Which car for £5-6k

Megalomaniac

Hi Everyone,

Myself and my girlfriend are looking and thinking about a new car (more her idea than mine as she has to drive my Renault 19 to/from work each day) and the talk of the scrappage scheme got us thinking. Well, it seems the scrappage scheme is nowhere near as good as we had hoped and really we would lose the £2k saved via depreciation!

So we are thinking of the next best thing - a used car. Now I may be a male, but I don't know a huge amount about cars. I can kick a tyre or two when looking at one, even spot rust, but under the bonnet I struggle so have been reading some reviews of various cars.

I guess the brief is a small family car (for some reason my girlfriend wanted a normal family car but that's probably too big especially as it's mainly going to be used around town during the week, and maybe the hills of England and Scotland at the weekends). It should be economical, relatively low insurance but importantly reliable (and therefore probably Japanese). We also want it to be a little fun, so we can head to the hills/mountains in it and enjoy it (probably need a 1.6 petrol engine) but at the same time have space for a couple of sets of golf clubs in the boot and fit some mates in the back.



I have come up with a few cars which we like the look of and seem to get good reviews:

1. Honda Civic - seems to be a fair few around to purchase and is rated highly by whatcar.com. Looks pretty good, reliable and spacious.
2. Mazda 3 - not that many available to buy it seems in comparison, and doesn't get quite such good reviews - looks good though and girlfriend likes this.
3. Seat Leon - compared favourably with a VW Golf but at less cost.
4. Kia Ceed - Kia... I don't know but the 7 year warranty seems very attractive.

I think once we have decided on a suitable car based on the above criteria we can then focus in on where to purchase etc... I realise through a dealership is a little more (another 10% on top it seems) but I think to have a warranty is worth that little bit more.

Anyway, what are your thoughts - care to throw in any other suggestions? By the way, myself and my girlfriend are mid 20's so as not to suggest something completely unsuitable (nor are we boy racers so we have decided against the Ford Focus).

EDIT: Thinking we will probably have the car for 5/6 years ideally as well so I guess depreciation of the used car wouldn't need to be factored in.
Cheers :beer:

Hintza

Presuming you are still qite young the I would go for the Leon on that list. Girlfriend saying she wanted a family car should be setting off alarm bells though. Doers she know something you don't?

Not sure how cheap you can get them and possibly a bit small but the new shape Suzuki swift gets good reviews and is good fun.

MX5huggy

Your on the right track really but how far do you drive? looks like you are looking at the thursty petrol which is fine as you will get more car fro your money unless you are doing 30k per year.

I would not dismis the focus plenty of pensioners have them they ar very good.

And a left field suggestion BMW if you really want to enjoy driving in the hills.

And of course there is always an MX5 and a bus for your mates! Will flush out your GF intentions as well!

Megalomaniac

Hintza wrote: »

Presuming you are still qite young the I would go for the Leon on that list. Girlfriend saying she wanted a family car would setting off alarm bells though. Doers she know something you don't?

Not sure how cheap you can get them and possibly a bit small but the new shape Suzuki swift gets good reviews and is good fun.

Your telling me...! lol Not yet anyway...

The Suzuki Swift looks a little small, especially the boot space - I guess I wouldn't want to go smaller than the Renault 19 which we have at the moment.

Cheers

[Deleted User]

Must say, i'd certainly buy a Seat again. We've got a Seat Ibiza, bought it 9 months old.. been great (especially compared to the MG ZR we had before it)

Megalomaniac

MX5huggy wrote: »

Your on the right track really but how far do you drive? looks like you are looking at the thursty petrol which is fine as you will get more car fro your money unless you are doing 30k per year.

I would not dismis the focus plenty of pensioners have them they ar very good.

And a left field suggestion BMW if you really want to enjoy driving in the hills.

And of course there is always an MX5 and a bus for your mates! Will flush out your GF intentions as well!

Lol It's funny as her dad and brother have MX5's and I think that's where the Mazda influence sort of comes from. I have never really considered a BMW, always expecting them to be way more than I could ever dream to pay, but looking at that link it seems like a possibility.

Probably not going to be doing 30k a year - hopefully closer to 5k, an absolute maximum of 10k I reckon

DKLS

Sod the mates get the MX5, have fun before you settle down and have rugrats.

Megalomaniac

DKLS wrote: »

Sod the mates get the MX5, have fun before you settle down and have rugrats.

I would love to, and I am sure my gf would say the same, but only if the £5k-6k was spare, rather than what we need to get around, do the shopping, putting stuff in the boot etc... Maybe when I start my job and I am earning a salary, maybe then we'll think about a toy and I reckon the MX5 will be top of the list! Especially as where I'll be working there are some good hills and empty roads...

MX5huggy

Your not trying hard enough then we have done 2 weeks camping walking driving (and it is real driving) in scotland with the boot rack on the MX5 with a tent that is big enough to park it in! (not that we do).

Megalomaniac

MX5huggy wrote: »

Your not trying hard enough then we have done 2 weeks camping walking driving (and it is real driving) in scotland with the boot rack on the MX5 with a tent that is big enough to park it in! (not that we do).

Hmmm interesting idea... hadn't thought of that!

Edit: However, I do think we will need the space for people unfortunately... you got my brain wirring there with that one!

MX5huggy