Next car advice - £10/12k budget and auto

[Ams12]

Hi all,

I’m looking for my next car to replace my 2009 Honda Civic 1.8 petrol, which has been an absolutely brilliant car. Unfortunately my partner cannot drive it as she only has an automatic license.

The car will be used for commuting to office which involves motorways and a roads, weekend trips away etc, I currently do between 10-12k miles a year.

My requirements are:
- 4/5 doors
- automatic
- no smaller than the civic being replaced
- reversing camera
- up to 5 years old
- preferably under 40k miles
- budget is approx 10/12k for the right car.

So far my searches keep bringing me back to a Skoda Octavia as 1.4tsi or 1.6tdi dsg in se-l spec.

Does anybody have any other recommendations or can share their experiences with the Skoda Octavia. Thanks in advance.

Edited by Ams12 on Friday 23 April 07:54

Edited by Ams12 on Friday 23 April 07:58

[Whataguy]

A Peugeot 308 1.2 Puretech 130 automatic from a main dealer should be in budget.

Ideally one after 2018 as the early ones can have issues with the timing belts before they changed the rubber on the later models.

The earlier ones are being recalled and having new belts fitted FOC by Peugeot if they have been affected.

[samoht]

If you want to stick with a Japanese car, the Toyota Auris might fit the bill, eg
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104010...

Hybrid so auto and economical, should be reliable.

[TurboHatchback]

I have an Octavia (2015 TDI 150 4x4 estate) and it's great, I would absolutely recommend one. It's very comfy and with nearly 130k on the clock still drives like a brand new car.

I would do some research into DSG gearboxes before settling on an engine choice though, I know some of the dry clutch DSG boxes that VAG fitted to their lower torque engines were not very reliable. I don't know exactly which engines come with which boxes but I know all the higher torque units (2.0 TDI and TSI) got the 6 speed wet clutch unit which is solid.

[ilikejam]

I feel like I keep recommending the Mazda6 to everyone, but they're just such good value for money at the moment. If excitement isn't top of your list (it's not terrible by any stretch) then the amount of car and kit for the £££ is hard to beat.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104151...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101067...

[LightningBlue]

Is it worth selling the Honda? Do you have the room for another car instead?

[Ams12]

Thanks for the replies.

Toyota Auris - not keen on the visuals although looks like a great car

Skoda seems to be a strong contender, I‘ll look into the different dsg boxes

Mazda 6 - is the 2.2d reliable? I recall seeing an older thread suggesting that the 2.2 isn’t the best engine

I only have a requirement for one car currently, doesn’t make sense to run 2

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say look for a DS5 Elegance 180

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102239...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104161...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008102...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103230...

The Insignia is great value & I'd say it's a better car than the Octavia & you'll get the new shape for your budget:

SRI Nav

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101308...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104131...

SRI VX Line

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104091...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012106...

508 GT

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012317...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104071...

Infiniti Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103049...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103039...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104211...

All the above are good reliable cars that are also nicely spec;d & because they;re not the norm you get great value.