Which car should I buy??

herman2811

Looking for some advice really.....

I currently have an old Vauxhall Astra, and am looking to buy a new (2nd hand) car. Would like to stick to the same "class" of car, ie perhaps another Astra, or maybe an equivalent from a different manufacturer.

The advice I'm looking for really is which manufacturer I should go for, in terms of which are the most reliable and the most economical to run (or any other pros and cons people care to mention).... ie Vauxhall? Ford? Renault? Toyota? Volkswagen? Or any others?

Any advice would be much appreciated

DavidHM

Any idea of a budget?

How long you want to keep the car?

How many miles you will be doing per year?

Do you have any other priorities, such as space, driving pleasure, performance or equipment?

arrowsmith

Japanese and with a chain cam engine. Mazda 3 or 323, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla will be the best. Nissan Almera's are very cheap for what they are, Ford Focus isn't a bad buy either.

Buying a diesel may make sense if you do over 15k miles a year. Add in the cost of a cam belt change every 4 years (or after so many miles) if you don't get a chain cam engine.

How much are you looking to spend?

Rikki

I would recommend Hondas for reliability.

I've had mine for 8 years and I just had to replace front windscreen wippers and a rear break light bulb at the horrendous cost of £19.

herman2811

DavidHM wrote: »

Any idea of a budget?

How long you want to keep the car?

How many miles you will be doing per year?

Do you have any other priorities, such as space, driving pleasure, performance or equipment?

Am prepared to spend about £5000.... obviously don't mind if the car's a few years old, as long as it hasn't done too many miles.

Don't envisage doing more then 10,000 miles per year.

Priorities are: Reliability, and cheap to run.
Not too bothered about extras/style or speed or any kind of wow factor!

indiegirl_2

Have to agree with arrowsmith here, Japanese... and for your budget, you would be able to pick up a 3-4 year old Almera.

I drive one - it's nothing spectacular, it's not going to win you many glances in a carpark (but on the upside - no one wants to steal it!), but it's reliable, servicing (once you find a decent garage every 9000 miles that you'll need get the book stamped) isn't too expensive, and it's pretty cheap to run (I get 38-40mpg on the motorway in my 1.5). It does look rather like an Astra (ish, kind of), but I know which of the two I'd rather own.

Also, you tend to get a lot of 'extras' on the Japanese cars as standard that you have to pay more for on the other makes... eg CD players (with six speakers), air con, electric windows front and back... that sort of thing...

peterg1965

Agree that Japanese is good and probably the way to go. Toyota Corollas have the reputation of being one of the most reliable cars around. Again, they are nothing spectacular to look at but that is probably not what you are after. Make sure the car you buy has an up to date service history and has been well cared for. Also consider a Ford Focus.