10K Petrol Car

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 20:10
10K Petrol Car - Moxo

Hi everyone!

I really need your advice to buy a car.

My budget is 10K and I am expecting to drive 8.000 miles/year. Ideally, I am planning to keep the car until it celebrates 10 years/100.000 miles and then I will sell it or use it as part exchange. The car must be reliable and cheap to run with low depreciation over the years. Comfort, performance and equipment are extras that I value but they are not essential.

I've been thinking about these cars:

Honda Civic 1.8 SE Plus

Seat Leon 1.4 TSI FR

What do you guys recommend? I don't mind to have an older or smaller car but they must match my preferences. All I want is trouble free until I sell it again for the highest price possible.

Edited by Moxo on 15/10/2018 at 20:15

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 21:41
10K Petrol Car - badbusdriver

Neither of the 2 cars you mention are known for low depreciation, but given you plan to keep it for 10 years, i'm not sure why that should be a factor with a £10k car?. Thinking of cars which depreciate slowly, there aren't many which I would also think of as reliable, at least not over a decade.

Out of your 2 choices, for 10 years of reliable service, I'd go with the Honda. Not that the Seat is unreliable, but over that length of time, the simplicity of the Honda's n/a engine is likely to to prove more so.

Edited by badbusdriver on 15/10/2018 at 21:42

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 22:02
10K Petrol Car - Big John

" I am planning to keep the car until it celebrates 10 years/100.000 miles and then I will sell it or use it as part exchange. The car must be reliable and cheap to run with low depreciation over the years. "

" All I want is trouble free until I sell it again for the highest price possible."

I'm sorry after 10 years and 100,000 miles anything you buy for £10k won't be worth much.

I usually buy something for about £10k (in my case last time a 14 month old 2014 Superb tsi with 14k miles) and plan to effectively throw away after 10 years (I do more miles though - 15,000 a year). Previous was a 2003 Superb 1.9pd at 18 months for just over £8k ran for 10 years and 160k miles. Got just over £800 for it when I sold it (main dealer offered £300!)

I'm a fan of the 1.4tsi though. Pulls amazingly well, effortless cruising (tallish 6th gear/overdrive) and surprisingly good real life economy (mine is sitting at an average of 45.7 mpg in the time I've owned it)

Civic 1.8 very good indeed though - except for me it doesn't suit my size.

The best way is to buy a newer higher depreciator (most is lost from new to nearly new!). I always go for newer rather than lower miles. My last one was cheap as it was the last of a model which I think is the best time to buy this sort of car (as well as cheaper - any model issues have been ironed out)

Edited by Big John on 15/10/2018 at 22:30

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 22:03
10K Petrol Car - SLO76
You have the luxury of not really having to worry about depreciation here as you’re intention to keep it until it’s a decade old and upwards of 100k means that anything you could buy will be pretty much worthless anyway. The difference will be minor.

That said with longterm ownership and reliability in mind I’d be focusing on Japanese brands with the Honda Civic 1.8, Toyota Auris 1.2T and Mazda 3 2.0 Skyactiv at the top of the list. All three will no doubt be utterly reliable and offer decent economy and space. The Mazda is a generation ahead of the other two and drives better, it’s where my money would go if all things were equal. In particular a 2.0 SE-L Nav in metallic red.

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 23:11
10K Petrol Car - Moxo

I think I didn't explain myself well.

This is the scenario:

I am buying a car with 3 years old and 50.000 miles. My idea is to keep the car until it's 10 years old or 100.000 miles whichever come first ( 7 years or 50.000 miles) and sell it for a reasonable price (if it's still worth some money).

Which way will I lose less money? Buying a newer car or older car (let's say 6 years old)?

Should I be worried with the technology on these new cars? Like turbos, electronic systems, etc? I guess Japanese cars are by far more reliable but I didn't want to make a decision before I get your opinion.

Thanks all

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 23:50
10K Petrol Car - Big John

Which way will I lose less money? Buying a newer car or older car (let's say 6 years old)?

You will usually loose less money re depreciation on older cars (some on this forum are fans of bangernomics) but this can be rather offset with repair costs which can be more than the car is worth.

Due to a lengthy commute I've explored varous ways of funding a suitable reliable car.

I ran a six year old 1990 Passat(£3750) with over 100k miles which was falling to bits after a further four years(170k by then).

I ran an 18 month old 2003 Superb (£8200) for a further 10 years (over 165k miles) - and it's still going strong under new ownership (still original battery , exhaust and clutch!)

In between I also bought a bargain new 2001 Octavia (£9000 - right time right place!) that is hard to compare as we kept for 17 years (my son has it now) but my wife took it over doing much lower mileage in 2005 (now 125k miles)

For me the newer car turned out a bit cheaper.

Edited by Big John on 16/10/2018 at 00:37

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Tue 16 Oct 2018 06:52
10K Petrol Car - SLO76
The less value in the car to start with then the less value there is to lose. Buy something at £3k like an older Honda Civic 1.8 or Mazda 3 1.6 and it’s possible to have minimal depreciation. But the older the car the higher the ongoing repair and maintenance costs will likely be.

For longterm use like this is stick with your plan to buy something Japanese 3-4yrs old and keep til it’s 10yrs or 100k. Accept that anything you buy will have little value left but again normally aspirated Japanese models will sell best at the end. As with any car bought on a budget it’s best to keep things as simple as possible so yes while turbocharged modern engines can be reliable you are adding complexity and increasing the likelihood of problems as the car ages.

I’d avoid anything complex, stay clear of prestige brands, forget automated manual gearboxes like VW’s DSG and leave turbo diesels and small capacity turbos like Ford’s Ecoboost and Renault’s TCe’s. The previous shortlist is your best bet for the budget.
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Tue 16 Oct 2018 15:11
10K Petrol Car - Moxo

What about kia and hyundai? I30, i20 and ceed are real bargains. Are they any good?

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Tue 16 Oct 2018 15:31
10K Petrol Car - skidpan

I've been thinking about these cars:

Honda Civic 1.8 SE Plus

Seat Leon 1.4 TSI FR

We had a Leon 1.4 TSi for almost 4 years and it was a brilliant car. Enjoyed driving it every time we went out in it and even after 430 mles in a day (8 hours driving) were were still feeling fresh. the car was 100% reliable but it was nowhere near your 100,000 miles. Over those 4 years it averaged a true 45 mpg and on a long run would just tip over 50 mpg.

We had a Civic 1.8 at work and whilst it was 100% reliable to the 150,000 disposal age it was not a terribly well liked car. Problem was the noisy engine due to the gearing, not relaxed on a long drive and most of our drives tended to be long. Economy was OK but not as good as the Leon.

What about kia and hyundai? I30, i20 and ceed are real bargains. Are they any good?

We had a Ceed from 2010 to 2105 but it was a diesel. Again 100% reliable. We test drove a petrol before we bought the diesel and it was poor. No real go unless you gave it some right foot and loads of revs. Fine in town but wearing if you wanted to press on, just like the Civic. Reported mpg figures for the car on the Kia forum were not great, low 30's were the norm. The newer 1.0 GDI-T is probably better but not tried one.

As for long term reliabillity we used to keep cars much longer and for higher milages. Never had any major issues. Examples are Nissan Bluebird, 7 years and 85,000 miles. Body quite rusty and suspension very slack by that age but other than a gearbox bearing (common issue) and an exhaust no issues. Golf 7 years and 113,000 miles. At 7 years the body was still perfect and mechanically it was still tight. Prior to 100,000 miles I had replaced rear brake caliper, a battery and a rear exhaust box. Another Golf, 7 years and 70,000 miles. replaced a rear exhaust box.

All our cars are regularly serviced to the manufacturers schedule. Cars which are said to only need an oil change every 20,000 miles or 2 years are still treated to an annual change using my Pela oil extractor. Look after the car and it will look after you.

We have a Skoda Superb with the 1.4 TSi engine and again this engine is absolutely magic. The car is actually more economical than the Seat Leon probably becuase its a newer version with cylinder shut off. I thought it was a gimic (like stop/start) but more convinced about it now.

If I were you I would also consider the Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSi but only the hatch. Its the same car underneath as the Leon but bigger inside and in the boot than the Leon for about the same price. Experience so far is Skoda dealers are better than Seat. I say get the hatch simply because althought the estate is more versatile its also very noisy, tried 3 and all were the same, the hatch was fine.

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Tue 16 Oct 2018 17:15
10K Petrol Car - Big John

What about kia and hyundai? I30, i20 and ceed are real bargains. Are they any good?

If petrol some of the engines feel sluggish except I was fairly impressed with a friends 2012 1.6 auto - whilst not a sports car it pulled wll and was very refined. The auto box was a bullet proof tourque converter one - it was reasonably economical as well (late 30's/low 40's).

I think they moved to a complex twin clutch auto on a later model though.

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Tue 16 Oct 2018 19:31
10K Petrol Car - Big John

Forgot to mention "i30" 1.6 auto

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