How about a 2011-2017 Vauxhall Meriva?.

The 1.7 turbo diesel is, i believe (SLO?) an Isuzu unit and very reliable, the auto gearbox is a t/c unit, high seating position, and relatively small. Your £5k budget would get you into a 2012/13 car.

We used to have a manual, and i thought it would have been great, as an auto!. A fairly heavy clutch combined with a narrow power band meant it was no fun in stop start traffic, but otherwise, it was a good family car.

Edited by badbusdriver on 04/06/2019 at 15:44

The 1st gen Kia Soul definitely is a t/c auto. The 2nd gen, from late 2014, uses a dual clutch, but i don't think that was straight away, possibly from around 2016, but you wouldn't get one that young for £5k anyway.

The Suzuki is a good call, and is very reliable, but i doubt it would be much more economical than the Venga being a 1.6 petrol. Another possibility would be the 1st gen Nissan Note, available up to 2013ish. Like the Suzuki and the venga, this uses a 1.6 petrol with a t/c auto, and are very reliable, if not particularly economical.

Another possibility is the Toyota Verso S. This is kind of an MPV based on the Yaris, but taller. It uses a 1.33 petrol with a CVT auto. Because of this, it will be usefully more economical than anything with a petrol engine and t/c auto, if fact it probably wouldn't be far off the mpg of the diesel Kia Soul. The main problem would be finding one, as they were not a big sales success, also, the one or two that crop up for sale, are probably going to be over budget.

What about the Honda Jazz or HRV?

The auto box on those is nice, and has a torque converter, although it is a CVT rather than with conventional gears, but it is pretty reliable.

The Jazz seat can be raised up quite high, but if you want a taller car the HRV would fit the bill.

The Jazz is certainly a possibility, but the HR-V would be ancient by comparison. The current model being way out of the OP's budget, would leave the original shape, and of the two currently on Autotrader, the youngest is 2004.

There is also the FR-V though, and while that is still going to be no younger than 2009, i'd much rather one of them than an HR-V. Very reliable, and the six seat layout (two rows of three) intrigues. I'm not sure if it is a t/c or CVT, but either would be reliable.

Hi...I found this Kia Soul, any thoughts.......rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww....8..

Looks good in the pics, but with white cars, it can be difficult to spot any imperfections. MOT history shows that while it passed the last one, it was noted that both rear tyres are showing age related damage (cracked or perishing), so be aware you may well need to replace them soon.

You may well like the Vitara, but i very much doubt you'd get one for £10k. A look on Autotrader shows the cheapest Vitara auto (a 2015 car with 90k miles) is £10995, the next cheapest is over £12k.

I don't think there is anything particularly economical of the size you want with a petrol engine and t/c auto (the Vitara certainly isn't). Of a similar style and type of car to the Vitara is the Ssangyong Tivoli, a bit more affordable, but still only 4 on Autotrader under £10k.

Even with the bigger budget, if you want a car with a higher seating position, a t/c auto and decent economy, i think i'd still go with the Kia Soul. £10k would get you into a low mileage 2015 2nd gen car (*be aware, they were fitted with a DCT gearbox from late 2015*). With a full Kia history, this will still have 3 years warranty remaining. But it will be a diesel.

If you could manage without the high seating position, maybe a Mazda 3 or a Honda Civic.

Edited by badbusdriver on 16/06/2019 at 17:07

At that budget you have lots of options; just avoid anything by Ford, VW, Skoda, Seat or Audi to stay with a TC gearbox. Obvious choices are Japanese, Korean or French. Mazda CX5 might do the trick, or find a non-SUV vehicle; more MPV like a Ford C-Max with a TC rather than Powershift gearbox..

Plod you way through Autotrader.

Hi..Just an update...I purchased a kia soul 2011 diesel auto.. with 17500 miles on the clock for just over 5k... it has five services in the book, three by the main agent. It has been well looked after with genuine history from the ex mobility owner, I have covered 300 miles since the purchase giving it good motorway runs, everything appears fine I even factored in a poss replacment dpf before taking the plunge, but all seems fine so far....its doing a good job for us, without risking silly money...Thanks for everyones advice.

Glad to hear you are liking it so far.

The Soul is a car i feel is unfairly overlooked, offering a great combination of that warranty, reliablity, a high driving position, decent amount of interior space but in a car reasonably compact. I think its unconventional looks might be a factor, but were i in a similar position as you, i'd be having a close look at the Soul myself.

I do find myself wondering about the decision making at Kia, when an automatic Soul (1st gen) could only be had with the diesel engine, but an automatic Venga (which shares much mechanically including the platform), was only available with the petrol engine.