Suggest a new car for me

ArchAnGeL · 25 May 2017 at 07:57

I'm mid 40's with plenty of no claims
Mileage is about 12k per year
Daily commute is 22 miles total on heavily congested motorway
Needs to fit family of 4
Budget target 8k. Max 10k
Preferably used mileage around 50K
Petrol preferred but would trade off extra taxes vs other costs for a diesel (has plenty in the past)

Current car: Civic 1.8 sport 2005
Power/speed is sufficient. Wouldn't want less
Space is just enough. Wouldn't want less
Fuel efficiency is ok but would prefer a little more in urban environment

Been looking so far (based on looks only) at 3 series and A4's. I like A5's but probably out of the price range

Tinders · 25 May 2017 at 09:11

A A4/A5 for 10k with a low miles will either be old or poverty spec. Ie not a massive step from the Honda imo.

I'd look at cars like the Mondeo,Mazda 6,Skoda Octavia/Superb or Volvo V60, better value and newer for your budget. If you really want a German prestige car (not that i think the A4 or 3 series are all that prestige), up your budget and get a nice 5 series and do it properly.

Weazle · 25 May 2017 at 09:33

A 2.0 VW Golf or Seat Leon ?

paradigm · 25 May 2017 at 10:39

I'd definitely rather have a £10k Skoda Superb over a £10k A4.

sanaxe1 · 25 May 2017 at 11:03

Seat Exeo?

Tinders · 25 May 2017 at 11:50

Isnt the Exeo a B7 A4, i'd have a poverty spec A4 b8 over that!

paradigm · 25 May 2017 at 11:54

Tinders said:
Isnt the Exeo a B7 A4, i'd have a poverty spec A4 b8 over that!

Quite. For the exact same reason ad I'd choose the Superb over an A4 at this price range, it would exclude the Exeo for the same reason. Yes, the Exeo will have a newer number plate, but it's essentially a B7 A4 (which is essentially a facelifted B6 A4 from 2002!).

rodenal · 25 May 2017 at 12:54

Tend to agree, the Exeo's do drop in value frighteningly quickly so you could spend quite a bit less than the bottom end suggested and pick up what would be a pretty new car, but I wouldn't want one for more than about £5k.

Octavia I would avoid unless it puts you into a good mk3 which I'm not sure it will. Superb is (imo) just a better "family" car anyway.

Closer to the top end the newer V60 is a good car, if a bit quirky and not really all that big

ArchAnGeL · 25 May 2017 at 14:59

Thanks for the responses. Perhaps a Superb. With new diesel regs etc looks like the 1.4 TSI is the better option for me?

Fluke? · 25 May 2017 at 18:42

The 1.4 ACT TSI is supposed to be great. Fast and frugal.

MissChief · 25 May 2017 at 18:52

sanaxe1 said:
Seat Exeo?

Try and find a petrol one! I looked late last year and there were around 200 nationwide and they were all diesel. I'm not even sure they offered it in a petrol!

What about a nice Golf GTI with DSG?

Housey · 25 May 2017 at 18:57

As suggested find the best Golf GTI you can for the money. Great all round car with a fun side and bigger than you might imagine them to be. I'd imagine a 10K one would be a nice place to be still.

MissChief · 25 May 2017 at 19:26

This looks like a nice place to be:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201704204617058

xs2man · 25 May 2017 at 19:45

MissChief said:
This looks like a nice place to be:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201704204617058

Yep, that looks nice. Shame no xenons or Nav. Nav can be retrofitted easy though, xenons not quite as easy, but still do-able. Probably quite close to what I would go for personally with that budget.

MissChief · 25 May 2017 at 20:28

xs2man said:
Yep, that looks nice. Shame no xenons or Nav. Nav can be retrofitted easy though, xenons not quite as easy, but still do-able. Probably quite close to what I would go for personally with that budget.

It's got the large display so I'd have thought it would have Nav. How good Nav from 2009 will be is another question though.

HoneyBadger · 25 May 2017 at 20:31

A Yugo 45 seems to tick all thoff boxes here

paradigm · 25 May 2017 at 20:52

MissChief said:
It's got the large display so I'd have thought it would have Nav. How good Nav from 2009 will be is another question though.

Nah not enough buttons, that'll be an RCD510 not an RNS510, similar looks and interface, but no NAV.

xs2man · 25 May 2017 at 21:04

MissChief said:
It's got the large display so I'd have thought it would have Nav. How good Nav from 2009 will be is another question though.

paradigm said:
Nah not enough buttons, that'll be an RCD510 not an RNS510, similar looks and interface, but no NAV.

As paradigm said, there are not enough buttons for it to be Nav. You can also tell from the lack of button that says Nav. Still a decent enough headunit though, and probably a reasonably easy sell if deciding to upgrade to Nav. RNS 315 DAB are around £300, probably get around the £100 mark for an RCD510, so would only be around £200 to "upgrade" to a Nav unit (albeit not as good a nav unit as the RNS 510, but with the built in BT and DAB, would be good enough, the BT is separate on the RNS 510, which makes it pretty expensive, as well as the DAB units being later, and commanding about £450 on their own usually).

These have decent enough Nav though. Doesn't look tragically dated like the MFD2 did in my Golf. I just put an RNS 510 in my Golf:

Kind of off point all this, but it is still slightly relevant, in that some spec requirements are very easy retrofits. For example, fitting this nav took me a whole 30 mins or something. It was all the faff with getting everything up to date that took tim (waiting on a compatible SD card for example).

I would much rather have a Golf GTI to anything else listed as a potential for the OP.

LeMson · 25 May 2017 at 22:32

Octavia maybe?

Fluke? · 25 May 2017 at 22:51

You could get a nice 12-14 Leon FR with all the satnavvy stuff for under £11k, and as much as I would love a GTI I'd always go for a much newer Leon over a Golf.

edit - and OP said the Civic was fast enought so surely the ACT 1.4 would be faster than that??