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 😂

Mumsnet definitely used to have a dedicated car bit, what happened to it?

We currently have a 10y old Skoda Citigo (has been fantastic, but just too small) and are thinking of a Kamiq or possibly Karoq to replace it. Possibly a Kia Sportage.
I also have a bread machine, though not sure of the relevance (it's a Panasonic, very happy with it)

@JulesJules take note your bread maker was Panasonic, arguably the best home appliance brand and by no coincidence its Japanese.

If your elderly care involves ferrying said elder around, you need to take them with you and check they can get in and out OK. Just a few inches in seat height, sill height or door opening can make all the difference in usability, especially in the back.

You’re right: this is where I’m comfortable and I’m not ashamed.

I’m the kind of person who buys a Miele washing machine but only because top flight Japanese brands never made inroads into that market.

Duly noted! (Washing machine's a Miele)

This is good advice and I need to check this out. I’m not in the market for a mega (or even moderate) polluter though so would hope it wouldn’t be an issue.

This is also very good advice. They bought a golf plus a few years ago for this very reason, but then completely unreasonably sold it to some random fella in their Frazione rather than me, when they gave up driving. Don’t understand why the neighbour bought it as it was RHD…

I get far too invested in car threads and am now on an autotrader binge. Prices are still mad I see. They shot up late 2020 after the covid fiasco and never came back down.

But £12K will get you a range of 2019/20 cars with under 30k miles that's not tiny.

Mini SUVs:
Stonic/Kona

Traditional family cars
Mazda3/Hyundai i30/Renault Megane (shared manufacturing with Nissan so not to be feared). Cars are dying out due to the demand for SUVs.

Family Size SUVs
Qashqai/Kadjar - at a push the older Kia Sportage/Hyundai Tucson but thiose 1.6 engines are flat.

And a wildcard should you suddenly decide you want a reliable Astra with a stonking great 200 horsepower engine but looks like any other Astra here is the performance bargain of the last few years that ticks all your boxes. Please note all other astra engines are pants but this 1.6 is a reliable engine.

https://www.bigmotoringworld.co.uk/used-cars/vauxhall/astra/elite-nav-326050/

.

See now I’m swayed by this Astra with leather seats and good acceleration. but it feels like a dangerous and bold step away from Japanese precision and reliability…

it does seem like if you want a SUV you pay a lot for it being SUV shaped and that potentially there is better value in your old fashioned estate car.

Toyota and get it serviced at Toyota dealers, it gives 10 years warranty.
I've changed to a rav4 after horrendous problems with a honda crv ,actually I've had 4 crv,s and had expensive repairs on 3 of them! The Toyota is trouble free

@MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira

Blimey mine is at 103miles now 1.6 diesel. I had to get the air con fixed and a fuel injector a few years ago.

I am mainly looking forward to something narrower to park!

Oh god I have a small ford ecoboost engine! Engine management light on so something’s wrong. Is there a known issue with these?

I'm in a similar boat op as my car is old and has an intermittent engine light so could go any time. I've been looking at the Nissan Dukes as they look great and for £12k you'd get a good one with not many miles and maybe a 21 or 22 plate. I see someone said avoid upthread and would love to know why as that car seems to tick a lot of boxes.

I run a Mazda 3 which I highly recommend. Super reliable, comfortable, decent mileage per gallon, engine isn't gimmicky so less likely to go wrong. Dp is 6ft and drives it no problem but i admit I haven't had tall people in the back for a long trip as all dc are adults with own cars.

As for reliability, the only time I called the rac to my old Mazda, it was due to a dead battery that needed replacing, they jumped me and I went to the nearest battery place - rac said they only time they go out to broken down Mazdas is due to the battery which was German btw! Simplistic but rac guy said they really are super reliable, the old Mazda is now with ex and 16 years old, had just a few thousand spent on in over those years, mostly brakes, tyres, one clutch replacement and some bearings.

And fyi you can get standard breakdown insurance for up to 20 year old cars including European if needed. Dps car is 19!years old and has it

I have a 2018 Vauxhall crossland which is great. Boot easily fits wheelchair and suitcases in when needed. Low enough that disabled parent can get in and out easily. can fit three teens in the back comfortably

I'm not into cars either so when I bought my last car I asked a couple of friends who own garages and mot centres and the advice was basically to avoid Vauxhall and buy a Mazda which I did.

I had it for years and it's now my husbands car as I've since bought a Mini Countryman which so far over two years has been a dream, the Mazda 6 is a real work horse and has recently reached 160k on the clock and has never broken down, it's also a very comfortable car to drive.

Watching. Dh knows about cars and we buy outright locally or from autotrader. We trade up every 2-3 years, adding say £5K each time. I'm due now or in early 25 to get newer, I've enjoyed my Hyundai iconiq hybrid, but ready for maybe something bigger, still self charging hybrid.

You mentioned your kids coming up to driving age, some of the bigger cars mentioned might be impossible to insure for a learner driver.
Consider a wv polo, not too small, v v comfortable driving position and very reliable and you can insure for learners

Kia rio.

Earlier this year i bought a 69 plate rio for £10k. I think it had just under 20,000 miles on the clock. Its still covered by warranty. So should be well within your budget (and a picanto will be too tiny).

I owned my previous kia rio for 10 years and never had any issues with it.

Hyundai i10. It's brilliant car. Cheap to run.

Another vote for Civic although I’m biased as I have one myself. For your budget you’ll find a mk9 with low ish miles, they made these up until 2016. Petrol 1.8 manual, no turbo. Mine feels like it’ll go forever. 41mpg so not great but not rubbish either.

Mk10 civics are probably out of budget (unless you buy high mileage). However the 1.0 litre model gets lukewarm reviews (underpowered) so you really have to go for the 1.5 turbo (great engine) which will be more than 12k for a low mileage example.

My parents have always had Skoda's. Very good workhorses.