Which new (to me) car for 12k?

[Apolitia]

Currently driving an ultra reliable but ancient, small Japanese car.

Single parent, do about 8k miles a year and this will probably increase to around 10k over the next few years for various reasons relating to elderly care and not being able to afford overseas holidays involving flights in the next few years.

my lovely mum has offered me some money toward a newer car and I’m considering a Skoda Kamiq, or Seat Arona or some form of used Kia or Toyota because of the warranties. Would love a RAV-4 but I don’t think I can run to a decent one. Used car obviously.

Budget is 12k or thereabouts.

essentials in descending order of importance are:

-reliability, cost of repairs and running costs
-insurance costs (I live on a main road with no off road parking so £££)
-space: dog and two hulking teens
-comfort for long drives. We will be doing at least 2 1200km journeys each year
-needs to have a warranty/ consumer protection, so needs to come from a dealer, I can’t chance a private sale.
—needs to be ULEZ exempt and not electric or hybrid unless the battery is just a ‘nice to have’. Bitter experience of being stung for a replacement battery for a MHEV in the past.

I don’t care much about looks, power or styling but would appreciate a decent music system.

also why does mumsnet not have a car section? I’m not asking pistonheads 😂

Following with interest

I’m currently running about in a Ford Focus estate which has been pretty bombproof and fits me, DH and two tall teens comfortably on holidays to France and in the UK as well doing my daily commute. Its 10 yo now and I'm starting to think about changing it and I’ve been looking at a Kia Ceed, mainly for the long warranty, a Skoda Octavia estate or Kamiq, another Focus or maybe a Hyundai. All about 3-4 years old.

I have a Kia Venga. It's very spacious for it's size, reliable and comfortable. Economical too. Sadly they stopped making the Venga in 2019 but they can be found second-hand with low mileage.

The answer to questions like this is usually Honda CRV…

For good reason!
I'm on my second found both really reliable my current one is reasonable on fuel, loads of space with a good size boot and I'm only on my second as I killed my first in a collision which I walked away from without a scratch.

I had a Kamiq Monte Carlo. I liked it, but not sure it will be big enough for you. The Karoq probably would, but not sure you’d get one for £12K.

Actually, you could get 2018 or 2019 plate for your budget.

Keep it petrol and keep it manual and keep it Japanese (or Korean). You dont want piddly little engines with turbos either.

The best of these would be a Mazda 3 if you want a car, the 2.0 petrol one.

Or do you want a SUV? How big do you want it? Forget about the unreliable German cars being mentioned.

I love my civic. Not sure about ulez and whatnot as I'm nowhere near

I have a vw t cross that cost 13k and I love it.

We adore our Kia Sportage. Relatives have a Kia Nero(?) which is slightly smaller but still very comfy and roomy.

Stay away from small Ford ecoboost engines, larger ones are ok

Anything Toyota, Honda or Mazda are reliable

Korean is a very safe bet too (Hyundai or Kia)

No German (reliable but stupid money to fix sometimes), Italian or French

These are great -keep it coming!

I love Honda (current car, complete workhorse) but concerned about not squandering my mum’s gift on an ‘old’ car.

CRV was on my list but very few in my price range.

I forgot to mention, and this is important, that I am not overly keen on a car with higher mileage. Current one is 80k or thereabouts so replacing it with something not far under that feels a bit daft. ideally I’d like 40-50k which is where the issues arise.

people have told me however that a higher mileage car used for motorway driving might be better than a lower mileage older one used on loads of city journeys. As you can probably tell I have zero interest in cars and their whys and wherefores

How big do you need it to be? How bigs the dog? IS it going in the boot or back seat?

also what are we including in ‘expensive German cars’?

obviosuly I’m going nowhere near an AUDI but does that include VW and Skoda which are both German?

I’m looking for similar. We’ve been recommended to look at Hondas.

Kia Picanto
for all the reasons on your list

@Lavenderfowl bit worried a Picanto might be a bit small and also a bit rocky on our really long drives. Plus I’d ideally want to bung the dog in the boot in a crate…

An so loyal to Honda. Their cars are such high quality even if they aren’t the most exciting vehicles on the road.

For £12K you're going to be looking at 2018ish cars? Honda do the HRV which is smallish but no different to the Seat Arona. They have a 1.5 petrol engine. The civics from 2018 on switched to 1.0 turbos.

The most reliable cars we've ever driven have been Skodas.
Our skoda superb did 80,000 miles in just under 3 years (we had it from new) and we didn't have one single issue with it.
Have also had a couple other skodas with no problems albeit lower mileage.
So for reliability I will always recommend Skoda!

I thought exactly that about the Picanto before I got in one @Apolitia but def worth a test drive before you rule it out. I don’t have a dog but there is a surprising amt of space for three gangly tweens plus all their junk. Long drives do get tiring (we regularly do 400 mile trips) but if you get a top range one, the better sound insulation cuts out a lot of the road noise that’s a problem in the cheaper models. For exactly your budget I got a 2 year old model with v low mileage and 5 year warranty so for me that balanced out the drawbacks,..I love driving it, and super easy to park.

A Picanto is blooming tiny. May as well suggest an Aygo. Nobody wants to do a 1000 mile journey in a Picanto.

We got a second hand Toyota auris estate for £10k. It’s big and you don’t pay road tax. Took a while to fine one in good condition. We did AA checks which was worth it. I love hybrids. They’re so cheap to run.

Well no @RichardOsmansFreakishlyBigHand not all in one go! But budget-wise it was the best option for us. Another idea that friends do is to have a small car to use all the time but hire a big one for long trips so you’re not caned for insurance and fuel just for two long drives a year. Would that be an option @Apolitia?

Skoda Octavias are big, comfy and have a hatchback so you can take out the parcel shelf and put the dog crate in the boot. This one is from a dealer, four years old, 23k miles. Small petrol engine so it won’t be the fastest but it sounds like that’s not so important to you.

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405209903426