Buying a second hand car; £7k

[theka0tix]

Hello! First post here; hoping to get some tips with my purchase. Main points/criteria for the car I'm looking are:

• Budget: £7k
• Mileage: 70k max.
• Fuel: Petrol (reasoning further down)
• Car to be bought from the UK and then driven to Malta (basically a small city) where it will be used regularly for the foreseeable future (at least 5 years).
• As clean as possible; as efficient (mpg) as possible (apart from running costs, there's a registration tax for imported vehicles in Malta).
• Year: I'm going by the assumption that the newer the car is, the better the car is. Open to other opinions/facts though.

The reason I'm going for petrol is based on readings I read where it seems petrol engines are better for low yearly mileage (I would average less than 10k/year) and constant start/stop (lots of this in Malta).

Based on the above, I'm leaning towards a 2014/2015 Ford Focus Ecoboost (various models - the 1.0 T ecoboost zetec seems to fit almost all of those criterias). Having also owned an older Ford Focus for over a decade with no problems whatsoever, I'm hoping it'll be the same with a newer version.

I'm also aware of an apparent recurring coolant failure with ecoboost engines that Ford have issued a recall for, which will probably involve extra checks from my end.

Having explained all the above, am I on the right track or am I missing some basic points?

Thanks in advance!

 

[theka0tix]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201807058160424?sort=price-desc&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&price-to=7000&radius=1500&postcode=de655bh&advertising-location=at_cars&make=SUZUKI&model=SWIFT&page=1

ta daaaaaaaaaaa

That's quite an interesting alternative. Will definitely have a look.

toyota auris?

Oooh - haven't even thought about that. Will also have a look.

What MPG are you expecting? I've owned a 125bhp 2012 Focus Ecoboost 1.0T for 2 and a half years now, and whilst reliable and reasonably economical, realistically you won't see much more than 45mpg out of it (especially with short runs)

Probably anything that does at least 40mpg (short runs mostly) unless I'm being unrealistic?

 

[theka0tix]

The Focus does have 6 Gears. However, a lot of those little city cars are only 5 Gears... But also are designed for the city so only need 5 Gears.

@theka0tix What mileage are you doing a year? What driving mix? I really like the Ecoboost Focus, to be honest. Pleasent enough place to be. Easy to drive and feels plenty nippy enough

I will be averaging around 10k/year.