Two comments.

1. My understanding Hybrids are actually the best option for people like me as they most benefit innercity drivers, meaning short distances, slower speeds and lots of starts/stops.

2. Its 3000-5000 now, but that could change. My office recently moved which has made my commute over 90 mins by train now. I am toying with the idea of taking the car. I also plan to be visiting family whom live on the coast more frequennly (about 4 hours away). I am anticipating my future needs.

3. I did look at the Mazda CX-5. The issue is Mazda is not as present in France as say Toyota or Honda are.

4. The reason I am looking at Hybrid, the French Government really has a thorn in its backside about eliminating pure combustion engines. Its going to start next year with old Diesels but by 2040 it will be the end of all fuel-only cars. In the interim they are talking about emissions tax, traffic tax (like in London) etc and Hybrid get except from that. The demand is just going down, and I want something more future proof.

Plus they are offering rebates/tax write offs on Hybrids. Yes they cost alot more, I am mindful of that but I also plan for this to be my last car until it dies.

But back to my question: How many KM should I be looking for in a used 5 year old SUV? 40,000KM, 80,0000KM more/less?

Seems a lot of cash to drive 3000k a year.

It certainly does!

It makes financial sense for low milers to buy a car which has done much of its depreciation. The OP's best bet is a three or four year old car with around 50,000 miles on the clock. It will probably have been used by a high miler rep, and is likely to have been well maintained. With only a few subsequent thousand miles a year the mechanicals should easily last another ten years and 50,000 more miles without large bills, unless very unlucky. I would look for a petrol engined estate car rather than an SUV - ideal for kids and their cargo. We had twenty years and over 400,000 busy family miles out of a couple of used VW Passat estates (combined cost considerably less than £20K), so it is hardly surprising that I would suggest considering one; a three year old would be well within the OP's generous budget.

P S just realised the OP lives in France - I would probably look for a Peugeot estate!

Edited by John F on 11/05/2021 at 15:45

So 50000 miles (about 60000 KM) 3-4 years old.

Sounds perfect. Thanks

Not big on station-wagons (what we call Estates in America). They are a pain to parallel park in the Paris suburbs and inner city and I prefer the higher ride of of the SUV.

I do like Peugeots,like the 308. You could tempt me into a 2nd Gen 3008 though, IF the price was right. Maybe even a Renault Kadjar. I prefer Japanese though.

The Hybrid 3008s still cost a pretty penny though.

(Yes I live in France) So given this, what do you suggest?

My untutored impression is that the French used-car market works differently from ours - the French regard cars in a much more utilitarian manner. They don't go for bright colours and they seem to spend less on cosmetic maintenance. So their depreciation formula may seem unfamiliar to us here.

I owned a about 10 years back which after a few more years with someone in Lancashire was bought by a gentleman from Nice, who drove it back there. Apparently there are simply none left in France.

I wonder if our regular M. Focussed might comment ?

I just checked a used car website here - autoscout24.fr and there are 44 205 convertibles on offer!

The second listed is a 1987 1.6 on 169000 km (105,000 miles) from a dealer at €13,900 !!!

Perhaps the reason the guy from Nice bought one from the UK is the stupid prices dealers ask for cars over here!

Edit -I just remembered that as the example I quoted as it is over 30 years old it only needs an MOT every 5 years and the insurance will be silly cheap. And the registration tax will be near to zero if its registered as a vehicule epoque.

Edited by focussed on 13/05/2021 at 11:23