Advice on automatic hybrid/ diesel 5-dr cars please

Io07

Hello

I am looking to buy a 2nd hand automatic car, at least 5 doors, with a budget of £10-12 k. Hybrid or diesel.

I would drive about 6-7,000 miles a year, most of it urban use, including a commute and school run.

We have shortlisted the Auris hybrid, and Honda jazz, VW Polo as well.

Any opinions from people with hybrids??

thank you!

citykid5

i don't or have never owned a hybrid.but for the amount of milage and type of use you sugest.i would say most if not all modern diesels would be unsuitable,because of potential problems from diesel particulate filters DPF. so would recomend either a petrol or hybrid.some of the vw group cars such as audi,seat,skoda,vw offer tfsi small engined petrol cars,which still offer good mpg and refinements,so think if it was me looking,i'd prefer one of these over a overpriced hybrib.good luck with your new car purchase

reeac

Io07 wrote: »

Hello

I am looking to buy a 2nd hand automatic car, at least 5 doors, with a budget of £10-12 k. Hybrid or diesel.

I would drive about 6-7,000 miles a year, most of it urban use, including a commute and school run.

We have shortlisted the Auris hybrid, and Honda jazz, VW Polo as well.

Any opinions from people with hybrids??

thank you!

That sort of use should suit a hybrid [lots of stop/start] but I haven't seen anything about the durability of hybrid batteries which could be a big issue financially. The Prius has been around long enough now for any such problems to have become apparent.

worried_jim

I would go for a Prius. Your budget will get a very nice low mileage 2010 car and as far as I am aware there are very few issues with battery issues.
Do not get a diesel, it is not suitable for the use you have outlined.

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201202441106514/sort/priceasc/usedcars/model/prius/make/toyota/quicksearch/true/page/6/radius/40/postcode/le29hd?logcode=p

cootuk

We have a 2006 genII Prius and do the same sort of driving.
Our thoughts were:
1. A diesel dpf would clog up with mainly city driving
2. Next best would be a small city car like Micra, Auris, Polo, Fox.
Depends how much room you need.
We decided we needed about the size of a Golf or Focus which rules out a lot of the newer 3 cylinder small cars.
3. Hybrids tend to cost more than a standard petrol car, so do you buy a hybrid for more but spend less on petrol, or pay less up front but pay more on petrol. I think this sort of balances out.
4. For a couple of years the Prius hybrid side warranty was reduced from 10yrs/100000miles to 5yr iirc, so you may need to check the warranty on any model.
As for reliability, the hybrid side is extremely reliable and has been around since about 1998 in Japan. Very few main battery failures.

Weak points...small 12v battery which probably gets replaced every 5 years.
Interior trim is a bit rattly considering the price range.
Front brakes can corrode as most braking done by regen system, so every now and again need to flip into neutral and brake hard to scrub them.

As for driving...buying an auto was the best thing we ever did for city driving.
The acceleration is effortless with no kickdown,though at full throttle the engine does get a bit noisy. The drive on here isnt the clunky cvt of old, but a completely different concept that works smoothly .
Easy to get up past legal motorway speed, with plenty of power for overtaking.

Fuel economy wise...on motorway we get mid 50s, longer city runs we are low 50s, very short runs from cold can see low 40s (sounds bad but other cars would be lower if you only do say a mile or two from cold).

As for insurance, Toyota give extremely competitive quotes...about 30% lower than other lowest quotes we had. Living in Bradford most quotes were £600+, Toyota only £400. So no more expensive to insure than a standard car.

Road tax for me £10, and I guess any congestion charge might also be a factor.

worried_jim

cootuk wrote: »

We have a 2006 genII Prius and do the same sort of driving.
Our thoughts were:
1. A diesel dpf would clog up with mainly city driving
2. Next best would be a small city car like Micra, Auris, Polo, Fox.
Depends how much room you need.
We decided we needed about the size of a Golf or Focus which rules out a lot of the newer 3 cylinder small cars.
3. Hybrids tend to cost more than a standard petrol car, so do you buy a hybrid for more but spend less on petrol, or pay less up front but pay more on petrol. I think this sort of balances out.
4. For a couple of years the Prius hybrid side warranty was reduced from 10yrs/100000miles to 5yr iirc, so you may need to check the warranty on any model.
As for reliability, the hybrid side is extremely reliable and has been around since about 1998 in Japan. Very few main battery failures.

Weak points...small 12v battery which probably gets replaced every 5 years.
Interior trim is a bit rattly considering the price range.
Front brakes can corrode as most braking done by regen system, so every now and again need to flip into neutral and brake hard to scrub them.

As for driving...buying an auto was the best thing we ever did for city driving.
The acceleration is effortless with no kickdown,though at full throttle the engine does get a bit noisy. The drive on here isnt the clunky cvt of old, but a completely different concept that works smoothly .
Easy to get up past legal motorway speed, with plenty of power for overtaking.

Fuel economy wise...on motorway we get mid 50s, longer city runs we are low 50s, very short runs from cold can see low 40s (sounds bad but other cars would be lower if you only do say a mile or two from cold).

As for insurance, Toyota give extremely competitive quotes...about 30% lower than other lowest quotes we had. Living in Bradford most quotes were £600+, Toyota only £400. So no more expensive to insure than a standard car.

Road tax for me £10, and I guess any congestion charge might also be a factor.

Thanks cootuk. I have just been looking around auto trader to see what was available and for the mileages and driving I do, your description above makes perfect sense to me and I may go this route for my next car. I know of two people who own them and you have pretty much mirrored what they have said already.

jeanJ

Hybrid automobiles may seem costly, but the inevitable fuel savings will supposedly make up for this. If you want to know how long will it be until your hybrid vehicle will hit the magic break-even point on the subject of bang for your buck? Good for you because Fueleconomy.gov gives you hybrid break-even value point. The United States Department of Energy's site fueleconomy.gov now informs you which hybrids pay off fast, and which cost more than they are really worth.

benham3160

cootuk wrote: »

The drive on here isnt the clunky cvt of old

I agree with everything else you have said, and this is just a minor point, but CVT's were never "clunky", that was kinda their problem

Regards,
Andy

iolanthe07

benham3160 wrote: »

I agree with everything else you have said, and this is just a minor point, but CVT's were never "clunky", that was kinda their problem

Regards,
Andy

OP may mean one of the electro/mechanical semi- automatic- clutch type of transmissions rather than CVT. I still prefer the tried and tested traditional torque converter auto, even if it does use a bit more fuel.

Lum

As others have said, avoid any diesel with a DPF and/or DMF (Diesel Particulate Filter and Dual Mass Flywheel) as your savings will be wiped out when these inevitably fail.

It's also worth asking how big a car you need, some of the smaller petrol engined cars are actually getting better MPG figures than the likes of the Prius. You also need to consider residual values and servicing costs. A lot of people are still nervous about costly battery replacements that may or may not be necessary.