Car buying predicament

Siant

Hi everyone,
I was hoping to seek a few opinions on my car buying predicament. As some of you might know I was recently selling my Mazda Mx-5 and having put it on Piston Heads I wasn't having much luck at all. Eventually decided to post it on Ebay as a classified and had much more itnerest through that. Anyhow, I sold it pretty quickly in that the people who bought it payed for it and took it on the day they came to see it leaving me carless!

So, I've been on the hunt for a new car and have scoured dealers and the internet for something second hand between around 3500 to around 4500. Essentially these are my needs:
- I have a 23kg dog who needs a medium sized space to get in
- I drive around 5 miles to work and back 5 days a week
- I do only around 6000 miles a year
- I'd like to know that the car is safe for both adults and children as I have family members with children who could come in the car and my job may very occassionally require me to taxi children to an event.

Apart from that anything would be fine and this is where I've found it difficult. In the past I've always had a make/model of car in mind and looked specifically for these but now it's an open market and anything goes I'm struggling.

Anyway, after hours of looking aroung local garages and the internet I've come up with some deals that are appealing to me but just can't decide between them. I was wondering if anyone could help.

Choice:
1. 58k Vauxhall Zafira Club (06 Plate) - £3995 - Probably a little huge for my needs now but the thinking behind this one is in the future, I am never going to reach a point where the car no longer meets my needs (as happened with the MX5) and to be fair I'm not a massive fan of selling cars. The dealer will put 6 month tax, 1 years MOT and a full service including all belts changed.
The downsides I think is
a - I live on a road where people park on the curb sides and parking can sometimes be quite tight. I may struggle to get this on the curbside as I did the Mx-5.
b - I leave myself open to having to ferry friends/family around as I have a larger car with more seats and space. Not that I would mind this at first but I can see after a few years it could become tiresome.
c - Lets face it. While the Zafira is probably one of the trendier looking people carriers it's still a people carrier and curb appeal vs. the Mx-5 is much lover (vain I know)!

2. 38k Vauxhall Astra (57 plate) - £4500 (garage knocked it down to this for me from 4695 as I had nothing to part ex)
Benefits are that I think inside and out it's a nice looking car and it's certainly got the curb appeal that the Zafira lacks (imho). Also I had one as a hire car once and was pretty impressed.
Drawbacks:
a - It's initially more expensive and so I stand to lose more money at the rate of depreciation (however I have to keep telling myself it's only 500 and when we're talking about these figures that's not a massive amount).
b - Out of all of the cars I've researched the Astra is the one that I'm most uncertain about from reviews.
c - it's only taxed until the end of the month and as they've knocked 200 of the price the dealers won't consider taxing it for me.

3. The dark horse: A red Vauxhall Astra 09 plate 69k - £4800
I know the milage is high for the age but my low milage driving will bring it back to an average milage car. Probably my favourite looks wise too!
Drawbacks:
a - the milage (enough said)
b - Again the fact it's the Astra and I've read about depreciation etc.
c - It's much higher insurance than the others at a whopping group 13!
d - It's pushing the boat out budget wise.

4. Blue Ford Focus 55 plate (new colour) 60k - £3990
It was a well looked after car with a nice interior and good boot space for the dog (although the angle which the roof shuts at could be a problem as it's very low at one point). I thought this was a really good looking car too.
Drawbacks:
a - It's price/age/milage seems less value than the other cars (but do I lose less int he long run)?
b - the boot angle/ the dog
c - I'm not sure about the way the bonnet/boot seems to slope away from you and you can hardly see it, I was worried I might bump into something.

5? - I also saw an 05 focus priced at 37k (old shape). £3600
This one was a difficult one as I didn't really like the look of the car to start with (sorry to anyone who's got one!) It felt boxy and on the inside while it had been really well looked after and had history etc, it just felt a little bit old for its age if you get my point. Also someone had stuck some odd stickers onto the wingmirrors which I think were supposed to look cool but actually were a little folded in places and if anything looked a bit tatty. Not sure if they're trying to hide a bump or something.

As I've been number crunching, Autotrader searching, headscratching and eye rubbing for days now these cars have all started to become much of a muchness to me. I just can't make my mind up between them all. Any advice would be welcomed with open arms!!

Thanks in advance guys! xxx

khcomp

The biggest problem for me is that you haven't given the engine size & fuel type of any of your choices - as you're making very short daily journeys, you're going to get worse economy & incur greater wear than a car making longer journeys.
I'm not a Ford fan, but I'd say that a Focus would be a better bet than an Astra or Zafira - Vauxhall don't have the best reliability.
If space, practiclity & individuality are of importance, why not look at something like a Suzuki Wagon-R? A 2007 model would set you back around £3,500. Very easy to get people, kids & pets in & out, huge storage space for a little car, easy to park, economical & very reliable. Marmite looks, but well worth a test drive.

Jamie1981

You need to go and test drive them all as you might not like the drive of some of them, which may make your decision easier.

As for Vauxhall, most of the range do not hold value very well. Also, you definately need a petrol as the short trips you do wont justify the increase in purchase price associated with a diesel car.

Mazda 6 hatchback? Can be had very cheap these days.
Vectra Hatchback? Same as above.
(Space should not be an issue in both)

Nissan Note.
Mazda 3.
Honda Jazz.

Just some suggestions for you.