Advice to buy a second car

twokids

Hi Adrian,

Again, very useful comments! Thanks a lot for your kind reply. I guess you have a clear picture of what my requirements are (we also have two boys, 3 and 1). Thanks also for the "JD powers" tip, I didn't know about that website: http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings/quality-ratings-by-category

AdrianHi

twokids wrote: »

Hi Adrian,

Again, very useful comments! Thanks a lot for your kind reply. I guess you have a clear picture of what my requirements are (we also have two boys, 3 and 1). Thanks also for the "JD powers" tip, I didn't know about that website: http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings/quality-ratings-by-category

For a UK JD powers survey What Car helps us out:
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-special-report.aspx?NA=225557&EL=3196982

New Honda Civic a great idea if it is practical enough for you, but not inside a 5K budget. The older one is OK too if your not too tall, I'm 6ft and the seat does not go back far enough for me.
The beauty of the mid sized MPV vehicles is they tend to be the same length and width as the Focus/Golf etc. (i.e. Civic sized)platform they are based on but are taller allowing more head room and boot space. Diesel mid sized MPV's are also in stronge demand used, so if you see one you like online at autotrader etc. move quick on it.
The top two are VW Touran and Ford Focus C Max and the Toyota Corola Verso is good too and comes higher up the JD powers chart.
Need to check if they are in your budget though.

cyclonebri1

Inactive wrote: »

Renault and Citroen are rubbish compared with Mazda and Skoda for reliability.

This is of course in your opinion?

My experience of modern Renaults has so far been on a par with every other car we have ever owned.

Have no personel exp of Citroen so can't comment on that one

Edited to ad

OP, don't forget that on a 2nd car you will be starting again on a separate insurance policy, ie, your no claims will be zero as you cannot run your NCB on 2 policies. You may need to factor that in?:money:

AdrianHi

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

This is of course in your opinion?

My experience of modern Renaults has so far been on a par with every other car we have ever owned.

Have no personel exp of Citroen so can't comment on that one

While I freely confess a prejudice against French cars, I have two friends, one driving a 2004 Grand Scenic and another a 2003 Laguna Estate both of which have been faultless and pleasant ownership experiences for them since nearly new / new.
The only criticism of the Scenic is that is rolls a bit round corners which makes my friends wife feel a bit car sick at times. With this Scenic, I was struck by the impressive refinement of the diesel engine, I would say noticeably quieter than my BMW 320d 4 cylinder diesel.

hewhoisnotintheknow

Inactive wrote: »

Renault and Citroen are rubbish compared with Mazda and Skoda for reliability.

Speak for yourself, ive always owned french and do 65k a year, i have had trouble free motoring compared to some colleagues

hewhoisnotintheknow

cars ive owned

1.0 ax - owned by family for 8 years 1 problem, earth strap came loose after a service (not the cars fault)

205 - Exhaust needed replacing

citroen saxo 1.0 Had this for 2.5 years, did around 70k in it, again not one problem

106 GTi (hot hatch) Only 1 problem, the altenator needed replacing, but the car was on 120k at that point.

Xantia - this covered around 65k in 12 months no problems

406 Hdi - owned for a year now, had one problem, the 3rd brake light stopped working, but after taking this apart i found out that the rear glass had been smashed and the unit had not been put back together correctly.

I think i have been lucky with my citroens, but i also look after them really well so who know!

Now in 2001 i got a brand new mondeo, lots of comical faults with this, hand brake not working, car randomly unlocking in the night. windows opening, crazy oil leaks, ecu replaced several times, keys not working properly (probably ecu related), loosing all power on motorway etc, needless to say it was sold and swapped for a citroen!

Also the other thing to remember with french cars is they are a lot cheaper to buy, people always forget this

Inactive

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

This is of course in your opinion?

My experience of modern Renaults has so far been on a par with every other car we have ever owned.
:

Based on living near to a Renault Main Dealer and speaking with their fitters regularly, who all drive German or Japanese cars.


One recent sale of a new Scenic @ £20,000 saw the buyer being transported back to base, engine failure.

hewhoisnotintheknow

Inactive wrote: »

Based on living near to a Renault Main Dealer and speaking with their fitters regularly, who all drive German or Japanese cars.


One recent sale of a new Scenic @ £20,000 saw the buyer being transported back to base, engine failure.

Lol that means nothing really

Inactive

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

Lol that means nothing really

If you say so, you are " in the know " . :rolleyes:

twokids

After the suggestions I had, I've been doing my search.
So far these are my favourites but I have some questions for the experts

1- Mazda6: Very stylish car! Love it! Looking at the ins group and the
engine size(1.8 and over) is it cheap to run?

2- What about Mazda Premacy? Is there anything wrong with it? Low ins group, reasonable size, low mileage and cheap. Too good to be true.

3-Toyota Corolla Verso. Another good one. Any suggestions about engine
size and spec (i.e. T2/T3)

Thanks guys. I'm very grateful of this site for the impartial advise.