Self-Employed in need of a Works Vehicle

[wahman]

hi all,

recently changed jobs to be self employed, current work involved going to various building sites, doing circa 300 miles per week.

i am looking to spend 15-20k. would like something that is reliable, economical, comfortable (heated seats a must, car play, memory seats would be good), something that sits slightly higher than a regular saloon, and automatic.

I am thinking the cars that fit this bill are:

lexus ux 250 hybrid
mazda cx5 (2.2d)

any other notable suggestions would be welcome. thank you!

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say go for a 2.0d Kia Sportage in GT Line/S spec, you should be able to get one with 3/4 years worth of warranty (which considering you're doing 1200-1500 a month) left:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410165...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410195...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410255...

GT Line S:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410295...

The other car well worth a look is the DS-7:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402026...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409113...

Koleos GT Line:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410315...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410255...

[RazerSauber]

Regarding the Koleos above, I sat in one while waiting forever for a friend's new car to be collected. It was nice enough to sit in but the infotainment was the worst I've ever used. It was like using a 10 year old cheapo tablet. Touch screen seemed to be inaccurate, animations were laggy, took forever to get through menus. Sometimes it was like 2-3 seconds between pressing something and it doing anything. Maybe it's had some updates and is working better now but it was borderline unusable in the showroom.

[wahman]

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say go for a 2.0d Kia Sportage in GT Line/S spec, you should be able to get one with 3/4 years worth of warranty (which considering you're doing 1200-1500 a month) left:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410165...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410195...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410255...

GT Line S:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410295...

The other car well worth a look is the DS-7:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402026...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409113...

Koleos GT Line:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410315...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410255...

good suggestions thanks... is there any reasons for discounting the lexus and Mazda from my list ?

[Nickp82]

The CX-5 is worth looking in to before pursuing, the diesel engine is notoriously troublesome.

I’m not an expert on it so it may be that issues have been ironed out for cars in your price range but definitely one to do your homework on.

We had a diesel CX-5 and it was a nice car with no issues whilst we owned but we only ran it for 15k miles .
I did have the throttle body off towards the end of our ownership and it was clearly developing carbon build-up which is very common and can cause issues needing a thorough walnut blast to clear.

[ZX10R NIN]

The 2.2d isn't the best in terms of reliability & the Kia imo has a nicer interior & generally by fine margins is the better car.

[Djtemeka]

ZX10R NIN said:

The 2.2d isn't the best in terms of reliability & the Kia imo has a nicer interior & generally by fine margins is the better car.

The 2.2 is fine with timely oil changes and driving it hard

[dmsims]

Have you considered going electric (if you can charge at home) ?