A friend of mine is looking for a small car around £5000.
From my own personal opinion and a look through this site and prices on Autotrader, I have come up with the following suggestions:
Honda Jazz
Toyota Yaris
Nissan Micra
Hyundai Getz
Kia Picanto
Any other suggestions or reasons not to avoid any of the above?
Thanks for any advice
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Hyundai or Kia will get you a decent length warranty, if your friend is not bothered about image. My choice would be a Yaris (petrols or diesel are good) and they have loads of fans on this site, including HJ himself! Reliable, economical, nippy, easy resale.
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You won't get much of a Jazz for £5k. Another one to consider is the Daihatsu Charade.
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>>>Any other suggestions or reasons not to avoid any of the above?
I know what I meant!!!
Thanks for the fast replies.
I hadn't considered the Charade.
There were not many hits on the Jazz for under £5000 in Autotrader
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Jazzes hold their value too well, and the oldest in less than 5 years old. Another vote for the Yaris, though there is a huige choice of Fiestas out there and these are good cars.
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Difficult to choose between Yaris and Micra in my opinion - I think you'd probably get a lower-mileage, better condition Micra for your money, but the Yaris is possibly the better car...
Jazz is widely regarded as the best ofcourse, but the one's you find at this price won't be the best value.
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Thanks for the replies.
I would appreciate any other opinions or experiences.
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Have a look at what you can get brand new for around the £5,000 mark - a quick search on autotrader reveals Ford Ka, Citroen C1, Pug 107, Kia Picantos, Fiat Pandas.
Your £5,000 will get you a Yaris 3+ years old, whilst being noted for reliability costs for replacement parts will need to be considered.
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Whatever you buy, I would try to get something with at least a few months manufacturers warantee left on it, just in case !
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We looked at the C1, Getz, Ka for SWMBO and bought a new (pre-reg) Kia Picanto 1.1 auto which cost us £750 down and £105 a month which gave us a new car, 3 year warranty for the same price as a 2 to 3 year old supermini with unknown costs. Not the cheapest way to own a small car but suits us. We liked the Yaris best of all the used ones we considered but too expensive.
IMO for the money the Picanto is a good car. Good engine, smooth and quiet even when stretched, outstanding brakes, handles well enough and once up to speed on the motorway rides nicely. Lots of space for such a small car except the tiny boot. I'm 6'1" and it fits me easily. Well specced with aircon, 4 electric windows, MP3. Good quality paint (much harder than my Fabia), decent cloth trim but interior plastics only average.
Only significant downsides are the fuel economy which is nothing like Kia state and for us the closure of the very friendly local dealer necessitating a much longer journey to a mixed franchise run by muppets. No faults in 15 months and 10,000 miles. Annual service at new dealer should have cost £160 but got £40 off due to their ineptitude.
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I did the same exercise a year ago looking to replace a Fiesta which handled like a gokart but was poor for comfort (low seats/ harsh on bumps/terrible on speedhumps.)
We ended up with a 3 years old diesel yaris.. for £5k you could get a 2003 without aircon.
Fuel economy? average 57mpg around town.
Comfort? A1
Rattles ? None - unless you do not stow the rear seatbelts properly (they can rattle).
Handling? Not as good as a Fiesta .. understeer.
Reliability? No problems so far.
Maintenance costs £95 for 1st 10k service about £200 for 20k service then £100 .
£50 road fund licence.
Nice and very comfortable driving position - ideal for those with back problems.
Adjustable rear seat/boot space: great for shopping.
Replacement tyres are cheap about £30 as not low profile tyres.
Nice wide doors.. easy to get in and out.
I find service parts prices cheap and original parts available on ebay (filters etc).
Downsides: not as good handling as Fiesta. No heated front windscreen ( Fiesta had one useful in frosts). And the diesel heater takes 3 miles to warm up - so a petrol one could be better.
I read all the roadtests and thought HJ's one summed it up perfectly.
madf
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How about a Honda Civic or Ford Focus? There both easy to drive and not especially big. On both cars I'd have a 3 door though which are harder to find for around 5k
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mitshibishi fto import?
see peachorlemon !
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The latest Micra has had a few problems, and as a Nissan fan it pains me to say this but I wouldn't have one.
Hyundai/Kia is great for those who realise how lame the "image" word is, and it must be said that the resale values are orders of magnitude (almost not exaggerating here) compared with a few years ago. Kia especially.
Skoda Fabia, Seat Ibiza, Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Hyundai Getz, Kia Picanto (Rio? Motorpoint doing 1yo 1.4s for 5 and a half grand which seems good to me for what is a fine little car), Ford Fiesta, and the Mitsubishi Colt.
Maybe even a Citroen C1 -- looks good value to me, and a straightforward little thing with the petrol engine.
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