Recommend a reliable cheap car ?

Ebe_Scrooge

OK, we're in the market for a smallish car that's cheap to run. Criteria are :

Good fuel economy.
Cheaper tax than the "standard" £215 if possible ( £35 would be ideal ).
Low insurance group.
Reasonable luggage space.

The last point has unfortunately ruled out the Toyota Aygo / Citroen C1 / Peugeot 107. However, there are several that seem to fit the bill. Vauxhall Corsa seems pretty good value, and the little Kia's look good, particularly the Diesel versions.

Budget - well, as cheap as possible ! But we'd like something that's reasonably newish and reliable, the intention being we'll keep it for some time, look after it and hopefully it will last. So probably looking for something 3 years old or so, up to around £5K max.

Any ideas ? I know a lot of it is personal preference, but any pointers towards particular bargains, or particular lemons to avoid, would be helpful. Many thanks.

pinkneonmartini

I've gotta recommend the old-shape toyota yaris, it's what i currently drive, and if you can find a D4D (1.4 diesel) then you get 60mpg, and £35 a year road tax, not sure of the exact insurance category, but it's cheap, my renewals are around the £250 mark. It's smaller than the current model, but not as small as the aygo, and it can comfortably carry a washing machine best thing is they go for anything from £2-4k

Lemoney

How about a Daihatsu Sirion 1.3? I have one and it's great. Aircon, cd player, 5 doors, 45mpg when in commuting traffic. It has a much bigger boot than the Aygo. Also, I believe it is based on the new Toyota Yaris, as Daihatsu is part of the toyota group. Tax is £135 per year for the 1.3. It also has these magical origami back seats that fold down completly flat so you can lots and lots in the back!

fatbelly

Skoda fabia 1.4TDI estate!

ticks all the boxes

426/1225 litres luggage space

from 3k upwards so 5k would get you a good 'un

Inactive

Hyundai Getz ticks the boxes.

JoolzS

I always read these "cheap car" threads, and then laugh at what people think is cheap.

Apologies to the OP - I'm not picking on you in any way, this is just the thread I decided to respond to.

To me a "cheap" car is under £500. The last car I bought was £300, plus around £200 to get it through an MOT two months later (plus the £40 fine I paid for not taxing it because I bought it at exactly the wrong time which meant the reminder went to the previous owner and not to me and I didn't pay attention). It has the slight problem of not starting when it's been parked up for a week or two, but that's understandable for a second car.

My previous cheap car cost £500, around four or five years ago and my DH still drives it. It costs us around £300 a year to get through an MOT and starts first time every time.

I just find it amusing every time I see someone wanting a budget car that costs more than it has cost me and DH to keep our two cars on the road for five years

I just know that if I pay £500 for a car and it costs me £300 to get it through its first MOT I'm not going to be anywhere near as annoyed as I would be if I'd paid £5000 for a car - but I'm fairly sure the MOT costs will be very similar.

Edited to add - my car is a Fiat Punto (cost £300 about a year ago) and the car DH drives is a VW Golf (cost £500 about five years ago).

Julie - a fan of very cheap cars.

Ebe_Scrooge

Thanks for all the replies, some good ideas to start looking at there.

JoolzS, I take your point completely. When I was younger I always used to drive old bangers, and fix them myself when they went wrong. This particular car is for my wife to do the shopping, ferry kids around, etc. So I need it to be reliable, hence looking for a newer model. I figure that spending a bit more initially on a newer model will give us the reliability, and longevity, then hopefully we'll keep it for many years. But point taken :-)

AdrianHi

The difference between a £500 "cheap" car that needs a bit spending on it each year and a nearly new, but not brand new car where the expenses are lower except for depreciation works out at around the £800-£1000 a year mark.
The younger car not having repair bills, MOT bills (until 3 years old) lower car tax and often lower fuel and insurance costs offsets some of the depreciation - which is around £1000 a year in the early years on cars of this kind so long as you don't take the initial hit from new.

So the £500 car is cheaper, doesn't tie up as much of your cash or give you loan payment commitments but is only cheaper in real cost by that £800-£1000 a year figure - which is still a lot of money.

Personally I'd prefer to pay that extra for the younger car that is unlikely to need as much attention.

Bowling_4_Gold

We got an '07 plate (literally a week off being '57 - but good for us!) Chevrolet Matiz early this year for £4,500 (or so) as our '2nd' car. It is compact (good for getting around town), Comfortable, has Air Coditioning, Electric windows, CD Player, cheap insurance etc and overall is very good value for money. It comfortably seats 4 adults, but will carry 5 if needs be. Oh yeah, we got it from a Vauxhall main dealer and it had 2 years left of warranty when we bought it. Very good for the money - infact, the one we bought was cheaper than any of similar spec going on eBay!