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Thu 10 Oct 2019 13:44

Used cars of the year - SLO76

Reading through the latest copy of What Car’s used cars of the year awards got me thinking. Every year they recommend a list of cars based purely on how they perform as a new model without factoring in reliability at all. They’re all nearly new and still too costly for many.

I’ve seen them recommend used Ford’s with the now notorious 1.0 Ecoboost motor and equally unreliable Powershift gearboxes without a mention of how costly failures could financially c****** you. VAG DSG equipped models again are often recommended as are costly and complex prestige BMW and JLR models that are known to be ultimately unreliable in the longterm.

Few Japanese cars get a mention, it’s again based on how well a car handles, looks and goes over reliability, durability and longterm costs. Which are things any used buyer should prioritise.

So I thought I’d list my own used cars of the year awards based on my experience of buying and selling them over the years. It’ll be based on ease of ownership, running costs and reliability over prestige badges and largely irrelevant track day handling. I’ll leave out prestige and high performance models as neither should be bought on a limited budget unless you want a life of pain or can afford to write it off if something major fails.

With banks best lending rates starting from £7,500 (3% APR) I’ll set my top price at £8,000 and remind everyone never to think about taking the dealer finance at this age and price point as it’ll typically be 10% APR or more, adding thousands to the overall cost and that’s before factoring in the unnecessary added costs such as ‘document and option to purchase fees’ they add on top.

I’ll put a second level at sub £4,000 too which is where I typically bought and sold mostly to cash buyers who hated financing a depreciating asset.

Best city car. £8,000

Hyundai i10

A spacious and well made little car with low running costs and an excellent 5yr warranty if you find one with a full main dealer history. Perfectly decent to drive with even the tiny 3cyl 1.0 providing enough power for city use and the occasional out of town excursion. The bigger 1.2 is stronger and a bit more refined but it lacks the character of the smaller unit.

Sub £4,000

Kia Picanto

I’d favour the Kia Picanto over the older i10. It’s nicer to look at and drive plus easier to sell on again. Underbody rust is the worry with any Kia or Hyundai as they age so get under it for a good look around but you’ll get a much newer example than you will with a VW UP and it’s better made than the C1/107/108,Aygo.

Best supermini £8,000

Mazda 2 1.5 Skyactiv SE-L Nav 90PS.

A brilliant little car that’s fun to drive, lively, good on fuel and utterly reliable. There’s nothing not to like here. The lower output 75PS is perfectly adequate but the stronger motor lops almost three seconds off the 0-60 time taking it into the warm hatch zone without sacrificing economy by much. That lovely rich metallic red paint that’s an option is very difficult to match so watch for paintwork that’s off colour as with any used car you shouldn’t view it in the wet which can hide this.

Sub £4,000

Mazda 2 1.5 Sport 5dr

I’d still give the wee Mazda the win here even in previous gen. The 1.5 Sport is a great option with nippy performance and low running costs. The chain driven petrol engines will run and run if looked after properly and they resist rot better than earlier Mazdas too.

Best small family hatch £8,000

Mazda 3 2.0 Skyactiv SE

These are only just slipping in below £8,000 with sensible mileages now and as with the Mazda 2 they’re brilliant things. Great to sit in, drive and again utterly reliable if you stick with the petrol engines. The diesels are bad news with far too many failures on the 2.2 Skyactiv D motors to recommend them. The petrol 2.0 will do 50mpg on a run anyway so it’s not really necessary to add the risk of a Diesel engine.

Sub £4,000

Mazda 3 1.6 post facelift.

Later post facelift examples are holding off the rust better than earlier cars and retain the entertaining handling and bulletproof reliability again as long as you avoid the diesels. The Ford Focus 1.6 petrol is a close second but the Mazda is a bit better built and there’s no timing belt to worry about.

Best large family car.

Ford Mondeo 1.6 Ecoboost £8,000

Hard to find in a sea of diesels but worth seeking out as it’s a joy to drive and rarely goes wrong with its turbocharged Yamaha designed petrol motor. It’ll do 40mpg on a run and has plenty of power too. The 2.0 diesel is a worthy, but as with all modern diesels there’s plenty to go wrong as it ages but it is one of the better ones. I would’ve chose the Mazda 6 2.0 Skyactiv but you’d need £1,000 more to open up that option other than high mileage examples or cars with missing histories etc.

Sub £4,000

Mazda 6 2.0

Drives well, is surprisingly decent on fuel (I had over 50mpg on a run south in one) and brilliantly reliable. Cheap too as no one wants a big conventional petrol engined car at the cheaper end of the market. I’d have the Estate myself which adds a dose of practicality plus makes it easier to sell on again.

Best SUV £8,000

Honda CRV 2.2 DTEC.

It’ll be the Mk III at this money and the next gen is worth paying the extra £2k to get but keeping below £8,000 you’re better with a well kept older car with sensible miles. These are easy to sell on, have loads of room and don’t go wrong often. Juddering clutched and the occasional blocked DPF on low use cars aside they’re pretty robust if a bit dull to drive. A far far better bet than a used BMW X3/X5 or similar at this money.

Sub £4,000

Honda CRV 2.0 VTEC.

As above but at this money the petrol is far safer is much slower and greedier.

Best Convertible £8,000

Mazda MX5 Mk III

A hoot to drive and painless to own, the only worry is rust which even the Mk III suffers from. There’s no real rival on a budget.

Sub £4,000

Mazda MX5

As above, you’ll get an early MK III for this money, just watch for rot.

Best MPV £8,000

Ford S-Max 1.6 Ecoboost. Almost diesel economy yet none of the reliability issues they suffer from. Rare though as most are diesel powered which again if bought well a 2.0 TDCi can serve you well but just budget for potential problems. Great to drive and loads of room these make excellent family taxis. Don’t touch the Powershift auto though!

Sub £4,000

Mazda 5 petrol

Great value and mechanically very tough. Sliding rear doors are very useful in tight spaces and they drive surprisingly well though the petrol engines lack low speed pulling power. Just watch for rot.

Best Hot hatch £8,000

Suzuki Swift 1.6 Sport

Said I wasn’t going to do performance cars but these are the exception to the rule. A scream to drive on the right road yet utterly dependable and cheap to run and insure. No turbo, nothing complex, no fancy gearbox or launch control gubbins to go haywire. These are simple and fun.

Sub £4,000

Suzuki Swift 1.6 Sport

As above but watch for the boy racer car through hedge element at this money it’s much more likely.

Edited by SLO76 on 10/10/2019 at 14:24

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 14:55

Used cars of the year - paul 1963

Wow! thourouly enjoyed that, thanks SLO, can't really argue with any of your choices there, I had a swift and totally agree, there a absolute hoot to drive.

I would like to add another candidate for city car, Peugeot 107, son's got one, services it by the book but never spares the limited amount of horses available, a bit like the swift to drive but comes with that lovely three pot burble.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 15:35

Used cars of the year - SLO76

“I would like to add another candidate for city car, Peugeot 107, son's got one, services it by the book but never spares the limited amount of horses available, a bit like the swift to drive but comes with that lovely three pot burble.”

Do like them, they’re great fun but I find the wee Korean cars better made and still enjoyable to drive for similar money. The 107 uses a pretty tough wee Daihatsu motor that’s well able to run to big six figure mileage if sees fresh oil regular enough.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 16:38

Used cars of the year - Car

What about Seat Leon 1.4 fr with (non dsg) eco engine, easy to get 45mpg out of it , achieved 52 on motorway run and have a couple times seen 56mpg on commute home real mpg 44 ,51mpg & 55mpg respectively and £20 a year tax depending on year of manufacture.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 17:03

Used cars of the year - SLO76

What about Seat Leon 1.4 fr with (non dsg) eco engine, easy to get 45mpg out of it , achieved 52 on motorway run and have a couple times seen 56mpg on commute home real mpg 44 ,51mpg & 55mpg respectively and £20 a year tax depending on year of manufacture.

Great car but to get one under £8,000 you’re looking at high miles or poor condition possibly no history. You’ll need more money for a good 1.4 TSi FR but yes it’s one of my favourites. That said I’d probably still pick the Mazda as I prefer the way it drives and looks inside but the engine in the Seat is a belter.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 17:03

Used cars of the year - Avant

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, SLO. Really good advice like this is what so many people are looking for from this forum.

Personally I would add various Toyotas as alternatives to most of your recommended Mazdas: possibly more expensive but there are likely to be more around to choose from, judging by the comparative numbers you see on the road. Do correct me if I’m wrong about numbers.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 17:46

Used cars of the year - paul 1963

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, SLO. Really good advice like this is what so many people are looking for from this forum.

Fully agree, I know it sounds as if I'm licking bottoms but we are lucky guys like him take the time and effort to offer such sound advice,

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 17:49

Used cars of the year - Car

Haven't driven any of the more modern Mazdas, last Mazda I drove was 2000 1.5 323, reliable but dull to drive and acceleration lethargic. Have driven a 2015 Toyota Auris 1.6 and that did have an entertaining drive but much prefer the way the leon drives.

Edited by Car on 10/10/2019 at 17:53

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 20:16

Used cars of the year - Engineer Andy

Haven't driven any of the more modern Mazdas, last Mazda I drove was 2000 1.5 323, reliable but dull to drive and acceleration lethargic. Have driven a 2015 Toyota Auris 1.6 and that did have an entertaining drive but much prefer the way the leon drives.

All Mazda 3s are great handling cars (I think their tie-up with Ford helped them back in the early 2000s), but the performance depends on both what the driver wants our of the car and which model (egnine variant) they go for. The first two generations of the car essentially matched the drive of the Ford Focus, not really surprising given they shared the same platform and some engines.

The third and fourth (current) generation cars are equally great handing, but their adherence to naturally aspirated engines (at least in the UK) means that they do need to be worked hard if you are a 'spritied driver' - for those who like a bit of pep for overtaking and pulling away, I agree that the small capacity turbocharged engines favoured by other makes (especially the belt-cam VAG 1.4TSI) are better and mostly match and sometimes better the Mazda 2.0 N/A petrol (120PS version) for mpg.

All of the petrol Mazda 3s have been reliable (over the longer term) as regards the engine and major components, only rust being an issue on the early gen-1 models (my Oct 2005 build car is still fine in that regard - only a few rust spots on the wheel arches). The engine still revs very freely, and whilst its 1.6 petrol engine is no fire-breather, it is fine generally and a lot of pleasure can be hard at the speed limit on de-restricted country roads.

I would say the Mazda beats all bar the Focus for handling (the Leon isn't far off though) in the class. The mk1 and 2 cars can't really be compared to the newer-designed 1.4TSi equipped cars, the newer mk3 and can and (even the new Skyactiv-X) fall short if performance is more your thing, they're fine otherwise. Good autos (no unreliable twin clutch units there), if a bit on the slow side for the earlier cars at least.

But then not everyone is buying second hand for those prices SLO quotes for performance, more A to B cars.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 20:26

Used cars of the year - gordonbennet

I won't disagree with any of SLO's list, though i have certain preferences from another Japanese maker.:-) if only they'd stop hobbling my choices otherwise excellent cars with pointless electric parking brakes which only serve to remove them from my list of future possibles for my forthcoming dotage.

However, chaps and the fair ladies who read here, we should be eternally grateful for mags like the one mentioned and their hopelessly wrong opinions on such things, let their readers enjoy the dubious benefits of their suggestions, which helps keep our choices away from the image buyers so sensible used prices for us if we keep schtum...sadly this theory doesn't apply to my favourite Japanese 4x4's which hold frankly ridiculous used prices without any hype, which is ok when you already have one but not so handy if you want to buy one.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 20:27

Used cars of the year - SLO76

Haven't driven any of the more modern Mazdas, last Mazda I drove was 2000 1.5 323, reliable but dull to drive and acceleration lethargic. Have driven a 2015 Toyota Auris 1.6 and that did have an entertaining drive but much prefer the way the leon drives.

Mazda took a huge step forward under Ford who injected their flair for great driving dynamics and allowed Mazda to retain their own reliable petrol engines even going as far as designing their own high performance models the 3/6 MPS with their own 4cyl 2.3 turbocharged motor when they had access to Volvo’s 5cyl T5 motor. In the 80’s they were bland but dependable, the 90’s seen some real flair with the Xedos range and sleek 1992 626 and MX3, MX5 and MX6 models.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 20:20

Used cars of the year - SLO76

“Personally I would add various Toyotas as alternatives to most of your recommended Mazdas: possibly more expensive but there are likely to be more around to choose from, judging by the comparative numbers you see on the road. Do correct me if I’m wrong about numbers.”

I probably should’ve added a shortlist of finalists in each category, certainly Toyota and Honda would feature often. But like for like Mazda offer similar reliability and quality with superior driver enjoyment so if in equally good condition I’d head for the Mazda.

True that Toyota seem to outsell them so there’s more to choose from and also especially at the lower price point it’s more about condition than make and model so I’d certainly have the Yaris, Auris, Verso and Avensis on the shortlists along with the Honda Civic and Accord. I don’t rate the Mk I or Mk II Jazz as a drivers car at all but it still makes perfect sense as a robust supermini too.

Edited by SLO76 on 10/10/2019 at 20:22

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 20:42

Used cars of the year - VengaPete

Great list SLO76 - brilliant advice as always..

I'm going to throw a spanner in though. As you probably gathered from many of my posts I'm a bit of an "auto" chaser mainly due to wifey needing a "One footer" (we won't do the left foot brake argument here).

So in the sections you created what would you choose as an auto alternate?

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 21:15

Used cars of the year - Chris M

Not surprised with any of your choices SLO, but I'd have thought the Fiesta may have got a mention in your £4k choice. Obviously pre 1.0 Ecoboost at that price point. Good drive, good build quality, easy spares availability and no rust issues.

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Fri 11 Oct 2019 01:45

Used cars of the year - SLO76

Not surprised with any of your choices SLO, but I'd have thought the Fiesta may have got a mention in your £4k choice. Obviously pre 1.0 Ecoboost at that price point. Good drive, good build quality, easy spares availability and no rust issues.

The Mazda 2 just pips it on account of it being a bit cheaper to buy and has no timing belt to burn a hole in your wallet.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 22:22

Used cars of the year - SLO76

“I'm going to throw a spanner in though. As you probably gathered from many of my posts I'm a bit of an "auto" chaser mainly due to wifey needing a "One footer"

Nothing to fear from a two pedal Mazda, they use a very robust lightweight torque converter system that has no real vices. Even the older models make an excellent choice but the more plentiful in automatic spec Honda Civic, Accord and CRV all use similar as long as you avoid the horrid I-shift they tried for a while in the 06-09 (I think from memory) as it was never any good. Toyota CVT’s are fine also.

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Thu 10 Oct 2019 21:57

Used cars of the year - mss1tw

Good list! Agree with the old CRV sub 4k entirely. Would add Grand Vitara to an imaginary 'mid' level - slightly biased as I own one (2009) BUT only went to look at one in the metal to rule it out, thought it was 'alright', and has grown on me ever since.

Cost £4500 in July vs the £3500 I paid for the CRV in 2015.

Proper 4WD, more creature comforts and a much nicer cabin.

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