Family car for under £10K

Berwynview

Hello
We're looking to replace our trusted 1998 1.8 petrol VW Sharan - we've had it over 14 years and it's clocked up nearly 140,00 miles. It's getting to the stage where it needs more and more spending on it and I want something that I can rely on as I have to drive quite a bit on my own in places with no mobile phone signal. We mainly drive on unclassified country lanes/A roads with the majority of our journeys being 20-40 mile round trips but recently we've been doing frequent 140 mile round trips to visit ailing relatives. There's usually 3 of us in the car but we also need to fit 5 adults in in comfort (plus room for transporting stuff to and from uni). OH has no interest whatsoever in cars, and just wondered if you could offer any advice on what to look for and where to start? I was thinking about a 5 door VW golf or Ford Focus but really open to suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

tykesi

There will be plenty of suggestions on here so I'll kick off with Honda Civic - you could do a lot worse and they will usually have better spec than the equivilant Ford/Vauxhall/VW etc for the same money. Comfortable, big inside, reliable and look a tiny bit less bland than a lot of the others.

jaydeeuk1

Unless its brand new (and even then depending on how you drive and how many miles), you'll still be having to shell out on things like brake pads, bushes, exhausts etc in addition to your normal servicable items, and have depreciation on top of that.

Whats wrong with the Sharan? If you've spent money on it already its one less thing to go wrong with it in the future. Doubt you'll save money buying a new car. If you just want a new car because you want one then fair enough, but for money reasons you'll probably be better off sticking with what you have.

Berwynview

Hi jaydeeuk1, there's nothing major currently wrong with the Sharan, the exhaust needs changing (it's been welded a few times), the electric window's don't work in the back, it sometimes "dies" for no reason which can be a bit scary when I'm on my own. We've also got some money coming available from an endowment policy which could be used towards a car.

LandyAndy

Berwynview wrote: »

Hello
We're looking to replace our trusted 1998 1.8 petrol VW Sharan - we've had it over 14 years and it's clocked up nearly 140,00 miles. It's getting to the stage where it needs more and more spending on it and I want something that I can rely on as I have to drive quite a bit on my own in places with no mobile phone signal. We mainly drive on unclassified country lanes/A roads with the majority of our journeys being 20-40 mile round trips but recently we've been doing frequent 140 mile round trips to visit ailing relatives. There's usually 3 of us in the car but we also need to fit 5 adults in in comfort (plus room for transporting stuff to and from uni). OH has no interest whatsoever in cars, and just wondered if you could offer any advice on what to look for and where to start? I was thinking about a 5 door VW golf or Ford Focus but really open to suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

I'd be thinking of getting an estate in that case.


Probably because my DS1 takes a lot of stuff to and from.


I've had estates for about 12 years and they are incredibly useful sometimes.