Advice for buying used small car

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Fri 23 Jul 2021 16:33
Advice for buying used small car - Balraj Kumar

Hi,

I am planning to buy a small car for my wife with budget of £7000.

Spec: 5 door, petrol, and automatic gearbox.

She will commute only pick up n drop kids and drive to nearby shops with in the city.

All she needs is good looking car with big display inside like satnav.

So please suggest some good reliable cars.

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Fri 23 Jul 2021 17:51
Advice for buying used small car - badbusdriver

Not sure how big a display you will get for £7k on a small auto car?. Surely a smart phone and holder is going to be best there anyway?.

Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Mazda 2, Hyundai i20, Kia Rio, Suzuki Swift.

Need something smaller?

Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto

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Fri 23 Jul 2021 19:21
Advice for buying used small car - Engineer Andy

Not sure how big a display you will get for £7k on a small auto car?. Surely a smart phone and holder is going to be best there anyway?.

Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Mazda 2, Hyundai i20, Kia Rio, Suzuki Swift.

Need something smaller?

Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto

Quite correct - for buying on a budget, built-in satnavs will be out of date, with payments to keep them upt-date steep after the original owner's 3 year (average) contract runs out. Phone-based satnav apps are fine and the holders can fit on the dash, windscreen or (like mine) the centre vent grilles and be plugged into the cigar lighter or (for newer cars) dedicated power socket/USB port to keep them charged-up.

Most car's own satnavs aren't as good as the phone app best on the market or separate satnav units, and £7k may not stretch to get a new enough car that has a decent Apple CAr Play/Android Auto integration - even those that do have that system aren't always the best at usability either.

Smaller cars also tend to have smaller sized satnav/ICE displays. A reasonable phone (decent one with a 6in screen) should do the job well, as long as the contract has sufficient data on it's monthly usage allowance. Google Maps still tends to be data hungry in comparison to specific apps from satnav firms.

If the OP's wife isn't going to do a huge amount of mileage, then I'd consider the lowest trim level for an auto on those cars BBD has offfered to get the newest available, especially on KIAs where they may still be in warranty (7 years), which would give extra peace of mind if it had 2-3 years (or more) left.

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Fri 23 Jul 2021 22:08
Advice for buying used small car - alan1302

Google Maps still tends to be data hungry in comparison to specific apps from satnav firms.

No, it's not. It uses less than 2.5MB per hour - and if you download some of the offline maps for the areas you use most it will be even less than that.

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Sat 24 Jul 2021 13:44
Advice for buying used small car - Engineer Andy

Google Maps still tends to be data hungry in comparison to specific apps from satnav firms.

No, it's not. It uses less than 2.5MB per hour - and if you download some of the offline maps for the areas you use most it will be even less than that.

Good to know - thanks.

It must've changed relatively (admintedly I last checked about 3 years ago) recently. The map downloads feature was why I likeed using my old Windows Phone's (NOKIA) Here Maps/Drive app, which was very light on data.

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Sat 24 Jul 2021 18:28
Advice for buying used small car - Archie35

You've been able to download maps for offline use on google for far longer than that - I've been doing it when travelling overseas for at least 6 or 7 years, probably longer. There are also plenty of other good free offline satnav tools which you can use (though for all of them, obviously if you want live traffic updates then you'll need to use some data) - there are many more on Android, but a few also on Apple devices. Or just buy a tomtom! My tomtom is far better than the built-in satnav, and I prefer using that for navigation than my mobile. The tomtom traffic updates are very accurate indeed, and the routing is great also.

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Fri 23 Jul 2021 19:33
Advice for buying used small car - SLO76
Small autos aren’t available in big numbers and your budget is limited so compromise will likely be required. Where roughly do you live? I’ll take a look for nearby options I’d recommend viewing.
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Sat 24 Jul 2021 17:22
Advice for buying used small car - madf

Autotrader has 98 Honda jazz autos 2012 on (you do not want automated I shift gearbox pre 2012) Nationwiide.

up to 40k miles and £7k

Screens are small where fitted - waste of time.

Great town car easy to park reliable.

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Sun 25 Jul 2021 16:59
Advice for buying used small car - Balraj Kumar

thanks all for the reply. I will keep that in mind, big display is not the main option.

But budget of my car remains the same(7k).

The best options is

1) Toyota Yaris

2) Mazda 2

3) Ford fiesta.

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Sun 25 Jul 2021 17:40
Advice for buying used small car - badbusdriver

thanks all for the reply. I will keep that in mind, big display is not the main option.

But budget of my car remains the same(7k).

The best options is

1) Toyota Yaris

2) Mazda 2

3) Ford fiesta.

Whoa, hold your horses, Fiesta?, nooo!.

A £7k Fiesta auto will have the Powershift dual clutch automated manual (probably the 1.0 Ecoboost engine too), and that is something you don't want. Automated manuals, both single or dual clutch, are not good news on a used car. Single clutch versions can judder when pulling away, lurching gear changes, delayed throttle reactions, being in the wrong gear for what you want. Dual clutch versions can also suffer from the above, but are also just too complex for their own good, which can lead to unreliability on top of that. They can be reliable, but that depends on how it has been treated by previous owners. And with a second hand car, how are you going to know that?. This applies to the Fiesta and also anything VAG (VW, Skoda Seat Audi). Various Peugeot and Citroen models also used an automated manual. And the reason I only mentioned the Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto as options smaller than a 'Fiesta size', is because they all use automated manuals.

Pre 2013 Fiesta auto's used a torque conver along with a 1.4 petrol, but after that, the Powershift, and then to men matters worse, the 1.0 Ecoboost, which has its own problems.

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Sun 25 Jul 2021 18:49
Advice for buying used small car - SLO76
Agree. Do not touch any Ford equipped with either the fragile Powershift gearbox or the weak 1.0 Ecoboom motor. Avoid any VAG product with their DSG gearbox too.
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