Buying Advice: Astra/Focus sized hatchback

[Deleted User]

We are looking for a petrol vehicle (less than 3 years old ideally) that is well built and is known to not experience problems. It'll do about 6-8000 miles a year, 70:30 city:motorway driving. I already know to give French cars a wide berth

I am looking at the Hyundai i30 and Kia C'eed but they're priced so high they're almost comparable with the Focus and Astra.

Setting aside the issue of price (not decided on a budget), what would you recommend for a car of this size? I'd love to hear from anyone who owns an i30 or C'eed (or Focus/Astra). Are you happy with it, how long have you owned it and would you recommend one?

One word of warning to anyone else looking to buy. Pretty much any Hyundai you see under 18 months old is an ex-hire car but Hyundai dealers in my experience will lie about this or pretend to not know unless you pressurise them to show you the log book.

Stigy

Hi,

The Focus and Astra are good cards and at the age of vehicle you're looking at, build quality shouldn't be an issue (older Fords and Vauxhalls were arguably not built too well in comparison to other more premium brands).

I'd go for a German car such as an Audi or VW if your budget allows, bearing in mind they'd have already taken a big hit depreciation wise. VW probably more so than Audi given they are generally more affordable. I've had both a VW and Audi in the past few years and I've never known such well built cars (and I've owned over 35 in my 14-ish years of driving). Not such an issue with a newer model, but my only gripe was with electrical niggles such as ABS sensors (I've replaced each one at least once on my 2006 Golf!). You'll generally notice less general wear inside a German built car too I've noticed. For example my Golf has 170k on it and there's no rips or tears and the interior generally looks more like it's done 70 or 80k. Could the same be said with a Vauxhall or Ford? Experience says no, although I'd like to think new(er) cars are built to a comparable standard.

yaz2010

Have you considered Honda Civic?

[Deleted User]

Are German cars actually as reliable as their clever adverts claim? They are 23rd according to this! They still only offer a 3 year warranty. Also this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32332210

I looked at the Civic but rear visibility is terrible and rear passengers have limited head room. Also (if I remember rightly) there was no spare wheel included.

forgotmyname

If you want a car that doesnt have problems you need to take the bus.

Slap hundreds of moving parts into one product and the potential for an item to fail increases, the more parts you have the higher the risk of one of them failing.

It maybe something minor or it could be a major one, the risk is there.

iolanthe07

I had a Hyundai i30 for a couple of years and I thought it was an excellent car for what it cost; in fact better equipped than cars costing a good deal more. I never had any problems with it and it came with a five year transferrable warranty. It is not the quickest car in the world, but it is reliable and comfortable and you get quite a lot of car for the money.

loskie

Seat Leon, Volvo V40.
Petrol for your miles.

Most of the nearly new cars you will be looking at will be ex hire.Don't try and kid yourself they are not.
I have picked up Audi A3, Merc A Class and BMW 1 series hire cars as well as ceed, astra, focus etc. They normally do not list the hire company on the V5C but a "holding" company.

BillTrac

I totally recommend getting a Focus. Go for a Zetec or Titanium. I am on my third Focus since moving from company cars to car allowance in 2008. I was looking for a car that could be serviced almost anywher, economical to run and spares easily available if needed.
I buy them when they are 6-9 months old so the depreciation is covered. Very, very reliable.

You'll be looking at a Mark 3 at less than 3 years old. I bought a 1.0 125ps Zetec S last November. Fantastic car to drive, put the fun back into driving for me. Just got over 46mpg average driving from the South coast to North Yorkshire and back.

I don't use main dealers for servicing. My local garage is Ford tech trained so he can do all Ford stealerships can do at a much better price. And I trust him.

I got mine from Trustford, they've got quite a few branches. You can look at their cars online. (Don't use their Eltham branch though, they're liars there). Alperton were much, much better and honest.

[Deleted User]

loskie wrote: »

Seat Leon, Volvo V40.
Petrol for your miles.

Most of the nearly new cars you will be looking at will be ex hire.Don't try and kid yourself they are not.
I have picked up Audi A3, Merc A Class and BMW 1 series hire cars as well as ceed, astra, focus etc. They normally do not list the hire company on the V5C but a "holding" company.

Yeah this is what annoyed me, the dealers will happily lie and conceal the history and will try to avoid showing the V5 to the customer.

forgotmyname: some manufacturers are better than others for reliability - that is what I'm getting at.

iolanthe07

urbankoala wrote: »

Yeah this is what annoyed me, the dealers will happily lie and conceal the history and will try to avoid showing the V5 to the customer.

forgotmyname: some manufacturers are better than others for reliability - that is what I'm getting at.

Actually I have knowingly bought ex-hire cars in the past without any problems. They are often serviced and maintained better than privately owned cars.

ali-t

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Actually I have knowingly bought ex-hire cars in the past without any problems. They are often serviced and maintained better than privately owned cars.

Arnold clark buy a lot of them. I think they call them scoopers and will have whole fleets of them taken from hire companies at 18 months old. I bought a meriva that was a hire car and had no problems with it.