Boring car purchase time. sportage, tuscon or qashqai?

[richard at home]

My old Focus TDCI has 202k on it now, so looking for something newer to replace it.

1-3 year old Hyundai Tuscon, Kia sportage or Nissan Qashqai seem to be the go to mid size SUV that I see driving about everywhere.

The Nissan e-power sounds like a good idea. Is it?

The other two need to by hybrid to get some reasonable shove.

Sadly none will match the MPG of my old Focus, but a plug in hybrid might, as I can charge at home and we do a lot of short 10-50 mile trips with the odd longer distance run every month or so.

Looking at prices, they all seem to lose 20% the moment they leave the forecourt and then hold steady for 2-3 years. I've seen sub 30k mile 2024 cars for only a few grand more than a 2021.

I'm a bit wary of any car with an engine of less than 1.5 litre capacity and I'm don't think I want to go full EV, although I do like the look of the Kia EV6 GT...

Will any car built in the last 5 years be as reliable as my old Ford Smoker? I doubt it, but that's progress I suppose... Bought it at one year old in 2010 for 10k with 9k on the clock. Let me down once, but it is certainly getting a bit tired now.

Any other cars worth looking at? Mazda CX range? Ford Kuga?

[dmsims]

Suzuki Across / Rav 4 plugin

[Trevor555]

dmsims said:

Suzuki Across / Rav 4 plugin

Good cars, that's where my money would go.

[uktrailmonster]

richard at home said:

My old Focus TDCI has 202k on it now, so looking for something newer to replace it.

1-3 year old Hyundai Tuscon, Kia sportage or Nissan Qashqai seem to be the go to mid size SUV that I see driving about everywhere.

The Nissan e-power sounds like a good idea. Is it?

The other two need to by hybrid to get some reasonable shove.

Sadly none will match the MPG of my old Focus, but a plug in hybrid might, as I can charge at home and we do a lot of short 10-50 mile trips with the odd longer distance run every month or so.

Looking at prices, they all seem to lose 20% the moment they leave the forecourt and then hold steady for 2-3 years. I've seen sub 30k mile 2024 cars for only a few grand more than a 2021.

I'm a bit wary of any car with an engine of less than 1.5 litre capacity and I'm don't think I want to go full EV, although I do like the look of the Kia EV6 GT...

Will any car built in the last 5 years be as reliable as my old Ford Smoker? I doubt it, but that's progress I suppose... Bought it at one year old in 2010 for 10k with 9k on the clock. Let me down once, but it is certainly getting a bit tired now.

Any other cars worth looking at? Mazda CX range? Ford Kuga?

As you can charge from home and used EVs are now a bargain I wouldn t be mincing around with crappy mundane ICE powered cars. Go and test drive that EV6 GT or even the base model and you will see what I mean.

[andy43]

Trevor555 said:

dmsims said:

Suzuki Across / Rav 4 plugin

Good cars, that's where my money would go.

Or the Corolla/Swace if you’d prefer an estate.
Hyundai/Kia are good but reliability wise I’d bet the Toyota drivetrain still comes out on top.

[CG2020UK]

I’m team Tuscon of the cars mentioned.

I’d advise trying a Tesla Model Y. Tesla do no questions asked test drives where they don’t apply any sales pressure.

[WPA]

Mazda CX30 is well worth a look

[CMTMB]

For a boring, reliable and economical car purchase it's got to be a Toyota (or the Suzuki badged versions)

My wife just handed back her Rav 4 PHEV company car, 60k quite hard miles in 3 years and obviously it had zero problems. 50+mpg without charging, 45 mile EV range, 0-60 in about 6 seconds. Not in any way rewarding to drive, but a fantastic family bus.

[RizzoTheRat]

dmsims said:

Suzuki Across / Rav 4 plugin

Also the Lexus NX is on the same platform. I'm not sure how common the Rav4 plugin was at the age the OP's looking at so there's probably a lot more Across around for the budget.

My NX is pushing 50mpg cruising on the motorway with a flat battery, which is pretty good for a nearly 2 tonne car IMO, and I get around 60km EV range. If you get an NX or Rav4 serviced at a main dealer they'll run the warranty out to 10 years (and 15 years on PHEV batteries with a yearly health check). I'd guess Suzuki probably do similar as it's the same platform. So its worth checking the service history and warranty status if buying second hand.

[chip*]

RizzoTheRat said:

Also the Lexus NX is on the same platform. I'm not sure how common the Rav4 plugin was at the age the OP's looking at so there's probably a lot more Across around for the budget.

My NX is pushing 50mpg cruising on the motorway with a flat battery, which is pretty good for a nearly 2 tonne car IMO, and I get around 60km EV range. If you get an NX or Rav4 serviced at a main dealer they'll run the warranty out to 10 years (and 15 years on PHEV batteries with a yearly health check). I'd guess Suzuki probably do similar as it's the same platform. So its worth checking the service history and warranty status if buying second hand.

If the OP car ownership is long term, the 10 years warranty on both Lexus / Toyota is a huge positive. Additionally, the hybrid battery and related components are covered for another 5 years! How many other car manufacturer offer 15 years warranty on their hybrid battery systems!!
To obtain this for a Lexus, you can simply pay £59 for a hybrid health check (I just did this on my 12 years old Lexus GS300h), and for a Toyota, I believe you have to actually service the car at a Toyota dealer.

One downside though, check the insurance premium first on the modern Lexus/ Toyota as they are very popular with car thief.