First car choice

[richatnort]

I'm helping my friend who is overwhelmed looking at first car choices. She's 32 now and just passed her test and wants something that's reliable, small & doesn't cost the earth to run or in parts if anything were to go wrong. She has £5k for the car max and wants something no older than 2012 due to reliability and newness factor.

I've attached a bit of a spreadsheet we have put together tonight showing ranking of favourite to least and total costs for everything.

Have I missed anything else or anything i could consider older that is just as reliable and within the criteria of:

under 60k miles
Full service history
Cheap car tax
Can fit a golden retriever in it occasionally (partners dog) with seats down is an option too)
around 2012 plate car
£5000 max.

[soad]

Aygo/Citygo/Up/500?

[shake n bake]

fking spreadsheets.
Just pick one, they’re all going to do the same thing.

[kieranblenk]

Skoda Fabia or Suzuki Swift would be my choices, or a Yaris.

[ZX10R NIN]

The pick for me is the 1.6 Astra in Elite form it's a very hard car to beat:

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

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

[richatnort]

soad said:

Aygo/Citygo/Up/500?

Discount as wouldn't be able to get the retriever in comfortably

[richatnort]

kieranblenk said:

Skoda Fabia or Suzuki Swift would be my choices, or a Yaris.

Looked at fabia but wasn't a fan of the trim and quite basic spec in that range but will mention the swift!

[ZX10R NIN]

richatnort said:

Looked at fabia but wasn't a fan of the trim and quite basic spec in that range but will mention the swift!

What about the Astra's I linked to they tick all the boxes good spec reliable engine etc

[richatnort]

ZX10R NIN said:

What about the Astra's I linked to they tick all the boxes good spec reliable engine etc

Yeh potentially a goer but i'm not sure those examples are good fits as they seem a bit iffy to me, few dents in the door on one which is very hard to do one let alone a few times and then the second about 200 miles away so might see if we can find any near by.

[ZX10R NIN]

You should be able to find one closer by they were just examples, there's also the Alfa Giulietta in Collezione/Veloce form these are reliable robust & a very nice place to be, you'll have to haggle though.

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

Veloce 120/170

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

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

[Defconluke]

Looking at your spreadseet it only takes 1 year for the Polo to drop from 2nd right down to the foot of the table because of having to pay car tax yearly and it not being a one off cost. That said, the Polo would be my choice (my sister had 2 - a basic '59' plate and a better specced '14 plate) as they are quite refined for a small car and should have slightly better residuals which is why your money doesn't go quite as far when purcahsing one to begin with.

[drgoatboy]

Seat Ibiza?
Citroen ds3
Honda jazz
Nissan note

Edited by drgoatboy on Friday 21st June 16:52