Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 06:55
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - Sam M

Which model would you go for?

It's for a short distance use car with efficient mpg? I used to look on AutoTrader but would prefer the convenience of buying local now.

Thanks

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 07:39
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - nellyjak

My personal choice would be the Yaris...these little beggars just seem to go on and on.

The Jazz would also be a consideration.

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 08:58
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - SLO76
Is your budget £500 or £15000?
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Fri 22 Feb 2019 09:02
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - paul 1963

Think it's a thousand SLO? mentioned in the title, I'd go for a focus or jazz at that sort of money.

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 09:22
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - Sam M

Yes budget is £1k, also wondering if a Ford Fiesta would be any good?

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 09:41
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - SLO76
Apologies, never noticed it in the title. The Jazz or Yaris are the best if all things were equal but again I wouldn’t walk by a well looked after Ibiza or Hyundai Getz to get to a tatty Jazz or Yaris. It’s more down to condition than make at this end of the market.

Best place to get a good cheap motor is to buy privately on Gumtree or Autotrader. Look for a car that’s been owned more than three years and look at the pictures to see if the address is in a good area and thus the owner quite affluent. I’ve yet to find a good car at a scruffy poorly maintained home. Most dealers selling cheap cars are rogues and won’t honour any legal obligations anyway.
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Fri 22 Feb 2019 10:40
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - badbusdriver

Fiesta would be fine, but bear in mind the poverty spec 1.3 does no more mpg than the more powerful and sweeter 1.25.

But if you have no minimum size requirement, i'd also be looking at smaller stuff. Your £1k budget would (only just) get you into a 2009> Suzuki Alto or Nissan Pixo (they are the same car with different badges) which would do a good 10+mpg more than a Fiesta. Also, a Daewoo/Chevrolet Matiz, which is a similar type of car to the Alto. None of these will be any fun to drive, but as cheap to run, basic and reliable transport, they could fit the bill. Also consider the Daihatsu Sirion, which is a very apacious little car (although physically smaller than a Fiesta, has about the same interior space due to better packaging), and as a 1.0 would be very cheap to run.

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 11:33
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - madf

At 10 miles per day, any small car in your price range will struggle to do much more than 30-35mpg. Cold cars drink petrol.

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Fri 22 Feb 2019 14:41
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - Hugh Watt
Look for a car that’s been owned more than three years and look at the pictures to see if the address is in a good area and thus the owner quite affluent. I’ve yet to find a good car at a scruffy poorly maintained home. Most dealers selling cheap cars are rogues and won’t honour any legal obligations anyway.

That's telling it like it is, SLO - excellent, succinct advice, which bears out (now I come to think of it) my early experiences buying cheap cars, back in the days of Exchange&Mart and newsagents' windows postcards. I managed to stumble into several sound motors from nice people in nice places, and also a couple of clunkers from small-time dealers who weren't interested in after-sales issues (!).

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Sat 23 Feb 2019 06:29
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - Sam M

Thank you everyone.

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Sat 23 Feb 2019 10:34
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - Engineer Andy

Best to get the most reliable car rather than the one that gets the best mpg. Of course, it's only worth getting a car that suits ALL your needs - space, comfort, performance/handling, mpg, reliability, insurance, servicing/repairs, etc.

A Yaris is much smaller than a Focus, so better to get the size etc you want on a list first, then see what is affordable. Many older Japanese cars from reliable makes are fine (over a younger Euro car, etc) as long as they've been serviced as per the manufacturers' schedule (time or distance, whichever comes first) and to the correct standard with decent parts and fluids.

Essentially you'll be buying a 'banger', so expect some issues. Your budget needs to cover some repair bills, especially as the cars will be older and parts will be wearing out. You may be lucky and nothing of note goes wrong, but don't bank on it (even for a Honda or a Toyota). You may have to scrap it and buy another similar car as some repairs may cost more than a replacement is worth.

I'd also bring along someone (friend/family member) who REALLY knows car mechanicals (not someone who is just a petrolhead) or pay to get someone from one of the major breakdown firms to come along when you've narrowed it down to one or two cars, so you don't get ripped off by buying a car about to expire.

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Sat 23 Feb 2019 10:51
Jazz, Ford Focus, Yaris, Seat Ibiza, Hyundai? - Under £1k, 5dr hatchback-10 miles per day best MPG - badbusdriver

Just re-read the OP's original post,

I used to look on AutoTrader but would prefer the convenience of buying local now.

An odd statement as Autotrader is national, there could be cars on there round the corner from where you live!. Just put in your postcode and have the results sorted by distance. If you live in England (not like me in North East Scotland!), unless a very rural location, there should be plenty of options nearby.

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