Which Hyundai i10? 2021, 130k @ £6k or 2014, 77k @ £3k?

[Talay]

I'm looking for a small car for my learner driver daughter. amongst other cars, I have a (from new) Hyundai i10 auto Premium 2024. I thik it is great at what it does and would have no issues in getting another one. However, they are £18k new.

We need a manual and I have seen a few options but two stand out.

2021 (new style) Hyundai i10 with 130k miles for sale at £6k or

2014 (older style) Hyundai i10 with 70k miles for sale at £3k

Is a 1.2L engine that has done 130k miles in 4 years done for ?

Fully serviced (x7), don't know about consumables like disks, pads, tyres etc. but they can be costed.

My head says sure, take the newer model, as it is current spec (near as makes no difference) has all the latest gizmos and safety stuff etc. but 130k miles seems starship miles to me for a car that would traditionally do well under 10k a year.

But the older one is 11 years old.

Thoughts ?

[ChrisH72]

I like the i10.

My thoughts are that you have one car priced at £6k and the other at £3k so you can't compare them really. I'd probably go somewhere between the two.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025021490...

If you get a 2016-17 model it should only be £35 to tax. Sensible mileage too.

Not sure I'd touch one that's done 130k on such a small engine.

[Lester H]

Talay said:

I'm looking for a small car for my learner driver daughter. amongst other cars, I have a (from new) Hyundai i10 auto Premium 2024. I thik it is great at what it does and would have no issues in getting another one. However, they are £18k new.

We need a manual and I have seen a few options but two stand out.

2021 (new style) Hyundai i10 with 130k miles for sale at £6k or

2014 (older style) Hyundai i10 with 70k miles for sale at £3k

Is a 1.2L engine that has done 130k miles in 4 years done for ?

Fully serviced (x7), don't know about consumables like disks, pads, tyres etc. but they can be costed.

My head says sure, take the newer model, as it is current spec (near as makes no difference) has all the latest gizmos and safety stuff etc. but 130k miles seems starship miles to me for a car that would traditionally do well under 10k a year.

But the older one is 11 years old.

Thoughts ?

Well, my choice would be the older one, with a price saving, too. Mileage remains a major indicator of wear and the newer one has been on the road a great deal. When cars corroded far more ,the advice would have been the other way round. Also the older one is not super low on miles like bereavement cars can be, which throws up different problems through lack of use.

[119]

We paid £800 for an immaculate 15 year old low mileage one owner K11 Micra when ours were learning.

It didn't stay immaculate.

[Talay]

ChrisH72 said:

I like the i10.

My thoughts are that you have one car priced at £6k and the other at £3k so you can't compare them really. I'd probably go somewhere between the two.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025021490...

If you get a 2016-17 model it should only be £35 to tax. Sensible mileage too.

Not sure I'd touch one that's done 130k on such a small engine.

I like the i10 as well. I often choose the 2024 model when going into town over my normal bigger SUV and I've driven it plenty on 50 miles trips on the M3 to Southampton and it is absolutely fine, it sits well on the road, feels very secure and though the auto box is rubbish, it is ok if you don't need to thrash it around.

As to the £6k or £3k argument, sorry, I was pigeon holing them together as similar, not quite the same and both more similar to each other than the £18k for a new one.

[66HFM]

My daughter is 17 later this year and I'd personally go for the £3k car, as I'm sure after learning to drive in it and during her first year of driving it would have a number of scrapes etc.

Have you tried any insurance quotes for either as that may help?

[ZX10R NIN]

Talay said:

I'm looking for a small car for my learner driver daughter. amongst other cars, I have a (from new) Hyundai i10 auto Premium 2024. I thik it is great at what it does and would have no issues in getting another one. However, they are £18k new.

We need a manual and I have seen a few options but two stand out.

2021 (new style) Hyundai i10 with 130k miles for sale at £6k or

2014 (older style) Hyundai i10 with 70k miles for sale at £3k

Is a 1.2L engine that has done 130k miles in 4 years done for ?

Fully serviced (x7), don't know about consumables like disks, pads, tyres etc. but they can be costed.

My head says sure, take the newer model, as it is current spec (near as makes no difference) has all the latest gizmos and safety stuff etc. but 130k miles seems starship miles to me for a car that would traditionally do well under 10k a year.

But the older one is 11 years old.

Thoughts ?

Go for the 3k car.

[Talay]

66HFM said:

My daughter is 17 later this year and I'd personally go for the £3k car, as I'm sure after learning to drive in it and during her first year of driving it would have a number of scrapes etc.

Have you tried any insurance quotes for either as that may help?

Insurance is £500/600. Got 2 options plus I could get her onto the business policy at a push. That is adding her to one of my policies.

As to the car, I'm not concerned about any scrapes etc. but rather one is a much newer and better car albeit with high miles and the other is 11 years old.

I wish I'd never put the cost in the question as I'm not looking to save £3k.

[Talay]

ZX10R NIN said:

Go for the 3k car.

Saving £3k is not the issue.

It is whether a well serviced 1.2L car can still be reliable after 130k miles.

[ChrisH72]

Talay said:

Saving £3k is not the issue.

It is whether a well serviced 1.2L car can still be reliable after 130k miles.

Not an easy one to answer. It's very unusual for such a small car with a small engine to cover over 30k miles a year. Who would do that anyway?

I bought a 3 year old Fiesta ST with 67k miles and to be honest couldn't believe how the previous owner could stand to do all those motorway miles in it. Great car but certainly not built for comfort on long journeys.

Have you checked its MOT status? A 2021 car should have had at least one MOT now.

Ir might be fine, especially if it's not going to do many miles from here on. But personally if money isn't an issue I'd just up the budget and get a less leggy one.

Don't forget to look at the Kia Picanto as well. 7 year warranty so you'd be covered for any problems.

[Talay]

ChrisH72 said:

Not an easy one to answer. It's very unusual for such a small car with a small engine to cover over 30k miles a year. Who would do that anyway?

I bought a 3 year old Fiesta ST with 67k miles and to be honest couldn't believe how the previous owner could stand to do all those motorway miles in it. Great car but certainly not built for comfort on long journeys.

Have you checked its MOT status? A 2021 car should have had at least one MOT now.

Ir might be fine, especially if it's not going to do many miles from here on. But personally if money isn't an issue I'd just up the budget and get a less leggy one.

Don't forget to look at the Kia Picanto as well. 7 year warranty so you'd be covered for any problems.

You echo many of my questions and thanks for the comparison.

MOT is fine, 7 dealer services, waiting to hear back about brakes, discs, timing chain, gearbox and diff services etc.

I phoned the dealer who is advertising these cars (there are about 5 of them) and they were apparently "company cars" but they must have been for fairly lowly people as no sales rep would do 500+ miles a week, 100 miles a day in such a car day in and day out.

The longest journey I did in it was about a 100 mile round trip and to be fair, it handles it fine, though I'd never prefer it for such a journey over my bigger cars.

The Kia example is a great one too but Toyota (10 year warranty), Kia (7 year) and Hyundai (5 year0 all top out at 100k miles, whether in 7 years or 1 year.

Upping the budget creates another problem. A brand new i10 Premium is about £17k so by the time you get to £10k, you're still dealing with 4 or 5 year old cars and if you get to 1 or 2 yar old cars they want so near to the discounted RRP that you might as well buy new and get the full warranty, breakdown etc.

I have some vans in my business and you start to get concerned after about 100k. Endless engine lights, unfixable DPF issues, cooking fans, even needing to reskim heads etc. all issues I don't want in a car ....

[wyson]

What about getting 4 or 5 year old Kia Picanto that is still under warranty.
Seeing quite a few on autotrader for £7k to £8k with less than 40k miles.

Both your Hyundais are beyond the design limits of the components, either time or mileage, so will need a fair bit of maintenance.

A newer car under warranty should be less hassle in terms of maintenance and stuff breaking.

[andy43]

Do check the insurance out for once she’s passed. We got a 2016 Skoda Citigo Monte Carlo in 2020 based on what was cheapest to insure - still got it as a runaround five years later - zero problems apart from tyres, oil etc, DIY replacement of discs and pads on the front plus lubing the cable gear change when it got a bit sticky. You’d hope a Kia would be as reliable… compared to a Fiat 500 I know of that was bought for the same purpose we’ve saved a fortune.

[scot_aln]

Around us I've seen 2 users of these as company cars. Molly maid and a care assistant company. The latter do seem to get around a lot and in a 365 day use case like that it's only 80 miles a day. Horrid stop start, short journey miles though. Guess depends what usage and for whom the one you are looking at has had.

[Talay]

wyson said:

What about getting 4 or 5 year old Kia Picanto that is still under warranty.
Seeing quite a few on autotrader for £7k to £8k with less than 40k miles.

Both your Hyundais are beyond the design limits of the components, either time or mileage, so will need a fair bit of maintenance.

A newer car under warranty should be less hassle in terms of maintenance and stuff breaking.

Good points on being past the design limits, thanks.

[Talay]

scot_aln said:

Around us I've seen 2 users of these as company cars. Molly maid and a care assistant company. The latter do seem to get around a lot and in a 365 day use case like that it's only 80 miles a day. Horrid stop start, short journey miles though. Guess depends what usage and for whom the one you are looking at has had.

That sort of job, lower paid, so lower quality "company" car would seem a decent deduction on how they got so many miles on the clock.

I know from our medium sized vans (before we switched to Nissan with a 5 year warranty) the argument was whether we should chop them at the 3 year point because they were likely to go wrong and were out of warranty or to persevere and pay for maintenance which got ever more expensive.

I'd buy a Toyota and get an effective 10 year warranty but you're looking at £25/30k.

[paul_c123]

IMHO mileage is a better indicator of remaining life left on a car/amount of wear etc/likelihood of things needing replacing. And 2014 isn't THAT old in car terms; so on the choice of the two in the OP I'd go for the 77k 2014 car.

But I don't understand why they've chosen these two to compare against, if one is £6000 and the other £3000. It makes sense, if you have £6k, to put that to the car and buy the best they can for the money. I can kind of understand why you'd want to choose the 86bhp 1.2 over the 65bhp 1.0, but its a small car and the 1.0 would be adequate. It opens up the choice much more broadly. And also for the i10, look at the spec too because some of the lower end models are really poorly equipped budget cars.

So, go for reasonable spec, don't worry about the engine, low-ish miles and as new as possible.

Auto Trader has a decent search engine so I'll leave it there instead of making a bunch of suggestions and links.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

130k miles on a 4yr old small car? It's an ex learner car!

Why not a Micra, Aygo, 107, Fit/Jazz, etc etc?

[Talay]

paul_c123 said:

IMHO mileage is a better indicator of remaining life left on a car/amount of wear etc/likelihood of things needing replacing. And 2014 isn't THAT old in car terms; so on the choice of the two in the OP I'd go for the 77k 2014 car.

But I don't understand why they've chosen these two to compare against, if one is £6000 and the other £3000. It makes sense, if you have £6k, to put that to the car and buy the best they can for the money. I can kind of understand why you'd want to choose the 86bhp 1.2 over the 65bhp 1.0, but its a small car and the 1.0 would be adequate. It opens up the choice much more broadly. And also for the i10, look at the spec too because some of the lower end models are really poorly equipped budget cars.

So, go for reasonable spec, don't worry about the engine, low-ish miles and as new as possible.

Auto Trader has a decent search engine so I'll leave it there instead of making a bunch of suggestions and links.

I already have a 2024 1.2L Premium Auto and there is a great deal of difference between the 1.0L and the 1.2L engines. The 1.2L is now downrated to 79hp I think as of the 2024 model (from late 2024). I have the slightly more powerful one from May 2024. The 1.2L is also 4 cylinders compared to the 1.0L's 3 cylinders.

Spec wise the lower versions are actually very decently specced these days but if you want climate control over manual air conditioning and heated seats, steering,etc. then you need to get up to Advance or Premium specification.

There is, however, a far greater specification variance once you get into older cars.

[Talay]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

130k miles on a 4yr old small car? It's an ex learner car!

Why not a Micra, Aygo, 107, Fit/Jazz, etc etc?

Could be ex learner for sure. It has to be something where the size and original cost has relevance as you;re not getting a decent sales rep to drive up and down the country in one of these !

130k in 4 years is 32k a year so at 48 weeks that's 677 a week or 113 a day on a 6 day week. That could fit with a learner car I guess ?

Why not the others ? the Aygo is crap, feels like it is made of thin tin sheets, Honda are more expensive at every level, Peugeot are French and I'd not really considered the Micra - I'll have a look.

I guess the fact that we already have an i10 and like it made looking for one of them an easy proposition.