Choosing the right cheap motor

[smallzoo]

I am now in the position to spend up to £3500-4000 on a biggish mpv or estate.

We will only do around 4k miles a year mainly taking our two medium dogs out, transporting stuff for the kids and tip runs with maybe once a year family holiday

So decided on petrol , ideally auto but not essential

After quite a lot of searching I've got down to

Ford focus estate - avoiding power shifts and ecoboosts
Ford c-max - 1.8 or 2.0
VW touran
Vauxhall zafira
Peugeot 307SW

As soon as I start looking into them I realise it's a bit like a hand of cards. On autotrader they sound great and the. You look at the MOT history and it's full of horrors

All I want is a big boot, reliable engine and reasonable to maintain

I know this could make it a more difficult decision but any information on these cars would be great

[andy43]

Toyota Previa or Corolla Verso. Auto petrol 6/7 seaters and pretty reliable as far as I know.

[Robertb]

I really enjoyed the S Max I drove. They seem to be within your budget, no idea on the relative reliability.

[spaximus]

Mate of mine has a Nissan Elgrand which is in budget and a lot of vehicle for the money. Full leather and lots of toys

[Belle427]

Passat B6 are pretty good.

[smallzoo]

Thx.. is the boot height though for the dogs

What is the b6 ?

[sam.rog]

Japanese petrol is the answer.
Check mot history for any signs of rust. If there is move on to the next one.

[Truckosaurus]

I reckon at that budget you're better off getting an estate rather than an MPV or SUV.

As above, petrol and 'Japanese' is always best:

eg. Avensis estate - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402276...

[soad]

smallzoo said:

Thx.. is the boot height though for the dogs

What is the b6 ?

One of these (has a photo): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Passat_...

[VeeReihenmotor6]

Truckosaurus said:

I reckon at that budget you're better off getting an estate rather than an MPV or SUV.

As above, petrol and 'Japanese' is always best:

eg. Avensis estate - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402276...

This - that Avensis looks excellent.

Trouble with OPs selection in the opening post is that most of these cars are going to be 10+ years old, fmaily knockabouts and likely run until failure and traded in (unlikely enthusiast owned etc) so the vast majorty have amber/red MOT histories. You might get lucky and find one in beige spec owned by an old couple but that is a hard source.

Where as an estate like the Avensis or equiv you might get your hands on one that was run as a company car and maintained well for most of it's life.

[Belle427]

I would say stuff like the s max etc with a taller roofline is probably better for dogs.

[OutInTheShed]

It's very hard to find a nice cheap estate at the moment.
A lot of people holding on to good ones, a lot of rubbish for sale.

I'd suggest being open minded about makes and models, concentrate on finding a good example at a fair price.

[nobrakes]

OutInTheShed said:

It's very hard to find a nice cheap estate at the moment.
A lot of people holding on to good ones, a lot of rubbish for sale.

I'd suggest being open minded about makes and models, concentrate on finding a good example at a fair price.

^ this.

Plus, don’t be afraid to travel for the right car.

[ant427]

Avensis estate petrol manual.
bought this 5 years age to replace a troublesome E91 LCR, Not exciting in any way but ultra reliable, parts are cheap and I honestly I have no idea what to replace it with.

[Jag_NE]

nobrakes said:

OutInTheShed said:

It's very hard to find a nice cheap estate at the moment.
A lot of people holding on to good ones, a lot of rubbish for sale.

I'd suggest being open minded about makes and models, concentrate on finding a good example at a fair price.

^ this.

Plus, don’t be afraid to travel for the right car.

Agreed. I don’t subscribe to the “Japanese petrol” nonsense as there are plenty of turds out there like anything else. Grab the car with the best condition and history. Even if heaven forbid it’s European and diesel.

[smallzoo]

Well here I am still looking and being a pain I know ..

I went to see a Passat estate, a focus estate a Honda crv amd a zafira out of the list and for £3500 they were ropey as hell

Eventually I found a dacia Logan mcv which was decent for £4500 but then the dacia forum said that the 0.9tve engine is a bit weak and timing chains can go expensively at higher mileages, the diesel is fine unless you need the cambelt changing and apparently it can be very expensive

Arrgh... Just want a nice looking , competent estate/SUV/mpv that I can do 5k miles a year without a fuss and won't cost me a bank full of money to run and repair 😁😁

[magpie215]

If your open to jap imports have a look at the Honda stepwagon.

You could possibly pick up an RG within budget.

K20 engine is virtually unburstable.
Automatic mpv 7 or 8 seater depending on spec.

Power doors/door again dependent on spec.

Generally the imported cars are low milage and in great condition.

[smallzoo]

Thanks I'll take a look at this suggestion

[OutInTheShed]

smallzoo said:

Well here I am still looking and being a pain I know ..

I went to see a Passat estate, a focus estate a Honda crv amd a zafira out of the list and for £3500 they were ropey as hell

Eventually I found a dacia Logan mcv which was decent for £4500 but then the dacia forum said that the 0.9tve engine is a bit weak and timing chains can go expensively at higher mileages, the diesel is fine unless you need the cambelt changing and apparently it can be very expensive

Arrgh... Just want a nice looking , competent estate/SUV/mpv that I can do 5k miles a year without a fuss and won't cost me a bank full of money to run and repair ????

5k miles a year, you could ignore mpg, but tax can still hurt.

I think modern cars generally have risk of substantial bills these days. The key is to know your risks and be comfortable with them.

A lot of sensible cars are overpriced, because there are a lot of sensible people looking for cars, and not many sensible cars. Estates especially.
If £5k is your pot of money, consider buying a £2k car if you can find one that works, at least you get two rolls of the dice.

How about something like this?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186351389635 £1750
BMW estate. 173k on the clock, fair odds of lasting you two years? Most of your cash stays in the bank.
I've not checked the MOT history for advisoory on corrosion, you need to do that.

For 5k miles a year you could look at thirsty petrol wagons, petrol X3's are cheaper than pushbikes?

[Raymond Reddington]

Honestly, pretty much every car has potential common faults. The online forums are full of problems because that's where people go to diagnose or moan about their cars, but people rarely pipe up when their car is faultlessly reliable.

If the Logan sounds okay, doesn't have any chain rattle and has good service history with oil changes being on time, it would probably be fine.