A sensible car - £14k

[AlphaRomeo]

Good evening,

I started a 'what bike?' thread a few weeks ago and bought an excellent Suzuki GSX-S1000 based on the recommendations there. I'm hoping for similar success here. I'm looking for something sensible this time so any ideas are appreciated.

Budget is £14k and I'm looking for:

- something that will accommodate a pair of child seats
- good sized boot (ideally with fold-down seats),
- decent fuel consumption (I have a weekly 500 mile round-trip commute for the next few months at least)
- adaptive cruise control (had a Golf R and this one one of my favorite bits about that car)
- bluetooth for audible/spotify
- reliability would be nice

Thanks in advance!

[DrFeelAverage]

I mean if you liked VW's adaptive cruise, why not a Golf estate? Something like these:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008202... 1.4 TSI manual
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008252... 2.0 TDI auto
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202006110... 1.6 TDI manual (probably the best for economy, and with warranty left)

These are post-2017 facelift, but there's a lot of choice out there.

[drmike37]

In terms of sensible car for sensible money I think it’s hard to look past an Octavia.

[AlphaRomeo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I do like VAG cars but I've had a couple now (Mk5 Golf TDi is my current, Golf R, Fabia VRS) and would like to try something different this time.

Does anyone think a Lexus IS 300h is a decent option? My budget gets me a 2014/2015...

[ZX10R NIN]

Nice choice of bike by the way, car wise there are some nice options:

Infiniti Q50 Sport Tech has every feature you listed as well (it's an all Mercedes drivetrain) the reliability you're looking for as well as 360 Cameras lane assist etc.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007281...

Q30 Premium Tech In Touch smaller version of the above.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008122...

Hynrid wise the IS300h is a great shout but so is the Q70/50h but it's hard to find any Q50h's at the moment.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/201908201...

There's always the GS300h:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/201910173...

450h

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008202...

IS300h Sport with Premium Nav

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008182...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008262...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007271...

[Silenoz]

I just bought a Skoda Octavia SE Technology DSG hatch which would tick all your boxes. It's a 2019 model which had 10k miles on it, and was £13995. Even got 0% finance on it too!

[AlphaRomeo]

ZX10R NIN said:

Nice choice of bike by the way, car wise there are some nice options:

Infiniti Q50 Sport Tech has every feature you listed as well (it's an all Mercedes drivetrain) the reliability you're looking for as well as 360 Cameras lane assist etc.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007281...

Q30 Premium Tech In Touch smaller version of the above.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008122...

Hynrid wise the IS300h is a great shout but so is the Q70/50h but it's hard to find any Q50h's at the moment.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/201908201...

There's always the GS300h:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/201910173...

450h

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008202...

IS300h Sport with Premium Nav

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008182...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008262...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007271...

Thanks for the suggestions ZX10R NIN (I was hoping you’d chime in). There was actually an excellent example of a Q50S Hybrid nearby and I took it for a test drove a couple of weeks ago. It was well priced at 2015 £12.5k and 30k miles. Test drive was great and I almost put a deposit on it but the whole Infiniti pulling out of the UK thing and comments about Nissan reliability etc made me think twice. My gut said “just do it” though...

Anyhow, I’ve gone for an IS 300h. Put a deposit down and will collect tomorrow. Managed to get 3 years Lexus warranty on it so I’m quite happy. The Infiniti would almost certainly have been more fun but I’m telling myself that’s what the bike is for.

[AlphaRomeo]

Silenoz said:

I just bought a Skoda Octavia SE Technology DSG hatch which would tick all your boxes. It's a 2019 model which had 10k miles on it, and was £13995. Even got 0% finance on it too!

That’s a great deal! Well done!

I considered the Octavia but didn’t test drive one. Fingers crossed this Lexus turns out okay.

[ZX10R NIN]

AlphaRomeo said:

Thanks for the suggestions ZX10R NIN (I was hoping you’d chime in). There was actually an excellent example of a Q50S Hybrid nearby and I took it for a test drove a couple of weeks ago. It was well priced at 2015 £12.5k and 30k miles. Test drive was great and I almost put a deposit on it but the whole Infiniti pulling out of the UK thing and comments about Nissan reliability etc made me think twice. My gut said “just do it” though...

Anyhow, I’ve gone for an IS 300h. Put a deposit down and will collect tomorrow. Managed to get 3 years Lexus warranty on it so I’m quite happy. The Infiniti would almost certainly have been more fun but I’m telling myself that’s what the bike is for.

Good choice, with regards to Infiniti (at least in the south of England) there's now more main dealer back up than when they were in the UK (the joys of just using Nissan dealerships) enjoy both.