Older Volvo (or similar) or newer family car?

[ChrisIRL]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy my first car. I'm living in a city in Switzerland and have never, and still don't need a car. The car would be for occasional trips, mostly within a couple of hours drive, and maybe a weekly supermarket shop, not as a daily commuter.
I'm 41 now and got my license last year. I've lived abroad since I was 24 and before that, drove for a couple of years on a provisional licence.

My main concern would be that I buy something that turns out to be a money pit. I have a budget of CHF3000, which converts to about GBP2800. However everything is expensive in Switzerland, so I would estimate this equates to roughly GBP2000 in terms of buying power.

I don't have kids but I still like the idea of having a fair bit of space.
I'm drawn towards and early 2000s Volvo.
I just saw a Volvo S60 2.5T AWD from 2005, 143k miles, recently passed MOT. CHF2800 (so within budget)

Would this fit the bill as a fairly reliable, not too expensive to maintain car? Or are there other similar models which be better?
I'm not overly concerned about fuel consumption.
I'm also not fussed about speed or power. I got around in my mother's 2010 hyundai i10 when I visited home and managed ok! Although a (fair) bit more power than that would be good!

Would it be a safer bet to go for a newer more 'boring' medium size car like a corolla or focus, with lower milage?

I'm open to all suggestions. ChatGPT came up with;
VW golf
Toyota corolla or yaris
Skoda Octavia
Mazda

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Chris

[dhutch]

I wouldn't really worry about millage especially if you are not doing many miles, and I would rather by a car with 150k and daily use, than a car thats done 50k overall but sat for a year and or missed service intervals.

My experience as someone who dailys a 25yo E45 330ci on 180k miles is none of the failures are millage related.
- Rubber components getting end of life is a thing, coolant hoses, window trim etc.
- Rust of the wheel arches and underside is a thing, two years ago it had to have new cills at a cost which basically wrote it off.
- It is on its third clutch, and I guess that is millage related, but also I have a narrow and somewhat steep gravel drive to reverse up which doenst help.
- Water ingress around the rear lights has a thing currently.

I also have a 2008 1.6tdci Fiesta with 120k miles on the drive, and that has had multiple rain water ingress issues which is common with them it appear, failed seam sealer etc, but the most recent and biggest one was blocked scuttle drains because it lives under a tree so thats on me as much as the car. It has also had a new turbo fairly recently but it wasnt mad expensive.

Whats the budget? At £3000 sort of price almost anything could have an issue, but might well be totally fine.

I prefer sitting in a older higher spec car, and a larger engine is nice if mpg isnt an major issue, I also love sitting in the wifes 5yo Volvo V60 II
Else at the other end of the spectrum, the Peugeot 107/C1 is a very durable inexpensive car if a touch small for long motoway drive.

VW golf is a good car, front wing rust badly on some models.
Toyota Corolla or Yaris is going to hard to go too wrong with.
Skoda Octavia also very good, MIL has a gen3 and we nearly bought a Gen4 before getting the V60.