What’s the oldest car you would buy right now?

[Maztek]

Looking at buying second hand but not sure how old is too old really! Current car is an 08 plate and is on its last legs. Not looking to spend much more than 15k, big enough for 2 adults, toddler and car seat and an 8 year old.

Any suggestions from anyone?

Found a car I like buys it’s 15 plate and not sure if it’s stupid buying a car that old?

I've got to buy a new (well, new for me) car due to ULEZ. Such a shame because my 2008 Toyota has been absolutely brilliant. Barely needed anything fixing in 9 years. I got it as an ex fleet car with 80k miles on the clock with fsh.
I would definitely recommend a Japanese car - I'll be so sad to see mine go.

I love Japanese cars too. I was looking at an outlander but they don’t sell Mitsubishi in this country anymore so went against it. I used to have a Nissan juke which I loved. Practically, an X-Trail is probably more sensible for my family but the flashy prick in me wants a white Audi A7 🥹

If you want an Audi, I'd go for a 2017 A4 diesel, there's some engines with £0-£30 road tax that still have decent horse power and torque!

I would have normally bought a 4 year old car with about 40k on the clock.
As I now WFH I will probably buy something 6/7 years old with 60/70k on the clock.

£7.5k is the most I've ever spent and I'd hope that would still be the case but I will buy a ford or a Vauxhall as there's lots of these available and the price tends to be cheaper.

Mileage matters more than age imo.

I have a Honda CRV and the money in an account to replace it, but they are allegedly good for 200,000 and I am only on 110,000, and in general drive locally. Could be a long wait. 😀

I prefer older with high spec than newer with low spec, and avoid anything with too low mileage for age.

I recently bought a 20 year old Mercedes with over 200K on the clock but that is probably not the answer you were seeking. Old cars can be fine, and I prefer bangernomics.

I’m still driving a 14 plate Merc. It’s just topped over 130k miles. It has not missed a beat. So many of those miles are on the motorway and it’s not that stressful for the car. I’d not consider a low mileage older car, especially a small one, as chances are it’s all town/city driving and that’s a lot more stress on the brakes and clutch. I always look for one that’s done in excess of 10-12k miles a year! I always buy ~4yr old cars but then keep them for a similar amount of time. Normally I’d be looking to change about now but honestly there’s nothing wrong with this other than having to pay the London ULEZ maybe twice a month, and it’s a lot of £12.50s before that cost breaks even with an upgrade.

My bil has a Series one 1962 red E type.
I know absolutely zero about cars, but I do know that car is a thing of beauty.

And how it's been driven, which is obviously harder to tell. But you can see MOT test results online and you can see the warnings and failure reasons. Badly driven ones may well have suspension faults or tyre faults highlighted. They also tend to indicate lack of care if there are failures/warnings for things that are basic maintenance, such as inadequate windscreen wipers or brake pads, that suggest it's not had regular servicing to schedule.

Cars that have had bad drivers tend to handle poorly in test drives, i.e. not a smooth ride, gears hard to change, etc. Likewise, more likely to have scratches, dents, etc (though a decent garage will get that sorted before putting it on the forecourt).

You can start to build a "picture" of the car if you look at all aspects, not just mileage, although low mileage is obviously a good starting point. But low mileage that has been badly driven is no better than higher mileage with a careful driver!

In general terms, maybe, but not all low mileage cars are just town driving. Our oldest is 15 years old and just 32,000 miles. Very few of those are local driving as I normally work to walk is my office is only a mile from home. We take hubbies car when we go to town or shopping etc as his is smaller and easier to park. Most of those 32,000 miles will have been motorway driving for occasional UK holidays and travel to courses etc., Unfortunately, you never know what type of journey a car has been used for and it's easy to make wrong assumptions.

Our car is a 62 plate Mazda 3 diesel, we've had it 4.5 years now, it's only just hit 40k miles but due to the new LEZ areas in Scottish cities we couldn't drive into any of the areas without a penalty (although the one nearest us I think won't actually issue penalties until next year).

If it was just a year younger I think it would be ok though as Mazdas seem to have been a bit ahead of the curve on emissions. So it's definitely something to think about with older cars now even if you're near a city without a ULEZ/LEZ. We didn't know the LEZs were going to come in when we bought our car or we probably would have kept on looking. I'm just glad we don't actually live in one of the cities as we couldn't afford to replace the car at the moment.

Thanks everyone I’m going to keep my options open. Debating another baby so probably should get something practical that will fit 3 kids in!

Depends on the mileage and wear rather than age. Our current car is an 11 plate but has almost done 130k. I hate driving it as I'm worried it'll fall apart, we're replacing it this year.

@Maztek if there's any chance you will be having another baby then buy one that would fit 3 car seats, put your practical head on 😂

Not flash but I've been looking at 4 year old Mazda 3s for about £14k.

I've got a 21 Yr old Nissan 1800 Almera Automatic. Bought it 10 yrs ago, with 23K on the clock. Now has 83K on the clock and still brilliant. I live very near a marine environment, so has had bits of bodywork re-welded in the past. I hope it can scramble through the MOT in August. If not, and there's nothing left to weld to, it's going to be scrapped. I'll really miss it.

@Astrak our old Almera was one of my favourite cars. Like a comfortable shoe to drive. I had to swap it for a tiny car to fit into a tiny car park at work.

What diesel are you driving then?

@Maztek if you are uk based and want to drive into any of the larger cities you need to read up on ULEZ /LEZ/CAZ/ZEZ( Ultra Low Emission Zones/ Low Emission Zones/Clean Air Zones/Zero Emission Zones ) Birmingham Bath and Bristol now have them and driving into or through a large chunk of Bristol now cost £9 a day ( everyday anytime) with large fines if you don't.
All of the London boroughs are part of these schemes.
Article is from 2021 but very helpful

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-10127557/amp/All-towns-cities-Britain-planned-clean-driving-zones.html