The Final five now the search is on

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Sun 3 Mar 2019 23:06
The Final five now the search is on - Car

After a few weekends trying out carshave narrowed the final five down to

Ford Mondeo.

Seat Leon St.

Vauxhall Zafiria Tourer.

Peugeot 5008.

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso.

Just need to find one with the right spec (sat nav & powerfold mirrors) with preferably petrol engine with in my budget of £7K to £9K up to 5 years old

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 00:13
The Final five now the search is on - Avant

I looked at that and wondered who 'carshave' were. A drive-through barber? The I realised what you meant.

Interesting final 5: the Mondeo is much bigger than the Leon (even the ST estate) and the last 3 are SUVs. Not sure if you're looking for advice, or just telling us which cars you're looking at. If the former, add the Focus estate and C-Max to your list, and also the Honda Civic estate and CR-V.

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 00:18
The Final five now the search is on - SLO76
I’d personally rule out the 5008 as the chain driven VTi petrol motors in your price range are not exactly robust. They’re pretty notorious for timing chain issues among plenty of other woe. The 1.6 diesel isn’t much better either.

The Picasso is mechanically the same car underneath so unless you’re prepared to up the budget to around £10k for a good approved used example with the well liked 1.2 3cyl turbo then I wouldn’t bother. Even with the newer model the electrics are almost guaranteed to be a pain as the car ages. Very comfortable though and highly practical.

A decent Seat Leon ST with the excellent 1.4 TSi petrol is nearer £10k especially in FR trim which is well liked by the trade and public alike. It’s sporty but not overly so and lively yet economical. The dull to look at lower spec cars will drop in value much more rapidly. Not a bad car though.

The Mondeo is a great used buy in Yamaha designed 1.6 Ecoboost petrol form but not particularly economical. I’d forgive this though as it is genuinely excellent to drive.

The Zafira is also a great used buy. Loads about and prices are low. The Fiat designed diesels are trouble prone but efficient but I’d go for a 1.4 turbo petrol. Again a comfy big family wagon.

How about a Honda Civic 1.8 Estate or Toyota Auris 1.6 Estate? Both are very practical and longlived. These two will easily outlast anything you’ve shortlisted.

Edited by SLO76 on 04/03/2019 at 00:19

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 06:06
The Final five now the search is on - Car

Honda Civic can't get past its looks.

Toyota Auris estate will only tow a unbraked trailer up to 450kg we have a unbraked trailer that weighs 500kg .

Mondeo Ecoboost how economical are they ?

Vauxhall Zafira Tourer I am looking at the 1.4 not diesels.

Seat Leon ST a skoda dealer near to us had a 1.4 tsi act FR Techology 2014 reg up for £9k but it got sold within 1/2 a day.

A couple of Seat approved dealers have some 2015 1.6 Tdi Leon ST SE Technology with around 45000 miles up for £9k

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 09:06
The Final five now the search is on - Falkirk Bairn

Leon - VAG 1.6Tdi is not advised - too many issues

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 09:49
The Final five now the search is on - SLO76
“Toyota Auris estate will only tow a unbraked trailer up to 450kg we have a unbraked trailer that weighs 500kg .”

Fair enough. Shame though as the estate is an excellent small family car.

“Mondeo Ecoboost how economical are they?”

I’ve a friend with a Focus 1.6 Ecoboost and he’s always moaning that it’s juicy, best he gets is mid 30’s average. A Mondeo is unlikely to be better.

The Zafira 1.4T I really rate. It’s a brilliant big family car that will do any job asked if it. Jury is still out on longterm reliability of the 1.4 turbo motor but as it’s based on an older well proven design I don’t see much to be worried about. I’ve heard of a few cases of head gasket failure but I don’t think it’s a major issue.

That Leon FR was either a bargain or high in the miles. Should’ve jumped on it if it was the former. A good little car but I’m surprised it can tow more than a normal Auris Estate.

I’d leave the pre 2015 1.6 VAG diesels as any involved in the emissions scandal and resulting recalls tend to have EGR and DPF issues. The 2.0 is less affected.
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Mon 4 Mar 2019 11:22
The Final five now the search is on - SLO76

I know no one on here is daft enough to click on the above link but warning given anyway.

(Thanks he was clearly a useless spammer so I've taken him out altogether.)

Edited by Avant on 04/03/2019 at 17:38

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 14:00
The Final five now the search is on - Heidfirst

Toyota Auris estate will only tow a unbraked trailer up to 450kg we have a unbraked trailer that weighs 500kg .

Avensis estate?

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 12:22
The Final five now the search is on - Engineer Andy

Not sure if any of these are suitable, as you haven't given us any information about your motoring needs:

  • Annual mileage and daily usage (e.g. mainly commuting, trips to the shops, work long distance driving, towing, etc);
  • Requirements for passengers and load capacity/boot size (regular or not);
  • Performance, handling comfort, mpg, reliability, how long you wish to keep it;
  • Allowed budget for fuel, servicing, repairs, breakdown cover, insurance & VED;
  • Whether you want an auto or not, any other accessories you might need, e.g. climate control, or a fully adjustable steering collumn or powered seats, low boot lip, etc;
  • Whether you intend to be driving the car regularly (or enough that it would be a pain) into areas that have banned or soon will ban more polluting cars, e.g. Euro 5 and earlier diesels, Euro 3 and earlier petrols.

Without such information, it's difficult to make a sound choice other than to discount certain makes and models that aren't any good generally or who have major flaws.

Have a look at other people's threads on similar subjects to see what requirements they give so you can see what matters to you.

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 12:58
The Final five now the search is on - Happy Blue!

Don't bother looking for cars with SatNav. Waste of time and reduces the pool of cars you could be looking at.

I have had five cars with built in SatNav and whilst it was useful once, nowadays, I simply use Waze or Google Maps for free on my phone. In-built SatNav is usually out of date by three years when you buy a car new. For the money you want to spend, you are looking at systems with maps that look like a pirates map of hidden treasure.

Better to spend your money on a decent smartphone and download the Google Maps you need on Wifi and use them offline to save data.

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Mon 4 Mar 2019 17:00
The Final five now the search is on - Engineer Andy

...especially as most cars' ICE/sat nav systems are carp, slow and are often way more complicated/difficult to apir with a mobile phone or get updates even during the 3 year update period.

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 07:26
The Final five now the search is on - Car

@Engineer Andy Ive got spreadsheet working out running costs and all the cars I can afford to run. Budget was £8K but now max £9K.

@Engineering Andy & Others

Forgot about Avensis estate will check this out.

I'm looking for A car with a good size practical boot that can carry camping gear two adult fold up bikes Diy supplies of 6ft pieces of wood and taking stuff to the tip.

Easy access to seating area as I occasionally carry relatives who are not so agile as they once were hence looking at Mpvs

I quite like the Zafira Tourer for its practicality and the fact that petrol engines are available but do like the looks of the Seat Leon ST and feel this would be closer to my current vehicle Mk1 Octavia TDI.

Have seen some1.2 Leon St's are these sort considering ?

Thank you for all the advice.

Edited by Car on 05/03/2019 at 07:27

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 10:20
The Final five now the search is on - Heidfirst

Forgot about Avensis estate will check this out.

I'm looking for A car with a good size practical boot that can carry camping gear two adult fold up bikes Diy supplies of 6ft pieces of wood and taking stuff to the tip.

Easy access to seating area as I occasionally carry relatives who are not so agile as they once were hence looking at Mpvs

Avensis estate ticks those boxes. However, supplies of petrols limited - tales on the ToyotaOwnersClub of owners now being approached in car parks etc. & asked if they want to sell!!!

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 12:44
The Final five now the search is on - Engineer Andy

Not sure how a £8k - £9k budget actually includes running costs per year for a few more years though....

Two cars can cost that amount and have completely different running costs and usefulness, as I explained. The mileage you do per year and what that is mainly made up of is really important - buying a car for that money just to use occasionally for trips to the local tip and camping is not justified - what else, commuting, etc will it be mainly used for?

If you just want it for that, then I'd buy an old banger for less than £500 (run it until a major failure occures, thenscrap it) and hire a decent sized estate or similar with a bid boot for the occasional family camping trip. If you need it for more (especially mileage wise), then a newer car is worth it.

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 14:18
The Final five now the search is on - Car

@ Engineering Andy Budget of £8k to £9k is for the car, as advised I have spread sheet calculating predicted running costs of the cars on my shortlist.

My annual mileage is just shy of 12,000 miles consisting of a daily commute total of 25 miles across country with about4 miles dual carriageway and 3 miles town driving.

Rest is a mixture of shipping trips and long distance trips at weekends holidays of between 50 to 250 miles in a day

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