Help! I have to buy a car. Please tell me if you love / hate your car.

[Wasgijenaj]

Hi, my old car has finally gone to the junk yard in the sky & I have to replace it. I think I need to get an approved used car, but really not sure where to start.

Can anyone recommend their car make & model & let me know why they like it?

Alternatively has anyone bought a car they hate? Please share so I can avoid if appropriate.

I don’t really have a wish list for a new car but obviously reliability is v important. Thanks!

Well, I'm going to go against the Vauxhall Mokka love on this thread because I hate mine (2015 model, so getting on a bit.) It's actually "Buick Encore" over here in N.America, but the same as the Mokka X. It's been so unreliable compared to our usual choice of Hondas and Toyotas. Really regret buying it... It's in the garage for repairs far more frequently than our RAV4 and our sons' Civic and CR-V, despite being the newest one of the lot.

For me it’s Ford all day long. Had them for years now with hardly any issues and generally the interiors are quite nice, with comfortable seats and not all cheap and plasticky.

Mine too - love it and so do the kids. Fits three kids and three dogs - just fine x

That’s interesting to know, I got a Puma yesterday and one of the reasons was for the fuel efficiency (hopefully)

Range rover evoque. Love it love love love it. I dont understand with people saying RR it’s unreliable. I always with range rover and its always reliable

Audi Q5 here , love it , huge boot for huge dog , 5 seats and drives like a dream .

Fiat Panda, OK so its not fast or refined and to be frank it wouldn't win any beauty contests. But its cheap to run, cheap to insure, cheap to tax. Its easy to park, with the seats down you can get loads of stuff in the back. It seats 4 adults, its four door, I can get 4 bags of shopping in the boot. Its been very very reliable. It depends on what you want it for, I wouldn't want to do loads of motorway driving in it, it can cope, but its a hard ride on long journeys. Around town and local journeys its more than fine. I think its quite a cute little car, I am very fond of mine.

May have missed if the OP gave a budget. But the general advice for a reliable mid-sized car is to buy a Honda or a Toyota. Apparently Kia and Hyundai are also very good these days. Whatever size and age suits your budget. I'd go for a petrol over a hybrid, EV or diesel. With other manufacturers you have to do a bit more research because certain engines in certain models have specific problems. Don't ask me which. Also, assuming you're buying secondhand, pay as much attention to whether it's been looked after - are all the tyres matching, is the service history complete etc.

My work car is a Seat Leon, average sized, a VW without the badge, very clever, good handling, an excellent drive with a lot of kit. Takes everything my learner drivers throw at it, poor thing and still remains brilliant.

My family car is a BMW 520D, quick, brilliant to drive and loads of space.

I bought a second-hand Toyota Yaris hybrid during Covid and I love it. I get 60 mpg and it is easy to drive and totally reliable. I manage to pack a lot of junk into it, too - it has more boot and interior space than you'd think.

Audi all the way!

Skoda enyaq. I absolutely LOVE it it has everything you could possibly want heated seats and steering wheel, easy entry, blinds on the back windows for kids, cup holders it's fantastic

I've got a Kia piccanto automatic. It's the best car I've had and I've been drinking for 35 years. Economical, easy to drive and insurance is reasonable. I don't have small children though - it does seat 4 adults and I can get a weekly shop in the boot.
I would never get another manual car now

Waffle warning ‼️ 🤣
Toyota, hyundai, nissan, peugeot have good build quality, reliablility and fair on the pocket. Vauxhalls are fairly reliable although interiors are cheap and nasty feeling, Skodas good build quality, very reliable good value for money. BMW, Mercs, Lexus all good build quality and reliable but upper end of cost scale. Smart cars hilarious fun, good build quality cheap to run. Minis, reliable, fantastic build quality reasonable to run. Fiats ok build quality, reliable cheap to run. VW, Ford good quality when buying top end models, reliable though but some can be a bit more expensive to run and advise to avoid the ‘wet belt’ engines (1.0l ecoboost to be precise) if you can (most
from 2012 onwards have this) if they deteriorate its a whole new engine so not ideal!
(Can you guess what I do for a living! 🤣🤣)
Basically it all boils down to what sort of life the car has had with previous owners to how you look after it yourself and having an ace mechanic helps when it comes to reliability. I have a landrover Discovery as my main motor (owned for 5/8 years) notorious for being unreliable but I have never had any issues at all only general wear and tear but I do look after it.

I LOVE my car. It is an Audi Q8 E-tron, an electric SUV. It is beautiful, powerful, and economical to run. And a dream to drive.

Fiesta or Corsa. If you have DC get one with 4 doors. Also look at Focus and Astra.

Avoid any car that had been bought because it had the right image. Audi A3 being a typical one.

You need FSH, and check that it's been maintained.

Agreed - the second gen is so reliable if on a budget for an older car. I had the hybrid, cheap road tax!
I just upgraded to the recent Jazz Crosstar, and I’ve made some great fuel savings already. I love the new design too

Me too.

@User100000000000000000001 I have a Clubman too, a Cooper SD . I love it! It's fab to drive and just enough room for 4 adults. If you want something small ish it's a great compromise.

I love my Smart car. I rarely struggle to get a parking space because I can use the awkward ones that don't fit a bigger car. It's very nippy on the motorway because although the engine is small, the low weight of the car makes up for it. I can fit two large suitcases in the boot, which is the bulkiest thing I ever need to carry.

It's also good at getting you out of car shares as you can only take one passenger. 😉

Downsides... the glovebox and window shelves are tiny, so if you like to store a load of crap in your car (like me) it's a pain. In very high winds at high speeds you can feel the car rocking a bit which is disconcerting.

My favourite car has been my Fiat Panda 4x4... brilliant little car... fantastic on fuel, nice high position and I could get my large dog in the boot although it looks small... totally recommend it!

I only sold it 3 months ago because I now have large dog plus a grandchild and another on the way and need space for pram as well.

Currently driving a Freelander 2 and the fuel cost makes me want to weep...

Next car will be a Honda Jazz !

Second that! Love my Puma - 50 miles to the gallon and comfy with lots of toys. Had a Fiesta before that I also loved. In my opinion if you have a good dealer Fords are underrated. Never had serious issues and cheap to repair. And YES to the heated front screen!

I used to have a VW Touareg which I loved, and now have Skoda Kodiaq which I love more! Slightly lower and looks like a smaller car but has much more internal space. Need a big car for work and also do lots of camping 😊

Audi A1 (3 door) it's 10.5 years old and still running like a dream. Easy to park, cheap to tax (I'm in my late 50s so also cheap to insure), fun to drive. Mine is manual cos I love a manual but we've also had an automatic version of the same car when mine was in the garage for an extended period thanks to the person who crashed into it when I was parked in a quiet spot in a supermarket car park. (They did thousands of pounds of damage but didn't leave a note or details and there wasn't any cctv 😭 )

I have a Seat Arona.
It's big enough to take me and 3 teens on holiday.
But I feel safe on my dual carriageway commute. It's an FR sport model so has a lot of zip.
Does well on country lanes.
I love it.