If you had £5k to spend on a car....

[WhereIsBlueRabbit]

....which of the following would you go for and why?

We're planning to buy a car in next couple of months. Looking for a 5-door hatchback with a good sized boot, cheap to run/insure, needs to be reliable and safe, mostly town driving/short trips but needs to be able to handle motorway driving as well.

We will buy outright (with a view to keeping it until it runs into the ground). I think we should aim for something under five years old with fewer than 100k miles on the clock.

My shortlist consists of the following cars:

Ford Focus - I think we would have to stretch our budget for this!
Ford Fiesta
Hyundai i20
Honda Jazz
Toyota Yaris

Secondary contenders are VW Golf, Nissan Micra and Kia Rio, though I think the last two may be too small.

Any thoughts? My dad is really sniffy about anything that isn't a Ford but I think we'd get more for our money with some of the other makes.

Another vote for ford

A friend's focus has 140k on it and drives superb. It's got a fsh though which personally I think makes a bit difference.

Lots of Toyotas are having their catalytic converters stolen where we live - lots of police updates & alerts.

There’s a huge problem with certain Ford engines atm and Ford know about it but really don’t care. My neighbours ended up with a bill running into thousands when their 4yo Focus died. I wouldn’t go near them with a a shitty stick.

I’d look at the VW group. We’ve got a VW Polo, and DS2 has, they’re lovely cars and incredibly reliable. We used to have a Golf which was great too. DH recently had a Skoda Fabia as a hire car and he said it was as good, if not better, than the Polo.

Ford Fiesta. I love mine and it's much more comfortable than my previous i20. I've got a 1.0l Ecoboost and it's really nippy. I want to upgrade it to an ST but can't justify it at the moment!

I test drove a Honda Jazz and it was hideous - very comfortable but no acceleration whatsoever. I would only consider a Nissan Micra if it was the current model.

Here’s a bit about the Fords. It’s the 1.0l ecoboost that appears to be the problem

This article suggests other engines might have problems too

Japanese cars generally have good reps and warranties.

I have a personal love of a Fiat Panda as a great little workhorse that’s fun to drive and - so far - utterly reliable.

Skodas pretty much identical to comparative vw, but better spec for the price. Compare Citigo, up, and i10 to see what I mean.

"Civics are high on insurance as they are routinely stolen to order"

WTAF?

I've read some weird shit but this one takes the proverbial!

Civics stolen to order? Where do you live?!

Any car can be high insurance if you live in a high crime area. Carte-blanche brushing clearly isnt your forte!

I have a Fiesta and I love it. It has 115k on the clock and cost me £1800 last year. Runs like a dream and I've never had a single issue with it.

Thanks @TheFairyCaravan. Pleased that mine's neither of the engines mentioned there - 1.0 ecoboost 2011-2013, unspecified more recent 1.6 - and looks like Ford have put themselves on hook for it "The company has now however stated that it would be covering the bill for all cars affected and reimburse those drivers that have had to pay out."

Mine is a 66 plate Ecoboost so isn't part of the problem. To be honest I'd rather take my chances with a turbo than drive a standard 1.0l again though!

I have a 2012 polo and a 2015 Golf. I like them both but wouldn’t describe either as particularly reliable and they are expensive compared with some of the others you have mentioned. I would get a Skoda, Toyota or Honda as they all seem to have very good reliability reviews. VW is depending on an old and outdated reputation for reliability.

Thank you again to everyone who responded to this - it was so helpful. We narrowed down our criteria to under 30k miles on the clock, 2015 or more recent, 5 doors, and a budget of £7k.

We finally went to look at cars today. Still like Fiestas! Also really liked the Seat Ibiza but wondering how reliable it might be. Have eliminated the Kia Rio as the rear windscreen seemed really small and I didn't feel I could see properly out of it. Liked the Yaris but concerned about it seeming tinny on motorways - hoping to test drive one next weekend.

Any thoughts?

If a Micra is going to be too small, so will be a Yaris, they're tiny.

If you're considering a Golf, how about a Skoda Fabia? Similar car for less money?

I too hate Fords and would never buy one. They fall into the 'bafflingly very popular as a bit shit category' like McDonalds, Subway, Vauxhalls, reality TV etc.

Colleague has a 10 YO Honda Jazz from new and she loves it and hasn't had a moment's trouble with it.

I'd be more wary of 5-7 YO cars with average of less than about 5-6k pa average miles as that suggests lots of town driving, which is bad for the car.

Someone upthread mentions road tax - look into this because there was a period up to a couple of years ago where many small efficient cars had a tax of £0-30 pa, then it jumped to £140 pa, so if you're planning on keeping the car for a long time, that could potentially add £1000+ to the total running costs.

So avoid, unless you can get such a car cheaper to compensate.

Your road tax is based on whether it was manufactured before April 2017 or not. So my Aygo is zero road tax (2014 plate) but it wouldn't be if it was manufactured after the new road tax rules... info here. But definitely worth knowing if you're comparing vehicles across the change.

I wouldn't buy a tiny car if you're regularly travelling on the motorway and I'd definitely test drive on a decent dual carriage way. My 1.0 just doesn't have enough acceleration at all and I would like to replace it with a 1.2. However it's super cheap to run and I'm mostly only driving locally or one motorway junction.

I go Japanese for my motorbikes, 100% of the time, because Europe can't match the Japanese for build and component quality and reliability.

Given the option, when buying a car, I would always aim for a Toyota if possible. I've driven a Yaris, RAV4 and Prius and really enjoyed all of them. Great car manufacturer.

Thanks for the info Purple.

However, on engine size, don't be put off a 1 litre engine. I drive a 1 litre 67 plate Fabia estate and it is plenty powerful enough for the motorway, with decent acceleration and good at cruising speeds too.

I'm a ford owner. My dad had an old ford Granada back in the day, bought from new and it went round the clock on one engine (was a taxi driver). My mum kept it after he died and only replaced it as she needed a more dog friendly car.

I had an X reg fiesta (1.25l petrol) that happily had 250k on the clock when I scrapped it, only reason being that I had some inheritance and wanted to upgrade, otherwise I'd probably still be driving it now! Was mechanically fine, structurally had a couple of spots of rust in the usual places, otherwise fine.

Upgraded the fiesta to a focus (1.6l diesel) Bought it at just the right time (new reg and new shape being released that month so garage wanted to shift some old stock) and as such got a good price on a top spec model. Fast forward 5 years, it's 7 years old, 200k on the clock, no issues ever other than wear and tear MOT failures (one tyre this year, a lightbulb last year). With the milage I do, I'll be keeping it until it dies but it still drives like it did the day I bought it.

Just to add, on the focus I get just over 600 uneconomical miles on a full tank (55l) of diesel.

Out of your options I would go for the focus, fiesta if u want it a bit smaller.. or the golf

Take my word for it...

Honda Civic 1.8 petrol,,,all the way...

The one that looks like this..
www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/154289/used-honda-civic-buying-guide-2005-2012-mk8

Plus points;

Legendary honda reliability

Surprisingly good fuel economy

No timing belt to service

Bags of boot space

Rear seats fold up in a special way creating mega space in the back

Can be had at your price range easily as newer models

Has a cult following..

Not a Micra- hands down the worst car I've ever driven.

Fords are ok to drive (never owned so can't comment on upkeep)

Golfs are good but may be more expensive to repair. You should definitely look at seat Leon's or Kia Ceeds. Mazda 3s are nice too but not sure on price x