What car for £4k? - Page 1 - Car Buying

Original Poster

865 posts

163 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

I am in the process of helping a relative find a new car but hitting a brick wall so was hoping the wisdom of PH would be able to shine some light over for me.

They're looking for something around the 4k mark or less preferably but with a specific list of requirements.

- needs to be reliable (subjective I know) and fairly reasonable cost wise to keep going
-needs to be capable of averaging around 40mpg plus
-not ridiculously high on tax (under £200 a year preferably but appreciate it may be hard)
-must be automatic
-will be used to commute 36 miles a day round trip on a mixture between dual carriageway and B roads, not much else besides that except local trips between the villages
-not bothered about size or how many seats/doors
-not too high on insurance for a 23 year old
-less than 10 seconds 0-60 would be nice but not essential

I appreciate this is quite an awkward list, but as I say it's not for me and I would have a more open mind if it were me, but there must be something that fits the bill.

My initial thoughts were a Mini, a Jaguar X Type, Merc C Class Coupe, Saab 9-3 diesel or a Volvo C30/S40, but keen to know what else is out there that I haven't thought of.

Any help or advice is appreciated, cheers.

Edited by kieranblenk on Monday 2nd July 11:35

S54Love

155 posts

113 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

An IS250 springs to mind, though you won't be getting 40mpg nor paying less than £200 for tax. However, they should be reliable, smooth and quick enough for your commute.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

mudster

792 posts

273 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Given the list of requirements, I think you're looking at the wrong type of cars. Lux jobs will cost a fair bit to run.

I would be thinking more Honda Jazz or Toyota Yarris.

Original Poster

865 posts

163 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

I personally think the IS250 is a good option and will broach it, I agree that it's a strange and maybe unreasonable list of requirements. It doesn't have to be a premium brand, I just thought those because they might be better built at that age and I don't have a vast amount of knowledge of this end of the market.

30,534 posts

154 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Car-Matt

1,923 posts

167 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Octy VRS 2006 ish 2.0 tfsi

SCEtoAUX

4,119 posts

110 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Yaris, all day long.

Original Poster

865 posts

163 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Thanks for those links ZX, definitely food for thought and I've passed these onto my relative. My personal favourite is the MG ZT to be honest - I'm gutted I didn't think of that myself!

DoubleD

22,154 posts

137 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

SCEtoAUX said:

Yaris, all day long.

And thats how every short journey will feel ha ha

andyalan10

536 posts

166 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Just my opinion but if you are buying for someone without any particular interest in driving, and with a tight budget, then I'd be putting MGs, Saabs and Lexi very low on the list.

Search for <4k, automatic, low tax and see what comes up, I'd expect the most compelling cars to be those with zero image, you're then looking at 2010 on 60,000 mile cars rather than stuff over 10 years and 100-150,000 miles.

If under 10 seonds to 60 really is a requirement along with a real 40mpg I think that pushes you towards diesel, but perhaps you need to adjust the numbers slightly.

Andy

bearman68

4,929 posts

161 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

DoubleD said:

And thats how every short journey will feel ha ha

Funny, but so not true. What about a 1.5 T sport?

kurt535

3,560 posts

146 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

Any Toyota so long as not the 2.2 diesel.

30,534 posts

154 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

andyalan10 said:

You did see that most of the cars listed above had around 60k on the clock, the MG/Lexus's have very sensible running costs.

CABC

6,297 posts

130 months

Monday 2nd July 2018

SCEtoAUX said:

Yaris, all day long.

true.
everyone suggesting PH-worthy barges for an OP spec that suggests otherwise.
18 miles each way, reliable etc.
Yaris, Swift.
maybe a well chosen Mini.
defo petrol.

30,534 posts

154 months

Tuesday 3rd July 2018

2.4i C30

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Bit of a budget creep but these are great cars very rare though.

Suzuki Kizashi

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Alfa Mito Veloce this will get close to your 40mpg average & still be a smart car for your 23yo relative to whizz around in.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

generationx

9,118 posts

134 months

Tuesday 3rd July 2018

CABC said:

SCEtoAUX said:

Yaris, all day long.

true.
everyone suggesting PH-worthy barges for an OP spec that suggests otherwise.
18 miles each way, reliable etc.
Yaris, Swift.
maybe a well chosen Mini.
defo petrol.

Yes, smallish Japanese will do all you need and, when maintained, will last forever.

Original Poster

865 posts

163 months

Wednesday 3rd October 2018

To summarise my relative went for a 10 plate Astra 2.0 CDTI SRI auto in grey; 76k on with FSH. Seems a nice clean car with decent paperwork behind it. It came in on budget at £3900 from a private seller.

Thanks all for the input.

30,534 posts

154 months