no idea where to start with which car!?

libbyc3

Hi all - had some good advice before so hoping for more!
I'm about to become a student (social work) in sept and need to buy a car to get to and from uni and placements. I'm looking for said car to last a good 7 years for when I start work to.
I'm looking at something fairly small as we run a gas guzzling kia sedona to transport smalls about and as for milage I'll be doing about 8-10K while at uni will probably go up when working.
budget is 5K cash, willing to top up with finance.
I like toyotas - thinking bout yaris, but they are expensive to buy, theres a couple of year old ones for about 9k at local dealer.
also considering mazda2 and micra.
One car I thought of is the Kia ceed - simply because of the 7 year warranty.
Driving myself mad looking at car websites!
Also - anywhere I should be looking for other than main dealers for a new / nearly new car - am only used to buying 5+ year old cars.
many thanks

techcastoni

Try a new or nearly new VW Polo or Golf. They're not the most exciting cars to drive, but they're exceptionally reliable. I drove a 97 P-reg Polo before, during and after Uni and I rarely had problems with it. Only now on graduating am I treating myself to a new car (Alfa Romeo Mito).

Make sure to check road tax and insurance costs as well as car prices as they can vary quite a lot. Also, if you got a 10 year old car, the Government scrappage scheme will give you £2k off a new car.

libbyc3

thanks, had a golf many years ago, was a pig of a car and put me off a bit - although it was a 1982 golf that was 10 years old when i had it so they might of changed since then.
typically enough i'm currently driving a 15 year old fiesta but haven't owned long, MOT not til feb but will need at least £800 to get through and is not safe to drive on motorways due to faulty steering - and I have about 20 min drive on motorway to get to uni. Original plan was to keep it going and hope to catch the end of the scrappage scheme but just not gonna happen with this car ( the drivers door currently shuts via a complex system of tying string to the passenger seat lever!!)

techcastoni

libbyc3 wrote: »

thanks, had a golf many years ago, was a pig of a car and put me off a bit - although it was a 1982 golf that was 10 years old when i had it so they might of changed since then.
typically enough i'm currently driving a 15 year old fiesta but haven't owned long, MOT not til feb but will need at least £800 to get through and is not safe to drive on motorways due to faulty steering - and I have about 20 min drive on motorway to get to uni. Original plan was to keep it going and hope to catch the end of the scrappage scheme but just not gonna happen with this car ( the drivers door currently shuts via a complex system of tying string to the passenger seat lever!!)

That's unlucky cos the scrap scheme is quite generous if you are eligible.

One tip from one of my friends experience is when she bought a Golf last year. It appeared later that the car had been ragged so hard in its life that the engine needed rebuilding. It was eating up oil every time she was using it - so she was having to refill with oil every three or four weeks. Took it to the garage and the mechanic said it needs an engine rebuild. She only had it for about a month and the dealer wouldn't take it back since the rejection period was done. Trading standards didn't help as they said the same thing - after a reasonable period of time, you're considered to have accepted the car. She didn't want the hassle of going down the small claims court either...so that was that.

The painful and expensive lesson from that experience is to get the car checked out by a mechanic as soon as you get it - regardless of how good it looks or how well it drives.

Inactive

libbyc3 wrote: »

is not safe to drive on motorways due to faulty steering - and I have about 20 min drive on motorway to get to uni. !)

If it isn't safe to drive on a Motorway, it isn't safe..period.;)

Indout96

Inactive wrote: »

If it isn't safe to drive on a Motorway, it isn't safe..period.;)

I was thinking that as well but then started thinking that "Fault steering" sounds more like an unbalanced wheel / tracking so whilst not great would probably not be a problem at lower speeds.

Libbyc3
If thats all it is it will cost about £5 to get the wheel balanced and £40 - 50 to get tracking done

Graham

hewhoisnotintheknow

my brand new golf has been in the garage for over 60 days this year, total crap

AdrianHi

A VW technician I am in contact with on another forum doesn't rate younger and new VW's for reliability at all, he runs a BMW himself.

7 year warranty with the Kia Ceed is hard to ignore, predicatble costs for the whole period you are looking at. But why must you stick with the same car that long?
In any case an up to year old Kia Ceed seems to make sound financial sense, wouldn't buy new.

Mazda 2 is a fun car to drive, 50mpg it's sportiness might mean ride is too firm for some people so make sure you take a good test drive. We've enjoyed our Mazda 6 for 5.5 years+ and will probably buy another in future.

Toyota's realibility reputation is becoming rather well known which is forcing up used prices, but the Mazda 2 has the same issue I think. If buying new I'd go with Toyota and Mazda for that reason, loose a bit less of your money in depreciation.

Skoda Fabia a dependable if dull companion that handles motorways very well for a small car. Deserves it's realibility record as much if not more so than the Toyota's.

kerry13238

i have a skoda fabia td 1.4 its so good on fuel cheap to insure and its £35year on tax think they cost about £8000 now and 0%finance