What car- Family, short trips,£6.5k

[joshcowin]

Firstly this is not for me personally.

A mate is handing back his lease car and wants to buy a family car for MAX £6.5k
He is coming from a fully maintained decent lease car, he hasn't even bought tyres for the past 10 years!

Criteria:

300miles a week (petrol would suit their needs better than diesel)
Space for a family of 5
Preferably auto but not a deal breaker
Modern he is not up for the idea of a 20y/o 5 series

Performance isn't really on the hit list, reliability and practicality is more important.

[ChocolateFrog]

Your emphasis on the word MAX made me think of the Ford S-MAX.

Might not be a bad shout.

[Bannock]

Hybrid for short trips:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209109...

EDIT: Oh hang on, family of 5? Maybe something more MPV then. These are criminally under-rated, very practical and very good value:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207047...

If he needs 3 child seats across the back though he'll need a bigger car, and you can't go too far wrong with its bigger brother:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202208058...

Edited by Bannock on Tuesday 4th October 10:56

[Monkeylegend]

C3 Picasso.

[Silvanus]

Just about the newest lowest mileage family car you can get is the Dacia Logan MCV. Its actually a very decent car, I have a Stepway for family and work duties. This one is a 2019 and only 12k miles, on for 7k, there are few cheaper ones on AT too.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2022082491...

[joshcowin]

Thanks for the replies so far, I am going to pass every idea over to him so keep them coming.

He is coming from a Pretty decent spec LR Disco sport so anything in this price range is going to be a step down.

[Silvanus]

joshcowin said:

Thanks for the replies so far, I am going to pass every idea over to him so keep them coming.

He is coming from a Pretty decent spec LR Disco sport so anything in this price range is going to be a step down.

Most things in this price range will be a step down or a compromise. As well as the Logan I suggested above, how about the best Skoda Yeti or Dacia Duster in budget. Can't imagine he's going to want to drive around in Zafira or similar.

[joshcowin]

Silvanus said:

joshcowin said:

Thanks for the replies so far, I am going to pass every idea over to him so keep them coming.

He is coming from a Pretty decent spec LR Disco sport so anything in this price range is going to be a step down.

Most things in this price range will be a step down or a compromise. As well as the Logan I suggested above, how about the best Skoda Yeti or Dacia Duster in budget. Can't imagine he's going to want to drive around in Zafira or similar.

I am thinking the same as you however, I don't know, they aren't car people for example he has already told me 'I dont like VW's' I mean they make £7k cars to £60k!!! This will be made more difficult when they get the use of a pretty decent merc suv while they are car shopping, everything in this price bracket will feel crap in comparison.

My instant thought was a high spec Mondeo, but guess the petrol auto's are juicy? Small trips of 5-10miles is the majority of the mileage.

He has suggested a pug 3008 but I always think in this budget the french cars are going to go wrong more and need more attention than other stuff. From personal experience my alfa has been far cheaper to run and more reliable than a newer lower mileage pug!

[Bannock]

joshcowin said:

Thanks for the replies so far, I am going to pass every idea over to him so keep them coming.

He is coming from a Pretty decent spec LR Disco sport so anything in this price range is going to be a step down.

Ah. Try to talk him down from "Premium badged" cars in this price range, if ongoing maintenance costs are going to be a issue for him.

[Monkeylegend]

joshcowin said:

He has suggested a pug 3008 but I always think in this budget the french cars are going to go wrong more and need more attention than other stuff. From personal experience my alfa has been far cheaper to run and more reliable than a newer lower mileage pug!

I think that is a common misconception with the more modern French cars.

We have had a series of Scenics and a C3 Picasso, plus a C Max, and the only one that has been a problem is the C Max. The rest have been very reliable with just consumables needed.

Avoid diesels with adblue and reliability should be no worse than their German counterparts.

In fact avoid adblue on any car would be my advice.

[joshcowin]

Monkeylegend said:

C3 Picasso.

What is the 1.6 petrol auto like? Reliable 40ish mpg?

[Monkeylegend]

joshcowin said:

Monkeylegend said:

C3 Picasso.

What is the 1.6 petrol auto like? Reliable 40ish mpg?

We had the pre adblue 1.6 diesel which was averaging 53mpg overall.

Currently looking for a newer petrol but obviously don't expect that to be so good, but in terms of reliability is should be as good as the diesel which has been very reliable.

As far as the automatic box is concerned it doesn't seem to get a good press. I think it might be semi automatic, whatever that means, but I can confirm the manual gearbox drives very well.

They are spacious as well, particularly for load carrying with the back seats down.

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say your friend is well into diesel territory with an annual mileage of 15+k a year, for a family of five you'll want something spacious.

E350cdi Avantgarde:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210030...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201071...

The Infiniti M30d is a good pick:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209300...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234424920836?hash=item3...

[Silvanus]

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say your friend is well into diesel territory with an annual mileage of 15+k a year, for a family of five you'll want something spacious.

E350cdi Avantgarde:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210030...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201071...

The Infiniti M30d is a good pick:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209300...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234424920836?hash=item3...

they've done some mileage

[ZX10R NIN]

Silvanus said:

they've done some mileage

Yep but that's what you get for the OP's budget.

[Silvanus]

ZX10R NIN said:

Silvanus said:

they've done some mileage

Yep but that's what you get for the OP's budget.

Not if you avoid premium brands. You can get a comfortable family car with a very big boot thats low mileage and only a few years old. All depends what your priorities are.

[ZX10R NIN]

Silvanus said:

Not if you avoid premium brands. You can get a comfortable family car with a very big boot thats low mileage and only a few years old. All depends what your priorities are.

If the OP is happy to drop down then the Insignia hit's a lot of the brief:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209109...

[Objective Alpha]

Reliability go for a kia ceed: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210030...

Skoda fabia estate:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209270...

Nissan qashqai
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210010...

Reliability toyota:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207308...


Dacia Logan MCV
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209149...

Fiat 500X
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210020...

Honda Cr-v
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209250...

[Silvanus]

Objective Alpha said:

Reliability go for a kia ceed: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210030...

Skoda fabia estate:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209270...

Nissan qashqai
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210010...

Reliability toyota:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207308...


Dacia Logan MCV
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209149...

Fiat 500X
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210020...

Honda Cr-v
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209250...

Not a bad list, a couple I've mentioned. Much prefer some of those to an old premium car with high mileage.

Another one to add is the Skoda Roomster Scout, this one is on under £4k. The Scout trim improves the looks of what is an unusual looking but very capable car, does much of what the Yeti can do for much less money.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2022092400...

[joshcowin]

Plot twist can be manual!

Thanks so far for all the pointers.

Anyone own cars in the bracket?