Car Advice up to £13k - Page 1 - Car Buying

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 13th July

Hi All!

I am hoping to get some advice / guidance on some of my potential car options.

What I am looking for: a saloon car that is comfortable to drive long distance on the motorway and that is just as comfortable in the back as my partner will sit with our children in the back as well as our father in law in front who has a disability so needs to be comfortable as well, requires the isofix but most cars have that nowadays. I will also need to be able to fit a pram in the boot. I also want to be able to have some more fun with my driving, the previous cars I have had have been; ford ka, VW Up, Nissan micra. I do a lot of driving and want to be able to enjoy my time.

Whilst I have not had a car I have rented a couple, some I have liked more than others ( for example I enjoyed the Mazda cx5 but the boot wasn't big enough), I had originally wanted a Mercedes c200 but I wasn't confident in purchasing some of the ones I had seen.

I have recently seen a Giulia 2019 that had 60k miles and a good service history for 13k with 60k miles, I am aware of some of the issues like the battery and my friend has a Giulietta and goes to alfa workshops and the cost for the services are fairly reasonable I would say. I found the drive extremely fun and much more exciting than some of the others I had tried.

I wanted to get everyones view to see if I would be mad to get the Giulia or here any other suggestions.

I am not looking for a diesel (my partner is very against them), an EV is not viable for us at the moment due to lack of chargers and I don't live somewhere where I can have a home charger. I am not too keen on SUVs but the stelvio did catch my eye.

I also want to enjoy a good petrol car at the moment.

I have had a look at; Toyota Corolla, Lexus, Mazda 3 ( the boot isn't really big enough), Audi A4, my partner doesn't want an estate car,

Thank you for reading and looking forward to the suggestions!

SFTWend

1,418 posts

103 months

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[news]

Monday 13th July

For an enjoyable drive I'd say you've made an excellent choice with the Giulia. Stelvio is basically the same car on stilts and is available as a 4wd.

kiethton

14,616 posts

208 months

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Monday 13th July

I'd be looking at a BMW

3-series - drives the best but not the biggest car in the world (same size as the Alfa mentioned)
5-series - bigger and more comfortable but less sporty, too big?
3 series GT - could be a decent compromise and a clip more practical

edc

9,592 posts

279 months

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Monday 13th July

If a Mazda CX5 boot is too small then a small or mid size saloon isn't going to have a big enough boot.

valiant

14,031 posts

188 months

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[news]

Monday 13th July

Giulia is a great choice.

Alternative a Volvo S60?

New shape within budget and will be comfy if you avoid the sportier trims. Something like a Momentum would be a very comfy long distance cruiser.

Or just get the Alfa. You know you want to wink

Kuwahara

1,507 posts

46 months

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[news]

Monday 13th July

The only car I ever regretted selling was the Giulia Veloce , outstanding vehicles that made nipping out to the shops a joy even.

Everyone to their own but how anybody could pick an A4 over one beats me..

Alex Z

2,053 posts

104 months

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[news]

Monday 13th July

Skoda Superb. Huge boot, loads of rear legroom. Not sure what age/mileage your budget gets though

ZX10R NIN

30,467 posts

153 months

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Tuesday 14th July

macron

13,210 posts

194 months

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Tuesday 14th July

XF yes, esp in Portfolio form, and look out for one with the optional heated rear seats.

XE is dire in the back.

Think the boot is key here tbh, as other poster above said, if a CX5 boot wasn't big enough, most of these won't be.

fflump

3,444 posts

66 months

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[news]

Thursday 16th July

kiethton said:

I'd be looking at a BMW

3-series - drives the best but not the biggest car in the world (same size as the Alfa mentioned)
5-series - bigger and more comfortable but less sporty, too big?
3 series GT - could be a decent compromise and a clip more practical

The 3 series GT has a longer wheelbase so the ride quality is very good. Rear space is fantastic- even better than the equivalent 5 series I believe. Not a car I bonded with though despite its practicality and decent performance in 6 pot diesel guise it lacked the type of character I look for in a car. Objectively very good though.

Ghs

721 posts

5 months

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[news]

Thursday 16th July

Focus st , we recently did 600 +’miles to
Cornwall and back in comfort in a focus , not a st though so I guess there could be a question mark over the ride with a st ,my focus was that comfortable the other 3 in the car slept most of the way down & back , car does everything well , thinking st may also give you the fun factor .

DaveyBoyWonder

3,817 posts

202 months

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[news]

Thursday 16th July

Whats so bad about an estate (especially with kids in pushchairs?). Same length/width but a loads more practical boot for those with small kids (and when those small kids become bigger kids and you need to throw things like balance bikes etc in the back).

Petrol 3 series/C Class/Octavia. None are massive on the outside/to drive but decent boots on all of them.

paddy1970

1,458 posts

137 months

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Thursday 16th July

This... Stop looking at anything else... You will be wasting your time... TOPIC CLOSED

ZX10R NIN

30,467 posts

153 months

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[news]

Thursday 16th July

paddy1970 said:

This... Stop looking at anything else... You will be wasting your time... TOPIC CLOSED

You'll be wanting to make sure the cam variators have been dobe & also check the front suspension bushes as they're very costly.

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

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[news]

Sunday 19th July

thank you for al the replies, for some reason whenever I tried to reply it said I had to wait. I'm enjoying alot of the responses and really appreciate all the info will spend the day looking through!

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

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[news]

Sunday 19th July

DaveyBoyWonder said:

Whats so bad about an estate (especially with kids in pushchairs?). Same length/width but a loads more practical boot for those with small kids (and when those small kids become bigger kids and you need to throw things like balance bikes etc in the back).

Petrol 3 series/C Class/Octavia. None are massive on the outside/to drive but decent boots on all of them.

I don't have a personal issue ! But my wife doesn't think she can drive an estate (or maybe she doesn't want to ) biggrin

- It may end being an estate as there's a high chance there will be a wheel chair and pram now

Edited by lloman218 on Sunday 19th July 09:05

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

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[news]

Sunday 19th July

ZX10R NIN said:

I had went to visit one for 13 but I hadn't bought it as the last owner only had it for 2 months before selling it again, I got a bit overly anxious but yes the closest ones for sale are ~14 - 14.5k now.

thank you so much will look through all of these

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

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[news]

Sunday 19th July

paddy1970 said:

This... Stop looking at anything else... You will be wasting your time... TOPIC CLOSED

NGL would be amazing! smile

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

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[news]

Sunday 19th July

Kuwahara said:

The only car I ever regretted selling was the Giulia Veloce , outstanding vehicles that made nipping out to the shops a joy even.

Everyone to their own but how anybody could pick an A4 over one beats me..

My brother just got a veloce! Very excited to have a spin in it - I found the A4 a bit lacklustre in comparison, just a common recommendation on my needs which is why I looked in

How long did you have your veloce for?

lloman218

Original Poster

9 posts

5 months

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[news]

Sunday 19th July

fflump said:

The 3 series GT has a longer wheelbase so the ride quality is very good. Rear space is fantastic- even better than the equivalent 5 series I believe. Not a car I bonded with though despite its practicality and decent performance in 6 pot diesel guise it lacked the type of character I look for in a car. Objectively very good though.

Any reason why you didn't bond with it in particular? I have never driven a BMW