I need to replace my car - all advice and opinions appreciated

[3littlefrogs]

I drive about 60 miles a day - (long distance, short journeys, town and rural) and need to replace my current diesel engined 5 seater hatchback.

What shall I get?

I can't afford new - I would look to trade in for something about 4 years old.

TIA

How many passengers and do you need boot space?

VW polo
Ford Fiesta

Ford Focus

I love my newly purchased Citroen C4.

What's your budget as 4 years old price varies massively!

Go electric! They're fab, but you'll probably have to buy new. There are some great lease deals though on Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe - I've had a Zoe since May last year and love it. 60 miles per day is well within range on a full charge which will cost about £3 in electricity. 4 years warranty, servicing and breakdown cover included with the Zoe and no road tax to pay.

Need to know budget; do you need a generous boot; passengers/do you need 4 doors or two?

We've got a 4 yr old VW Polo TDi that DH uses to commute. He does 100 miles a day. It uses a tank of diesel a week, which is about £50 now.

We've, also, got a Golf BlueMotion which he would much rather take, but it's an automatic and I have difficulty driving a manual now. We both love the Golf. I would buy a Golf, over and over again.

Another vote for a vw golf or Polo, great cars, good on fuel, fun to drive and well built.

Hyundai i30

Dh has the Hyandai atm and not impressed tbh.

Just come back to this.
I need reasonable boot space as I drive for work and carry 2 or 3 large bags.
I prefer 4 doors.
Sometimes have 2 to 3 passengers but not often.
About £12K
I am not sure whether to stay with diesel or not.
Thanks for all the comments so far.

At 60 miles a day you're on the border of getting the benefit of the diesel. Diesel will be more expensive to buy (age/miles/condition like to like with a petrol) plus petrol is cheaper. So I wouldn't disregard a petrol car.

At 12k you've got a massive amount of nearly new decent sized hatchback available. Go to a car supermarket type thing on a weekday morning, try out a few cars there and decide on the one you like best!

In your position, i.e not regularly transporting rear seat passengers, I'd probably look at the 1.0 125bhp Ecoboost Fiesta. As a pp said, you're borderline for getting added benefit from a deisel in terms of the mileage you do. This is petrol but has low emissions so is tax free. Despite being a 1 litre, it will do 0-60mph in 9 seconds so not gutless. I do like a car that feels responsive/takes corners well but this can translate to quite a firm ride with Ford which not everyone likes. The published mpg for this car is 65mpg (i.e in a lab) but real world figures from owners is still good at approx 55Mpg.

In short, any misgiving for you would be the boot size - but you'll have to be the judge of that!

If the boot size was too small, I'd probably look at the Focus ecoboost or a Mazda 3 with Skyactiv technology for lower emission/tax petrol cars as I don't do enough mileage to justify diesel/avoid diesel particulate filter problems.

Nissan note? ( we looked at these before going for a vw )

The i30 is quite nice if you get a new one, had one as a courtesy car a few months ago but not sure if I would really want one ( a bit boring to drive ).

Toyota Yaris?

I shouldn't bother with a VW, the ultimate car for sheeple. Very dull with mediocre build quality and reliability and allegedly awful dealership customer service. The Yaris is a good suggestion and I'd be looking at Honda, Kia and Hyundai also. As you're looking for something 4 years old I think I would stay away from diesel and get a small petrol engine approx 1.6. The small extra fuel costs should be outweighed by cheaper repair and servicing costs.

Mercedes A Class, the new one.

I got one last summer and think it is great. I also had a look at a Golf but it didn't float my boat.

Just RTFT, the new Merc is probably over budget at the moment. Test drive one anyway, they're great fun, the dealer may be able to do a deal.

Have they improved the MPG then?
My old a class was rubbish for economy, really poor (great drive, good space though)

Skoda Fabia.
I do similar driving to you - distance and types of road - and mine has been perfect for me. The dc are now 3 and 6. I have the estate version as I need to carry a lot for work. It's very efficient too. I've had it 4 years and I am quite sad it's going next week (company car), even though it's being replaced with a Golf.

I've had a Golf and a Polo in the past. You'll not go wrong with a diesel VW or Skoda hatchback. Having driven both (and an Audi A4 and DH has had 2 Skoda Octavias) there is very little difference between the Polo/Golf and Fabia with the 1.6 TDI engine.

Medoc, I believe they have. I had no idea the a class had changed until I went car shopping. I must admit I don't pay much attention to MPG but the on board computer tells you what the average is after each trip (I think). I don't check it but DH does and he's always impressed geek

You'll not go wrong with a diesel VW or Skoda hatchback

Are you joking?

No, DH, FiL and I have been driving them without a problem for over 10 years. FiL just passed his 2000 diesel Octavia to BiL with 180K miles on it, still going string.

Obviously I can only speak for my and my immediate family's experience, but it has been very good.