Used car advice please!

AndWooo · 11 April 2012 at 12:11PM

I have recently been told that I am to relocate offices (Swindon to Bristol) which gives me an 80mile commute everyday. I will be a new driver (28years old, I have been putting driving off thus far!) and am after some advice on cars.

The following is a list of things that need to be considered:

Mostly motorway driving, approx 16,000miles per year
A-C tax band ideally
My insurance will be high just because I will be a new driver (lowered by my partner being named as an occasional driver) so the car can't be too powerful so as to push it higher, quotes so far have been circa £700-£800
I am likely to only be getting expenses to help with the travelling for the first year so I can't be left with an uneconomical car at the end of the year
Budget - willing to pay up to £5000 but 16,000mileage per year will be depreciating the value of the car quite a lot. £3000-£5000 are likely to be my limits.
I need to car to be reliable so I don't really want to get an old banger (plus I want a fairly nice car!). Hondas and VWs are what I expect to be the most reliable?
Repair costs will be important, I have read that the focus' and astras are likely to be the cheapest to repair?
I am also not too keen on buying the more budget type cars (Aygo/C1/107) as I have been told they aren't the best for motorway journeys (very loud?)

Ideally the car would be:

Diesel - more efficient (in theory, I am basing this on what the motoring organisations are telling me)
Ideally ~70mpg for motorway journeys (obviously depending on how I drive! ECOSAFE and all that)
5 door hatchback
1.4 to 1.6ltr engine (I would prefer the car to have a bit of grunt if I have to drive 80 miles everyday! I'm not too keen on a 1.0 to 1.2ltr)
Manual
4-5 years old (therefore with mileage less than 50,000-60,000)

I have had a looked into cars similar to the following:

Peugeot 206-207
Voltwagen Polo
Astras/focus' etc...

As soon as you start looking for diesels on used car sites the numbers are very limited compared to petrols.

Any general advice would be greatly appreciated as I am massively confused! If you can give me your thoughts on cars and anything else you think may need thinking about (i.e. advice on buying used cars). Sorry for the long question but I really need to get the decision right as I will be plagued by it for years if it isn't!

I understand that there is a lot of debate on the diesel/petrol efficiency comparison but I would rather focus on what I have mentioned above.

Thanks very much!

Strider590 · 11 April 2012 at 12:39PM

AndWooo wrote: »

I have recently been told that I am to relocate offices (Swindon to Bristol) which gives me an 80mile commute everyday. I will be a new driver (28years old, I have been putting driving off thus far!) and am after some advice on cars.

The following is a list of things that need to be considered:

Mostly motorway driving, approx 16,000miles per year

A-C tax band ideally

My insurance will be high just because I will be a new driver (lowered by my partner being named as an occasional driver) so the car can't be too powerful so as to push it higher, quotes so far have been circa £700-£800

I am likely to only be getting expenses to help with the travelling for the first year so I can't be left with an uneconomical car at the end of the year

Budget - willing to pay up to £5000 but 16,000mileage per year will be depreciating the value of the car quite a lot. £3000-£5000 are likely to be my limits.

I need to car to be reliable so I don't really want to get an old banger (plus I want a fairly nice car!). Hondas and VWs are what I expect to be the most reliable?

Repair costs will be important, I have read that the focus' and astras are likely to be the cheapest to repair?

I am also not too keen on buying the more budget type cars (Aygo/C1/107) as I have been told they aren't the best for motorway journeys (very loud?)

Ideally the car would be:

Diesel - more efficient (in theory, I am basing this on what the motoring organisations are telling me)

Ideally ~70mpg for motorway journeys (obviously depending on how I drive! ECOSAFE and all that)

5 door hatchback

1.4 to 1.6ltr engine (I would prefer the car to have a bit of grunt if I have to drive 80 miles everyday! I'm not too keen on a 1.0 to 1.2ltr)

Manual

4-5 years old (therefore with mileage less than 50,000-60,000)

I have had a looked into cars similar to the following:

Peugeot 206-207

Voltwagen Polo

Astras/focus' etc...

As soon as you start looking for diesels on used car sites the numbers are very limited compared to petrols.

Any general advice would be greatly appreciated as I am massively confused! If you can give me your thoughts on cars and anything else you think may need thinking about (i.e. advice on buying used cars). Sorry for the long question but I really need to get the decision right as I will be plagued by it for years if it isn't!

I understand that there is a lot of debate on the diesel/petrol efficiency comparison but I would rather focus on what I have mentioned above.

Thanks very much!

Forget VW and Honda, the former haven't made a reliable car since 1990 and the later are damn expensive (both to buy and to fix).

For your mileage and considering that bigger cars are better value and sometimes cheaper to insure (thanks to boy racers raising the risk associated with small cars, by crashing small hatchbacks... A lot.).

You want something like a 1.8ish Focus or Astra.

Don't go for diesel unless your buying something less than two years old, they get VERY expensive with age due to things like DPFs (diesel particulate filters) and DMFs (dual mass flywheel).
Yes DPF failures are caused by low mileage and YES your mileage will be fine, BUT you don't know what the previous owner did with it.

The bigger the car, the better the ride on the motorway and the better the value for money (because all the idiots have driven up the prices of small cars).

s_b · 11 April 2012 at 12:50PM

you also need to have in place a good contingency fund and a meticulous safety/inspection/servicing regime because thats a lot of miles for what is basically a throw away car in 2 years time

The_Grouch · 11 April 2012 at 6:15PM

If you are happy with a larger car, I'd suggest skoda octavia if you really want a diesel (thousands of taxi drivers can't be wrong) the SDi is slow as hell but its economical and as it doesn't have a turbo there is less to go wrong! Don't think that smaller engine = better mpg, this is not the case on the motorway.

Golfs are nice, the diesels are very economical, but they are expensive to buy and not nearly as reliable as they like to think.

I'd also suggest focus, mondeo (often cheaper to buy than a focus!), or something japanese, avensis or mazda 6?

Don't buy anything french!

jase1 · 11 April 2012 at 7:22PM

s_b wrote: »

you also need to have in place a good contingency fund and a meticulous safety/inspection/servicing regime because thats a lot of miles for what is basically a throw away car in 2 years time

That'll be why my £3500 car bought two years/35000 miles ago is a throwaway now then.

You're quite right though -- it's exactly what the smiley chap would be saying if I took it in for trade tomorrow.

It's probably what you'd class as a "lovely little runner" once you'd given me £1200 for it though, and put it up the next day for £2995 with the scuff on the rear bumper still present.

s_b · 11 April 2012 at 7:29PM

jase1 wrote: »

That'll be why my £3500 car bought two years/35000 miles ago is a throwaway now then.

You're quite right though -- it's exactly what the smiley chap would be saying if I took it in for trade tomorrow.

It's probably what you'd class as a "lovely little runner" once you'd given me £1200 for it though, and put it up the next day for £2995 with the scuff on the rear bumper still present.

why dont you ever read the first post
it clearly says £3000 to £5000
OP wants to buy at the bottom end if possible and do a minimum of 33,000 miles in two years
i really dispair at you stupid childish tittle tattling of my posts yet you always fail to come up with a reasonable answer to questions posed

i see enough big i ams during the day without suffering the likes of you on a night

buscape · 11 April 2012 at 8:41PM

AndWooo · 11 April 2012 at 8:49PM

Thanks very much everyone. I will continue to look with all of that in mind.

The reason I was going for a hatchback is purely due to size (I'm not sure my reversing skill is quite up to larger car standard!!), as I will hopefully be a new driver in the near future I wanted a car that wasn't going to be too dis-similar to what I am used to. I will consider a larger car though rather than just the hatchbacks!

Any other thoughts?

jase1 · 11 April 2012 at 8:51PM

s_b wrote: »

why dont you ever read the first post
it clearly says £3000 to £5000
OP wants to buy at the bottom end if possible and do a minimum of 33,000 miles in two years

Yes.....

And I said that I bought a car (Ford Focus estate, 56 plate, 70,000 miles), for the low end of the money they are talking about (and from a trade seller), and have done 35000 miles in two years -- so ***EXACTLY*** the scenario the OP is looking at. Your assertion that the car is "throwaway" does not tally with my experience.

Now, if the OP buys the car on a totally overpriced basis from one of the many independent rip-off merchants that infest this country, you may well be right -- since many of them would *still* put my car up for £3500 (the really greedy ones).

As for the rest of your post, at least you won't need to deal with me during the day -- if you're selling cars that are two years/three services away from throwaway status for £3000+ you wouldn't see me within a mile of your council house -- sorry -- forecourt.

s_b · 11 April 2012 at 9:27PM

jase1 wrote: »

Yes.....

And I said that I bought a car (Ford Focus estate, 56 plate, 70,000 miles), for the low end of the money they are talking about (and from a trade seller), and have done 35000 miles in two years -- so ***EXACTLY*** the scenario the OP is looking at. Your assertion that the car is "throwaway" does not tally with my experience.

Now, if the OP buys the car on a totally overpriced basis from one of the many independent rip-off merchants that infest this country, you may well be right -- since many of them would *still* put my ar up for £3500 (the really greedy ones).

As for the rest of your post, at least you won't need to deal with me during the day -- if you're selling cars that are two years/three services away from throwaway status for £3000+ you wouldn't see me within a mile of your council house -- sorry -- forecourt.

interesting
all wrong of course
but then again primary school teachers usually are

jase1 · 11 April 2012 at 11:58PM

s_b wrote: »

all wrong of course

Fair enough, my car didn't cost £3500, that figure isn't at the low end of the OPs budget, I haven't driven it 35,000 miles, and 56-plate Focuses with 100,000 miles aren't being sold on AutoTrader for £3500 currently.

And you didn't say that such cars are now throwaway items.

Must be great to have this encyclopaedic knowledge of everyone else's experiences.

Used car advice please!

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