Spec Me a Car for Between 5-7k

sweetlike3

sweetlike3

sweetlike3

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Joined
16 Sep 2021
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4
Location
London
Looking for a reliable car between £5k-£7k, ideally meeting the following criteria:

Medium sized for motorways, i.e your: Astras, Focus, 308 etc
Diesel
Comfortable
Must be ULEZ Compliant so 65,16,17 plate
Manual, wouldnt mind automatic but at this budget it may not be wise choice.

For any recomendations, let me know what model and engine size is good. I was looking at Astras and was led to believe that the 2.0 cdti are more reliable over the 1.6 but as the 2.0s are not ULEZ compliant, I have had to disregard them.

Im open to the idea of petrol aswell, maybe a 1.4 but I think diesel will be better as do circa 15k miles a year. Even smaller diesel cars such as Corsas are a shout but I dont know how these would fair on long commutes (35-40 miles one way)

What can you recomend :)
 
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Should be able to get a pretty decent Mondeo Titanium X trim car in that price range. Believe the 2.0 TDCi engines are pretty solid as long as they’ve been serviced.

The Octavia - some of the other guys can probably advise you better on these. I imagine the 2.0 TDI will be one of VAG’s standard offerings so pretty decent. Trim levels, I’d look for one with cruise control, parking sensors and aircon at least (I think some trim levels don’t have these)
 
If we're sticking to your original size category, then I'd go for a Focus. The vast majority meeting your criteria will be 1.5l diesels- the 120ps unit will be fine. You should be looking at about 55mpg mixed real world and 60mpg+ on a run.

ULEZ diesel Mondeos are fewer in number for your budget, but do exist. They seem to come with higher mileages which is not especially an issue if they've got full service history. There's a roughly 50/50 split between 1.5 and 2.0l diesels (120 vs 150ps). The extra 30ps will help a lot, but 120ps will still be ok if you're not bothered about performance. The 2.0l is about 6mpg down on the 1.5l real world, which isn't a game changer.

Mondeo will be better equipped and more comfortable, but there's less choice for your budget. A diesel Ford in unlikely to be a nightmare if it's looked after, and parts costs are usually reasonable.
 
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