Golf or Focus? Used and 2 to 4 years old.

Avoriaz

We are thinking of replacing our nine year old, 80,000 miles 2006 Mark 5 Golf 1.6 FSi.

We are retired, do only about 5,000 miles per year, most of which is short local trips with maybe a longish run once or twice a month at most.

We have a budget of £10,000 to £13,000. We want 5 doors and petrol engine. Probably manual but we will consider auto.

We have had a look at a few Mark 6 and Mark 7 Golfs and 2 to 4 year old Focus Titanium models in local dealers. We haven't yet done any test drives.

We prefer the styling of the Focus and they seem to be priced about £2,000 lower than the Golf for similar age and spec. The front passenger area seems a bit more cramped in the Focus as the dashboard juts a lot further back.

A Focus we looked at today has a 1.0 litre 3 cylinder turbo engine. The Golfs are 1.4 litre 4 cylinder turbos.

I would welcome informed comments, suggestions advice etc.

What are the key differences if any in terms of build quality, reliability, fuel consumption, comfort etc?

Performance isn't a major issue. I find our current Golf sluggish compared to the BMW 325i I had before for many years but that is hardly surprising. I don't need a performance car any more but I don't want anything slower than the current Golf I drive.

Should we broaden our search to include other makes such as SEAT Leon etc?

Thanks.

Paradigm

You could broaden your search to include the Honda Civic, Hyundai i30 & Kia Ce'ed.

All get good reps for reliability but a test drive in any car you're thinking of is a must... everyones needs & preferences are different.

Ashingtonian

If your current Golf is reliable than why replace it?