Small family car for 3-4k?

kate83

Hi,
We currently have a 2 door, old style fiesta but need to upgrade to a 4 door for easy access to the back for a newborn's car seat. Got a few months to look around.

I don't know where to start. Ideally we are looking in the 3-4k range, would like something with a boot large enough to get a pushchair and shopping in (plus two car seats in back).
It will be mainly used for short trips and days out but needs to be able to be used for longer holiday trips. It won't be used for commuting at the moment. It needs to be able to handle country roads ok and probably won't be used that much on motorways. Will be under 10k mileage a year

Main priorities are low insurance (main driver 27, 1 years no claims), safe, as economical as we can get and low emissions for the cheap road tax. Preferably with air con

Any suggestions on where to start would be appreciated, thanks

I don't even know whether it's better to buy new on finance or used outright, it's to be a long term investment. Don't really want the hassle of changing cars again for as long as possible

clayton16749

You say this is to be a long term investment - so is this your car for the next 10 years?


Personally, if keeping it for a long time I'd look at getting something newer than 4k will get you for a family sized car.


You say it won't be used for commuting at the moment, just short trips. But do you plan to use it to commute longer distances in future? Petrol or Diesel?

BeenThroughItAll

If it's going to do under 10K a year, don't even consider a modern diesel. You'll never see your money back if you do.

ratrace

I Sold the bmw 2 years ago which was a diesel changed jobs now closer to home and bought

A skoda fabia 2005 1.2 5dr hatchback 35,000 miles on the clock
all i can say its a fantastic car

Pros are

Comes with a timing chain (no belt save money)
Vw, seat, skoda, all share the same engines and chassis (really easy to get hold of parts)
Front electric windows, air con cd player etc ....
I do my own service (did a crash course saved a lot and do family cars)
Only takes 3liters ish of oil (bought 5w30 castrol magantec oil 4 litre bottle with air and oil filter plus 3 spark plugs all in for £30 takes about 1&half hour do including a tea break)

only group 2 insurance and tax is also good

Cons are

only 55bhp so not super quick but it keeps up with traffic

my advice go drive one used low mileage you will love it

i paid only £2650 for it

i bought mine really cheap as the last owner had stopped driving at the good old age of 70 full dealer history

never regretted it fantastic car hope this helps

gord115

Small boot on Fabia, what about Octavia?

clayton16749

OP, is the type of use something that is likely to change soon? That's why I ask petrol or diesel. Or is it still going to come in at 10k miles a year even when you are commuting?

ratrace

gord115 wrote: »

Small boot on Fabia, what about Octavia?

I agree fabia does have a small boot but when i need to move shift big items i just put the seat down and all is good:D

kate83

Petrol, I don't think diesel will be economical for the low mileage.
If I can find one that is going to be reliable for 10years then I would keep it that long.
Commuting wise I have no idea at the moment, I'm looking to go back to uni to retrain so no idea where I will end up working but that's going to be a few years off anyway (but it means money will be tight for a while - so ideally don't want to be commiting to a high monthly payment).

And while putting the seat down to increase boot space is normally useful, that won't be an option with two car seats in the back so it needs to be a largish boot.

forgotmyname

Focus or Focus estate. Or for less money you can move upto a Mondeo with similar running costs but cheaper to buy.

fatbelly

A bit of a left-field option would be a Skoda Roomster. Ugly, with a stupid name but a well built car with tons of room and good VW engines. The 1.9 tdi is a diesel that you can use for a mixture of short and long journeys as it did not come with a dpf. Though the 1.6 petrol is no problem if you want to stick to petrol.

ratrace

I would avoid a ford just saying from past car not reliable but parts are cheap on them