How much to save for second hand car?

MaterialGirl*

I’m looking to save for a car.  I do drive but I have never bought my own car. I know absolutely nothing about cars! 

I’m not particular about the make of the car, but I know I want an automatic and I need it for city driving occasionally and long motorway journeys to Europe every few months. So it needs to be a reliable and safe small car and I want to buy outright.

I’m happy to wait until I’ve saved up but not sure if about £8,000 as a savings goal sounds reasonable for what I would need? I’m thinking the car should not be older that 5 years? 

Stubod

Go onto Autotrader and enter some relevant search filters, eg small car, auto, petrol price range (eg 5-8k), year range, (eg up to  5 years), mileage, (eg 30k max), and see what pops up.

There should be lots of choice. Personally I avoid anything French as they don't tend to do very well in the reliability stakes, maybe something Japanese? Honda Jazz is a good bet but their auto boxes are of the CVT variety (continually variable transmission) and are not every bodies cup of tea.

I would suggest if you want to go for your top budget you should be looking at something fairly new. Hyundai (i10) are popular and seem to be good cars, particularly as (I think) they have a 7 year warranty, (make sure full documented service history).

For that sort of price probably better to buy from a dealer, will cost more but at least you will have some "protection", and possibly some manufactures warranty left if under 3 years old.

Also Toyota Yaris? best to select a few and try and get some test drives and see which ones you like. 

NB If you are going to be doing regular "long" runs I would avoid the "city" cars, (eg Aygo, VW Up), as you may find they are not particularly comfortable for long journeys.

To keep insurance and running costs down you should find a 1.0 (1.2 max) litre car more than adequate.

Also check Which (£1 for a month trial) and have a look at their best buys?

Current "Which" recommended second hand small cars are:-

Honda Jazz, Peugeot 208 (obviously ignore my general comment above), Suzuki Swift,Audi A1, Vauxhall Corsa (after 2014), Toyota Yaris.

Another auto car I owned and quite liked was a Vauxhall Agila, (Also sold by Suzuki as a "Splash). I reasonable size, comfortable and returned of 50mpg (auto).

...good luck and happy hunting...

LandyAndy

Look at the Mazda3.  Decent size and comfort for the long journeys but small enough to be handy in town.  Comes with a traditional auto box which is a better thing for town driving.  Mazdas are extremely reliable.  Go for a petrol version for your type of usage. 

MaterialGirl*

Thank you very much! I will have a look at Autotrader as suggested.

The_Rainmaker

5 or 6 years old with FSH and cambelt done is sometimes called the sweet spot.  At that age and with your budget there should be plenty of choice.

foxy-stoat

I bought my 12 year old 8th gen Civic diesel for £2000 with 110,000 miles and put 40,000 miles on it in 2 years before I sold it, still going strong.  Still see some for sale with over 200,000 miles on so check them out.  No need to spend £8,000, maybe £6,000 and keep £2,000 for maintenance.

I buy based on previous history and 1 or 2 owners tops, not gone far wrong yet.

Goudy

Not all automatic cars are equal, a lot, particularly smaller cars use automated manuals and quite a few of these are known to have issues.
Manufacturers tend to give these systems names, like Fiat's Dualogic and Ford's Powershift (two which you should give a wide berth).
You sometimes see these advertised as "Semi Automatics". They are still two pedal, but pumps and hydraulics operate the clutch and gear change for you.

Others use a twin/double clutch system, like VW's DSG and can be known as DCT or EDC. These tend to be better but can still suffer a few issues.

Nissan and a few others use a system call CVT or Constantly Variable Transmission.
A lot of people don't like them as they can sound a bit odd when it comes to rpm and road speed, but I've driven a few Mirca's with it and it seems to suit them.

What most consider a proper automatic is the Torque Converter system. You mainly find these on larger cars as they sap a fair bit of engine power, but Kia and Hyundai use it on their small i10 and Picanto and they sell fairly well.

As mentioned by others, I would steer clear of a diesel and stick to petrol but as you're doing the occasional long trip I would be skipping the small town A segment car and perhaps look at a B segment.
I believe the Mazda 2 uses a TC gearbox and the Suzuki Swift.

My pick for the sort of money you have would be the Toyota Yaris Hybrid.
You might be looking at a slightly older car with a few more miles on the clock but they handle big mileages well.
They are known to be CVT, but it's a different design CVT than others, it's part of the electric motor and they are pretty bombproof, it's the same set up (engine/motor and gearbox) as the Prius and mini cabbers have been piling mega miles on these without much issue.

Most will have been privately owned and should be well serviced, if the battery is health checked every year they'll extend the warranty on it up to 15 years, the rest was warrantied for 5 years anyway, so Toyota had a lot of confidence in them.
I've a colleague with one and she's hammered on 80 thousand miles in 4 years and have averaged 68 mpg and apart from normal servicing items, it's cost her two wheel bearings.

ResignedRobot

LandyAndy said:

Look at the Mazda3.  Decent size and comfort for the long journeys but small enough to be handy in town.  Comes with a traditional auto box which is a better thing for town driving.  Mazdas are extremely reliable.  Go for a petrol version for your type of usage. 

I agree @LandyAndy on this. Our first car was a 2010 Mazda 3 TS 1.6 automatic, bought for about £3,000 in 2014. Survived until about two weeks ago when we upgraded to a 2015 Mazda 5 automatic for about £6,000. The Mazda 3 was easy to drive and rock solid mechanically - needed one suspension arm and some screws replaced from 6 MOTs. Only had a couple of breakdown call-outs for stuff that you'd expect with wear and tear - to replace the battery and deal with punctured tyres (which we couldn't change as no key for the wheel locks). The state of the body by the time we traded it in was shocking, but that's what you expect with a first car and learning to parallel park in narrow streets.

ResignedRobot

I should add, the Mazda 3 coped fine both with city driving and motorway hauls up to Newcastle or Edinburgh.
We also recently test drove a second hand Qashqai automatic and really liked it, but I've no idea about their reliability.

noclaf

I've been considering the Mazda 3 myself (2014 onwards model), running costs seem ok and reasonable practically..not to mention Bose Stereo on some versions. Is the auto box in this version just as a reliable and easy to use as the previous model 3? Oddly enough I prefer the shape of the 2004-2008 Mazda 3..looking aged now but like that version.Just too much risk with rust though.

Mercdriver

Mazda still use a torque converter auto box