Looking for a reliable SUV for£10k?

Associate
Joined
27 Apr 2018
Posts
1,320
Hey everyone,

So I am looking for a SUV workhorse to run around in daily.

Requirements are:

Automatic
Petrol (Wary of the Diesel bans / city day charges coming in)
45MPG +
2011 or newer
Has decent tech incl sat nav, leather seats, etc
£10K or less ideally
Reliable

Edit: I also have a huge preference to japanese stuff, over other stuff IE German

So the recent Honda CRV's and HRV's really took my fancy, but it seems the facelift versions are out of budget, with the 1.5 I-Vtec engine.

Any reccomendations guys? Feeling kind of stuck on this one. Do I need to increasem my budget to find what I want here?

Thanks!
 
Soldato
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2 Aug 2016
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Location
Third Earth
Last year we got a facelift 64 reg 2WD Kia Sportage ISG 3. Has nav, heated front and back seats, cameras etc. It’s taken a fair amount of abuse. We’ve had it 11 months and put 12k miles on it. Hasn’t missed a beat and passed it’s MOT last month no advisories.

It’s not quick, it’s cheap, comfortable and reliable. Been very impressed with it.
 
Associate
OP
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1,320
Thanks for the input, seems I was being abit optimising in with petrol and 45MPG lol.

How are the Kia Sportage Diesels? 2012+, they seemed price competitively and have favourable reviews
 
Man of Honour
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13 Oct 2006
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90,805
If you are wanting [even close to] 45+MPG from something petrol vaguely like that you are probably gonna have to look at the compact MPVs.

Don't have that much experience with SUVs but the ones I've experience of tend to have horrific body roll more often than not - you'd definitely want to test drive the Sportage IMO to see if you can live with it or not.
 
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Associate
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24 Dec 2006
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Location
Worcs.
I have a 64 plate 2.0L diesel AWD Kia Sportage. Check the clutch is working OK would be my advice!! Its not a sports car so does seem a bit soft through bends but it goes OK. I drive a mixed bag of routes: lanes, A roads, motorways and around town and it gives me 450-500 miles per tank (currently about £70).
 
Soldato
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Ours is the 1.7 2WD Variant (Also 64 plate) Driving short journeys will return 40mpg according to the trip, when we were doing runs to Scotland we would see about 550 from a tank. (60L) and an indicated 53mpg.

2014 they face lifted the Sportage. Shark fin roof aerial, updated rear lights and dashboard with steering modes (Normal, Comfort and Sport) and darker interior.

Ours has the infinity sound with the sub in the boot, it’s pretty good. Ours also has the dual sunroofs too.

For what it is, it’s a good bit of kit. Ours is a 3, so has heated leather all round, tints, xenon lights, auto lights and wipers, head light wash, full size spare and Bluetooth, as well as dimming mirror, folding wing mirrors and cruise control, hill assist and off-road (down hill) option, sensors and camera.

It’s comfortable, reasonably refined and genuinely hasn’t missed a beat. I happen to like the looks too.
 
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Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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12,331
Location
Birmingham
We’ve got a 2012 Sportage 1.7 diseasel. It is fine. It doesn’t encourage or reward spirited driving at all, but that’s not what you buy a SUV for. Ours has just over 70,000 miles on the clock and has been reliable over the 2 years that we’ve had it. Standard maintenance costs aren’t terrible. Our air con condenser has rusted which is about the only thing that has been troubling. Will fork out the cash to fix it when the weather gets warmer again (£400).

Unless you’re towing, or actually need 4WD you should go for the 1.7 over the 2.0. Neither are fast. The 1.7 is a bit rough and we get just about 50 mpg on a run. It’s a heavy car.

The one thing I would say is that it’s not got the biggest boot considering the car size. Passenger space is decent though.

If I were buying again I think I’d go for a facelift (2014). It’s got a slightly better stereo, sat nav and dashboard.

EDIT - petrol options in these do exist, but are rare. The 1.7 meets the spec for the upcoming Birmingham low emission zone (euro 6). I think you’ll be really limited if you’re looking for a petrol £10k SUV from 5 years ago as everyone was buying diesels then.

EDIT 2 - my real advice here would ge to get a petrol estate car instead. You get so much Octavia or Superb for this money. I appreciate that this isn’t always a straightforward discussion to have!
 
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Soldato
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In the middle
I had a Hyundai Tucson auto 2wd petrol as a courtesy car a while back while my car was in for work, it was very heavy on fuel, easily in the low 30's to a gallon.Was very happy to get my diesel back.
 
Soldato
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1 Mar 2010
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21,778
The new mazda cx-30 petrol based on their slippery mazda3 would just about hit your expectatios with wltp values, so, as commented, on older cars a tough demand.

after commenting on the new mazda engines I had looked at petrol cx-30 wltp figures (versus mazda 3 lower - I ringed the automatics impact)
 
Soldato
Joined
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7,176
Jap built, reliable, workhorse, SUV... easy, RAV4.

Stupidly reliable, slightly uninspiring to drive compared to anything 'fun', though relative to it's peers it's a lot better than the Korean stuff, the early ones had a reputation for being a little utilitarian but that's not the case in your price/age bracket. Dealer network is decent, service costs tend to be reasonable and the auto box is OK, not upto VAG's DSG levels of refinement, but it's better than the Kia Soul auto my wife decided to get at one point. We currently have 3 in the family, the oldest is my daily driver, 120K/14years and the worst I can say is I chose to spend a few hundred overhauling the suspension/brakes this year. It had a clutch at 60K or so, Toyota picked up 40% of the parts and 60% labour cost out of warranty without being asked, compare that to having to take a VW dealer to court over a known issue (Teves MK60 ABS failure) or Merc who think they can charge for work that was identified on each service as being required from new on a car that is still under warranty. Whatever you buy, i'd not get too excited about tech/sat-nav's on upto 8 y/o cars, your phone will likely do a much better job and be current, that said my parents swear by the reversing camera in the 14 plate they have, i'm not a massive fan personally.
 
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