Car Advice needed

babyontheway

At the risk of starting a heated discussion...

I am the current owner of a Ford KA. My parents had it from new and in 9 years it has never once broken down. The insurance is cheap as chips, it's easy to get it into the spaces on our busy road and it's economical on fuel.

However, we are having a first child in 2 months and with the impact of getting a baby in and out of the back plus the very limited boot space, I think we may have to bite the bullet and get a new car.

We want something small but with 5 doors and enough boot space to fit in a folded pushchair (we can always get a roof box if we're going on holiday etc.)

Having only owned one car, it's not really an area I've looked into before so am very cautious about making a bad buy. My husband is keen to get a Golf which I think hold their value quite well but are not cheap second hand.

My question is really - how much do you need to look at spending to get something that will last? Is it better to get an older car but a more expensive make or go for something less well known. Obviously something nice and safe with the baby.

I'm not really brand-concious but reliability and low running costs are cruical.

I haven't really got a fixed figure in mind as I'm starting blind, but we could probably stretch to £5k if we got out a loan.

I do about 3000 miles a year

Is that a complicated enough list?!

babyontheway

I commute 17 miles each way per day. The mileage will be relatively low for this year because I'll be on maternity for some of the time.

There isn't really a public transport option.

Mel2

Seat are made by Volkswagon and would be slightly cheaper. An Ibiza would probably be big enough for the pushchair etc.

Anihilator

A Kia

Cheap as chips to buy and run and with a 7 year warranty,

catflea

I was going to suggest a Fiesta - I had a Mk3 (N reg) and its amazing how much stuff you could cram into it! Focus would also be a good choice :beer:

tomstickland

You seem to get more car for your money if you buy a bigger car.
I'd say get a Focus.

Hintza

In your shoes you probably want something with some warranty still attached. You don't want to be breaking down with a wean in the car.

On here we battle like fury over the merits of one car over another but at the end of the day there is not a huge amount of difference with a few exceptions they all do what they say on the tin.

The Fiat Panda to me is great wee car (many on here raise there hands in horror)

The Golf is supposedly suffering from the accountants taking over at VW and is reputed to benot as good a it once was. But the Skoda and Seat alternatives are possibl better buys.

The Fords and Vauxhalls are a nice safe choice (but in my view not as cheap to run as they should be).

The Japanese cars are generally very good.

The Korean cars still seem tro get a hard time on here but we don't see many manufacturers rushing to emulate their 7 year warranties.

You will see the cars al being reviewed and et from 0-5 stars at the end of the day mostwill score 90% and all you are arguing over is the last 10% to give it a 5 star rating (over smplified I know but you get my drift).

Do you have a good local indpendent garage that comes recommended that perhaps specialises in n a particlar manufacturer. That might be the route take.

bazster

If you are going for a used car (which you clearly are) factors like condition are as important as brand or model. If you restrict yourself to a specific model then you will find it much harder to find something decent.

Look around, visit some dealers who have a good range of used cars, take a pushchair and a child seat with you to try out, and thus come up with a shortlist of suitable models. Then start looking for the best you can find in your price range.

Tagsy87

i would buy a leon or golf diesel there reliability is tested time again and for a 1.9 diesel you get a lot of car for your money with iso fix seats etc for the kids

Miss_J

Like you I had a Ford Ka when I had my first child. We only managed for about a year with this car, it was a nightmare with the car seat and we had to fit the pushchair in the main part of the car as it wouldn't fit in the boot. We went for a 2nd hand Yaris to replace the Ka and it was amazing. We had a 3 door model, which sounds a nightmare when getting a car seat in and out of the back of the car, but it's really well designed for moving car seats and getting pushchairs into the boot.

On the 3 door model, the back seat moves to allow you to increase the boot space or make it smaller, you can even do this when the kids are strapped in so if you have the pushchair in already and need to make space for the shopping bags you can do this without having to move the kids out of the car.

Also getting the kids in and out of the car is easy too as the front passenger seat springs forward to allow you to step easily into the back of the car. I've aways found this easier than trying to clip a child into a 5 door model where you can't climb into the car and so have to twist around to fit their seatbelts.

We have 2 kids and the Yaris has always been a perfect size for us and a really decent car. Sadly mine gave up the ghost last year after 6 years of having it and I've replaced it by a cheap Daewoo which is not working out economical at all.

hartcjhart

go for a skoda it will fill all your needs,I would'nt be taking out a loan at this time TBH,so what would your budget be without one