I'm sure the decision would have been easy if you had tested them in last week's snow.

The Audi is a car for all weathers and can cope with the slippery conditions that keep RWD autos stuck on the driveway or blocking the roads when presented with slight inclines.

Otherwise budget for winter tyres or a few paving slabs in the boot !

I appreciate the advice though you diden't really help me chose a car, I've read a few commets about the efficency of the BMW after 40-60k suddenly taking a nose dive for reasons BMW havent been able to explain. Not sure if this is a one of few off event or if it's more common for this model. You maybe right about the heads up but it's just nice to have NAV that's not stuck out on some sort of attachment on your phone and is nicly built into the car.

The Audi A3 is a much smaller car-

I would go with the BMW and get snow tyres or winter tyres- problem solved.

Can anyone shed a bit more light on hybrids? I've never had one before and don't know much about them, do they require any sort of extra servicing? Replacement parts after so many years, do the battery’s last as long as the engine will and what’s the effect on reliability? I spend very little time in traffic at the moment and mainly drive on county and B road’s so would this make them far less efficient as a car? I’m talking in particular about the Lexus IS300h here.

After recently writing off my Lancer skidding on some Black Ice, clearing a 4 foot fence and landing nose first into a field

Perhaps you should start with fundamentals first - a driving refresher course ?

Yes, thanks for the post, however useless, unfortunately not much call for driving on ice in the UK. When you lose control at 25 mph and end up speeding up side wards going down a hill no amount of driving refresher courses will help. Ice and snow is as rare where I am as anywhere else so not really looking for tyre advice or advice on how to avoid my previous accident but more about the car and the details I listed.

Thanks

Edited by daveC748 on 24/01/2016 at 20:27

Arr yes budget, well I don’t have a budget per say but not getting new, it would be used up to around £20,000 max prefably less if possible. I’ve looked at the depreciation rates of all three and all are very much the same. The BMW losses the most in the first year but after that the cost of all of them is almost identical up to 4 years old. I plan to try and keep it for much longer than that though, my first car was a brand new focus I got in 2002, 1.6 zetec had it until only a year ago with 185k on the clock, be nice for my next car to last as long.

Would a petrol Hybrid Lexus last as long as a straight diesel though? I know it's hard to say as they are pretty new and I don't know anything about Hybrids as I've never had one.

Prius is turning out to have 90's Diesel reliability and durability, how Lexus hybrids are doing i don't know, a perusal on HJ's reviews above and then a Lexus forum should reveal how good or bad, GS450h and RX400h have now been around long enough to have presented some killer bills if they are going to.

Thanks I'll have a look and see what I can see.

My tuppenny worth, hope it helps;

I had a test drive of a Lexus IS 300h, and a BMW 3, BMW 5 estate, Merc new C class. But I (for reasons unmentioned here) wanted new. I really preferred the Lexus, loved the electric techy stuff but SWMBO over ruled that!

Then I tested a Mazda 6 3rd gen facelift 2.ltr petrol manual, and resulted in buying that. It was that good IMHO. I chose the top model, sport, mica paint and stone leather finnish as extras (black leather standard on sport). Price for all this was just over £20K (on line), to get the same goodies on the others would have been £10K'ish plus on top!!!

The only downside is no spare wheel, so sorted that by buying elsewhere, but it takes up boot space, which is no problem for us, the boot is massive anyway.

I think the Audi is not a 'looker' and the BMW is too common on the roads (the new mondeo man car replacement?). Lexus is nice though but not quite sure on the front grill yet :-)

Nailit.

Edited by nailit on 25/01/2016 at 11:49

It's a very personal thing choosing a car that is 'right' for you, and good luck. A lot of what you are going through is the same as I went through, but it sounds to me that you would be better with a petrol or the lexus, as I think you said BMW diesel. So if it was me, well you know the answer, you should really look at the latest mazda 6 sport petrol as you can get brand new as opposed to second hand - that new leather smell and all :-) and it's a looker, never had so many stares from peeps. (no wise cracks pls)

As with any german car , you can be asured the are bottom for reliability & customer service these days. For a solid car you still have to look at Japanse offerings. Sad but true and only statics so there is the odd bad apply in the Japanse camp too.

Yep - if only Mazda could make a decent, relaible diesel, they'd be raking in the £££s! I actually prefer the look of the newest 6 over the 3 - just a shame its too big for my needs. I suspect its not upmarket enough for the OP, and the mileage will probably dictate a diesel for the performance he probably wants. Oh well...back to the original 3 I guess.

OK, so I test drove the BMW 3 Series Saloon M-Sport today and thought it was OK, it diden't blow me away but it felt like a good solid well put together car apart from a few things. The inside is a bit bland and it had sports seats that were a bit narow and the wings of the seats stuck in my back a bit and I'm a slim guy.

The engine was very responsive and felt powerfull in sport mode and a bit lazy in comfort and eco mode as expected so no supprises there. The engine noise was more than bearable compared to what I'm used to but yet to try the IS300h which I'm expecting to be even quiter given its a hybrid petrol. The gear changes were smooth and efficent, the paint job very good and nice colour, etc, etc. It felt very German put it that way.

I'm in the process of trying to arange a test drive of the Lexus now so looking forward to that.

The added firmness and 1cm drop and bigger wheels makes big pot holes jarring.

Which you only find by taking your own test route, the dealers have their own preferred routes for good reason, designed not to highlight shortcomings and the car only in its best light.

Had my spin in the new Kia Optima '3' 1.7 CRDI 139bhp 7-speed auto DCT ISG today. It's just like driving a 'top-end' Merc but keeping £10K in your pocket!

OTR price of just under £25K (the '4' is closer to £29K). There are some PCP/HP manufacturer offers but DTD seemingly already discounting by over £4K?

Guess it's going to suffer the same 'badge prejudice/stigma' that Skoda initially used to when compared to Beemers, Audis & Mercs, but it packs a lot of kit in as standard.

Worth a look?...

While Kia/Hyundia have made mighty strides and basically are viable alternatines to the more established cars, so it seams have the prices inflated too.

When we bought our Ceed SW in 2010 the price and spec was very competitive (virtually the same price as a Focus Titanium estate after discounts but bigger and better specced) plus you got the 7 year garantee.

Currently researching a new car for later this year and quite fancy another Ceed SW but a petrol this time. The best price I have obtained so far (broker) for a 1.0 T-GDi is £18925 which is not exactly cheap.

We have looked a few alternatives and several stand out as being better value:

The Mazda 6 Tourer 2 litre petrol can be had for £17775 with 3 years 0% finance and is just as well equipped.

A slightly odd choice is the Volvo V60 2 litre turbo petrol can be had for £20015 with 3 years 0% finance. Its very well equipped but a bit smaller (still big enough).

Don't think I fancy or will be buying a 1 litre turbo Ceed for that money when there appears to be better cars and deals available.

7 year warranty no longer important as i intend to swap every 3 years in the future.

Kia need to be very careful.

War in Korea is unlikely. If that happens, there would be more damaging effect on mobile phones/electronics market (Samsung, LG etc.) than car as European Kia's are built in Slovakia rather than Korea. Hyundai has a big plant in India too.

Yes, Kia has increased their prices! I recently bought a Ceed can feel about it. Although I bought approved used, so paid lot less than new car's price.

Even Kia dealers said Optima doesn't sell in big numbers. So you might negotiate a better price on that one.

Edited by movilogo on 27/01/2016 at 16:14