Age v mileage - used family hatch

shell820810

Have about 8k budget, need to upgrade from 3dr Clio to something a bit roomier for new baby.

Have been considering Citroen c4(seems to have best spec for the money), ford focus (seems to be one of the more expensive hatches). Will be doing motorway miles as well do would prefer a diesel. It seems like I would get 2009/40k c4 or 2008/60k focus.

I also have seen this, the finish/gadgets is very important and this seems to kick all the boxes.

http://www.utvdrive.co.uk/car/337272/2010-peugeot-308-1-6-hdi-sport-with-panoramic-glass-roof-londonderry/#
How does the 308 compare? Is the mileage too high for the age?

Strider590

Peugeot are not a good idea, French/Italian are not a good idea.

If you want a bigger car with all the extra's, go for a large motorway cruiser. Something the size of a Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra/Insignia.
Might sound crazy, but you'll get MUCH more car for your money, than going for a popular medium sized hatchback.
Not only that, but any (if any) extra fuel costs will be easily covered by what you save on the purchase price.

Typically, cars aimed at the fleet/rep market tend to come fully loaded (gadgets etc) as standard. With such a competitive and important market for manufacturers to compete in, the price/spec has to be much better than for the average consumer market.

RDG

Mileage is mostly irrelevant with modern cars of a similar age, especially at the 40-60k mark. Infact age can be irrelevant if you know what your looking at.

A full service history is much more important. Strider is spot on with the rep mobiles and at your budget you can definately get a decent one. Cars which have been leased to companies will probably have high mileage but they will have been looked after properly so they are a good bet.

mikey72

French/italian cars are as good as others.

If they were that bad, france would be littered with broken down ones, it's got a bigger population, they have higher speed limits, and longer motorway stretchs, and they only buy french.

forgotmyname

I like the shape of the new citroens, But i wouldnt spend my own money on one, Unless it was brand new and going to be sold the day before the warranty expired.

I would be putting my money on the focus everytime.

If you do any short journeys avoid modern diesel's like the plague.

Servicing could be costly especially if they have DPF's.

£8000 on a 4 year old car? Where are you looking??

2008 focus can be picked up for less than £4000

2 1/2 years ago i bought a 54 plate mondeo diesel estate for £2250.

Ignore the mileage and buy on condition. How many miles a year will you cover?

I do less than 6000, So have no issues with buying a diesel with 150,000 miles on it. They will easily run to 200,000 miles.

I will add about 20- 25,000 miles to this car and then flog it for about £1000 and then buy another thats less than 5 years old for around £2000.

Typically i buy them with around 120,000 miles on them. But ive seen cars with 70,000 miles in much worth condition.

If you plan to keep it for 10 years and do 40,000 miles a year then you want something newer and less miles. But buying something with more miles and then selling it with approx 150,000 miles on it wont be breaking the bank.

£8000 would be enough to keep me motoring for 20 years.+

So big questions = do you do short journeys? how many miles a year and how long will you be keeping it?

Also look at mondeo's a bit cheaper then focus's and similar costs to run.

shell820810

Strider590 wrote: »

Peugeot are not a good idea, French/Italian are not a good idea.

If you want a bigger car with all the extra's, go for a large motorway cruiser. Something the size of a Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra/Insignia.
Might sound crazy, but you'll get MUCH more car for your money, than going for a popular medium sized hatchback.
Not only that, but any (if any) extra fuel costs will be easily covered by what you save on the purchase price.

Typically, cars aimed at the fleet/rep market tend to come fully loaded (gadgets etc) as standard. With such a competitive and important market for manufacturers to compete in, the price/spec has to be much better than for the average consumer market.

I have heard that about French cars, though from my own experience I have had absolutely no bother from my 2003 Renault Clio dci

vax2002

shell820810 wrote: »

I have heard that about French cars, though from my own experience I have had absolutely no bother from my 2003 Renault Clio dci

Wont be long....;)

Strider590

Problem with French cars is they hold contempt for the English, they design a car to be LH drive, then for us the convert the car to RH drive in the cheapest and often most dodgy way possible.
Resulting in stupid faults such as this......

Peugeot/Citroen are legendary for their electrical problems, due mainly to poor quality electrical connectors.

The Italian's are no better, their solution was always to move the pedals and then feed a bunch of pulleys and cables back over to the passenger footwell.

Yes French/Italian people drive French/Italian cars, but have you seen the state of them??? They'd be crushed if they tried to put one through a UK MOT test.

shell820810

forgotmyname wrote: »

I like the shape of the new citroens, But i wouldnt spend my own money on one, Unless it was brand new and going to be sold the day before the warranty expired.

I would be putting my money on the focus everytime.

If you do any short journeys avoid modern diesel's like the plague.
100 mile round trip on motorway

Servicing could be costly especially if they have DPF's.

£8000 on a 4 year old car? Where are you looking??
Northern Ireland, much higher prices than mainland

2008 focus can be picked up for less than £4000
Not here it can't diesel 2008 easily 7k

2 1/2 years ago i bought a 54 plate mondeo diesel estate for £2250.

Ignore the mileage and buy on condition. How many miles a year will you cover? probably 12-15k per year

I do less than 6000, So have no issues with buying a diesel with 150,000 miles on it. They will easily run to 200,000 miles.

I will add about 20- 25,000 miles to this car and then flog it for about £1000 and then buy another thats less than 5 years old for around £2000.

Typically i buy them with around 120,000 miles on them. But ive seen cars with 70,000 miles in much worth condition.

If you plan to keep it for 10 years and do 40,000 miles a year then you want something newer and less miles. But buying something with more miles and then selling it with approx 150,000 miles on it wont be breaking the bank.

£8000 would be enough to keep me motoring for 20 years.+

So big questions = do you do short journeys? how many miles a year and how long will you be keeping it?

Also look at mondeo's a bit cheaper then focus's and similar costs to run.

The premium for non mainland uk lol

Joe_Horner

With that sort of difference in price wouldn't it be worth popping over on the ferry for one, even with the extra aggro of re-registering etc?

shell820810

Joe_Horner wrote: »

With that sort of difference in price wouldn't it be worth popping over on the ferry for one, even with the extra aggro of re-registering etc?

Not with a new baby it wouldn't, too much hassle