Buying first car - low mileage and cheap?

kpizzle17

Hi

After a bit of advice regarding buying my first car. Passed my test yesterday (yay!) and I've been looking around for a while and decided between two cars.

I've sourced a Kia Picanto 1.1 2009 with 37k mileage for £3400 and a Hyundai i10 1.2 2011 with 20k mileage for £4110. I'm tempted with the i10 as it's a bit bigger and the mileage is super low but being a brand new driver I don't know if there's a reason the mileage is so low for such a decent price? Most i10's I've seen with this kind of mileage have a price tag around £5k.

It says there's only 1 registered keeper so could this be because the car hasn't been used alot? Is this a bad thing? Also, if anyone could recommend if the Picanto or i10 would be a better choice for a first time driver?

Help! Any advice is welcome as I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing to be honest....

FreddieFrugal

Part of it at least will be because the i10 is 2 years younger.

Mercdriver

IanRi wrote: »

Part of it at least will be because the i10 is 2 years younger.

OP is asking why might the i10 be 20% cheaper than other i10s that they have seen. Especially considering that it has lower mileage than the more expensive ones...

FreddieFrugal

Mercdriver wrote: »

OP is asking why might the i10 be 20% cheaper than other i10s that they have seen. Especially considering that it has lower mileage than the more expensive ones...

OP also asked about mileage, why you being so blooming agressive? I notice you didn't actually answer any of the OPs questions, just tried to take a jab at me unnecessarily.

It says there's only 1 registered keeper so could this be because the car hasn't been used alot? Is this a bad thing?

FreddieFrugal

OP, the condition of the car is more important than the mileage.

4K a year would be terrifying if it was a diesel. But a small city car will typically have low mileage. It's not great for them but as long as it's been serviced and corroded brakes etc have been replaced and it drives fine then it isn't a problem.

My wife drives a Fiat 500, only used to go to work. But it is used weekly. Similar annual mileage to that i10. It does go through brake discs at similar rate to me Focus that does 3 times the mileage, because it's never driven fast enough to burn off the rust when braking so they go sooner. But it's been a very cheap car to maintain. So personally not something to worry about at all as long as cars general condition is good. Get a mechanic to check it if you're not confident yourself. Won't cost much and will ease your mind.

Piggywiggy

Is the i10 being sold privately? That could mean it's marketed cheaper than a like for like car on a dealership forecourt.

kpizzle17

IanRi wrote: »

OP, the condition of the car is more important than the mileage.

4K a year would be terrifying if it was a diesel. But a small city car will typically have low mileage. It's not great for them but as long as it's been serviced and corroded brakes etc have been replaced and it drives fine then it isn't a problem.

My wife drives a Fiat 500, only used to go to work. But it is used weekly. Similar annual mileage to that i10. It does go through brake discs at similar rate to me Focus that does 3 times the mileage, because it's never driven fast enough to burn off the rust when braking so they go sooner. But it's been a very cheap car to maintain. So personally not something to worry about at all as long as cars general condition is good. Get a mechanic to check it if you're not confident yourself. Won't visit much and will ease your mind.

Thank you for your reply. I've been thinking about using the AA service thingy to get it checked out before I buy as I'm so uncertain. It's unfortunate I don't have anyone I can ask to come along with me. I've asked for details of the service history also so hopefully that should give me a better idea.

I'll be using it predominantly to and form work so don't expect to clock up much myself, was just unsure if such low mileage was normal or not for a 4 year old vehicle.

kpizzle17

Piggywiggy wrote: »

Is the i10 being sold privately? That could mean it's marketed cheaper than a like for like car on a dealership forecourt.

It's through a well known car dealership, it's down as being on offer at the moment. It was £4500 but for the next week is £4100

forgotmyname

If you dont expect to clock up many miles yourself then do what i do and buy high mileage cars.

I have not bought a car with less than 100,000 miles for a long time now.

Once they hit 120,000 nobody wants them so bargains are to be had.

kpizzle17

I've seen a 2011 i10 with 56k mileage for 3.3k, is that reasonably priced? I've got my heart set on a super small car as I want it to be as cheap as possible to keep and run!

macman

I'd go for the second generation i10 if your budget runs to it, it's a vastly better car than the original.