AIBU to buy a 'cheap' make of car?

[Newcarwhatcar]

I have about £10k to spend on a new/ nearly new car. I currently drive a tiny old banger but want to replace it with something newer and bigger which can do longer journeys, we can take on holiday etc.

My plan is to buy a Dacia Stepway, or something similar. However everyone I know is telling me I will regret this, and that I should buy a smaller car, some are saying I should go for either a Ford or Vauxhall as repairs are cheap, generally reliable etc. Others are telling me to go for a BMW or Audi. However any of those makes (esp the prestige ones) I'd have to get a car that was years old to get in my price range which isn't what I want.

So If you were in my position what would you do? Go for a new cheap car, or not?

I would avoid Audi and BMW mainly because of maintenance costs, and because I think they tend to be bought for how they look.
If buying 2nd hand get a full service history.
Don't get a diesel as you are only doing short distances.
Auris, i20, ce'ed, honda jazz etc are ones to add to my pp.

I swapped my Volvo for a Kia Picanto last year. It’s 5 years old and I’ve had no problems at all with it, no recall etc.

I’d go for a Kia.

I can't remember which ones - they'll probably on the honestjohn site - but some of the 'cheaper' cars come with a 7 yr warranty.

Japanese every time. Forget VAG stuff, it’s crap, all soft-touch plastic and no knickers.

I wouldn't rule out older cars. For one thing you lose money the instant you buy a brand new car as it loses value as soon as its sold. Cheap brands especially lose value very quickly. Buying brand new is fairly pointless these days, let other people waste their money.

I got my golf last year, 09 plate, 49,000 on the clock, 1.9tdi, cost £3450. Bloody good deal, nothing has broken on it and fuel economy is pretty good. I could have gotten an audi a3 relatively similar in price too and age. But the golf was more fun to drive and I preferred the look of it.

Oh don't forget Seat either. Seat is just vw as well, same as skoda. On cost/quality, the order goes vw, then seat then skoda. Vw gets the best stuff, skoda gets slightly cheaper, but it's still good and costs you less in the long run.

Avoid vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault, anything French actually. You pay cheap, you get cheap and they are all useless.

I got an 18 month old Kia with 5.5 yr guarantee and it's been fabulous. Always had VW or Toyota before and it's been every bit as good and reliable. It was 1/3 the price of a prestige make equivalent.

I have a Vauxhall , called Holden in Australia, model Barina. A small car for just taxing the kids arounds and moving around my suburbs, beach, never more than 10 km. I have had huge problems, and the dad of of my son's friend is a mechanic, and he once repaired it for me at a fraction of the garage, and he told me it was a lemon. I told him, next time I go car-shopping I will take him with me and his reply was : toyota, go for a toyota and you will never need me.

Find an independent Saab dealer. I recommend a 9-5 or 9-3 estate. Parts are no problem. Ours regularly schlep between Belgium and the UK doing the university and / or the granny run. Dh's 9-5 cost £1995, and owes us nothing. My 9-3 was about £3k, and apart from routine servicing back in Devon when doing the granny run, has cost me zilch in terms of maintenance.

We've had Saabs since 1995, and I don't want anything else. Roomy, great to drive, comfortable on long journeys. The only beef with mine is that I don't have a turbo, a cupholder or heated seats, as dh does, but I do have a manual and a sunroof.

I have never regretted buying a 5 year old golf for 5k 5 years ago (well, nearly 7 years ago - and had it not had someone crash into it when parked in town it would still be in perfect service).

The car was fantastic (heated seats, aircon, leather etc) the extra money just wasn't needed - although the servicing was maybe more expensive than if we had a ford.

Which we then did - a little Fiesta, and it was fine, BUT all the build quality was worse (plastics, switches, little things like boot hooks and parcel shelves), it was fabric seats which the kids ruined, it was smaller, with a smaller engine so it wasn't so great on long journeys.

DP spent about 2 months scouring AutoTrader until he found just the right one - higher mileage, but single owner (v. clear - only driving seat showed any wear!).

Get an old Volvo or Merc, excellent build not as cool as Audi or BMW, but It won't let you down and will be comfy for your commute, big enough to take on holiday.

DH wanted a Ford Kuga, but it ended up being out of our budget, instead he went for a two year old Dacia Duster and loves it. It has 4WD option and was great in the snow.

We needed a car to last us the best part of a decade, during which we'll morph from a family of two adults and two kids to four adults, so needed one with decent leg room in the back as well, but that might not be an issue for you.

Tyres are around £50 each, as we discovered recently.

I have a 64 plate Kia cee'd (about the size of an Astra) for 8500 last year.
Its beautiful, only costs so far have been services and consumables such as tyres.
Has warranty intact (although had to argue with the (non-kia) dealer about their dubious servicing).
Passed its MOT, technically failed first time as the daylight LED was broken. But a known fault where both light clusters were replaced free of charge. They even said, if the MOT was overdue before it was fixed theyd have to put me in courtesy free of charge until they came in, so excellent service too from a Kia dealer.
Its wonderful to drive and i recommend it to everyone. Still smile stupidly when driving it sometimes a year and half on!!

We got a Kia ceed estate and had similar criteria. Generally happy.

There was a thread recently where another poster had a disaster year with older Audi. Don't just buy for a name

I’d buy a Toyota or Honda if I was buying cash at that price. 2/3 years old and should last a long time. Car tax should be fine and wouldn’t expect massive repair bills

I bought an 11 month old fiesta for £8k, instead of the new price of £12.5k, it was a Ford employees car, built to their spec with loads of extras.

Fords are reliable, cheap to maintain and if something goes wrong not extortionate to fix. Also with mid tier cars the wheels aren't odd or large sizes, meaning tyres are reasonable if need replacing.

Definitely wouldn't go for a new car; the depreciation is ridiculous. I bought a pre-reg Hyundai i10 (was discussing buying a 2nd hand car with the dealer which was bought by someone else so they offered me a new one at the same price - I guess they were below quota that month) a few years ago and it's been great. 5 year warranty. It works great for me, but it is small.

The Dacia looks good, but I don't have any experience of them. So much of the price of 'prestige' makes must be the marketing surely? I'd consider Seats and Skodas as well (although I rejected the Skoda citigo when I was buying as the interior trim felt too cheap).

I have a step way, I love it. Economical, roomy enough for the kids and stuff, even gets all the camping gear in it and cheap tax and Insurance, it has WiFi and a usb hub just a shame the seats aren't heated.
I had a skoda previously and loved that too.

I wouldn’t be seen dead in a Dacia

Personally I wouldn't buy a Dacia. I haven't seen any that have a safety rating higher than 3 stars, most cars are 5.

I have done 50k miles in my Dacia Logan (Sandero estate) with no issues - and 50mpg

My other car is a Skoda - 100k miles since new.

Dacia are Renault parts, bosch electrics etc.

No truly crap cars anymore,

I'd always go older / better car to be honest but I like fast sporty cars so maybe not the bet person to ask

I'd be getting a 2009- 2010 plate bow with that money

Or a bmw - you know

I would recommend getting a nearly new Kia or Toyota for reliability. You can get ones that are a couple of years old with a low mileage from car supermarkets. Repair costs are reasonable too. We have just got rid of our Jag XF because of repair costs. One bill was 1400 quid!

Don't buy BMW, audis etc as the repair, servicing tyres etc are expensive. My friend just spent £300 on a tyre.