From my experience when looking, Cazoo always seem to have the nicest stock. I've never bought a car from them, but also not heard bad things.

I tend to buy cars either from manufacturer approved stock or the Seat dealer round the corner (which has a range of used cars) because I can walk there, they price things realistically and their service staff are great.

A mate of mine bought a 2006 Renault Scenic from a car supermarket in 2010 and has been driving it happily since, so I wouldn't rule those out. Just steer clear of the 'Arthur Daley' places.

i was thinking Hyundai i30?

I have an i30 which I have had for 14 years from new and my son has just replaced an i30 which he had for ten years and put 250,000km on. They are a good reliable car but the electric window winders fail. We have replaced ours twice and my son's has been the same. To replace them Hyundai sell a replacement door card with all the mechanism. It is about 200 pounds. The alternative is to get replacement plastic tensioner off ebay which is cheap but a pain to fit and can fail again fairly soon. All cars have their weak points and that is the Hyundai's. By all means get an i30 and you should be happy with it but check all the windows first. If the window won't wind up and down it may have been wedged shut with a bit of wood inside the door card. Some one who tries that kind of trick may be trying other tricks too. Walk away.

Edited by expat on 03/09/2023 at 11:01

Bought a Mazda2 from Cazoo a couple of years ago - pretty good experience, would use them again. Although I was looking at their website recently, along with Cinch, and although Cazoo seemed to have some cheaper cars, they tended to have a lot more imperfections - chips, scratches, dents etc. But they do tell you about them - you know what you're getting.

I would also have a look at Cinch if you're happy buying online - bought one from them before the Mazda that I had to return, not their fault, and the return was a painless process. However I bought another one from them a couple of weeks ago that again I had to return, but that was their fault - they'd said it had no imperfections, but it turned up with loads. Possibly just a one-off though.

Picking up an old (2016) used approved MINI from the local dealership on Friday. Yes, no doubt I'm paying for the privilege, but I have felt well treated.