That spending circa £25k on a 2nd hand car is not frivolous

That's partly because cars are better made and last longer now

It's a lot but if you can afford it the car will last a lot longer than one you pay £15k for 🤷‍♀️

Must have heated seats and leather steering wheel! My DH was a motor vehicle technician for over 40 years. We got rid of my 16 years old astra diesel estate, actually gave it to my son. November sailed through it's MOT. we have an 8 year old Kia Sportage, 2 dogs, gardening hobby, grandkids. It's brilliant,a lot of friends have gone over to them because they're older, have had hip and knee replacements and it's easy to get up into them.

Im not sure I would class £16k as "stingy"

But that’s fine if a small car is what you want, it if you want a larger family car with boot space for luggage, holidays, camping, taking kids to and from uni, and is comfortable for long journeys and a bigger engine which is better if you do longer motorway journeys or towing a caravan or trailer, then you need a different larger car which will of course be more expensive.

I spent £2.5k on a second hand car in 2015. I still have it. It’s twenty years old, it runs fine, is ulez compliant and ok doesn’t look immaculate but cost 9 times less than what you are proposing.

I think 25k on a second hand car is outrageous.

That seems massively expensive for a secondhand car.

I got my secondhand corsa in 2021, 6000 miles on the clock, 2 years old (the previous owner had bought it just before covid, so it hadn't had the chance to do many miles), and I paid just over £12K, which seemed massively expensive!

£25K for a very average brand of car seems a huge amount!

Looking at what you want, have you considered a Lexus/Toyota hybrid? They do SUV shapes, are extremely reliable and provided you service them in house, have a 10 year warranty. I ran my old Toyota Prius into the ground, never spent money on it until it was 11 years old.

I have a 2015 1L Toyota Yaris bought for the kids to drive - 6k second hand in 2019 - as @CarGirlStar said they are brilliant - it passes its test every year and has only broken down once a couple of months ago when the clutch went. Looking at the book price, we could still sell it for almost what we paid for it!

I think to get a young car, 25k is about right. We spent 17k a year ago on a 4 year old Lexus. We bought it for the 10 year warranty-so 17k over 6 years plus residual value seems ok. But 5 years ago, I bought a 3 year old Golf estate for 12500. Car prices are shocking now.

Apparently 25k would be an investment if you bought a 20 year old Subaru Impreza according to the Yorkshire Post yesterday!

What? This is ridiculous. Of course you can.

With that wish list I'd also consider the VW equivalents - Tiguan/Touareg, particularly reliable and great on safety.

it will be worth virtually nothing as most people will be buying electric

I disagree and it's likely to be a commodity as there should be good trade in deals to incentivise people to change to electric.

But in any case, there will be many many people unable to afford or unable to justify the cost of electric cars so there will still be a market for well maintained 10-15 YO petrol cars, unless you think the majority of the population is going to become well off enough to buy a new car in that timescale?

@Pipsquiggle
I've just spent 23k on an 18month old Skoda Kamiq (SUV crossover type)
It's the Monte Carlo edition, heated seats, large infotainment screen, parking sensors and cameras. 1.5 DSG. 10k miles.
Electric tailgates are optional extras on some, there was one that was 26k with one, newer with less miles but a bit over our budget.

Absolutely love the car, very happy with it!

I bought a Mazda 3 second hand in 2021/22 for £19k. Like you, I'll keep it until it dies. So £25k sounds about the equivalent now. Go for it.

Interesting because I wouldn’t.

It is DVSA trying to justify their existence as they are now a private company.

No, they’re not.

Just for perspective, I paid £4.5k for a 13 plate Passat from my mate that owns a garage last year. I only bought it as a runaround as it was costing me £25 a day to run from Brum to Derby in my tuned pickup truck.

It had a little over 100k on the clock (120k now) and the interior is absolutely mint, looks like it could be a couple of years old. After a machine polish and some polymer sealant the paintwork looks great, no dings etc.

I've put a £150 private plate on it and you'd now mistake it for a newish car if you weren't familiar with the models. It's by no means a prestige car but it looks and drives great and if cared for will likely reach 200k.

I can see why people like prestige cars (I've had a fair few German saloons and hot hatches) but you can absolutely get a decent car pretty cheap. I'm obv lucky having a mate that owns a garage but I'd easily be able to find a decent and presentable car for £10k. If you're not mechanically minded you can get a pretty comprehensive mechanics check for £60 where they go and check it at the dealers.

Some excellent points. The only thing I will say, just so people are not getting the wrong idea. The latest MOT regulations require the tester to state even surface corrosion. Now obviously on a three year old car it shouldn't be an issue.

But for those in the older end of the market, Take the corrosion advisory with a pinch of salt. It really doesn't mean the car is about to split in half. It is DVSA trying to justify their existence as they are now a private company.

I too deal in cars. You have a damn good budget OP. £16k will still buy you something nice, £25k obviously a lot more. I have always been a supporter of used vehicles rather than new. I'd suggest something three year old. Toyota seem to have the hybrid system working well. Although to be fair I'm still wary of the technology of electric/hybrid.

Do NOT buy an X5 or any of the Landrover Jaguar crap, unreliable, over complicated and expensive to maintain. A number can't even get insured in some areas.

My choice would be hyundai/kia with FSH. You will get a lot of car for your budget.