Looking to buy a new car

alessandro

Hi all

I will probably come across as naive but I need some help from the good folks here.

I am looking to buy a new car after horrific experiences with Toyota and their hybrid cars.

I am looking for a reliable automatic Hybrid car similar in size to a 2022 Yaris with security features like reverse camera, lane assist and blind spot assistance and thinking about ranges from Honda, Dacia, Kia and potentially others if they are reliable.

With a deposit of 2500ish and a monthly cap if £250 I am wondering if this is even realistic and what tactics to use to bring car cost and interest % down.

Any help greatly appreciated

Arunmor

Best buying a small petrol.

Anyway, try searching some reviews, see what's out there research, research and research, once you have done that start creating a short list.

Here's a starter  https://www.whatcar.com/best/small-cars/n16997

Your list of wants will potentially add significantly to the price and will not necessarily be available.

daveyjp

Suzuki Swift.

Alanp

What was the horrific experience with your Toyota..?

sheenas

I have bought many cars over the year and not really had any issues. I do tend to buy 3 year old cars off main dealers. For sure you pay extra, but I have found they are better than some independent dealers. 

Sorry to hear about your experiences with Toyota and to be honest I am surprised. Anyway there are many sites to use and they all about the same with Autotrader (Being the biggest).

I’ve had a Mini Cooper for 5 years and no issues, in fact no issue cars in the last 30 years. I suspect the Renault/Citron/Vw/Peugeot are all lightly to be average in the reliability stakes. Maybe Honda or Kia/Hyundai have options the meeting your needs. Maybe the Swift but they never hit the main stream for some reason.

Grumpy_chap

alessandro said:

Hi all

I will probably come across as naive but I need some help from the good folks here.

I am looking to buy a new car after horrific experiences with Toyota and their hybrid cars.

I am looking for a reliable automatic Hybrid car similar in size to a 2022 Yaris with security features like reverse camera, lane assist and blind spot assistance and thinking about ranges from Honda, Dacia, Kia and potentially others if they are reliable.

With a deposit of 2500ish and a monthly cap if £250 I am wondering if this is even realistic and what tactics to use to bring car cost and interest % down.

Any help greatly appreciated

You might be worth stepping back and first making a list of your NEEDS and WANTS for a new car.  That will then allow you to determine an appropriate shortlist, including what the most appropriate drive train would be to meet your requirements.

What was the "horrific experience" with the Toyota hybrid?
Despite that, how have you determined that you wish to go for another hybrid (specifically)?
I assume by "hybrid" you mean full hybrid able to drive short distances in EV mode.  Is that correct?
To be fair, Toyota probably have the best full hybrid cars available (capable of driving short distances on the battery alone).  Some of the "hybrid" cars cannot actually drive in full electric mode.
Given your size preference for the car, I am not aware (but happy to be corrected) of any PHEV (plug in hybrid) options in the market place.

knightstyle

Sorry to hear you had problems with Toyota Hybrid.  4 of the top 10 in this Hybrid reliability study are Toyota!
https://www.whatcar.com/news/most-and-least-reliable-hybrid-cars/n26780

Alanp

I’m guessing it’s the 12v battery , lots of cars have issues ( not just Toyota’s) but until the op comes back we can only speculate..

alessandro

Apologies I have been unwell today.

Thanks for the advice.

In relation to Toyota the 12V battery was poor from the start and they refused to do anything about it for ages until I complained to head office and they then told me the battery should have been replaced under warranty as they were aware of issues.

They put in a "more powerful" 12V battery 3 months ago and gave me a list of requirements to keep it going and efficient(which I exceeded) but after a month it was already waning. I put it down, in part, to the cold weather but made Toyota aware there was an issue. 

Within the last two weeks it died completely so took it for a battery check. I told them what happened and they said they couldn't determine if the battery was faulty from the beginning or down to user use.

I disputed their assertion that it was user error showing them the recommendations and proving I followed them as best I could (with miles since the service for instance) but they refused to listen and said it would be £205 to change it. They then spent 30 minutes (as I sold the car back to them) trying over and over again to blame me for the battery issue refusing to listen to me saying I did what they were saying I should. Eventually I just got fed up and upset and shut up.

Grumpy_chap

Any modern car can be susceptible to early 12v battery failure if the car is low mileage and standing for periods of time.  The batteries simply cannot recover if flattened.

How many miles do you do?

Bigphil1474

OP, just to say it is worth looking at a personal loan from a bank or similar, instead of finance. You might get a lower interest rate and pay less overall.