To ask whether you think I can by a "decent" used car for 5k?

[Nighthogs]

I'm about to buy my first ever car aged 31 - exciting! I'm reluctant to spend more than £5,000, and I'm hoping for that money I'll be able to buy something that isn't amazing but is a decent runner that will see me through at least a few years before the issues start to creep up. Not fussed with cameras and the like, but like the idea of a beeping parking sensor. Just something solid, not too many miles, reliable... Maybe a Honda Jazz or a VW Polo?

Am I being unreasonable to think that I can achieve this with my budget?

We got a great Kia Picanto for under that

I would also say look at a Skoda - you can get a lot newer one with less mileage for the same money compared to a VW and they use the same parts.

Go for a polo they run and run, fuel efficient, cheap to repair, my 2009 polo is still going and every year at its service and MOT the mechanic tells me what a good little car it is. It was about £3000 about 8 years ago. For 3 years it did do less than 1000 miles a year but then had 5 years doing a lot more. Annoyingly I am now kind of wanting a more luxurious car but it just won’t die 😅 and in my heart I can’t buy a “new” car until my old one costs more to repair than it’s worth!

@Pasteque

I'm sure you can. I bought my lovely 3 year old jazz three years ago for 4.5k, never had an issue with it since. I reckon she's got a good ten years left in her!

I'm hoping to get a new jazz mine just won't die they are very reliable. Mines getting very old and scruffy now but the engine is great still.

We bought a third hand Volvo for £1.5k. 88k miles and 15 years old. We're v happy with it. A lot of our friends have nice cars on credit but we don't feel comfortable buying more than we can afford. And we don't care how we look 🤣

I got a 5 year old Ford Focus for 3.5k in 2016. Still going strong now, although it's not my favourite car to drive. My first car was a 13 year old Clio, she was fab and so easy to park! She died a death about 12 months after I bought her though

But yes you should definitely be able to get a decent car for 5k!

I got a second hand, 6-yesr-old Vauxhall Meriva for less than £5k. You'll have no problem!

I think a Jazz sounds like a great shout for your budget. You can probably get something relatively low mileage for that, too.

Yes!

My first car was a polo that I bought for I think £3500. It was obviously fairly old (over 10 years when I bought it) and had none of the mod cons but was amazingly reliable, never once broke down and never had any nasty surprises on MOTs. It had reasonably low mileage (I think around 30000) when I bought it though and had been really well looked after by only one previous owner, I also made a point of getting it serviced every year and generally taking good care of it. It was still in pretty good condition when I traded it in for a newer Polo 5 years later. Would definitely recommend VWs, both DH and I have only ever bought them and they’ve all been so reliable.

Yep. Look at Fords too, Focus or Fiesta. I love the fiestas, but I bought another Ficus as I need a bigger boot.

The parking sensors are ok,

My previous one cost me £1200 and I had her 10 years, she was a 1991. Great little runner, I loved her. Cried buckets when she died through my stupidity not getting the cam belt done in time 😢

This one cost £11,000. I only wanted a FF & wanted automatic (first one ever - as I was doing a lot of city driving snd my left knee is fucked and all the stop start was killing me. It has fancy bits & bobs. But I'd have my old one back Anyday.

At the time lots of places were recommending Honda Jazz, but I wanted a FF. I had a rental i10 & it was great to drive and fantastic to park, but unfortunately too small for what I need (boot spaceport 'kit' & backseat space/legroom for gangly teenagers)

Auto Trader was great for searching.

Also You NEED to Test Drive the one you're looking to buy as the exact same make/model/year etc won't drive the same as another.

Have fun!!

I read the title and thought "you could get a decent honda jazz for that"

They are great cars and you'll get a good one for about £3.5k.

Also, pay for an HPI check. Not the text one. It’ll tell you if a car has ever been a write off or been stolen. I dodged a bullet with what seemed like a great car. Did the hpi check and it turned out it had been a write off. I texted the guy about it and he never replied. Also VWs are quite expensive. More so than other similar cars.

I bought a VW Polo for my DD as a first car last year mainly for safety and German cars are very reliable. Check out www.euroncap.com they list all cars for safety and it was a bit of an eye opener. Several friends have bought their teenagers a VW Polo or Ford Fiesta purely on safety.

Also we had sensors added to the car as we thought it might save money in the long run. The VW garage charged us £250 per sensor an independent garage might charge less than this.
Happy car shopping!

Suzuki Swift is another good shout. With that budget, if you're willing to travel you should be able to buy direct from a main dealer, which helps avoid dubious second hand sellers

I had an old style jazz, (02 reg) absolutely loved it only got rid as there was a leak somewhere and nobody could find out where it was coming from.
The boot (Bit where spare wheel stored) used to fill with water, you could hear water sloshing around when I turned a corner and rear footwell was often sodden wet. It also used to steam up when it rained and freeze on the inside in winter so became a bit unsafe to drive. But mechanically it was sound and pretty reliable
I still see loads of the old style jazz’s on the road. So they’re still going strong

Ooh I'm in the same boat op. Only got a 5k budget too. I went to available car and couldn't get anything for under 10k!! I would love to buy private to get more car for my money, but worry about buying a lemon!

To get the most for your money, look at Hyundai..... they're super reliable.

Honda and VW are much more expensive relatively.

I used Car Gurus to search for something within my price range. The site will tell you whether cars are a fair price or priced too high. 3 doors are cheaper than 5 significantly.

My 2014 Nissan Juke was less than 3k. It’s in amazing condition and touch wood not had a problem with it yet!

@Imapotato

My Hyundai i10 cost £3700 when I brought it about 3 years ago. It had done 17,000 miles and was about 6 years old. I’ve not had a single problem with it and it’s passed it’s MoT first time every time so far.

So yeah. You can def get a good little runner for under £5k. (I once had a car that cost me £500, I had it for 6 years and it just worked, but was pretty beaten up looking).

They rattle like a tin can when you’re driving along though.

You can get something much better quality for £5,000.

Not sure how much they are now but I have a 6yo VW polo that's given me very few issues. Set of brake pads/discs and a window regulator

Why don't you just do a search on Autotrader - that will answer your question much better than asking indirectly on Mumsnet.

I spent £1500 on my second hand mini one and she's awesome and sailed through her last mot. The air con doesn't work but idk if it's broken or just needs a mechanic to hit it with a hammer. Unless I was rich i'd never spend 5k on a car tbh, they lose their value so fast.

My current car cost 9k but before that I drove a several cars that cost £500-2,000. They were all reliable, no breakdowns and I ran them for several years. So I’m sure you can get a reliable car, nothing fancy, for less than £5,000

If you get a car whilst covid restrictions are still in place you should get a decent warranty on it as i don't think you can do test drives yet