Clueless (shockingly) in Cars! Help me to buy a car!

[SaritaBella]

No males or knowledgable women around to ask besides you ladies!
I have a budget of around £6K, looking for something that will accommodate me and young DC (car seat) but I still want it to be a bit stylish rather than just a boring family car! My dream car is Nissan qashqai but this is for the future 😀 Always liked Audi, VW but seems not for my budget or rather aged.
Need Ulez complyint. Looked into hatchbacks but would prefer 5 door. Just passed my drivers license so nowhere near to drive a saloon 😀
Sniffed around various websites but don't even know what's good/bad.
Is it better a bit older but go for known brands? Understand this is individual but just need a guide on what to focus on.
AIBU to ask what you'd recommend??🤔 Help, really clueless here!

Most hatchbacks are 5 door

I always buy pre-owned cars and have never bought a dud.

Do not buy a German pre-owned car. Scrap any thought of an Audi A3 or Mini. Don't buy anything that a previous owner will have bought because 'it looks the part'.

Get yourself a Fiesta or a Corsa.
Get one with Full Service History (FSH)
Check for rust, signs of wear and tear, have a test drive.
Take a knowledgeable friend with you. A penis is not knowledge.

5-doors will make your life a lot easier if you have a baby.

Don't get a diesel. You'll probably be making short journeys and diesels aren't great if you only do short journeys.

Hondas are good too.

Bought a Nissan Juke. Love it !

@araiwa

An old German car on a small budget?

Repair bill will be more expensive than the car!

I have a 20 year old Beetle, passes MOT every time. My only cost over the years has been 1 set of disc brakes, tyres and wipers! It’s not worth much though.

I’ve been through v similar recently and after reading loads of advice which’s best buys, my shortlist was similar to some of the advice above: Honda Jazz, Honda Civic, Toyota Yaris and Toyota Auris. I spent a bit of time looking as they seem to be hard to come by where I am but I am happy with my purchase.

I know this is boring but a car is a depreciating asset that costs (a lot) of money to keep on the road. When my 20 year old trusty rusty died last year I weighed up what was important to spend my money on as a lone parent and with a limited income. It was reliability, reasonable running/repair costs and certainly not finance. So I ended up with a 4 year old skoda fabia, fully serviced with lowish milage and fsh etc.
Luckily I have a gem of a local garage I use who sourced it for me for at least £1000 of the list price and it was 2,900 less than you are looking to spend. It is a really nice car, passed its MOT no problems, cost me £60 to replace brake pads which were an advisory. It is not massively beautiful but not really ugly. Skodas have come a long way and mine happens to be a lovely colour 😁

I get wanting something you love, never imagined having a skoda when I dreamed of cars learning to drive. But when you start paying insurance and upkeep, unless money is no object or the car you drive is a priority, reality tends to kick in a bit.

Just to add, everyone will have a tale of an amazing lucky buy that cost nothing. Late DH loved Citroen for this reason which is very unusual!. Also, the fancier the car means the more there is to go wrong and can cost a lot more to fix. My 20 year old fusion kept going and could be repaired really easily (this is why they are still highly sort after).

Skodas have come a long way

Indeed. They’re the most reliable VAG brand but still not a patch on a Toyota.

Thank you my lovelies for all your advices and tips.
Scanning through and checking cars at the moment on a mission!

I have a Seat Ibiza, I'm on my second one actually as I loved my first one but saw a newer one in a better colour 😂😂
My next car is probably going to be a Seat Leon. Slightly bigger than the Ibiza but firmly still in the bracket of small manageable car.
Never had any issues with them at all, and both of my parents actually own Seats as well now.

Tempted by a Nissan Juke here too and the new Citroen SUV is cool.
I do too many miles for PCP, over 2000 a month

@44Shade17 You are probably right, I looked at both but my mechanic was firmly in the Skoda camp. You get a lot more Skoda for you money than Nissan and they are cheaper to keep on the road. I was also really surprised that Skodas really hold their value now. I would have paid a lot more through a dealership. OP, maybe have a look at a Yeti and see what you think? They rate very highly against Nissan SUVs

I'm in a similar boat op (but with only 5k) I like the look of a Juke but my main concern is that there are so many on the market at seemingly lowish prices, so that makes me think there most be something wrong with them for them to be so much cheaper than other cars of that age!

We have a variety of Kia’s in our family , all very reliable , great warranty . Our son has just bought a new Rio , he had a 15 reg Ford before which he had from new , had done 55k miles and the gearbox needed replacing !

44Shade17- sorry Tayota! We had one years ago which was nothing but trouble and a few people at work have loads of issues and huge repair bills. No way is this a representative survey- I know most people love their Tayota.

@Mooloolabababy Jukes can be cheap for a few reasons;

• There are a lot of them, because Nissan couldn't sell them fast enough, so there's always choice on the market which drives prices down
• The paint quality wasn't great in the early days and some of the interior finishes were a bit shonky
• The lowest spec ones Visia I think are a bit under-equipped
• The 2010-2013 ones had issues with timing chains, which led to a reputation for unreliability. Most likely this will have been fixed via recall by now, but it's worth checking if the timing chain has been addressed
• The styling is very love-it-or-hate-it, and a lot of people hate it, so they don't hold their value in the way that other small crossovers do
• They're not super-practical; a bit tight for space in the back, small boot
• When Nissan facelifted the Juke in 2014 they upgraded the trim levels. There's a preference for post-2014 models in the market which drives down prices of the 2010-2013 ones

If you like the look of them, and they work for you practicality wise, there are far worse things you can buy for five grand. I'd just suggest being very picky on condition, history, mileage and trim level.

I think a Honda Jazz would be perfect for your budget but unfortunately they are not stylish at all. Incredibly reliable though!

I wouldn't worry about a larger car. You would find it terrifying for about a week or two then adjust!

Nissan's are great also. I have a 2007 Micra which I've had since 2009 and it's never put a foot wrong. I've replace a couple of wiper blades and a battery and that's it.

Nissan's are great also

Newer ones are shockingly bad. Close to the bottom of most reliability surveys now. They’ve gone massively downhill since Renault’s involvement. Avoid!

Look at Seats , Ibiza or arona

[quote BIoodyStupidJohnson]@Mooloolabababy Jukes can be cheap for a few reasons;

• There are a lot of them, because Nissan couldn't sell them fast enough, so there's always choice on the market which drives prices down
• The paint quality wasn't great in the early days and some of the interior finishes were a bit shonky
• The lowest spec ones Visia I think are a bit under-equipped
• The 2010-2013 ones had issues with timing chains, which led to a reputation for unreliability. Most likely this will have been fixed via recall by now, but it's worth checking if the timing chain has been addressed
• The styling is very love-it-or-hate-it, and a lot of people hate it, so they don't hold their value in the way that other small crossovers do
• They're not super-practical; a bit tight for space in the back, small boot
• When Nissan facelifted the Juke in 2014 they upgraded the trim levels. There's a preference for post-2014 models in the market which drives down prices of the 2010-2013 ones

If you like the look of them, and they work for you practicality wise, there are far worse things you can buy for five grand. I'd just suggest being very picky on condition, history, mileage and trim level.[/quote]
That's fab, thanks for the info!

Someone has suggested a Clio. Having owned several Renaults, don't waste your time with them.

I agree with others about Japanese/Korean cars in terms of reliability. My Dad bought DD1 a Kia Rio as her 1st car when she was still learning to drive. It was 23 months old when we got it so still had more than 5 years left on the warranty. It is a great little car, fits 5 adults in and she took me and my double bass to a concert last week. It's pretty economical too. I'm pretty sure it's ok with the ULEZ - we checked when she drove us to Wembley. The kit on Kias is impressive, you get a lot more for your money than you do with a VW (my choice atm)

I'm also going to disagree on mileage. A car that has done a lot of miles isn't necessarily a bad thing. We are just about to scrap a 20 yr old Ford Ka that has only done 70k miles. We've done 30K of them in the last 5 years (not a huge amount) but it spent most of its life standing or doing very short journeys. They knacker an engine a lot more than long runs. My current car is 4.5 years old and has already done 56k, most of which were on motorways/national speed limit roads.