Need help choosing a car

[houseofrabbits]

I currently own a 16 plate Qashqai. It's been a lemon pretty much since I bought it. It now has a major engine fault (stopped accelerating on the dual carriageway, all fault lights came on), something to do with a cylinder in the engine. My car is in bits at Nissan at the moment, £3.5k to fix. Nissan are contributing an amount and the dealership are only going to charge me warranty prices so it's actually only costing me around £900. Even so, I want rid!

I did so much research when I bought my Qashqai, had a huge spreadsheet and everything, but it apparently didn't work. I would like a car similar to the Qashqai, so Mumsnet please help me with some recommendations.

Key requirements are: petrol automatic, SUV style as I have a very bad back/bad joints and the higher up position makes it easy to get in and out, good size boot, 360 sensors and camera, speed limiter and cruise control (ideally radar but this is negotiable), android auto/apple carplay. Budget £15k, no older than a 17 plate.

Currently thinking about the Honda HRV, Skoda Karoq, Seat Ateca, VW T-Roc, Kia Sportage. I think the T-Roc and Sportage will be out of my price range but I'd still appreciate feedback on these.

My DD has bought the Kia Sportage and when I don't know anything about cars etc she is very pleased with the deal she got and the performance of her new car,its the 7 year warranty that swayed her and a very low finance deal well worth a try.

If you're considering a Sportage the Hyundai Tucson is the same car more or less but I believe has more boot room. I'd have thought the Kia/Hyundai are as likely to be in price range as the Skoda?

I forgot the Hyundai Tucson, I'm also considering that but I think it could be out of my price range. I don't really want a brand new car, I bought my Qashqai new and it's cost me a fortune. Would rather a second hand car that's a couple of years old. The warranty for the Kia is a bonus, although apparently it's not a great warranty!

The Skoda, Seat and VW are all the same car too.

Would it be worth trying the car auctions as the age you're looking at should tie in nicely with ex fleet, lease and PCP cars and I think that's where they get sold. If you google car auction stock list, there's what looks like lots of helpful links.

Should be properly serviced and many will have done mostly longer trips rather than round town - don't discount higher mileage for this reason. Something that's only done 5-10k miles in 3 years is likely to have done lots of shorter trips, where one with 40K+ on it is likely to have spent most of its time on the motorway.

I'm not sure I would feed confident enough about buying a car at auction! I assume I wouldn't be able to test drive it?! Mileage is something I'd be happy to compromise on a bit as I would get a bit more for my money.

Skoda Karoq all day long, I absolutely love ours.

Look at the Suzuki Vitara.

I have an Ateca and love it ! However you could try asking the dealership if they’ll offer you a trade in on a new car.