Spec for a friend: 8k & reliability & economy & ease of access

crinkleshoes

crinkleshoes

crinkleshoes

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Hey,

A friend is looking for a new car.

8k budget, must be 57 plate or newer (finance stipulation) and 100k miles.

His wife has some access issues, so something a little larger (although doesn't have to be huge) is easier.

So far, contenders are:

2013 Chevrolet Cruze
2009 Kia Sportage
2012 Kia Cee'd
2010 Honda Insight
2010 Honda Jazz

From internet searches only, they haven't started looking in person yet - about to.

Noticed the Chevy comes with 5 year manufacturer warranty and Kia with 7 year warranty.

Any tips? I haven't spent much time looking in this segment...
 
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Looks OK... but I think I'm leaning towards recommending the Chevy/Kia primarily due to the warranties.

Ford gives them something else to compare with though :)
 
[TW]Fox;28836261 said:
How can somebody have something against Skoda but be happy to buy something as crap as a Chevvy Cruze?!
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Never a truer word spoken. The Yeti is utterly superb for what it is. The Cruze is a pile of "four-letter-word".
 
crinkleshoes said:
Cruze has ... a better quality interior.
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Said no one ever:

autoexpress.com said:
The Cruze is robustly engineered and well built, but the interior lacks the quality and polish of more mainstream rivals like the Skoda Octavia.
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topgear.com said:
The cockpit is nicely styled, with a bravely forward-facing design theme, but there’s too much flash in relation to quality and the use of shiny cheap plastics around the fussy centre console isn’t going to strike a chord with many in the European market.
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Parkers.co.uk said:
The plastics are a little hard but the fabric panel which sits just above the glovebox is a nice touch.
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The only thing going for the Cruze out of those options is that they will get a newer, lower mileage car with potentially more equipment.






Sources:
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/chevrolet/cruze
http://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/chevrolet/cruze
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/chevrolet/cruze/hatchback/comfort/
 
[TW]Fox;28836625 said:
Errr
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Sit in both, tell me which has more comfortable seats... Skoda seem to like putting van-grade seats in the majority of their vehicles, the most uncomfortable in the world... I know you can spec better quality seats and I think they come as standard in models like the VRS... but not in the ones we're looking at.

Armageus said:
Said no one ever:

The only thing going for the Cruze out of those options is that they will get a newer, lower mileage car with potentially more equipment.

Sources:
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/chevrolet/cruze
http://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/chevrolet/cruze
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/chevrolet/cruze/hatchback/comfort/
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Seems to be more of an expression of taste rather than quality, for the majority.

Skodas are the worst places to be of any semi-modern car I've been in... and I've had a silly number of rentals over the last five years... Skoda Superb should be listed in a dictionary of Oxymorons.

I spent a year or so doing a lot of miles in a VW Caddy... feels like jumping back into one of those with an even worse quality dash (at least the Caddy had the VW dash).

People seem to dislike my dislike of Skodas... I just can't get my head around why they're rated so highly.

Irrespective of that, I know that they are generally considered to be good cars... so I recommended one early on... but it was an instant no as they don't like them either. Their reason is different from mine, but it's a definite no to any Skoda... Ford B-Max has higher potential.

Even Kias are a nicer place to be and I don't rate their interior too highly...

Cleisthenes said:
YETI YETI YETI.

And they look good imo

e: Sorted: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...age=up_to_50000_miles&price-to=8000&logcode=p
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Downside: only 6 month statutory dealer warranty

Unless I'm mistaken - aren't there some problems with the highly strung 1.2 and 1.4 TSI engines cropping up lately?







So far, my favourite recommendation would be the Kia Cee'd... there are a couple of decent 2012s with low mileage in the price bracket and they'd be covered under warranty til 2019. There are quite a few in the 20-30k miles range, both Petrol and Diesel.

Any recommendation here Petrol vs Diesel please?

The Chevy, there is a 6500 mile 2013 in budget, do you know if the Chevy 5 year warranties are transferrable like the Kia warranties? I think they are as I saw a 2013 advertised with 2.5 years warranty, I just haven't found anywhere to confirm.

From pictures, they haven't had a look in the flesh yet, the wife seems to prefer the Kia and the husband seems to prefer the Chevy (well, he'd really like an Audi).
 
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Purely aesthetically, at least the Cee'd is a normal hatchback in its proportions. The Yeti looks like a shrunken minibus, I don't get how anyone could say they look 'good'. Maybe in comparison to a van.

Horses for courses, of course, but if you don't *need* a van-style car, why would you?
 
crinkleshoes said:
Unless I'm mistaken - aren't there some problems with the highly strung 1.2 and 1.4 TSI engines cropping up lately?
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They aren't by any stretch "highly strung" (other than the 180bhp twincharged), and no, the majority of problems were with the Twincharged 1.4TSI. The 1.2 is not twincharged, and the majority of 1.4TSI variants are not twincharged either (122bhp version is definitely turbo only, 140bhp could be either, 180bhp is definitely twincharged).
 
Freakitchen said:
Purely aesthetically, at least the Cee'd is a normal hatchback in its proportions. The Yeti looks like a shrunken minibus, I don't get how anyone could say they look 'good'. Maybe in comparison to a van.

Horses for courses, of course, but if you don't *need* a van-style car, why would you?
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It's a shrunken minibus with nice style cues :p
 
Freakitchen said:
Purely aesthetically, at least the Cee'd is a normal hatchback in its proportions. The Yeti looks like a shrunken minibus, I don't get how anyone could say they look 'good'. Maybe in comparison to a van.

Horses for courses, of course, but if you don't *need* a van-style car, why would you?
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Looks like one of those modified vans for people who need wheelchair access :D

I suppose I didn't mention "ease of access" :D

Armageus said:
They aren't by any stretch "highly strung" (other than the 180bhp twincharged), and no, the majority of problems were with the Twincharged 1.4TSI. The 1.2 is not twincharged, and the majority of 1.4TSI variants are not twincharged either (122bhp version is definitely turbo only, 140bhp could be either, 180bhp is definitely twincharged).
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OK, thanks for the info.

Cleisthenes said:
It's a shrunken minibus with nice style cues :p
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lol
 
crinkleshoes said:
So far, my favourite recommendation would be the Kia Cee'd... there are a couple of decent 2012s with low mileage in the price bracket and they'd be covered under warranty til 2019. There are quite a few in the 20-30k miles range, both Petrol and Diesel.

Any recommendation here Petrol vs Diesel please?

The Chevy, there is a 6500 mile 2013 in budget, do you know if the Chevy 5 year warranties are transferrable like the Kia warranties? I think they are as I saw a 2013 advertised with 2.5 years warranty, I just haven't found anywhere to confirm.
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Any tips here please?

Thanks :)
 
Thanks... interesting... must have been a mix-up in the review I read mentioning 5 year warranty... it was a UK review, but seems 5 year warranty is only available in the US
 
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