I agree - given the very high price of cars at the moment, it would be far better to get a reliable 'ordinary' car (e.g. the KIA Ceed with the boxy rear end and remainder of the 7 year warranty) than those two suggested.

I'd also go for the absoluate lowest trim spec you need (heated seats are more of a nice to have luxury unless you live in remote northerly/costal parts of the UK that regularly get very cold winters) and get the newest car that gets you, in order to get the more efficient, reliable one - and possibly (e.g. with the KIAs [7yr] or Hyundai [5yr]) manufactuer's warranties still in effect for over a year.

Whatever you whittle your initial list down to, make sure you see if the boot can take all your things you would like to fit in it and do a thorough test drive - not just a short one at 30mph around the locale - to get a good sense of how it feels, comfort, etc, making sure the seat and steering wheel are adjusted as best you can in order to give the most representative driving experience.

Poor driving comfort often only occurs via longer drives and/or on fast-ish flowing country roads with frequent changes of direction.

If you must have an auto this time, consider (as the car will be used, and you are unlikely to know how the previous owner(s) drove it) ones that either have a torque converter (Mazdas, Fords [not the Powershift DCTs], Vauxhalls, Peugeots - highly reliable but are less efficient) or high quality CVT (Toyota, Honda [not the i-Shift], not Nissan [unreliable IMHO]) automatic gearboxes.

Dual clutch [DCTs] 'automatic' gearboxes are really only reliable if used on faster flowing roads, i.e. not slow stop-start urban traffic, which wears out the clutch packs as the clutch is in a manual transmission car. As such, buying secondhand cannot guarantee reliability of a DCT gearbox - it may be that the previous owner sold it because the DCT box's clutch pack was beginning to wear.

Of the more affordable cars, Hyundai and KIA seemingly use the most reliable DCT box.

Those first two auto box types (TC and CVT) are far better suited to urban work reliability and drive-wise.

I also agree with eleckie that petrol is best unless you're going to be doing mileages well over 20,000pa - like with DCT gearboxes, modern second hand diesels are rather a lottery on reliability, because they are designed for use on faster flowing roads but often used for short urban trips from cold, which cause problems with the emissions systems like the DPF and fuel dilution.

Most Focus sized petrol cars are quite efficient these days. If you can choose one with a manual gearbox, it gives you far more choice of makes as most have decent reliability if well maintained.

Edited by Engineer Andy on 24/07/2022 at 13:55

The Juke, at least on paper, has a smaller boot that your Yaris (251 litres vs either 272 on the older car or 286 for the newer shape). On top of that, there will probably be less rear seat space than your Yaris (certainly no more).

The Yeti is appreciably bigger in all respects, but reliability as an auto (DSG) is going to be down to luck. As a manual?, yes, go for it. Your budget could get you into a 1.2 turbo petrol as young as 2017. Alternatively (sticking with Skoda), you could get into a Fabia estate with the 1.0 turbo petrol as young as 2019.

For an auto with your requirements, i'd be thinking of a Honda Civic estate myself (1.8 petrol auto). Not physically that big, but huge boot (624 litres) and (not being an SUV) the distance from boot to ground is not that big making it much easier for the dogs to get in and out, and of course, very reliable.

Other (automatic) possibles are Vauxhall Zafira Tourer 1.4 turbo, Toyota Verso 1.6/1.8, Mazda 5 1.8/2.0. These would all be 7 seaters, but fold the rears down and you've plenty of dog space.

Off the top of my head, the only smaller SUV I'd consider as an auto which (should, 430 litres) fit your dogs as long as they are not huge (what breed are they?) is the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross. Your budget would (just) get you into the newer shape with the 1.0 turbo engine.