Advice on my next car

DCFC79

Im looking at replacing my car, what makes should I avoid or consider ?

oldernonethewiser

https://www.whatcar.com/news/reliability-survey-most-reliable-cars/n26137

Start with that link to get ideas

Petriix

Avoid anything with an engine, I hear they're going out of fashion. 

Eloise1670

My dad always said don’t buy French cars .. I had a few Peugeots and they werent the  best

Newbie_John

The ones that ends with 'i' - Bugatti, Ferrari and even Audi should be fine.

facade

Consider Hyundai, Suzuki, Toyota. Anything with a VIN number starting with J.

Avoid most others.

Bigphil1474

Eloise1670 said:

My dad always said don’t buy French cars .. I had a few Peugeots and they werent the  best

My brother used to own a car repair garage - always recommended Peugeots as he didn't see many that needed repairing. I've had a couple and both were great. Renault was a whole different story.

OP, depends what you want, what you need it for, and what is available in your price bracket. I've always had decent cars from Ford, Peugeot, and Toyota. Having said that, I also had a decent Rover back in the day. Kia, and Skoda always seem to be decent these days.

Stubod

A bit of an open ended question really....eg new or 2nd hand...how much money...what type of car...annual mileage...type of journey....fuel preference??

That said I would avoid anything French, and Landrover. 

Would recommend Japanese and Korean, (7 year warranty), and would go petrol hybrid.

Dogbyte009

Check the Car Reviews | Honest John site for anything you're thinking of buying. It will tell you about any common issues experienced by other owners.

I've had Kias for the last 15 years or so with no serious problems.

CliveOfIndia

This one is quite nice: https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/17083981

Or if your budget won't stretch to that, this one's a bit cheaper: https://www.regit.cars/used-cars/lamborghini_huracan/uk-5-2-v10-640-sto-2dr-auto-coupe-chelmsford_46be4239-431f-4492-96f0-5ea0561aa3c2?store_code=REGIT1&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxNK8rpuaiAMV74CDBx2Q1yT_EAQYBCABEgIf-PD_BwE

But it depends to a large extent on your requirements and driving pattern.  Is it usually just you in the car, or does it need to carry 4 adults plus luggage in relative comfort?  Mostly town driving, or do you regularly do long-ish motorway journeys?

It's a massive over-generalisation, but a small "city" car will be economical and easy to drive/park around town, but can be a bit tiring on long motorway journeys.  Conversely, a slightly larger car with a larger engine will make motorway cruising more comfortable, but sometimes at the expense of economy.

What fuel do you want?  Petrol is generally fine for most folk, a diesel can pay for itself if you do a lot of miles, and obviously these days you've got electric cars to throw into the equation.

In terms of manufacturers, it's not so clear-cut.  Again, as a very very broad rule of thumb, German or Japanese have always traditionally been viewed as pretty reliable.  But you'll always get outliers.  You can buy what is reputed to be a "very reliable make" and end up with a lemon.  I had a Peugeot for many years, put close to 200K on it with not an ounce of trouble, but many folk would say don't touch them with a barge pole.

Then you've got the likes of Skoda - when I was a kid they were the laughing stock, these days they're a VW without the expensive badge on the front.  What's the saying - thousands of mini-cab drivers can't be wrong ?  Similar with Seat.

As has been mentioned by another poster, the Honest John website is a good starting point to get an idea of common problems and what to look out for with a particular make, also look at What Car.

Goudy

Bigphil1474 said:

 Renault was a whole different story.

I think that's a bit unfair these days.

Sure in the mid 00's they did experiment with lot's of electronic, like fancy LED dashboards that weren't great but these days things are a bit different.
Her in doors had a 2004 Scenic that drove her up the wall, the dashboard constantly flashed like Hamley's on the run up to Christmas!

But these days car electronics are usually only made by one of a small list of manufacturers.
Chances are we've all got the same or very similar electronic in our cars.

Today their engines are used fairly extensively by different manufacturers.
Most ICE's are a join venture between themselves, Nissan and Mercedes.

Their small diesel engine is one of the best on the market and has proven reliability.
Something similar Peugeot and Citroen diesel engines can't boast with their expensive SCR/Adblue injection problems, which is a shame as they used to produce some of the hardiest diesel engines in the past.

Renault/Nissan/Mercedes petrol engines have been proven to be pretty reliable as well. Unlike say Fords similar petrol engine which has a proven serious fault with the wet cam belts they use. A fault that some Peugeot and Citroen engines have been known to suffer from as well.

Dacia, which we know reuse a lot of Renault parts tend to come out well on most reliability surveys.
Earlier Dacia's used a lot of older, tried and tested Renault parts.
New ones are bang up to date, using the latest Renault (Nissan/Mercedes) engines and platforms which over these last few years have pushed them further up the ladder in some surveys.

I chose a Renault Clio when I last swapped out my daily runner over four years ago.
I didn't want a wet belt or even a dry cam belt if I could help it.
I wanted an auto but didn't want a CVT or a dry clutch DCT that some brands have had trouble with.

It turned out a pretty good choice. In four years it's been faultless and the dealers and servicing have been good and reasonably priced.

All cars have their faults.
Toyota's hybrids are considered pretty bullet proof but still have niggly faults like dodgy electric water pumps that break up inside causing the hybrid system to shut down.
Then some dealers try to sell you a new traction battery because the hybrid fault always throws a generic "buy a new battery" code no matter what causes the hybrid system to shut down. (POA80)

Renault fit their hybrid system to their cars, plus Dacia and Nissan use it.
So far reliability has been excellent. OK it's early yet but I don't expect it to throw up too much trouble, it's seems well designed and engineered, it does away with any sort of wearable element like a clutch altogether and it's servicing requirements seem pretty basic.

Certain cars with those famously long warranties require some heavy and expensive servicing after three or four years, which can make them expensive to run and keep the warranty alive.
MG's new 3 hybrid+ needs a very expensive service on it's 4th anniversary. Even though that car has only just launched, dealers are quoting near £1000 for it, but you have to squeeze the quote out of them, they aren't keen on letting you now.