Best auto for £5-6k Budget

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Fri 10 Mar 2023 16:17
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Richard Bulmer

my aging Wagon R+ went boom xmas eve. so i am looking to replace it. with everything going on in the world right now, i am looking for cheap to run, cheap serviceability, high mpg, huge boot. so maybe an estate, maybe an suv. I would like to be able to carry a couple of bikes, either on the roof, or a towbar rack.

a manual is out of the question, as i have an permanently injured arm due to nerve damage

what would be your suggestions.

A second question is this. when looking on autotrader, using the 50+mpg search option. why are all the cars in the list euro?

why are the asians so bad at mpg?

ww

Detected language : English

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 16:32
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Adampr

I suspect MPG on Japanese and Korean cars is poor because, with a few exceptions, their diesels are not the best.

I'm guessing you're planning on getting a diesel. Do you do enough long journeys to keep.it happy and a high enough annual mileage to make it worth it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 16:40
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Richard Bulmer

no, probably not diesel. mostly town & commuting. few 200 mile so 400 mile round trips to see my mother. but never really seen GB either, and hated journeys in the wagon, because it was so loud on the road. so would definitely like a mile muncher, just so i have the opportunity to see england and scotland etc

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 16:54
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Adampr

I think only an Ibiza estate or Fabia estate would really work, but you'd have to find the right one as both the DSG gearbox and TSI engine are a little fragile (I have both in my car, so not saying to avoid it).

If that's not ideal, I think something has to give in your wishlist. I would suggest probably MPG and it's worth looking through some of the 'real MPG' figures on here. A car with an official MPG of 60 may actually be less efficient than one at 48 MPG, which is currently not in your search.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 16:48
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - _

That will be Euro 4 5 or 6... petrols in your price range will be ok older diesels may not be.

Give us an approximate area,not your own postcode and someone can make a suggestion.

Edited by _ORB_ on 10/03/2023 at 16:50

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 17:08
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - skidpan

the DSG gearbox and TSI engine are a little fragile (I have both in my car, so not saying to avoid it)

The TSI engines are excellent providing they are of the newer belt cam family. The 1.0 3 cylinder TSi is from my experience far better than the earlier 1.2 TSi.

The DSG gearbox is mostly fine now, its the earlier ones that had issues. On this forum there are very few stories of issues these days whereas years ago there were many. Just remember very few will come on saying a product is faultless but many will happily identify any products faults and a problem child early in life is rarely forgotten.

We very nearly bought a Fabia estate when we bought the Fabia hatch. Only reason we changed our minds was the hatch was way more versatile than we expected for a small car, we simply did not need the estate.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 17:41
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Richard Bulmer

the DSG gearbox and TSI engine are a little fragile (I have both in my car, so not saying to avoid it)

The TSI engines are excellent providing they are of the newer belt cam family. The 1.0 3 cylinder TSi is from my experience far better than the earlier 1.2 TSi.

The DSG gearbox is mostly fine now, its the earlier ones that had issues. On this forum there are very few stories of issues these days whereas years ago there were many. Just remember very few will come on saying a product is faultless but many will happily identify any products faults and a problem child early in life is rarely forgotten.

We very nearly bought a Fabia estate when we bought the Fabia hatch. Only reason we changed our minds was the hatch was way more versatile than we expected for a small car, we simply did not need the estate.

I have been looking at some Skodas, a Fabia, Octavia and Yeti... the Yeti may not be everyones cup of tea, but i like its looks, and it looks roomy

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 17:30
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Richard Bulmer

That will be Euro 4 5 or 6... petrols in your price range will be ok older diesels may not be.

Give us an approximate area,not your own postcode and someone can make a suggestion.

Im in Loughborough, and make regular trips up to Newcastle. and an annual trip to Gloucestershire. so far my annual mileage has only been around 4k. but hopefully a decent car, may go on longer journeys. i would like to do NC500 at some point.

i should point out that this will be my second car. i havent been driving very long. spent my whole adult life on motorbikes

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 18:19
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - pd

Mercedes C Class springs to mind as there are loads of auto examples about.

Maybe a Passat or Superb DSG as well. Most will be diesels but I'm not convinced that matters much if you do the occasional long journey.

Go for the 2.0 rather than the 1.6 on Passat, Octavia etc.

Yeti worth a look. I really like them personally.

Edited by pd on 10/03/2023 at 18:20

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 18:58
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - movilogo

Why Asians bad at MPG ?

Because unlike Europeans they did not fiddle with it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 19:05
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - badbusdriver

Why Asians bad at MPG ?

Because unlike Europeans they did not fiddle with it.

May also because the MPG they state is closer to what you will actually get in the real world.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 10 Mar 2023 21:14
Best auto for £5-6k Budget - Engineer Andy

Why Asians bad at MPG ?

Because unlike Europeans they did not fiddle with it.

May also because the MPG they state is closer to what you will actually get in the real world.

I wonder if the OP actually means Aisins (TC clutches) rather than Asian car makes? Just a thought. Even then, the answer would be 'better quality', at least in terms of reliability.

But you are correct on that 'real MPG' front, at least as regards petrol-engined cars from Asia (not sure about China), Many of the diesels are joint projects with Auropean makes, like the 1.6TD )same unit in PSAs, Fords, Volvos) that would go in my Mazda3 or the BMW (?) unit in some Toyotas, so those figures should be similar as those other make.

The Honda diesel real mpg seems to hold up reasonably well, though better (percentage to official MPG) for the manual than the TC autos.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link