Car for my girlfriend - £5,000 budget

[LosingGrip]

My girlfriend has a 2012 Micra currently. It’s well specced but a few things are starting to go wrong and she’s losing confidence in it.

She’s thinking of getting a new car in October/November time.

Her criteria is...

£5,000
Similar size to her Micra
Nothing too powerful (insurance is an issue for her at 23). 1.2/1.4 is ideal.
Manual or automatic (she hasn’t driven an auto before but likes the idea).
Petrol
Well specced (she wants a built in satnav, air con at least)
Newer than what she has now.

A car for her is just to get around. She doesn’t like driving at all.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

I’m thinking a Fiesta could be a good shout.

[timberman]

Daughter had a VW High UP from age 19, owned for 3 1/2 years till she replaced it last year

It had sat nav, air con, leccy windows + mirrors, heated seats and a big glass sunroof.

insurance was cheap, it averaged well over 50 mpg, was 100% reliable and even an enjoyable drive.

should easily get one for £5K

[MOMACC]

Mrs has had her corsa for 3 years with no issues.
£160 pm PCP on a 1 + 47
She's upgrading to the new model this year.
Suits her literally going from A-B mon - fri
Basic but good motor in my eyrs

[davek_964]

G/f's daughter was looking at Fiestas last year but ended up with Nissan Pulsar. Hers was more than your budget (think it was about £7k from a dealer but that was for a 2017 car). Very high spec compared to Fiestas - dual zone climate, auto lights / wipers, discs all round, cruise. Really impressive and she's had no issues yet.

[Deerfoot]

LosingGrip said:

My girlfriend has a 2012 Micra currently. It’s well specced but a few things are starting to go wrong and she’s losing confidence in it.

She’s thinking of getting a new car in October/November time.

Her criteria is...

£5,000
Similar size to her Micra
Nothing too powerful (insurance is an issue for her at 23). 1.2/1.4 is ideal.
Manual or automatic (she hasn’t driven an auto before but likes the idea).
Petrol
Well specced (she wants a built in satnav, air con at least)
Newer than what she has now.

A car for her is just to get around. She doesn’t like driving at all.

My wife has a Yaris Hybrid, £0 tax, 50+ mpg all day every day, auto, nav, climate etc.

It’s utterly painless (and joyless) to own but as transport for someone who sees driving as a chore they’re pretty good.

I’ve just been offered £4750 for it (14 plate on 70,000 miles) so you should be able to get one in budget..

[mbwoy84]

Buy the best spec/condition Petrol engined Fiesta you can for the money. Nothing else will be as good!

[Pistonsquirter]

Doubt you'd get anything more reliable than the Micra.. Fix the Micra?

[LosingGrip]

Pistonsquirter said:

Doubt you'd get anything more reliable than the Micra.. Fix the Micra?

It’s been very reliable. Passed its MOTs in the last four years that she’s owned it apart from the last one which needed a bit of work doing to it (bushes of the top of my head).

It died in her after work but a new battery (old one was leaking it appears) has sorted that out.

But she’s lost confidence in it. I would personally keep it as it’s cheap.

Thanks for the suggestions. We shall have a look at what is local to us .

[si_xsi]

Fiat 500 comes well specced if you get one of the special editions.

Mini one

VW Beetle but may struggle with newer than 2012.

[Macneil]

I love driving Mrs M's fiesta, no Satnav though, 2014 was £6k 18months ago

[ChrisH72]

Can you get built in Nav in a Fiesta for £5k?

My ST3 has it but in all honesty a smart phon app is better.

[Ziplobb]

Fiat 500
everyone says they are bullet proof. Story goes our local franchise stopped selling because they were not making enough out servicing and fixing 500s and Pandas of which there are loads on the Isle of Wight. I run a Panda for the kids and its pennies to keep it on the road.

[ZX10R NIN]

The Peugeot 208 GT Line/XY or Feline are a very good car & come well spec'd DAB/Parking Sensors/Xenons/Bluetooth Streaming/ Pano Roof/Half leather etc

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101087...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010285...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012237...

GT Line

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103049...

XY

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103110...

[soad]

ChrisH72 said:

My ST3 has it but in all honesty a smart phon app is better.

Waze?

[colin79666]

Add Suzuki Swift to the list. Generally very reliable and nearly as good to drive as a Fiesta.

[J6542]

Try a Mazda 2. I used to really enjoy driving my wife’s one.

[Pistonsquirter]

TBH as soon as I saw the £5k budget I clicked with the intention to suggest an early 2.5L 986 Porsche Boxster.. £5k will get you a good one. My misses was fairly keen when I suggested same to her (maintained by me)..

[J8 SVG]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102249...

Sat-navs in cheap cars are rubbish and usually out of date - get a decent phone holder and a charging cable

[Pistonsquirter]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/porsche-boxster-986/333...