New car lease or buy used?

Ultrasonic

IanMSpencer wrote: »

Many new cars come with long warranties these days...

Yes, absolutely, but I was specifically responding to the desire to have a 'hassle free and reliable' car. A warranty covers the cost of fixing faults, it doesn't prevent faults occuring.

ripplyuk

I really appreciate all the responses. It's helped me make my mind up. I'm leaning towards buying a used car and just hoping it will not be a lemon. I think it's true that a new car on lease is overkill when I don't drive very much. No option of buses in my area though, it's 7 miles to the nearest bus stop!

So I'm just trying to decide if it would be better to buy a car I can pay for in full upfront or a younger car and take a loan to cover the extra cost. Which tends to be most economical? Also, could anyone recommend any reliable small cars to look at? It needs to be a small/supermini type. Ideally a 1ltr engine and cheap insurance and cheap to get parts for if it does go wrong. I know this type of car is cheap on a lease but I'd rather own it, less stress if it gets a scratch/bump.

ripplyuk

w211 wrote: »

However, Seat a doing a 5k/year lease on their Mii, for £69/month (no servicing though, I think), but they do require a large deposit.

Do you (OP) have any particular models in mind?

I've just looked at the Seat Mii and it's just the type I was thinking about. I've also been considering the Volkswagen Up, Kia Picanto, Toyota Yaris, Citroen C1 etc but I'd consider any small car. Is there any one car that stands out as being more reliable?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Yes, absolutely but I was specifically responding to the desire to have a 'hassle free and reliable' car. A warranty covers the cost of fixing faults, it doesn't prevent faults occuring.

Erm, a lease does not address that problem either. I'd expect a modern new car to be hassle free for 4 or 5 years with the low mileage that the op mentions, so what we are addressing is that buying a fairly new car with lowish mileage can still have peace of mind. For example, a two year old car might have 20k miles and a year or more manufacturer's warranty. However, you will be replacing tyres, but the expense of those will be nothing like the thousands of extra pounds to avoid those costs. 20k is nicely run in, not starting to wear out.