Tentative "spec me" for £10k

squerble

squerble

squerble

Soldato
Joined
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Morning all!

I've got a 10 year old Fiesta ('08 Zetec Blue, 1.25) at the moment with a power steering issue. Now, while I'll get the steering issue repaired and be glad in the continued use of the car, I've had it for over four years and the itch is growing to get a newer car "just because" and to get a few extra features. Now, I'm also very fussy on my cars, so I thought rather than do a vague "spec me a 10k nice car" I'd make a list of desirable stuff and then be open to any and all suggestions. I don't think the feature list will preclude a lot of cars but I'm a massive Ford fan, and don't really know too much of other manufacturers.

Must haves
  • Cruise control
  • Climate control - dual-zone if I can
  • Xenon/LED headlights
  • Auto headlights/wipers
  • Automatic transmission - not fussed if it's a torque converter or dual-clutch box
  • Petrol

Desirable
  • Heated windscreen - love this on the Fords but doesn't feature in many other cars
  • Heated seats
  • Radar cruise control
  • Estate - perfectly happy for any body shape but a slight preference for an estate for practicality.
  • Bit more poke than my current 1.25 Fiesta - not necessary but would be nice
  • Phone connectivity - anything from just bluetooth calls/audio all the way up to Apple Carplay. Currently I only have an aux-in and it's a bit of a pain.
  • ICE/Nav - probably goes hand-in-hand with the previous point but something with sat nav built-in and maybe DAB too
  • Reasonable running costs - see usage case below. Use of the car is very low but I don't want to take on a huge V8 with mega servicing costs etc
  • With regards to age/mileage, then as new/low as possible but I'm well aware that lower mileage isn't always better. Let's be conservative and say somewhere around up to 5 years old and somewhere around the 40,000 miles or less range.


Usage case
Currently doing very short journeys to work (just under 3.5km /2 mi) but I'll be trying to walk to work a little more as I'm well aware this type of journey is absolutely torturing my engine. My fuel tracking app says I've done roughly 20km/day for the last 6 months, so I'll likely be doing less than 8,000km/year (5,000mi/year).

So - I'm open to any suggestions to fit the bill, and then I can decide if I'll continue looking for a car! Thanks, chaps :D
 
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I'm intrigued as to where you are that you are talking in £, but also in KM rather than miles?

If you aren't on the mainland, then your budget might not get you as far as it would here.

Your must-haves are pretty easy to cover with almost anything, however you haven't listed any particulars for mileage/age of the car in question.
 
paradigm said:
I'm intrigued as to where you are that you are talking in £, but also in KM rather than miles?

If you aren't on the mainland, then your budget might not get you as far as it would here.

Your must-haves are pretty easy to cover with almost anything, however you haven't listed any particulars for mileage/age of the car in question.
Click to expand...

Fair point, I'll update the OP with those requirements. I'm living on the Wirral, I just prefer km to miles (and vehemently believe we should be using them on the road) so I use them everywhere.
 
Would suggest a petrol Focus estate, Titanium spec would include things like climate, cruise and heated screen but not sure on heated seats.
 
GinG said:
First thought was a focus estate, however it seems the Titanium X is diesel only in budget and the Titanium doesn't come with Xenon but ticks everything else:
Click to expand...

Seems like I'll either need to up the budget to about £15k or drop the requirement for either xenon/LED headlights or the auto. There's plenty of options available cheaper but I'd have to drop the headlights and/or auto to meet the rest of the spec. Think I may have been ambitious at £10k looking for a 5 year old car with a fairly low mileage.

Example: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201805046206663
 
Buy yourself a pushbike and spare your car for proper journeys. 3.5km will barely get a sweat on. Even if you only cycle on days when it's not raining you'd save yourself a bunch of cash on petrol and engine wear and tear.

EDIT - I know this doesn't answer the question in the OP, it's just so much better to cycle. Hell, it'd be better to skateboard than drive 3.5 km.
 
If you can up your budget a little, you should be able to get a petrol Golf 7 with all of the options you want. For around 10k, there isn't much with xenons and a diesel is pointless.
 
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