[stevekoz]

I'd throw in the VW Up!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204265...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275271811183?hash=item4...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284804212645?hash=item4...

You can get one with decent miles for 5k and for the brief, i think it matches very well.

They are really good cars and do a lot more than you'd expect of a tiny little thing like that. Really zingy. Nice to sit in. Comfortable.

Plus i have to say, being a VW and a bit quirky there is a market for them. So residuals may be bit better than some others, but like the lupo before it. They developed a bit of a cult following and i can see the same thing happening with the Up! So it could mean she sells it a few years and doesn't lose quite as much as on a jap/euro equivalent box.

[AllyBassman]

Ahh yes - the VW UP! I drove a Skoda Citigo many years ago and thought it was a hoot to drive.

[A500leroy]

oooh thought of two more

Renault twingo and mg3.

[exelero]

Joey Deacon said:

Just my family currently own 7 cars in this age range and not one of them still has working aircon. I personally think you will struggle, and if it does work it won't work for long.

Come on man, I had 5+ cars that were ten years or older and they all had working aircon

[georgeyboy12345]

AllyBassman said:

georgeyboy12345 said:

Pandas are good cars, massive inside for the size they are. Which engine would it be? The Twinairs are pretty cool and really cheap to tax, etc. The 1.2 FIRE is good also, just make sure the cambelt gets changed when due.

Was the 1.2, Cambelt and water pump had been changed according to the stack of paperwork. Looked really clean and honest. I was surprised by the interior size! Wife put off by boot size which is fair enough, not ruled out yet though!

As above, just make sure the cambelt has been changed *recently*, you might dig a bit only to find it was changed, but back in 2017, which will mean it needs a new one as they are on a 5 year interval. I'm sure some dealers and customers think it only needs doing the once and then that's it!

[ZX10R NIN]

My suggestions are a bit bigger than most but you tend to get better value when you look at Focus sized cars.

Astra Elite, they reliable with good maintenance costs & are pretty much the pick:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205015...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203183...

Volvo C30:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205085...

Vauxhall Astra GTC:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204084...

[AllyBassman]

Thanks for the suggestions all, i'm going to take a closer look at the Panda today, but still keeping my options open.