New Car

runboy

Please do a google search on the hyundai i10 - you will see 95% or reviews are positive. £6745 for a 5 door car with aircon, elec windows, central locking, 4 airbags, mp3 cd player etc, 5 year warranty, £35 a year tax. It has won a group test against the panda, twingo and new agila in autocar magazine and is now their top choice for supermini.

I'm slightly biased because we have one on order. Trouble is so does everyone else and despite ordering in April we won't see it until September.

jammin_2

runboy wrote: »

..I'm slightly biased because we have one on order. Trouble is so does everyone else and despite ordering in April we won't see it until September.

Nevermind, at least you'll be getting a 58 reg!

Generali

runboy wrote: »

Please do a google search on the hyundai i10 - you will see 95% or reviews are positive. £6745 for a 5 door car with aircon, elec windows, central locking, 4 airbags, mp3 cd player etc, 5 year warranty, £35 a year tax. It has won a group test against the panda, twingo and new agila in autocar magazine and is now their top choice for supermini.

I'm slightly biased because we have one on order. Trouble is so does everyone else and despite ordering in April we won't see it until September.

Cripes! That's a huge lead time. I only thought that was a thing with sports cars. Perhaps this whole car buying thing is a little trickier than I thought.

I hoped the process would be:

1. Post here (and a couple of other places) for recs.
2. Test drive the obvious top 2 or 3
3. Buy the cheapest one if there wasn't a good reason not to.

I'm still inclined towards the C1.

BillScarab

Generali wrote: »

£6k is a good target price. It's about what I pay to keep my Renault Piece de Merde on the road each year.
.

Is that a joke? £6k to keep your car ont he road?!?!?!

Perosnally I wouldn't get a C1. If you want Isofix fittings in it I presume you have children. The C1 is tiny and I wouldn't really want mine in the back of something that small ifr it got rear ended.

The Kia cee'd and Hyundai i30 basically the same car so I'd get the Cee'd as it has a longer warranty akthough I've read the Hyundai has slightly better trim.

jetskidia

Nissan Note:T

AdrianHi

Not driven either of the Hyundai's mentioned here but have sat in a high spec. i30 and was surprised and impressed.
Under no circumstances (even if you plan to keep it until it's worth £500) should you buy either of these Hyundais brand new though, irrespective of 5 year warranties and low rate finance deals (you can buy "good" extended warranties for other cars), because the depreciation is so steep that in the long run they cost you more. Buy an i30 6 to 12 months old with at least 5000 to 6000 off the original list price and then it's a good deal. Don't fool yourself the smaller i10/C1/Ayogo/107 will be right for children, way too small even for a weekly supermarket trip.
Cars like the Astra can be leased for less than it costs to buy and less than buying a new i30.
New cars will have problems too. If you want hassle free motoring leasing the likes of an Astra is much more economical than you might think, or to put it another way, expensive but no more so than buying. The trick is to always view a car as an average monthly expensive over the period you have the use of it and then go looking for the way to get that monthly figure as low as possible.

If you are determined to buy new I would suggest the following which are very reliable, hold their value well so cost less in the long run despite the fact that they might have a higher purchase price:
Skoda Fabia - my top recommendation for you satisfying all 4 of your criteria so long as we modified 1. to - low total cost of use, rather than "cheap to buy" which is a secondary consideration even if it causes you to take a small loan.
Mazda 2 - does not hold value quite as well as Fabia but makes up for it with lower fuel consumption.
Fabia vs. Mazda 2 = Fabia more comfortable and refined, Mazda 2 more fun to drive, firmer ride, better on fuel. Total cost of use wise both cars come out the same.
If you are doing 10,000 miles a year the Fabia and Mazda 2 work out at about £500 a month all in average monthly cost over the first 36 months assuming you buy the mid range 1.4/1.3 version of each and the cash you have tied up in the car looses you interest at 5.6% AER.
Because these cars hold their value well their not quite such good value used, the i30 nearly new and kept a long time might be better.
Leasing a Vauxhall Corsa for 36 months / 36,000 miles trims about £30 to £40 a month off the £500 figure (leasing companies get Vauxhalls on the cheap and pass the savings on as low lease payments).

Lakeuk

AdrianHi wrote: »

Don't fool yourself the smaller i10/C1/Ayogo/107 will be right for children, way too small even for a weekly supermarket trip.

The C1/Ayogo/107 range will take 4 adults with ease, the boot space is small but you just need to workout what you currently need to carry and then go to all the dealers of the cars you fancy and check them all out, see if they'll be practical for you

TopGear Aygo Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flKzjuDhFDs&fmt=18

jammin_2

Lakeuk wrote: »

The C1/Ayogo/107 range

What I don't get, is this:
We all know that Toyotas have a well deserved reputation for reliability. We all also know that French cars, generally, do not.

So, the burning question. Is this car (in all it's flavors) actually made by Toyota or Citroen/Peugeot?

BillScarab

They're made in the Czech republic, so is it a French Car, A Japanese Car or a Czech Car?

inch_high

Generali wrote: »

PS inch high - are you named after Inch High Private Eye? I loved that 'toon when I was a mere Generalissimo.

Indeed, I'm 5'5", hence the nickname