looking for a new, small, cheap city car. Up, i10 or second hand?

R B Customs

R B Customs

R B Customs

Soldato
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Manchester
To the internet!

After a bit of advice

To put you in the picture; we're buying a house, my girlfriend walks to work at the moment but will need to drive when we get our new house so we're looking for a car to get her there. annual milage will be around 3,500 miles. (not a typo - that's being generous) we're used to paying £0 for her transport so suddenly having a second car is a big jump.
[edit] wrote'not a type and then realised it actually was a typo three and a half thousand miles only.[/edit]
we're not really considering a used car at this point for a few reasons; unless I'm wrong to assume otherwise our thinking is:

-3 or 4 years of predictability - fixed service plan, fixed payments, slim chance of any major expenses. just what we need with a house move.

- take advantage of a free insurance offer, saving us around £60 a month for a year (useful for our first year in a new house too)

-going the PCP route giving a clear upgrade path to better models or just being able to leave the contract / walk away at the end of the term.

-only really want a tiny easy to drive [read: park] city car, not bothered that you can get a second hand mondeo for similar money - very small is the key here as she doesn't like driving big cars (my fiesta s1600 is considered big!) I think bigger cars will come with time and experience later on when she comes to swap the car for a new one (polo, golf, beetle et al)


At the moment we're looking at VW up, skoda citigo, hyundai i10 and seat mii. We know the seat, VW and skoda are of the same ilk, but we prefer the VW at the moment for a lot of reasons, mostly being that they have the best finance options and the least confusing range. (and also there's no seat or skoda dealer local)

The spanner in the works is the hyundai... we love it! the brand new i10 is certainly our favourite for loads of reasons... and it's kinda cheaper too. BUT - hyundai's finance options are rubbish; they have shorter terms and higher milage than VW which means the i10 is actually pretty expensive to drive away in. there's no free insurance either. so when you're looking at an up for £140/month insured then suddenly the cheaper RRP hyundai is more like £220 once insured. (we're not putting a big deposit down by the way, cant see the point - am I wrong?)

What I'm trying to get at is two-fold:
-would the Up be recommended here over the i10 for any reason in particular? is it s sound car in general?
-are we missing any tricks by only looking at new cars and not second hand Up's etc? am I about to be the next car-craft-corsa-guy :P. I would consider secondhand / nearly new if it was truly worth it but I don't know where to start with that.


tl;dr
need city car for GF, 3.5k annual milage. VW up ok? or buy second hand. priority is on predictability of expenses, and low cost.

:)
Rick
 
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all the motoring mags seem to love the Fiat Panda as a city car


they also seem to love the Kia Picanto for its overall package
 
Is your partner's insurance really £720 per year? Doesn't sound right?

What sort of initial payment do you have to make on this type of car?
 
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Its a no brainer get a citroen c1 has a toyota petrol engine 70 mpg 30 quid car tax , and suprisingly good on motorway . I sold these for years great car if you are a car snob you can get the toyota version the igo or peugeot version all the same engine pop the bonnet they all are badged toyota ( on the petrol models) citroen and peugeot are part of the psa group owned by the french government and they did a deal with toyota to use there petrol engine so long as the diesel versions are psa hdi disel engine as used by ford tdci , no better value in my opinion
 
The i10/Picanto are basically the same car, so consider both if it helps the finance situation.

If you're not going to ever own the car (i.e pcp type deal) then so long as it's got a comparable cost of "ownership" over the term I think I'd have to go with the UP as it's that little bit more refined, plus it's a VW not a Hyundai so badge snobbery wins.

If you're going to actually own the car I wouldn't buy any of them new. There should be some used UP's around by now and there are certainly plenty of i10/Picantos.

Consider the 107/C1/Aygo as well if buying used, they're much the same type of car and perfectly suited for kicking about town. The comment above about motorway travel is simply wrong though, I hate driving ours anywhere other than around town.

We paid circa £5k for a 2 year old car and they barely depreciate in real terms. I'd imagine the VW trio would be similar or better, so if you don't mind paying out more initially I'd imagine you'll get it back come resale.

Tbh for running around town absolutely anything will do, there aren't really any unreliable petrol city cars now, plus they're all dirt cheap to run.
 
What about a Peugeot Just Add Fuel deal?

Everything in a single fixed payment - she needs to have 2 years NCD though.

Downside is you're driving a Peugeot :p
 
It may be worth you doing a cost comparison on used as well, as you've clearly made the effort to do the same on new.

For example, spend £5-7.5k on the 'right' small car that's as new as possible, 1 owner from new with FSH. Finance this as well as you can (a bank loan with sub 5% APR, or, depending on where you buy from, and if you can afford to, some cash up front with the rest on a 0% credit card - balance transfer after the free term).

You might then be looking at a monthly fee you can afford, you're minimising (though not eradicating) the risk of bills by buying intelligently, but crucially you have value in your 'investment' at the end of whatever period you're doing the sums over.
 
AVOID the C1/Aygo/107
They are absolutely awful piles of turd.

VW Up! is brilliant, as is the Fiat Panda.
Chevy Spark is actually quite a decent little car, worth a look.

Or... Dacia Sandero? ;)
 
mjt said:
AVOID the C1/Aygo/107
They are absolutely awful piles of turd.

VW Up! is brilliant, as is the Fiat Panda.
Chevy Spark is actually quite a decent little car, worth a look.

Or... Dacia Sandero? ;)
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They're exactly the same as every other city car bar the VW trio, which feel a bit more refined and therefore (fairly so I'd say) cost more.

That's not to say the 107 etc aren't little piles of dung- it's just that in general all of these cars are. They are cheap and serve a purpose

The Panda is bigger than any of the others mentioned, though it's a good little car. Suspect the GF in question will hate the looks though
 
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rodenal said:
They're exactly the same as every other city car bar the VW trio, which feel a bit more refined and therefore (fairly so I'd say) cost more.

That's not to say the 107 etc aren't little piles of dung- it's just that in general all of these cars are. They are cheap and serve a purpose

The Panda is bigger than any of the others mentioned, though it's a good little car. Suspect the GF in question will hate the looks though
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I disagree. The materials, feel and general build quality of the Aygo/107/C1 is noticably worse than the VW Up/Skoda/Seat and the Chevy Spark.

Doesn't stop people buying them though, because they're cheap!

The boot is pathetically small (even for cars of this size) and the rear window being glass makes it even more impractical.
 
Agree r.e the vw lot - hence my statement on excluding them, never been near a spark though i've driven everything else (most recently to my horror, the ford Ka, which is TERRIBLE in every way imaginable) and to be honest they're all fairly rubbish to be in if you're doing anything other than nipping to the shops.

The boot is a bit of a funny shape but it's not really any smaller overall than the others imo, especially not the UP. Agree the glass is not the best of ideas though! It's especially poor in winter when the seals pretty much freeze it shut
 
Agree with the above - only exception for me is if you find a suitable lease/pcp where you're only putting down a few hundred then paying circa £100 per month for 1 or 2 years on one of these.

Still going to be more expensive than buying something if you work out the true costs (particularly so if comparing say a year old car), but you really are down in the disposable money realms.
 
Tesla said:
Is your partner's insurance really £720 per year? Doesn't sound right?

What sort of initial payment do you have to make on this type of car?
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unfortunately it's not far off... she has driven in the past and had 2 or 3 years NCB but has not driven for 2 years so has lost them. she gets a small discount coming with me on Aviva as they will honour a discount for a year she has been a named driver on my policy. it's between 40 and 60 quid a month to insure her on an up at the moment, depending on what extras we choose(lega, courtesy car etc). The hyundai @ my estimation of 220p/m was based on a higher cost of the car per month plus insurance.

initial payment can be anything above a months repayment, so about £150! we will be putting about £500 down. can't really see the benefit of putting more down at the moment with a house move imminent as it's cash out of our pocket which I'd rather spread the cost of (even if it does incur a bit of interest)

Jackboo89 said:
Its a no brainer get a citroen c1 has a toyota petrol engine 70 mpg 30 quid car tax , and suprisingly good on motorway . I sold these for years great car if you are a car snob you can get the toyota version the igo or peugeot version all the same engine pop the bonnet they all are badged toyota ( on the petrol models) citroen and peugeot are part of the psa group owned by the french government and they did a deal with toyota to use there petrol engine so long as the diesel versions are psa hdi disel engine as used by ford tdci , no better value in my opinion
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I have to admit we have not really looked at the c1 / 107 but had looked at an aygo and were both nearly sick a little bit lol. walked into toyota on sunday then just walked back out; didn't appeal at all. I think that's part of the reason we haven't looked at the c1/107/aygo class as they're not really that appealing (and my personal source of most road rage :P) - but it sounds like a very sensible choice so not going to dismiss it and will have a look at the weekend. Thanks :)

Haggisman said:
What about a Peugeot Just Add Fuel deal?

Everything in a single fixed payment - she needs to have 2 years NCD though.

Downside is you're driving a Peugeot :p
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Sorry I missed the crucial information out in OP - she has no NCB.

re: general Kia reccomendations - they have the worst finance deals of them all! even more expensive to drive away than hyundai.


just replying between tasks at work will go through all replies soon!
 
[TW]Fox;26127974 said:
The higher the deposit the less you borrow, the less interest you pay and the lower the total cost is.

The monthly cost doesnt matter, its ALL about the total cost.
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I touched on this before I read your post. At the moment we're moving house, and as of today we had news that it could all be happening a bit faster than we thought. taking a bigger wedge of cash and putting it down on a car, which in the long term is better - currently that sort of cash needs to be spent on solicitors, surveys and paint! I know what you're saying and I agree, but at the moment it's not the right choice - a year or two down the line then definitely.

rodenal said:
Agree with the above - only exception for me is if you find a suitable lease/pcp where you're only putting down a few hundred then paying circa £100 per month for 1 or 2 years on one of these.

Still going to be more expensive than buying something if you work out the true costs (particularly so if comparing say a year old car), but you really are down in the disposable money realms.
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never really looked at it like that but yea that's more inline with my thinking. we're already in the bargain bin looking for a car :P
 
How accurate is it that your partner "needs" a car to get to work? At a guess it's <5 miles away from home?

It may be more sensible to to hold off the purchase until the house move is all done and dusted. You may have more or less money than you currently think and therefore a different arrangement could be better? Sounds like we're only talking a matter of weeks?
 
lmao,

When you first said 3,500k annual mileage (not a type) I was like lolwat. You're going to be doing 3,500,000 miles per year in city driving....?

But you later clarified to 3.5k miles which is more realistic.

If you want something cheap, then I vote for Aygo. My mate has one and it's very practical, very small, 5 doors and can fit adults in the back if required.

If you want something more comfortable to make her life easier, I vote for something like a Clio or Fiesta diesel.
 
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