Help me pick a car?

[300years]

Post separation from a 12 year relationship and trying to get on my on two feet. A car will really help with this.

My budget is £6,000.

I’m undecided. Do I go for something small, new, low mileage like the first option?

Or something larger older but still not lots of miles like the second option?

I have two children 5,10 year old.

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105122508913?advertising-location=at_cars&year-from=2018&maximum-mileage=35000&price-to=6000&postcode=G71%206TQ&page=1&price-from=5000&quantity-of-doors=5&radius=80&include-delivery-option=on&sort=relevance

Or

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103310825927?advertising-location=at_cars&price-to=6000&postcode=G720JH&model=JUKE&sort=price-desc&page=1&radius=80&make=NISSAN&include-delivery-option=on

Personally I prefer the second option, I feel like it’s more spacious and family friendly but I’d appreciate an outsider perspective and struggle for someone to ask.

I've had Aygos for years, and if you just need a city car thats nippy, efficient, easy to park and can easily accommodate 4 adults, you can't go far wrong. Cheap to tax, insure or fix. Passengers in the back are always surprised how much room they have.
However, boot is teeny tiny. So just depends if you're a family with 'stuff' to hoike around.
I love them. I've had 6!!!!

@300years

Thanks for that.

I’m undecided as whilst I don’t love the way it looks it is the only Fabia within 70 miles from me under £6,000.

It is also fairly new compared to the Civic, Ibiza, C3s that I’ve been looking at with much less miles.

It could be cheap because it's a basic underpowered model.

I had a 67 plate fabia and it was great, but it had 90 some of whatever that one has 59 of, so much more powerful.

But if you're only mainly doing town driving, the one in the link could be fine.

I would get a third-generation Fabia, 2015 or newer

Are you near Glasgow?
I found 9 Fabias between £5500 and £6500 within a reasonable distance of Glasgow.

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertising-location=at_cars&include-delivery-option=on&make=SKODA&model=FABIA&page=1&postcode=G72%200JH&price-from=5500&price-to=6500&radius=100&sort=distance&year-from=2015&year-to=2018

Personally I wouldn’t feel very safe on the motorway with something so underpowered- 16 seconds to 60 is really quite a long time. For round town, sure, it’ll probably be fine.

Reliability was my number one concern, that’s why I went Japanese.

There’s always going to be a trade off of your budget is 6k. If you want something only a couple of years old then it will naturally have to have been a very cheap car in the first place. At the other end of the scale you can probably find an old BMW 7 series with a bazillion miles on it that originally cost a fortune for the same money. It’s not what you want op but just making a point- you’ll have to find a balance somewhere. For me that was the focus/civic/golf territory and 6k will only get you so much. Good luck btw