Car Purchase Dillema. (HELP!)

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

Hello all, it's another one of those threads again, I am wanting to change my car within the next year but I have a dilemma.

Currently drive a 2008 1.8 Focus (has been reliable but is showing its age with rust)

I can buy a car for around 6-8k, or buy one for around 12-14k (some on finance, low %)

I intend to keep the car for 6-10 years, I will most likely need space for a baby in the near future, do 9-10k miles PA.

I want something that is Petrol or Petrol Hybrid,

Comfortable as I will be travelling a bit more with the new car and I am not getting any younger
Automatic or Manual, no preference

Prefer to have an Estate of some sort but wouldn't rule out an SUV although not really needed for my use case and just gives lower MPG.

Needs to be reliable, every car I have owned has only needed consumables and servicing, I do like the look of a 328i touring but overall dislike most German cars as they're expensive and less reliable than even Vauxhalls (don't dislike Vauxhalls but people do like to talk bad about them)

Needs to have some kit such as cruise (ACC would be nice) parking sensors/reverse camera.

Cars I have in mind for my top budget would be something like;

Toyota Corolla Hybrid, Estate version unless the Hatchback would do in terms of boot space.
Kia Ceed 1.0T
Kia Niro Hybrid
Skoda Superb 1.4/5 (I know it's Czech made but German parts/engine) - DSG not super reliable and the earlier 1.4 not that great?
Ford Mondeo 1.5T - Wet belt I think? if so I will avoid

I know the Vauxhall Insignia gets recommended a lot but if I compare it to the Corolla in terms of longevity than I don't think it would be any competition, seeing that there's already some Corollas on 400k miles and during that time having no issues, unlikely to see any other car reach these miles apart from Lexus/Honda maybe.

Overall I am struggling to see anything that can beat the Corolla for its price in terms of reliability and MPG,

What about my 6-8k price range?

Any brand is welcome.

loskie

6,067 posts

132 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

https://www.stanpalmer.co.uk/vehicle/honda-civic-y...
Civic from a main dealer.

ZX10R NIN

28,854 posts

137 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

Chuck91 said:

Hello all, it's another one of those threads again, I am wanting to change my car within the next year but I have a dilemma.

Currently drive a 2008 1.8 Focus (has been reliable but is showing its age with rust)

I can buy a car for around 6-8k, or buy one for around 12-14k (some on finance, low %)

I intend to keep the car for 6-10 years, I will most likely need space for a baby in the near future, do 9-10k miles PA.

I want something that is Petrol or Petrol Hybrid,

Comfortable as I will be travelling a bit more with the new car and I am not getting any younger
Automatic or Manual, no preference

Prefer to have an Estate of some sort but wouldn't rule out an SUV although not really needed for my use case and just gives lower MPG.

Needs to be reliable, every car I have owned has only needed consumables and servicing, I do like the look of a 328i touring but overall dislike most German cars as they're expensive and less reliable than even Vauxhalls (don't dislike Vauxhalls but people do like to talk bad about them)

Needs to have some kit such as cruise (ACC would be nice) parking sensors/reverse camera.

Cars I have in mind for my top budget would be something like;

Toyota Corolla Hybrid, Estate version unless the Hatchback would do in terms of boot space.
Kia Ceed 1.0T
Kia Niro Hybrid
Skoda Superb 1.4/5 (I know it's Czech made but German parts/engine) - DSG not super reliable and the earlier 1.4 not that great?
Ford Mondeo 1.5T - Wet belt I think? if so I will avoid

I know the Vauxhall Insignia gets recommended a lot but if I compare it to the Corolla in terms of longevity than I don't think it would be any competition, seeing that there's already some Corollas on 400k miles and during that time having no issues, unlikely to see any other car reach these miles apart from Lexus/Honda maybe.

Overall I am struggling to see anything that can beat the Corolla for its price in terms of reliability and MPG,

What about my 6-8k price range?

Any brand is welcome.

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

ZX10R NIN said:

Good list for me to look through, any recommendations for my cheaper budget?

From that list I do like the look of the 508 SW, as well as the Mazda 2.5.

ZX10R NIN

28,854 posts

137 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

Chuck91 said:

Good list for me to look through, any recommendations for my cheaper budget?

From that list I do like the look of the 508 SW, as well as the Mazda 2.5.

What's your actual usage? At 10k a year you may find a diesel works for you.

At the non finance end of your budget you can still get a good 1.5T Insignia in hatchback form:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501067...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411126...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502149...

1.5T Mondeo:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502189...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404249...

2.0 Mazda6:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502229...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502038...

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

ZX10R NIN said:

What's your actual usage? At 10k a year you may find a diesel works for you.

At the non finance end of your budget you can still get a good 1.5T Insignia in hatchback form:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501067...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411126...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502149...

1.5T Mondeo:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502189...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404249...

2.0 Mazda6:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502229...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502038...

So my weekly trips are a 26 mile round trip drive to work, maybe once a month I usually do a 160 mile round trip, then any other trips are usually within 5 miles.

ZX10R NIN

28,854 posts

137 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

Petrol it is lol

Robertb

2,434 posts

250 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 2nd March

I’ve been really impressed with the various Peugeots I’ve had as rental cars, and have found myself looking at them in the classifieds.

The 5008 mild hybrid was really good. Has all the gadgets you could want inc CarPlay and ACC and would be a good family car. I imagine there are good deals to be had.

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

In everyone's opinion what would you do, get a 2015 Civic 1.8 or something newer around 2019/20 like a Ceed estate? 1.0t/1.4t.

ZX10R NIN

28,854 posts

137 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

What's the price difference?

Matt_T

735 posts

86 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

The 1.8 Civics are fairly bomb-proof, I'd recommend them. Or you could look a the Accord 2.0 petrols which are very solid cars - the build quality is impressive.

If you're looking at Mondeos, the 2.0 petrol is the most reliable, the 1.5 petrol is a wet belt.

Kia Optima's come in a 2.0 hybrid which starts at about £11k if you can stretch to that.

Or, how about an Avensis petrol? Avoid the diesels which use the BMW engine, they are not very reliable.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/17986748

Edited by Matt_T on Monday 17th March 18:05

irish boy

3,740 posts

248 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

Matt_T said:

Avoid the diesels which use the BMW engine, they are not reliable

Edited by Matt_T on Monday 17th March 18:05

Only after late 2015. Earlier are the Toyota unit which is good.

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

ZX10R NIN said:

What's the price difference?

Roughly £1-1.5k price difference, a decent Civic without monster miles is around 9.5k,

as for the other poster I am not a big fan of the Avensis for that price and age, I think the Civic is nicer overall, but I need a car that is reliable, good for long journeys now and then, but in the week I would be doing 26 mile round trips, hybrid would be nice but at my budget it's looking like an Auris is what fits it but worried on cat thefts as I live near Birmingham, would love a Corolla if I wanted to finance it but would prefer not to, but still want a Korean/Japanese car that is an Estate.

ZX10R NIN

28,854 posts

137 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

Chuck91 said:

Roughly £1-1.5k price difference, a decent Civic without monster miles is around 9.5k,

as for the other poster I am not a big fan of the Avensis for that price and age, I think the Civic is nicer overall, but I need a car that is reliable, good for long journeys now and then, but in the week I would be doing 26 mile round trips, hybrid would be nice but at my budget it's looking like an Auris is what fits it but worried on cat thefts as I live near Birmingham, would love a Corolla if I wanted to finance it but would prefer not to, but still want a Korean/Japanese car that is an Estate.

At 9.5k these would be my picks:

i30:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502118...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202503120...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404279...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502269...

Ceed GT pretty much ticks every box:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202503120...

Gad-Westy

15,410 posts

225 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 17th March

It’s probably my total aversion to monthly payment commitments but I immediately gravitated towards options at the lower end of your budget. It’s tricky because of you might keep it ten years and 100k miles, it’s probably sensible to shop for lower mileage slightly younger stuff. £6k definitely doesn’t go as far as it used to! But something like this looks good to me. Tin worm could get it eventually but I would imagine you’d get many years of service out of something like this with no major headaches.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025030597...

Gas1883

917 posts

60 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 18th March

My next door neighbour got rid of the previous shape civic ( was either 14/15 plate ) as in his words it felt apart , dashboard issues etc , though he only does 2,000 miles p/a so maybe it was lack of use .
He though has replaced it with a 69 plate , so all the faults doesn’t seem to put him off civics , though he did say after telling the dealer all the faults with the car he got a unbelievable trade in for it .
As for the op , I’d go insignia , I was tempted with a 2.0 diesel when I got focus , my mate has vx- line 2.0 diesel as it’s a nice place to munch the miles up in , not had any issues with it , looks nice inmho as well .

66HFM

613 posts

37 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 18th March

How about a Volvo V40 or V60 if you want/need the estate?
They are predominately diesel but there are some petrol versions around.
Failing that my personal preference would be the Civic Tourer.

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 24th March

Would buying an Auris Hybrid for 6-8k be sensible? worried about the potential for a new battery and the 12v battery if I leave the car for a few weeks at the airport for example? I was also looking at the 9G Civic, 1.8 Petrol or 1.6 DTEC diesel (for if I start to travel more)

If I did 1 long trip a week (200 mile roundtrip) would this keep the DPF happy?

Problem is the Civic is 10 years old, roughly 6-8k, the Auris is a similar price, better MPG than the Petrol Civic for my use-case, but if I were to buy an Auris for 8-9k then maybe it would be smarter to up the budget slightly to get a 1.8 Corolla Hybrid with warranty left.

ZX10R NIN

28,854 posts

137 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 24th March

You need to fix what your actual budget is & then weigh up your options from there.

Chuck91

Original Poster

11 posts

7 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 24th March

Ok realistically I’d say £8k is the budget, miles will be up to 12k as I’ll be doing trips around the country every 2 weeks or so, I am really interested in the Civic 1.8, the diesel has to pay in clean air zones, the auris hybrid is nice but the 12v battery issue would be annoying for me, I want something that can hit 40+ MPG at least and possibly 50+ on the motorway, my current car is averaging 30 which isn’t the best as that’s mixed driving.

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