What Car would you buy

OddballJamie

Maybe it's the thunk from the door shutting that gives the impression of reliability.

Mr_Mink

I have an Up so can advise on the Seat Mii. The car has been designed very well but there are some major problems.

The build quality is pretty decent but the materials are cheap... very cheap. They have also cut some strange corners to cut costs. As an example, now string to hold up the boot cover and no light in the boot. This seems trivial but in winter believe me, it's a proper pain in the neck. The service interval on the car is 10,000 miles which to me is a bit low for a modern car. It will also make a lot of weird noises, doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, it's just a very chatty car. And finally, if Seat do customer service as well as VW do, then you can save yourself some time and just get a friend to spit in your face and save yourself a conversation with the dealership.

With what I have learned of these cars, I'd say hit the Kia, cracking car and the dealerships tend to be pretty chilled and human (i.e. good). As an alternative, have you considered a Mazda 2? It is an amazing little car.

P.S. my car was even built with the wrong dashboard so do be wary

50Twuncle

The problem is that I am slightly out of the loop now...

I remember in the 80's and 90's - French cars had a reputation for rusting (as did British cars in the 70's) - they were cheap to buy, but the technology was "throwaway" - ie they were complex and expensive to fix....
Citroen suspension being a case in point
I assume that they rust less now as well ?
Incidentally - Diesels are out (low mileage)
We are also considering a Suzuki Splash - identical to Vauxhall Agila but VAT free !!

Carcluster

Most of the main systems - like electricals, etc. are all provided by outside suppliers - which often supply a lot of brands. Reputations from years ago take a long while to be changed - those that have good and bad reputations have a lot of inertia to overcome to change the public's perceptions. If you get a fairly new car, should have at least a 3 year warranty still running - anything goes wrong - it gets plugged into the diagnostics and a machine will find the problem. I have had renaults with electrical problems (as expected?), bmw with engine issues and know of a friends VW golf which is a nightmare! Pick the one you like the best - get it checked out and then look after it. and cross your fingers...

1jim

We are just in the process of buying a picanto air, seems a very good car for the money. Deals to be had by using a broker and then negotiating with the dealer (carquake was best price when we looked), also got a reasonable part ex for our old Peugeot 107. We have taken out pcp deal as at this kind of price it's hard to see the value of not having a new car every few years as the monthly payment worked out to be £80 ish

atrixblue.-MFR-.

londonTiger wrote: »

vws are all pretty reliable. they may not be as "bomb proof" as in the past. but when they fail they fail predictably (e.g. all common faults, easy to diagnose). French cars on the other hand, they're like rovers, they fail unpredictably and everyone is left scratching their heads trying to figure out what's wrong.

btw, the spnaish probably design the exterior and the interior, but everything else is German, all engines and gearboxes are common vw stuff.

i spat my coffee over my screen. you clearly have no idea.

if you cant predict whats failing on a rover hang your tools and head in shame and stay away from mechanics.

50Twuncle

1jim wrote: »

We are just in the process of buying a picanto air, seems a very good car for the money. Deals to be had by using a broker and then negotiating with the dealer (carquake was best price when we looked), also got a reasonable part ex for our old Peugeot 107. We have taken out pcp deal as at this kind of price it's hard to see the value of not having a new car every few years as the monthly payment worked out to be £80 ish

There is just something that I don't like about the Picanto - it seems to be something from back in the 90's - it does resemble a Nissan Micra mk 2 - but the feel of the panels is (not exactly) flimsy but dated !!
The Agiva is similarly trying to be something that it was not designed to be (it has a rev counter in a separate POD - sticking up from the dashboard)
The Seat/VW/Skoda appears the best buy at the moment - but we really want an Auto (so I can drive it too) - and the Mii/Up/Citigo - auto is poor (its a converted manual - as opposed to a proper torque convertor box)

So - its back to the drawing board......

TradePro

50Twuncle wrote: »

There is just something that I don't like about the Picanto - it seems to be something from back in the 90's - it does resemble a Nissan Micra mk 2 - but the feel of the panels is (not exactly) flimsy but dated !!

The Seat/VW/Skoda appears the best buy at the moment - but we really want an Auto (so I can drive it too) - and the Mii/Up/Citigo - auto is poor (its a converted manual - as opposed to a proper torque convertor box)

Are you sure you are not thinking of the older Picanto? The current one looks like this;



I can't see how anyone could consider that dated?

Also, please don't fall into the trap of the VW/Skoda car being the best - an owner earlier on the thread has confirmed that it isn't.

TradePro

50Twuncle wrote: »

it seems to be something from back in the 90's - it does resemble a Nissan Micra mk 2 - but the feel of the panels is (not exactly) flimsy but dated !!

Yes, I think you definitely must be visualising the old model;

1jim

Am sure that's it, I wouldn't have looked twice at the old picanto, the new one however is very nice, obviously IMHO. Seemed really well put together and feels a lot safer than my old 107 (which surprisingly hasn't seemd to keep up with developments)