Which hatchback? £15 - £20k

Skeeter said:
£20k on a second hand Ford... :/

If I had £20k burning a whole in my pocket I'd be looking for something far more... German. Surely you must be able to get into nice approved used 3 Series' etc for that?
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Was at a local auction last night, and everything seemed to be really expensive to me.

But with that being said, there was a F30 330d MSport xdrive went through for around £21k. So can't be far off one of them, and that would be a much better prospect than just about anything else mentioned on here so far.
 
Don't spend £20k on a hatchback, I did about 10 years ago and still regret it.

If you really will be doing high miles and driving to the south of France at least get a nice coupe or saloon.
 
xs2man said:
Was at a local auction last night, and everything seemed to be really expensive to me.

But with that being said, there was a F30 330d MSport xdrive went through for around £21k. So can't be far off one of them, and that would be a much better prospect than just about anything else mentioned on here so far.
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£15-20k, wants a '1.6 hatchback', somebody suggests a 330d for more than his budget from a car auction :D

Any decent F30 330d has a strong level of trade interest and is very unlikely to have made it into a local car auction unless there is a reason none of the trader buyers wanted - heck BMW themselves would have been all over it for approved used stock.
 
Skidder said:
This is only just over budget and has a better engine and more space.

http://www.boatshop24.co.uk/motorboat/sea-ray-220-sundeck/75920
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Lol :D


Hasn't been suggested yet, so why not get the one true rep mobile for all those miles - Audi A3:

1.6 Diesel
http://www.audi.co.uk/used-cars/use...norwich/605179845-30021.aspx?srcmdc=se_na_re_

2.0 Diesel
http://www.audi.co.uk/used-cars/use...-wells/605090040-104605.aspx?srcmdc=se_na_re_

At least it is the new model, so unlikely to lose too much money on it for a while, unlike some of the other suggestion for 20k (Focus or fiesta ST)
 
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Unfortunately with this being a forum pretty much full of people who like cars and driving, the thought of spending the amount of money you are on a mundane diesel hatchback fills most people with dread - as evidenced so far.

Then again if that's what you want and you're happy spending the money I guess all I would say is that there aren't really any truly bad modern cars so long as you stay away from the 110bhp diseasel iterations. The kind of cars you're looking at are all typical hire cars and this is pretty much the only real frustration I have with any of them.

I'd personally just look at balancing out what you can get for the money that has the best spec level, say an arbitrary 130ish bhp+, you like the look of and that won't drop a massive sum of money in the time you'll own it.

Have a look at 2-3 year older examples for sale in the same sort of spec and knock around £2k off to get you back to trade value, make sure you're happy losing that amount on it then go buy.

You might be as well looking at the difference between a nearly new example and how much you can get the model/spec for new from a broker as there often isn't much difference.

Make sure you drive a few of them too
 
[TW]Fox;28516907 said:
£15-20k, wants a '1.6 hatchback', somebody suggests a 330d for more than his budget from a car auction :D
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Someone else brought up the idea of an approved used 3 series. While the one I mentioned wasn't approved used, it still comes with around 16 months manufacturers warranty. But the point was that it wasn't a million miles away from the OP's budget. Is a diesel like the OP wanted, and a 3 series isn't a big car, not much bigger than general hatchbacks. So kinda ticks that box too.

The only box it doesn't really tick is the mileage one, but then buying cars is always about compromises somewhere.

[QUOTE='[TW]Any decent F30 330d has a strong level of trade interest and is very unlikely to have made it into a local car auction unless there is a reason none of the trader buyers wanted - heck BMW themselves would have been all over it for approved used stock.[/QUOTE]

I would have thought so too. The place was full of buyers from the big dealerships around here though. I recognised the business managers and buyers from the likes of local BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Land Rover dealerships. There were others from the more run of the mill Arnold Clarks and Peter Vardys too though.

The car I mentioned was a 2013, 63 with 41k on it with pro nav, reversing camera, enhanced BT some other extras, with full BMW service history, and obviously over a years worth of manufacturers warranty on it. Looked very clean too, no dents or deep scratches. Can't imagine it would have been a terribly bad buy at that, and surely the manufacturers warranty would cover almost anything that might be needing done.

I was initially surprised, but there were a LOT of premium 2013/2014 low mileage motors there. From Porsches to Golf GTI's to Jag XJ's (64 plate with 3,500 miles on it, V6 diesel), Mec E classes and even some F10 5 series. I guess there aren't too many auctions in Scotland, so they are all "local" anyway, so get loads of stuff through.

Alas, I went to look at a Mondeo though, but it went for too much for my budget. As did most of the other motors I went there specifically to look at. What surprised me most was that most of the cars I went to look at were going for more than they sell for privately. And then the indemnity on top. And most of them required at least some work to them, where the private ones I had looked at didn't. Or at least any work required wasn't nearly as obvious.
 
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IMHO just grab a new Ford Fiesta 1.6 econetic, to what I remember they have a detective engine in them as well, have ridiculous good MPG and ford cars run like champions and are cheap to fix. Or if you don't want that go as someone above said and grab a nice little 3 series.
 
rodenal said:
Unfortunately with this being a forum pretty much full of people who like cars and driving, the thought of spending the amount of money you are on a mundane diesel hatchback fills most people with dread - as evidenced so far.

Then again if that's what you want and you're happy spending the money I guess all I would say is that there aren't really any truly bad modern cars so long as you stay away from the 110bhp diseasel iterations. The kind of cars you're looking at are all typical hire cars and this is pretty much the only real frustration I have with any of them.

I'd personally just look at balancing out what you can get for the money that has the best spec level, say an arbitrary 130ish bhp+, you like the look of and that won't drop a massive sum of money in the time you'll own it.

Have a look at 2-3 year older examples for sale in the same sort of spec and knock around £2k off to get you back to trade value, make sure you're happy losing that amount on it then go buy.

You might be as well looking at the difference between a nearly new example and how much you can get the model/spec for new from a broker as there often isn't much difference.

Make sure you drive a few of them too
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Good advice thank you!
 
^JP^ said:
Don't spend £20k on a hatchback, I did about 10 years ago and still regret it.

If you really will be doing high miles and driving to the south of France at least get a nice coupe or saloon.
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Nowt wrong with a hatch if you're talking something the size of a Mondeo :p

In a Corsa/Fiesta on the other hand... *shudder*
 
Focus ST (newest one) is awesome for the money (make sure you get one with reasonable seats though as there are several variants). A Fiesta ST is pretty nice to, and both can be pretty economical.
 
Loads about

Focus ST diesel
Mazda 3/CX3
Audi A5
Guilietta
Qashqai/Juke
Skoda Octavia
Mini
BMW 3/5 Series GT
 
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