1st time car owner, advice needed.

VaderDSL

VaderDSL

VaderDSL

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
16,475
Location
Manchester
Hi,

Ok, bit of a background. Am 28 never owned a car before but have been named on another policy for a few years, sadly 0 NCB.

I am moving out of a city centre so will need to finally get myself a little run around.
It won't be for mega miles. At a rough average it'll be 5000 miles a year and that's is over provisioning, my commute will only be 6 miles a day to the local park and ride. But I will be doing some miles on the motorways and to head out to the hills for mountain biking.

Now I will have to get a loan sadly, so I'll be looking to get one as cheap as possible, probably 5K tops as a general ball park figure.

Now car wise, I will be fine with a 1.4 - 1.6 engine, petrol or diesel I'm not bothered at all.
Looks don't really bother me, but I do want something that isn't too hard to insure or tax, with OK fuel efficiency.

I am after reliability and I am very apprehensive about buying second hand, I have no experience mechanically (I can barely maintain my bicycles) so I would need my hand holding about what engines or chassis are known to be fairly easy to maintain/cheap to run/fix.

So those are my basic requirements and so the cars (from reading on here) I would end up looking at would be :

Ford Focus / VM of some kind / Civic? / Mondeo

Now out of those, the Focus or a VM Golf/Polo would suit me fine, the larger Civic/Mondeo would be slightly lower down the list.

I was looking mainly at the Focus Ghia 1.6 TDCI as a starter car, it seems like it fits the bill all round.
Something like this? http://goo.gl/ott1n and yes it;s an estate :D but an estate wouldn't be too bad, could shove my MTB in there.

Any advice would be brilliant cheers.
 
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Focus mk2 estate would be my suggestion. Plenty of room for the bike, and should be cheaper too.

I wouldn't bother with a diesel. You'll pay a premium for the engine, and there is more to go wrong than a petrol equivalent.
 
5k miles = petrol car

Sounds like me, my mileage for the year is the same as yours and I ended up with a Yaris after months of searching.

The other cars on the list were

Focus
Golf - 05 plate
A3 - 04 plate
Civic - 05 plate
Yaris - 07 plate for £5k

I ended up with the Yaris because basically after all the research, every one says it is bullet proof. As I know nothing about cars it seems like the safest bet to me.

Focus would be a good shout.
 
VaderDSL said:
Brilliant :) cheers so far guys, certainly the sort of info that'll help me out :)
Click to expand...

Just to note.

I discounted the Civic because all the ones at that price are either too old, or high milage or looks like it has been ragged. Honda Civic seems to attract a lot of modders, and most seem to be modded and ragged.

The Golf would be a good shout, but it seems petrol engine Golf are hard to find though!

Focus would fit the bill, I just thought it was too large a car for me.

A3 would be decent, but it would be an old one, or high mileage and the downside with this is an £5k A3 will still come with a running cost of a £20k car, not a £5k car. You will paying for Audi service and parts costs. (i.e. I had my Yaris serviced at the Toyota Dealer for £140 including parts and labour, i think it would be hard to beat plus i got an official dealer stamp)

You should also look into a Polo too, can get a 06 plate for that price. My sister P/E her 55 plate, 1.4, air con, electric windows, 60k on the clock for £3.8k and it was on the forecourt at a garage for £4.8k 4 months ago. Just to give you an idea that you can get a newer one than 55 plate for £5k.

There is also Mazda 3, Fiesta (actually quite a good drive), even Mini Cooper (I discounted this because of the Audi reason plus Mini has a high running cost, parts are not cheap and they break often at that age, you will be looking at a 03/04 plate Mini Cooper for £5k)

Basically i got the Yaris because for the money, you get a newer car (07 plate), low tax (if you get 1.3 engine), reliable and hold resale value really well (you still see an 03 plate Yaris for £2.5k).
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Just to note.

I discounted the Civic because all the ones at that price are either too old, or high milage or looks like it has been ragged. Honda Civic seems to attract a lot of modders, and most seem to be modded and ragged.

The Golf would be a good shout, but it seems petrol engine Golf are hard to find though!

Focus would fit the bill, I just thought it was too large a car for me.

A3 would be decent, but it would be an old one, or high mileage and the downside with this is an £5k A3 will still come with a running cost of a £20k car, not a £5k car. You will paying for Audi service and parts costs. (i.e. I had my Yaris serviced at the Toyota Dealer for £140 including parts and labour, i think it would be hard to beat plus i got an official dealer stamp)

You should also look into a Polo too, can get a 06 plate for that price. My sister P/E her 55 plate, 1.4, air con, electric windows, 60k on the clock for £3.8k and it was on the forecourt at a garage for £4.8k 4 months ago. Just to give you an idea that you can get a newer one than 55 plate for £5k.

There is also Mazda 3, Fiesta (actually quite a good drive), even Mini Cooper (I discounted this because of the Audi reason plus Mini has a high running cost, parts are not cheap and they break often at that age, you will be looking at a 03/04 plate Mini Cooper for £5k)

Basically i got the Yaris because for the money, you get a newer car (07 plate), low tax (if you get 1.3 engine), reliable and hold resale value really well (you still see an 03 plate Yaris for £2.5k).
Click to expand...

Wow cheers for all the info :) My mum actually had a Yaris a couple of years ago and was no trouble at all, it might be a bit too small for me though sadly, or it might just be my perception :)

I do think I'd like something around the size of a Focus, but the lowish cost of servicing the Yaris sounds good, not sure how it compares to say Ford/VW.
 
I would think the Focus could be a good shout for you then. Tax wise won't be £30 like a 1.3 Yaris though. Parts should be cheap and it's a Ford. I am not sure on its service costs.

Take your time, there are LOADS of Focus around and you can find a decent one if you take your time. Zetec and Ghia level trim is at least what you want, don't go any lower.
 
Raymond Lin said:
5k miles = petrol car

Sounds like me, my mileage for the year is the same as yours and I ended up with a Yaris after months of searching.

The other cars on the list were

Focus
Golf - 05 plate
A3 - 04 plate
Civic - 05 plate
Yaris - 07 plate for £5k

I ended up with the Yaris because basically after all the research, every one says it is bullet proof. As I know nothing about cars it seems like the safest bet to me.

Focus would be a good shout.
Click to expand...

Well I've been looking/thinking and I have realised the Focus would be too big and too expensive to insure.

Therefore I have been looking at the Yaris per your advice :)

I was wondering which model did you buy? I am looking at a 1.0 or 1.3 if it's substantially better and T3 trim levels?

I have had advice from others saying to look at a new Hyundai i10 or i20 as they are around £7k and £9k respectively, and I see their point with the warranties and 3 years free servicing etc. but tbh the depreciation on those must be ridiculous. Even if they are cheaper than the competition to start with.
 
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