Supermini for <£6k

ensbd

Hi,

Our old (96P) Rover recently failed its MoT and will need more than £500 worth of work to get it fixed (lots of problems - exhaust, brake pipes, suspension bushes, and more), and in pristine condition would be worth about £400. It's not in pristine condition, and also has an intermittant starting problem that's seemingly impossible to diagnose. So, we've decided to get shot of it and replace it with something a lot newer and more reliable.

Anyway, with some savings, we've got about £6k to spend. We're thinking something supermini sized and Japanese. So, on the list is the Honda Jazz, Nissan Micra. The Toyota Yaris is an option, but they seem quite a bit smaller. It seems for our £6k budget we could get an 2006 version of either of these. Does anyone else have an opinion on these choices? Perhaps another recommendation?

Any helpful comments are very much appreciated! Thank you!

BTW - keeping the Rover is not an option. The missus has decided its gonna go. It was her car anyway, and with her new job, the car NEEDS to start every time.

BillScarab

I like the Suzuki Swift but they may be too small for you. It may be worth considering Hyundai and Kia. They're Korean rather than Japanese but have very long warranties and are generally considered to be reliable.

BTW are you looking at new or second hand? Pity your Rover doesn't have an MOT you oculd have gone down the scrappage route.

ensbd

BillScarab wrote: »

I like the Suzuki Swift but they may be too small for you. It may be worth considering Hyundai and Kia. They're Korean rather than Japanese but have very long warranties and are generally considered to be reliable.

BTW are you looking at new or second hand? Pity your Rover doesn't have an MOT you oculd have gone down the scrappage route.

Thanks for the reply. We are looking at second hand really (as I said, a 2006 Micra or Jazz is on the cards). We've not look at Hyundai or Kia, but shall take a look.

The Rover does still have a valid MoT (until 2nd November), so we could go down the scrappage route, but as far as I can tell, there's not much out there for less than £6k after scrappage (Hyundai i10, Suzuki Alto, Kia Picanto), and they're all a bit small possibly. It's going to be the wife's car so we'll take a look at that possibility.

Gordon861

The Aygo may be too small but the base model is under £8k new so with the scrappage you will hit your budget.

vandanfc

Ford Fiesta or Fusion

plane_boy2000

Mitsubishi Colt is a nice car - had one for a few weeks while mine was in the bodyshop and I was very impressed - quite roomy.

Just checked out mitsubishi web site for used colts and quite a few 2007 models at 5995

michaelvintner

Kia Rio £5495 with scrappage, bit basic though, no electric windows etc.

AdrianHi

Mmmmm I wonder... yep had a look and it is.... pretty much the same money to lease a brand new Skoda Fabia (some but not all others will be similar) compared to buying a 3 year old Honda Jazz.

3 year old Honda Jazz looses about £1400 in value in 1 year and has MOT, breakdown cover, car tax and possibly out of warranty repairs to pay for.
Average loss over 3 years about £1200 a year.
1 years lease payments on a low end but not bottom of the range Skoda Fabia 1.2 is about £1700 including VAT, road tax and you are under warranty. Breakdown cover may be included for 1 to 3 years, you'd need to check

Well it is an option to consider anyway and you can do something else with your £6K other than sink it into a car.

Davey2009

Id recommend the Toyota Yaris I had a 1 litre model recently & the fuel economy was brilliant also it seemed very solid, the 3 cylinder engine took a bit of getting used to but once you change your style of driving its very nippy & road tax £35 per year, it always scores well in reliability surveys too, £6k should just get the latest model which was introduced in 2006 I think :-)