Need cost effective, new car. Please recommend.

[LongTimeSinceSingle]

As of this morning I am a single parent.

I need to swap my fuel guzzling SUV for a very reliable car that is good on short journeys and is fuel efficient. I also need one that is cheaper to fix if it goes wrong.

Any suggestions. Don't care what it looks like. Just concerned about breaking down and not paying a fortune in petrol now I am broke.

Ford Fiesta? Pretty reliable, parts are cheap. I had a 1.3 which is powerful enough.
I'm sorry to hear about your current predicament. Are you ok?

I've always owned Fords btw because I'm pretty skint but need a car for my job.

Diesel Ford Focus was the most fuel efficient car I’ve ever had. Was only £30 a year tax so low emissions.

Now have a diesel Astra estate which is also very fuel efficient.

A friend of mine who services my car, told me " toyota" when I asked him what brand I should buy next. He swears Toyotas never break down and he never repairs them.

Hyundai ix20 - look at reviews. So reliable

We’ve bought an i20 recently and love it.

I have a Fiat 500L , it’s ugly as sin but cheap to run, lots of room and so far very reliable x

If you are doing lots of short journies then a diesel is not suitable.

Do you need a particular size? I'd be looking at a skoda, model depends on what size you need. DH has the Octavia, new 9 years ago and all he's had to do is put petrol in it and change tyres etc. DSs and I have citigos and although newer are running well with no costs so far. A fabia is in between size.

For short runs/ low annual mileage get a petrol, not diesel. Might be worth considering a hybrid or electric too if you are not rural. For low running costs:

• choose a £0, £20 or £30 tax car
• choose a low to insure car
• choose something fuel efficient; official figures always lie but aim for ~55mpg combined or more
• choose a hatchback or estate, not an SUV
• choose a 2-3 year old car of a reliable make (don't flame me but would avoid French or Vauxhall)

Good luck!

I am not Ok, but hopefully will feel better in a while. I need to get my spending right down as I have DC that need things. I need to school run and go into town. We live rural but near a town.

Thanks for all the helpful responses.

I bought a 1 year old skoda fabia from a main dealer with about 10k on the clock for £6700. 5 years on and it's done 80000 miles and needed no work at all, just tyre changes. It's probably still worth about £3k as well, so I think it has been excellent value. I get it serviced regularly but I expect it will be going for quite some time yet.

Fairly basic VW Golf. Petrol. If you can afford it, mini hybrid. Does around 25 miles on a charge so you don’t need much petrol. They are not cheap though. If you’ve had decent SUVs you will love this! I have had numerous SUVs and we still have two, but the Mini is a star!

Agree: avoid French and Vauxhall plus Japanese boring cars! Toyota have had huge numbers of recalls. They are not that good!

If it's a Ford Fiesta, avoid the 1.0 Ecoboost engine. I love my Ford, but I wouldn't a touch one with that engine.