Advice needed on replacement for Peugeot 207 / Ford Escort

makara

Mildly_Miffed said:

5 miles east of Heathrow would put you around Brentford/Kew? Basically, where the circulars meet the river? There's not many would call that "outer"...

Interesting fact - when they extended the inner London zone to further out (i.e. to the Circulars) - the extension JUST JUST touched "Kew Retail Park" - where I freely used to take both of my cars to visit Marks and Spencer

That BORDERLINE ULEZ zone meant I could no longer take my 1997 Ford Escort there - but could take the 2009 Peugeot 207

It was "fun" having to remember I could no longer take the older car there any more when it first changed

P.S. - I got £2000 in one of the Mayor's scrappage schemes for the Escort - which made me happy, as with the amount of rust under it and some scratches and paint issues I would no way have gotten anywhere near that had I sold it in any other fashion

400ixl

Volkswagen is a pretty pointless brand in the VAG group for you. If you want value get a Skoda or Seat, if you want prestige get an Audi. VW just sits in the middle and doesn't really have much purpose. They sell on historical marketing.

A Skoda Octavia would suit if you want a family car sized vehicle. Built on the same platform as the Golf, just cheaper usually.

What about an SUV? Something like a Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage would fit the bill.

makara

400ixl said:

Volkswagen is a pretty pointless brand in the VAG group for you. If you want value get a Skoda or Seat, if you want prestige get an Audi. VW just sits in the middle and doesn't really have much purpose. They sell on historical marketing.

A Skoda Octavia would suit if you want a family car sized vehicle. Built on the same platform as the Golf, just cheaper usually.

What about an SUV? Something like a Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage would fit the bill.

Many thanks - you're the seond person to mention an Octavia...so I'll check those out

SUVs are beyond me - I can barely park a little 207 :-) - and I believe the Tax (etc) would be significantly more for SUVs

Mildly_Miffed

makara said:

and I believe the Tax (etc) would be significantly more for SUVs

Everything 2017 and newer is flat-rate tax, except for a hike for five years from new, for things that were £40k+ new.

For most smaller cars, that flat rate will be slightly higher than the old CO2-based bands.

Having just seen your update to your other thread, that you've only done 10k in a decade, instead of 15k... I'm going to repeat my earlier "Are you sure you need..."

Herzlos

makara said:

400ixl said:

Volkswagen is a pretty pointless brand in the VAG group for you. If you want value get a Skoda or Seat, if you want prestige get an Audi. VW just sits in the middle and doesn't really have much purpose. They sell on historical marketing.

A Skoda Octavia would suit if you want a family car sized vehicle. Built on the same platform as the Golf, just cheaper usually.

What about an SUV? Something like a Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage would fit the bill.

Many thanks - you're the seond person to mention an Octavia...so I'll check those out

SUVs are beyond me - I can barely park a little 207 :-) - and I believe the Tax (etc) would be significantly more for SUVs

It might be worth looking at the Skoda Fabia and Yeti too. The Fabia is 10cm longer than the 207 and there's an estate with a reasonable sized boot. The Yeti is more practical, it's another 20cm longer than the 207 but with a bigger boot and sliding/folding/removable rear seats that can turn it into a small van.

The Octavia is about 60cm longer than a 207.

makara

Herzlos said:

It might be worth looking at the Skoda Fabia and Yeti too. The Fabia is 10cm longer than the 207 and there's an estate with a reasonable sized boot. The Yeti is more practical, it's another 20cm longer than the 207 but with a bigger boot and sliding/folding/removable rear seats that can turn it into a small van.

Many thanks - so I just looked at the first Fabia after your reply - and THAT has to be one of the BEST dashboards / entire driver controls to look at I've ever seen - makes the Golf Mk 7 one look positively bland

https://www.whatcar.com/skoda/fabia/hatchback/review/n47

Mildly_Miffed

The Fabia is a VW Polo, a market segment smaller than the Golf - the Skoda based on the same architecture as the Golf is the Octavia.

Your 207 is a Polo/Fabia competitor.

The Golf is in the Focus segment - remember that cars have grown quite a bit between generations, so your nearly-30-yo Focus is smaller than modern direct equivalents.

makara

I visited a local car dealer (a "TheAA" badged one)

He showed me quite a few cars - but either they were not in my budget - or wrong colour - or too small / too big

Since he's only 2 miles away I will keep checking his website daily

His advice - 

Ford Focus (but not the newer 1.0 Litre ones - as they are not reliable)

VW Golf

Vauxhall Astra - he showed me a BEAUTIFUL 2017 model - but it was £8000 (£2000 over my budget) 

He also advised a Skoda Fabia - but the Estate version as the non-Estate is too small

The most apt he told me (which wasn't in stock) for my budget and boot space needs would be the...

Skoda Octavia

- but he warned me they get sold very quickly

++++

I then looked at other "TheAA" car sales places in Hounslow online - and came across a very good looking car for £7000 (although there is one a year older in Slough for £6250 also) - which I really like the look and extras of -

Nissan Pulsar - specifically the "Tekna" trim that has all the bells and whistles

Any clues on the Pulsar?  It has the same boot space as a Golf

Mildly_Miffed

If you think a 207 is nearly too big to park, you're going to be terrified of an Octavia.
Your Pug is 4m long almost exactly. A 2012-2019 Octavia is 700mm longer, damn near 20% longer.

The Nissan Pulsar is basically a Spanish-built Renault Megane or "non-SUV" Nissan Qashqai. Again, a good chunk (400mm, 10%) longer than your 207.

"The AA" car sales places are nothing to do with the actual AA breakdown service.
It's just a network of second-hand car places that are allowed to use the AA logo in return for selling their warranties and inspection services.
https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/aa-cars-launches-approved-dealers-scheme-used-car-retailers-06-02-2017

makara

Mildly_Miffed said:

The Nissan Pulsar is basically a Spanish-built Renault Megane or "non-SUV" Nissan Qashqai. Again, a good chunk (400mm, 10%) longer than your 207.

The sales guy did say that it's going to be difficult to get BOTH a small size car AND a larger boot - especially with more modern cars which tend to be larger than their older counterparts (or something along those lines)

My parking (especially car-in-car reverse parking) was rubbish on both my 1997 Ford Escort / and the Peugeot 207 (both of which had no Parking aids) - until I installed Over-the-rear mirror Dash cams that automatically switch the view to the Rear dash cam with Reverse parking lines - after I hardwired them to the Reversing lights on both cars

My car-in-car parking improved 1000%

These newer cars (e.g. the Pulsar in particular) having on-board Parking cameras / Parking sensors may similarly make it easier for me to park