Looking at used cars - lots of questions!

Shoxt3r

Hi there,
I'm looking at getting a used car. My budget is approximately £10k (via a loan), plus part exchange of my 2013 Ford Focus.

I've looked at WBAC and they have offered £2,500 which seems on the conservative side and is obviously subject to inspection. The car has most service stamps (I missed a couple a few years ago) and it's in relatively good condition. The cambelt work for example was done around 2-3 years ago.

I've had the Focus for 8 years now and I've got concerns about age-related issues creeping up, but would also like something bigger for family holidays etc. For example there is a slight whine from the gearbox at slow speed/start-up which I had checked last August, and essentially it will need a replacement eventually. MOT, Service and Car Insurance are all due in July, so I'm ideally looking to replace before then so I don't double up on other costs. Tax is paid on monthly basis, so I presume I can just switch the Direct Debit, and I have car-specific breakdown with the RAC which I know will incur an admin fee to change as I only renewed last month.

I'm looking to finance the new car through a £10k personal loan at 5.6% from TSB, based on a 4-year agreement, so average monthly cost of £232 per month, and a total cost of approximately £11,200.

I visited 4 used car dealers locally today which unfortunately didn't yield much - most of the cars I saw are either too small, old, high mileage or automatic. Some of them are the age I'm looking for but miles out of budget (£15k+). Is now a good time to be looking, or is it down to a poor used car market at the moment?

My wishlist for the new car is as follows:

• Manual
• Petrol
• Around 50k mileage maximum (Focus is on 68k, was 45k when purchased in 2017)
• Estate
• No more than 7 years old
• Situated fairly local in Kent/London/Essex

I've looked on Autotrader but it seems to be a minefield. For example, I can't find details by car about tax rules for the £40k+ list price? I'm ideally looking for a simple flat rate like I have with the Focus - £195/£210 and no more.

Also many dealers push for "reserve" payments, or for delivery which I guess is the new normal? I'd like to be able to purchase in person to avoid these costs if possible, plus to have ample time to check the car over and test drive. Warranties (if offered) are fixed at 3 months and can be extended (unlikely to do this to save money).

Some cars of interest are:

• 2021 Ford Focus estate, 1.0T Ecoboost Hybrid MHEV
• 2019 Ford Focus estate, 1.0T Ecoboost Active X
• 2022 Seat Leon 1.5 TSI EVO FR estate
• 2016 Ford Mondeo 1.5T Ecoboost (breaking my rule of "no more than 7 years" but I like the Mondeo after doing a test drive a few years ago)

Are Ecoboost engines for example better than they were? I've heard bad stories about them having serious reliability issues in the past, which resulted in me passing up a 1.2 Ford Focus Ecoboost when buying my Focus. Also - why are modern engine sizes so small - what are they equivalent of? My Focus has a straightforward 1.6 Duratec Ti-VCT so I'm unfamiliar with the change to smaller capacity engines.

Added to my questions are what the acronyms for the cars listed above mean? I understand there are different trim levels but I'm not familiar with brands other than Ford (my Dad owns an old Ghia Mondeo) - is there somewhere I can see this information at a glance?

Long post I know - thanks for getting this far!

Herzlos

I wouldn't worry about the £40k tax thing, it only applies for the first 5 years and so any car that it did apply to would be more than 5 years old at £10k.

In terms of an MSE answer, if you like your Focus then it's probably more cost effective to replace the gearbox and then get a roofbox for holidays.

forgotmyname

One one car in that list I would even partially consider at that price and even then it would
take me a long time to find the right car.

Even though your looking at less than 7 years old I would want 2 owners max with both owning for around
3 years with a big fat wallet of all servicing and repairs done, not a stamp in a book but real receipts.

Ask yourself how many really high mileage cars are for sale with the model/engine/gearbox spec that your looking for?

My normal buying criteria was 5 years old and 130,000 miles with proper recipts not stamps in a book that may not tell
you that the car required work at every service that the owner declined to have done yet still got a stamp in the book.

Where are the 160,000 - 200,000 mile 1L petrol engined Focus's and 1.5TSI's for that matter? Compare that to the
older tech petrols and diesels where they often reach those mileages but nothing more than regular servicing.

A slight whine on a gearbox could last many years, change the gearbox oil and save to reduce the cost of borrowing
that will also give the market time to change as more manufacturers are looking into making petrol/diesel models
for longer than they initially expected.

To me prices are still bonkers and not yet where they should be.

fatbelly

Just sold a 20-y-o Focus 1.6 with 127k miles - still good for many years

If you buy one with a 1.0 ecoboost engine you have immediate problems

If you had 10k to throw at a new car I'd suggest a few models. But you don't.

Better to keep looking after that one that you have and save that £232 per month into a car fund

daveyjp

Starting point for me would be to avoid anything with a turbo, if purely to avoid having to replace it as some point, especially on an older vehicle with unknown history.

Any Ecoboom requires a belt change at a max of ten years, so factor that in.

Manual, petrol, non turbo, estate? Mazda 6.

knightstyle

If you liked the focus have a look at a Cmax, same underpinnings with a bigger body. We have a 2.0 diesel and it seems to go on forever.

Grumpy_chap

The OP might be worth relaxing the mileage limit they prefer as indicated at 50k miles. Given the OP did 68 - 45 = 23k miles in the 9 years they had the Focus, that's only 2.5k miles per year. A well-maintained modern car with motorway miles might be a very worthwhile option.

That said, cars are available that exactly fit the OP's stated wish list:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202601309534822

The MSE thing to do would be keep the Focus and service as required. In fact, for as few miles as the OP actually covers, the real MSE thing would be to use shanks's pony, public transport or Uber and hire a car for the annual holiday.

Johnmcl7

I think on Autotrader the reserve costs and delivery offers are coming from Autotrader themselves, dealers do offer these features but I hadn't realised until listening to a podcast by a dealer that it was something Autotrader were pushing. You can just ignore it and proceed with the dealer as you normally would.

In terms of checking what is offered in each spec I find Parkers can be a good starting point although ideally I like to try and track down the brochure for the car. It can sometimes be tricky given the spec can vary by year but the brochures usually give you a table or grid view so you can easily see which features are standard, optional or not available on each spec. You can also search using keywords on Autotrader so if there's particular features you want, you can add it as a keyword although just need to be careful if there's different terms or spelling for a certain feature.

paul_c123

Autotrader itself pulls the spec from the plate, dealers don't sit there and click through selecting the equipment and options a car has. Parkers spec check is good for figures such as fuel economy, weights, etc but not so good for equipment, I think its a bit out of date and a lot of the features such as reversing camera, wireless Carplay, etc aren't detailed properly.

Johnmcl7

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81885522#Comment_81885522

That's why I said it's a starting point, it's not always 100% accurate especially per year but it does give a good idea of what the trim levels are which is what the OP was asking for.

The spec Autotrader pulls is certainly not accurate and I've frequently found cars listed with features they blatantly don't have, it's getting much more difficult to verify these days because options now don't have their own buttons. I think dealers should be checking the spec is correct particularly for more expensive optional extras but they don't seem to or least didn't on the cars I've looked at.

photome

don’t buy a Ford with a 1 litre engine ( wet belt).

Why are you looking at a Leon FR rather than a lower spec, don’t think you will find a 22 Leon for your budget

I love Mondeos

have you considered a Ceed estate, should fine a petrol manual 22/23 plate