New (ish) car dilema

miradene

Thanks all for the replies so far.

Sadly my zafira developed some expensive faults over the last few days - a wheel bearing and a problem with the head gasket.

I decided to cut my losses and sold it to a garage for a lot less than I would have got if these problems had not occured.

Some of the suggestions look great, but are now out of my budget. I can spend £3500 max. I know to some people this night not be a lot for a car really but it is all I have got.

I need a smaller car than the zafira.

Something cheaper to run.

Decent (ish) sized boot - doesn't have to be huge.

Hopefully something that will last a good few years.

My husbands runaround car has no MOT and can not get it into garage till 9th May so we are now carless :mad:

I can look properly from Monday as I can get a lift to garages but would like to narrow the search a bit first.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

calleyw

taker920 wrote: »

Do the sums - and then decide to keep the zafira until you get a big enough bill to warrant changing.

HTH

I am having the same thoughts as a OP.

S reg Daewoo Lanos gets approx 33 to the gallon. Group 14 insurance and £220 to tax.

Don't do huge amount of mileage approx 12K a year. But the only car in the house. And is costing me £45 ish a time to fill up.

I do like my car just wish I could get better MPG and cheaper tax and lower insurance group.

The MOT is in September. Might nurse it along to then and see what happens.

Yours

Calley

bigjl

£3500 to spend on a reliable but cheap car, what about a diesel Skoda Octavia or diesel Mondeo. Nice ones easily available in your price range. With lots to chose from. Your budget will get you into a 06/07 mk3 Mondeo you might even be lucky and find an ex lease highish miles mk4 Mondeo.

Now that you car purchase is what the trade term a distress purchase you have to be less adventurous. You will get 50 mpg from either of those suggestions. Just put a search into Autotrader.

Scooby_Doo.

bigjl wrote: »

For example my wifes Clio DCi will almost certainly get given to my daughter when she learns to drive, as she will do very few miles then the car will not continue to lose value due to the mileage, I also have a feling that he wifes Company will put a new clutch, suspension and tyres on it in the 6 months before disposal, ahem.

Why are they all on the way out or are you hinting at a little deception?;)

bluenose1

We part exd our Zafira a few months ago after various things going wrong with it for a Kia Ceed that was one year old. We were given the remainder of the warranty - 6 years. We know for the next 6 years we won't have any major outlay. Kia brand new cars are given 7 years warranty.

They do a couple of different size cars. May be worth going to your local dealer. I telephoned them first to discuss what they had in my price range. All we wanted was something reliable that we knew wouldn't cost us for repairs. Don't think any other manufacturer gives warranties for anywhere near that long. It is a very nice car to drive. Would deffo recommend.
Good luck

jase1

I wouldn't buy diesel for low mileage.

Something cheap and cheerful. Older, Japanese, petrol-engined.

Perhaps even a 1.4 or 1.6 Daewoo/Chevrolet Lacetti. Plenty big enough, decently reliable and dirt-cheap -- a 55 plate can be bought for £1500. Would be good for 5 or 6 years at least of low-mileage commuting.

bigjl

Scooby_Doo. wrote: »

Why are they all on the way out or are you hinting at a little deception?;)

I take it you have never ran a business, repairs to a car are a business expense, makes sence to sort out all the big money items on the car before giving it to your daughter.

Nothing deceptive about running your business in a tax efficient manner, just common sense.

property.advert

In this price range, £3500 I think the OP said, my feeling is that you can trade off newness against economy. I can pick up quite a new Focus which will not require much in the way of repair bills but it will not be the most economical in the range. Alternatively, I can go after mpg and perhaps sacrifice on age a little.

In the OP's case, which is quite similar to my case for a second car, I'd suggest the newer and low mileage the car as possible. Suffering a tiny amount each week on petrol is far better than worrying about forthcoming large repair bills.

£3680 before negotiation buys you a 2007 Focus 1.8 Sport with 37k on the clock or a 2007 Focus TDCi LX diesel with 25k on the clock. There are loads under £3000 as well.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/ford/focus/price-to/4000/sort/priceasc/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/maximum-age/up_to_4_years_old/price-from/3000

Kilty_2

property.advert wrote: »

£3680 before negotiation buys you a 2007 Focus 1.8 Sport with 37k on the clock or a 2007 Focus TDCi LX diesel with 25k on the clock. There are loads under £3000 as well.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/ford/focus/price-to/4000/sort/priceasc/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/maximum-age/up_to_4_years_old/price-from/3000

Seems cheap - clocked/categorised?

I'd have thought you'd pay about that for high mile ex-fleet ones.

Strider590

miradene wrote: »

I am looking to downsize to something much more economical but not so small that my 2 kids will be squashed in the back!

Oh where did that "rolls-eyes" smiley go?

Let me just reiterate a point I have to make a lot these days......

You CANNOT save money buy buying a new (or nearly new) car.

Sure you could get 45mpg compared to your old 30mpg, but how much are you spending in order to get those savings? do you do enough miles to EVER cover the thousands you'll spend? and let's not forget depreciation in there too!

Let's say for example to spend £100 a month on petrol now, at 45mpg you'd be spending £75 a month.
At £25 a month saving it would take 2 years to save just £600.... Maybe with repairs (to the old car) taken into account it might be more in the region of £1600 saved over 2 years.
But when you've spent £5000+ on the new car, your really not saving anything.

You CANNOT save money buy buying a new (or nearly new) car.

Simply want a new car? go ahead!! there's no shame in saying "I just want a nice shiny new car", there's no need to disguise it with excuses like fuel economy and saving the environment (yes you Pruis owners).



So with that said, you might as well go get something nice, something you really like! You can also ignore all the "fuel saving" sales patter the salesmen are throwing around right now.
It's a lot harder to bu!!!!!!!! someone into a sale if their only criteria is "do I like this car?".