So I totally forgot to post in this thread and say thanks to everyone for the advice. I did get a car in the end!
I'll post some pics another day but I waited and waited, got beaten to a few things, but eventually scored the following via Gumtree from an older lady selling her recently deceased husbands car. It was a bit above my budget but felt like the right car given it had much lower mileage and was a fair bit newer than the similarly priced ones I'd been looking at, and came with a double din touchscreen already installed.
It was:
ES-T 1.8 in... I think it's saphirre blue
2011 with the sporty black grille
41,000 miles on the clock
FSH with nothing to note. Recently had the brake pads changed.
Was ordered from the factory with the EX leather seats, although they're not heated but I don't really care about that, so it might as well be an EX (the EX GT only adds xenon lights and the sat-nav, neither of which I cared about)
Has rear parking sensors and I'm debating getting the reversing camera installed just because it might come in handy.
My thinking was that given the age and mileage, I pay more now but have a better resale value in the future, plus I won't have to pay for a new fascia/labour for the touchscreen. I'd mostly been looking at 2009 EXs with 75-90,000 mileage up till it appeared.
I managed to get insured on Aviva for £843 which was pleasing for first time driver me, given the average cost looking around was £1200-1300. Road tax was a gross £230 though.
