Which new car and where?

whiskywhisky

Hi

After a new car for my 62 year old dad, before I get slated for buying a car that will depreciate massively quickly - please note my dad had never in his life had a new car and we all deserve a treat!

Anyway my dad has had a Corsa since it was year old and is now 12 years old. My dad is fairly old fashioned and does not need all the latest gadgets (i.e. cruise control etc). However he has mentioned it would be good to get somewhere a bit bigger than a corsa - mainly something with a bit of boot and it has to be a petrol, 5 door. My dad works full time with round journey of 40 miles and hardly touches the car when not working, therefore will only do a few thousand miles a year.

We would like to spend around £8 / £9k.

We have been to see Auris, Polo which do seem over this budget, the Fabia also looked nice and was under. Please can someone suggest what we should look at and ideally where? (i.e. are there any good websites?)

Thanks

marlot

I'd look seriously at the Kia range. 7 year warranty will see him to nearly 70.

Also the Hyundai i20

whiskywhisky

Just been looking at the Kia Rio - does look good. Does anyone know about their realibility?

wba31

What about the vauxhall corsa? cars seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days.

Try the Honda Jazz. It's a great car, and doesnt strike me as being full of gadgets (although ive not looked to closely at the new one)

marlot

whiskywhisky wrote: »

Just been looking at the Kia Rio - does look good. Does anyone know about their realibility?

It's a new model so no reliable data around yet.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/kia/rio-2011/?

It sounds like there was a problem with a balancer shaft on early models. Hopefully all resolved now.

Initial reviews on the whatcar site look OK.
http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/kia/rio-hatchback/readers-reviews/26045-5

Only one customer review on the HJ site, but he's not happy. Though we're only hearing his side of it - and it sounds a bit strange
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/kia/rio-2011/?section=owners-reviews

I've not driven the Rio (and don't own a Kia) so have no opinion on it one way or the other.

AlexisV

Buy a What Car magazine.

gord115

Suzuki are doing vat free on the Swift,pretty reliable too.
I'd avoid another Vauxhall if you want it to last.

marlot

gord115 wrote: »

Suzuki are doing vat free on the Swift,pretty reliable too.
.

That reminds me, Mazda are also doing VAT free at the moment. A Mazda 2 might fit the bill?

whiskywhisky

Mazda 2 - that will be about the right size...will look into that now.

pinkteapot

My mum (60) has had her brand new Mazda2 for 2-3 years and loves it. Really nice little car. She's just retired but for most of its life the car has done a 50 mile round trip to work each day and been a good little work-horse.

She has it in the signature Kermit-green but your dad might not want that.

Having said that, the boot isn't very big. I've never compared it to a Corsa but I'm not sure how much difference there will be. Might need to go up to a Fiesta/Astra/Mazda3 size to get a bigger boot.

Lum

Korean is a decent choice for a more old fashioned driver who doesn't like being surrounded by computer displays and having everything be drive by wire. They may be a little less fancy than their Japanese counterparts and a little less plush than the German manufacturers.

They did have a stereotype in the 90s of being unreliable (same as 80s Japanese cars did, and 10's Chinese cars currently do) which is why they still offer 7-9 year warranties. Unless you're absolutely reliant on a car it could be an unreliable heap and with that warranty you don't have to worry.

Modern Koreans are however, nice and reliable, with less things to go wrong too!

Skodas (actually VWs these days) are also more reliable than the VWs they're based on for pretty much the same reason!