Which car should I get?

GDB2222

I’m just trying to understand what car we should get. To put this in perspective, I’m thinking about a Volvo XC40 light hybrid, but I noticed that Which? have other cars rated higher.

Our priorities are 
4/5 doors saloon or estate 
Very safe
Maybe 2-3 years old 
We’re happy to pay £30k but the budget is flexible, and would consider a lease.

We’re in our 70s, and we have had our present car 16 years, so it is quite possible that this is the last time we will buy a car!

One odd thing we want is a powered driver seat, so that the car will automatically adjust to whichever of us is driving.

fatbelly

I'd take Which? reports with a pinch of salt

Honest John thinks they're good

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/volvo/xc40/

leosayer

Nothing wrong with an XC40 however your criteria encompasses so many cars.

As you are considering that this may be the last car you buy, I think that ease of access should be an important consideration in case you lose mobility in the future. My own mother struggled to get in an out of an BMW X5 (too high) and an Audi A3 (too low).

I'm tall but still find the XC40 (an SUV) is a bit high for easy access. 

I don't have any recommendations other than get yourself to as many car showrooms as possible to try each car out for access and comfort.

Ectophile

Buy the car you like.  Because then you will be driving around in the car you like, rather than something you don't like, but someone else told you to get it.

Mildly_Miffed

Go and try an XC40. See if you like it. See if it's comfy for you, see if you enjoy driving it.

Try a few of the competition. There's no shortage of £30k hybrid SUVs, and you'd be struggling to find something that isn't 5 star EuroNCAP - although most of those stars now are on the binglies and flashies and nags, rather than whether you'll be jam at parking speed.

But with any used car - yes, even a 2-3yo one - buy THAT PRECISE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF YOU, not just a make and model.

And remember that most finance packages are better on new-new cars, because the manufacturer wants to shift new-new metal. They care less about used, even in the franchise chain. And, with any few-year-old car, if it's outside the franchise chain, ask why they wouldn't retail that precise car as an approved-used...

daveyjp

As your current vehicle is 16 years old go and drive what you are interested in.  Many vehicles are now so advanced and have so many unecessary bells and whistles it can be very offputting to be sat in one and think 'how do I even start it'.

I speak from experience of having a father who is slightly older who got it into his head a few weeks ago that he wanted a new car, probably his last.  He test drove the car he really wanted.   It was a hybrid, it was an auto, it had every safety system known to man which he didn't know about, it binged when he went near white lines, it steered away from white lines, not knowing about these things he thought the car had a steering fault.

  He hated it and as a result decided to keep what he has.