New car - Astra, Mazda 3 or Civic - any thoughts?

vikingaero

pinkteapot wrote: »

Are Kias and Hyundai good for reliability and build quality? But I mean build quality in the girly sense - how solid everything feels inside, how plasticky the dash is, etc etc...

The Kia's and Hyundai's that I have driven as hire cars have pretty decent interiors. They may not match a Golf or Astra for ultimate appearance and perceived quality but you just know that everything will work. At the end of the day you'll be spending thousands less than on a European car and with a better warranty.

sunshinetours

Hyundai i30 may be worth a look. Decent enough looking, generous p/x on your age car (although mileage may be too high and assuming it is a runner of course), also good warranties

Mazda 3 are nice cars though - know a couple of family and friends who love them

jd82

I would take the Astra, pretty sure Vauxhall are doing a very good warranty offer now too. It is British built like the Civic too if that is important.

The Hyundais and Kias are worth considering but you still need to get a decent discount on them.

Hintza

Mazda makes all the right moves

chody

be prepared for exeptional parts bills if you buy a mazda I had a 6 and everything was really expensive i have gone back to a german car as i really like the vw/audi cars, had 2 A4's and a golf and now a jetta tdi. my nephew works for honda and loves them but admits the gap in quality between hyundai/kia is narrowing fast and kia offers 7 year warranty as oppsed to th hyundai 5 year deal

clever_username

kirsty12 wrote: »

I have a 1.6 Astra, i've had it 5 years with no problems at all. It's only been in the garage for servicing nothing else. It's not exciting but what car is these days?.

KITT off Knight Rider.

wba31

After reading all the posts I'm gonna have my 50p's worth now.

Personally I'd never buy ford or vauxhall, know too many people who have had too many problems (maybe it's because so many people own so many variations of them...)

I love Honda, I think the latest Civic is a great car, however the rear visibility is bad, something you've mentioned you're keen to avoid...

Mazda make great cars now, however they are pretty much just Fords...

I think the VW group is the way to go, look at Golfs, loads about, or look at the Jetta, it's a small version of a Passat, someone told me you can get 1 yr old Jetta's reasonaly cheap as people tend to want a Golf or a Passat, not the middle version.
Seat Leon is a great car, but rear visibility isnt great, but then if you get parking sensors on one does it matter too much? Ive had an accord with a spoiler sticking up off the boot and couldnt see anything out the rear window, but never hit anything due to the beep when i reversed...

hubert_cumberdale

get a civic EP3 model they never break and you can get some great deals

the EP3 model is the 2001 - 2005 shape not that new shape thing thats weird

wba31

hubert_cumberdale wrote: »

get a civic EP3 model they never break and you can get some great deals

the EP3 model is the 2001 - 2005 shape not that new shape thing thats weird

I have one of these, got a 54 1.7 diesel. does 60mpg on motorway and 45mpg around town. Im 6"2 and have my seat right back, but there is enough room behind my seat for me to sit, and plenty of head room. have only had it since june but had no major issues thus far.

The guy who bought my old car off me (an accord) was a Honda enthusiast and he raved about the 01-05 civic, not so much about the present one...

hubert_cumberdale

if you drive the type r you will be amazed at how safe and sturdy it feels it can go round corners faster than you want to so you will feel totally safe all the time its an amazing peice of machinery and can be picked up for 3.5k now for a 2001 model