Reliable affordable commuting car for £8.5k

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Have trawled old threads and am still puzzled about what to go for in a new (likely used) car.
I need a new car within a month for a 70+ mile round trip commute - mostly motorway driving plus driving between work sites during the day.

We have an old Toyota Yaris that has failed its MOT and not worth repairing.
Planned to get a 2016/17 Yaris 1.33 but found the engines a bit underpowered when test driving.
Also have a Honda Jazz (early 2008) that is getting rusty and needing to be replaced but will keep as a second runaround. Always felt that was a bit uncomfortable on motorways.

Have considered:
Honda Jazz 2018 - found one for £9k at the dealership. Drove ok but again underpowered but not crazy on the exterior.
Toyota Yaris 1.4 diesel - drove someone else's and really liked it, but isn't diesel really bad?
Ford Fiesta- would be an eco boost, heard terrible things about them though?
Hyundai i20/i30 - wasn't crazy on the interior

Anything else I should consider?
The Toyota dealership have put a spanner in the works by suggesting I could get a new Yaris 1.5 with £2.5k off for scrapping the old one. They also do 0% finance which makes this quite an attractive option.

Realise I've overused the word crazy a few times there...
Finding a car really does drive me round the bend.

I have a VW Golf for my 90mile round commute and it's great.

It's now 12 years old with a lot of mileage on it, and still reliable but costing about £300-500 a year get through the MOT.

When it finally gives up the ghost we'll replace it with a slightly newer one. We'd get a 3-4year old on for £8k ish which seems reasonable if we can make it last 8years+ again.

Dachia?

@bluebury I've looked at VW Golf through approved used schemes and the 2015 ones are coming out at £10k ish... where are you finding them cheaper?

Reluctant to go to a smaller dealer / private sale with this sort of budget because we've been stung in the past and not too clued up on what to look for.

Having said that we've also been screwed by a franchised dealer in the past.

DH had a 120-mile round-trip commute for years (he’s retired now thank god).

Following a disastrous expensive repeated clutch-failure experience with a Mondeo we went for a nearly new Kia Ceed diesel with 100k miles/7 year warranty. We liked the first one so much we got another after the 100k was up! Second one is on 200+ now, 8 years old & a bit battered so worth virtually nothing but we’ll keep it going

You won’t get the very low mileage deals for £8500 (ours was c £12,000 I think) but you’ll still get a fairly new & very decent & reliable car.

Re diesel, newer cars are less bad than old diesels. DH’s is 61 plate 1.6 & his road tax is about £130, my Zafira is 04 plate 2.0 & road tax is £240. What’s the road tax on the 1.4?

His averaged close to 60mpg on commuting miles though. It’s a bit swings & roundabouts atm. If the govt decides to come down hard on diesel emissions in the future that would be a worry.

I'm tempted by a VW Golf but have got used to the simplicity and reliability of Hondas and Toyotas. AA mechanics say they never get called to them...

Anyone got an older Honda Civic or a Toyota Yaris 2017 onwards ?

According to WhatCar, Kia are right behind Toyota for reliability & way ahead of Honda. And much cheaper for the equivalent quality. Don’t write them off!

www.whatcar.com/news/most-and-least-reliable-car-brands-2019/n17913

For that distance I'd go for 1.6 or 1.8 litre engine, a 1.4 just doesn't have enough oomph on a motorway (i don't mean speed but being able to change lanes).

I had a Mazda 3 for ages, very reliable, and that was after a Mazda MX5. I tend to buy cars that are 4-5 years old, and they come in around your budget. I always go through a dealer and then run the car for another 4-5 years. By that point it's almost worthless but I've had cheap motoring and saved up for my next car.

Not private but not through the VW dealership. Large trade sellers near us the South East are asking around £8-9k for a 15 Reg with ok mileage.

On Autotrader within 50miles of us from there are 20+ Golf's less than £9k with under 50k miles on the clock. All trade sellers (you can filter out private sellers).

But if I look at my local VW dealership £11k for a 15reg with 35k on the clock.

I had a similar problem earlier in the year and went for a Skoda fabia. Pleased with it Same as a VW more or less - just a tiny bit more basic inside.

I have a Focus 1.0 with Ecoboost engine, I find it good to drive, powerful but not ridiculously so. Good on the motorway and for journeys like you describe. Paid around £7.5k for a 13 plate so with your budget you could get a newer version.

Meant to say I paid £8k for a 66 plate. It has apple play etc as I really wanted that. Got to have the important things in a car

Thanks for all these ideas !
I'll have a further look...
I'm also tempted by a new Toyota Yaris 1.5 as there are a lot of incentives to buy it that make it cheaper than a 2017/18 version. Was put off by the idea of PCP but actually for our circs it could work well. We would plan to keep the car and can put aside the funds for the balloon payment now.
Would be £1500 deposit / £160 a month for 36 mos at 0% / £5500 ish balloon payment.
Going through a dealership (it would have to be approved used this time) we could get something for £9/10k but would need to use credit card or a loan to fund the difference.

Realise I spent £1000 on the Honda Jazz last year in total. At least £200-300 a year in repairs over the previous several years. So I'm very tempted by a new car with free services , 5 year warranty etc.

@DropZoneOne we did what you describe with the Honda Jazz - bought at 5 yrs old for £6k and have kept for 5 years, but made the mistake of not changing it soon enough and it's got more and more costly.

You'll have quite high annual mileage though. Does that affect the cost?

@GiantKitten good to see Toyota up there , and I see Kia doing well too. Honda is only lower because of their SUV though, to be fair, the Jazz is very reliable. However it's just not very interesting. And I really don't like what they've done to the car's 'face' , it looks like a grimacing angry toddler.

I've tried to calculate projected mileage more accurately and it's coming in around 12,000 per year (I won't be doing the commute FT). Those costs for the new Yaris are based on that.

It sounds like a pretty good deal in that case. And the petrol Yaris scored incredibly well!

If you like the golf then a polo might also be a good option. I loved our polo pre-kids but need to drive a bigger car at the moment. If you’re happy with the size of the Yaris then a polo shouldn’t be too small.

A Dacia sandero is cheap for a brand new car and you would get one for under 8k

Skoda? I used to do a daily 100 mile commute in a fabia but have an Octavia now due to kids. Cheaper insurance than vw. They're solid cars.

Second the ŠKODA Fabia recommendation. Very solid and reliable. Lovely to drive and some nice tech features CarPlay / SD card etc

Have you looked at Seat at all?

The Leon is effectively the same car as the Golf, & the Ibiza is the same as the Polo.

Yes I've had a look at Seat and Skoda but no dealerships nearby to test drive. Could travel easily to find one but those I've seen are coming out a bit too expensive for the age/mileage I'm after (under 3 years ideally).
Can't go over £8500 if it's a cash payment and wouldn't be able to spend more than £160 a month on finance.