Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years.

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 13:47
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Cowimars

I want to buy a small 2nd car. I have upto 7K to spend and want something that will be reliable and cheap to run as well as safe. My plan at this stage is to run the car for the next 8 to 10 years. i am predicting an annula mileage of approx 5K/annum.

Any suggestions. I am currently looking at a Fox as I know of VW reliability. A little bit scared of buying a Citroen or Fiat due to past experience and reliability reports/surveys.

Any suggestions ?

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 14:12
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - madf

We have run a Peugeot 106 for 17 years . Still going strong.

First: It must be rust free.

2. It must be a car which does not rust.

3. Fiuture spares availability (Peugeot and ebay and sc*** yards means all spares are cheaply available still).

4. No built in design flaws which cost £1000s to fix. Or expensive essential addons.. So ABS? Probably OK. Aircon? Nono...

5. Easy to repair... local gararge can do it.. Avoid special editions with one off unique parts which are unobtainable in 10 years time (not trim but bumpers or wings or boots or lights).

Our second car is a 7 year old Yaris and son has a 10 years old 100k miles Yaris... they do not top reliability tables for nothing....

Oh and make sure you enjoy driving and parking it and driving it over potholes and speedhumps.. as the wrong choice will be a reliable car you don't like...

And standard tyre sizes make it cheap to buy tyres....

Edited by madf on 16/08/2010 at 14:13

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 19:12
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Dutchie

Daugther has a fiat panda not expensive galvanised body work nice engine easy to work on.She has the 1.2 engine aircon got it brandnew for her for five and halve thousand pounds a year and a halve ago.I could live with the car for ten years fiat have been making small cars for donkey years.Should be plenty of spare parts for the future.Just my pennies worth.

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 19:56
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Leif

I'm not sure VW are reliable. I've always thought their reputation was built on clever advertising. And they cost a bit. There are other cars in the VW group that offer better value. Surely you can check surveys such as J D Power to get a list of reliable cars, and go from there. Some Korean makes provide very long warranties, I think 7 years in one case. Japanese makes always seem to do well in the reliability stakes. But the cheapest Toyota is the same as the car sold under two other brands, but costs more. Perhaps it is best to avoid lots of electric gadgets such as electric windows as that is more to go wrong. I would not buy a 3 door again, as getting in and out of the back is a right pain. It is worth checking the cost of servicing and parts.

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 20:21
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - SteveLee

Hyundai i10, excellent car of recent design, under £8K new, 5 year warranty.

Kia Rio, just over £8K new but has a 7 year warranty, not quite as good a car (to drive) as the i10 but it does the job reliably. Obviously if value and peace of mind is paramount you can't beat a 7 year warranty.

Daihatsu Sirion, £8.5K, 5 year warranty, Daihatsus are bulletproof. The basic Sirion is incredibly fuel efficient as the car is very light.

Finally the Toyota Aygo, just over £8K new, 5 year warranty, the least well equiped car here but very reliable.

Barter like hell, you should get a good discount on any new car, if salesmen try to pressurise you - walk away. Go towards the end of the month when there's sales number deadlines to meet.

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 20:29
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - SteveLee
PS forget VW, Ford etc, until those companies stand by their products with a proper warranty why should you line their pockets? Vauxhall's "lifetime" warranty looks tempting - the only problem is being a Vauxhall I would expect you to NEED the warranty - I'd expect the Jap and Korean cars listed above to be absolutely reliable. I'd be extremely surprised if any of them let you down.
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Mon 16 Aug 2010 20:40
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Leif
The Toyota Aygo is the same basic car as the Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1 with Toyota styling, some more equipment and I think higher pricing.
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Mon 16 Aug 2010 21:04
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - SteveLee
The Toyota Aygo is the same basic car as the Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1 with Toyota styling, some more equipment and I think higher pricing.

It is indeed and they're all made on the same production line, however the Aygo has a 5 year warranty unlike its French cousins. The car is a Toyota design with a Toyota engine.

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 22:41
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - primeradriver

I'd also add to SteveLee's list the Mitsubishi Colt. It's an often-overlooked contender, is good to drive, well built and reliable, and because the basic design is getting on a bit now (introduced in 2004) they can sometimes be had at bargain prices (think sub-£7000).

I've seen 2-year-old cars with FSH and <20,000 miles for around £4000 and this has to be the bargain of the sector IMO. I don't personally like the look of the 5-door (too tall and slab-sided for my liking -- think Honda Jazz) but the 3-door is a much nicer looking car. That's all subjective though.

The parts are reasonably priced as well as this car is built in Holland.

Edited by primeradriver on 16/08/2010 at 22:42

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Mon 16 Aug 2010 23:08
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Leif
I wonder if it is best to buy new or 1 or 2 year old. I bought my Ka new almost 9 years ago, reasoning that used prices were quite high due to demand for small cars, and buying new meant that I was the first and only owner, and I knew it had not been thrashed. A lot of these 1 year old cars are I think from fleets, and hire companies, and might have been ill treated. Most modern cars do seem to be a lot more reliable than in preceding decades.

I would have thought that most issues would occur in the first few years (manufacturing faults covered by warranty) and once it reaches 8 years old (out of warranty). I read that small cars are only supposed to last ~8 years, though the Ford KA seems to last, as did the old Micras. My old style Micra basically fell to pieces at 9 years of age, when the engine management unit collapsed, and severe rust appeared. My Ka has issues in the first year or so (uncontrolled acceleration, recall to attach a hose clip), but since (touch wood) nothing. I was surprised at the high service charges for the Micra, so as I said, it is worth checking. Ford servicing is not expensive.

Drive The Deal might be worth a visit.
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Mon 16 Aug 2010 23:20
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Leif

Drive The Deal:

Toyota Aygo 3 door = £6,814.

Citroen C1 3 door = £6,385

VW Fox 3 door 1.2L = £7,124

Kia Rio 5 door 1.4L = £7,313

Hyundai i10 5 door = 7,462

You might get cheaper elsewhere but the above gives an idea. As someone else said, there are sometimes new bargains at certain times of year.

Or what about the Reva G-Wiz. Nooooooo!

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Tue 17 Aug 2010 01:14
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - carl_a

I'd also add to SteveLee's list the Mitsubishi Colt. It's an often-overlooked contender, is good to drive, well built and reliable, and because the basic design is getting on a bit now (introduced in 2004) they can sometimes be had at bargain prices (think sub-£7000).

Indeed Mitsubishi are advertising them at £6999 and they are very reliable, personally I prefer it to the Yaris and the Honda Jazz which is overrated.

Stay well clear of the Fox, its slow. MPG is dire and Co2 is very high (tax disc costs a lot)

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Tue 17 Aug 2010 02:49
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - SteveLee

Agreed chaps, the only reason I left the superb Colt off my list is because it only has a three year warranty. Ditto for the Panda, the Colt and Panda are also both at the end of their design life and will be replaced with new models soon.

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Tue 17 Aug 2010 09:37
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - bintang

The Colt is an excellent knockabout, very roomy but with rather a stark cabin.

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 10:25
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - injection doc
We Bought C1 5dr 2.5 years ago now for 6250.00 & its been fab. what more can i say. Since then there are 4 more C1's appeared down our close & my neigbour has just bought C1 splash & loves it to bits. Just soooooo goooood on fuel. we get about 365 miles on approx £32.00 fuel local running.
No doubt being toyota I guess 8 years here we come.
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Wed 18 Aug 2010 11:31
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - colinh
New Vauxhall - 5k miles/year = 20 year warranty
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Wed 18 Aug 2010 13:29
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - captain chaos

Another vote for Japanese or Korean. VAG aren't as reliable as they would have you believe. Owned a Seat Cordoba once, decent enough car but left me stranded with a duff coil. Called the AA out and was quite surprised he had a replacement with him. He told me all patrols carry them as VAG were notorious for coil problems. You'd have thought there would have been a recall or something if they wanted to uphold their reputation for reliability.

Or perhaps not...

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 13:42
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Armstrong Sid

If I was in this situation I'd definitely go for something nearly new from a Car Supermarket. Then you get the majority of the car's warranty, a low mileage, you don't get hit by the early massive depreciation, relatively lower price, and you've got the (probably) latest version of a particular model.

Edited by Armstrong Sid on 18/08/2010 at 13:47

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 17:27
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - carl_a

Might be worth going a little bigger and getting a Kia Ceed, you can pick them up a year or two old at just over £5k, still has 5 years warranty left, very safe, reasonable MPG, chain cam engine and a few toys such as steering wheel mounted controls and USB connector on all but cheapest models.

Edited by carl_a on 18/08/2010 at 17:32

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 19:53
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - primeradriver

> Might be worth going a little bigger and getting a Kia Ceed, you can pick

> them up a year or two old at just over £5k

Where?!?!?

If they'd been available at that age and that price I'd have had one instead of the Focus. I'd sell the Focus and buy the Cee'd if you could show me an example!

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 20:24
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - SteveLee

Where?!?!?

www.cargiant.co.uk/KIA/details-474377-KIA.asp

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 20:29
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - primeradriver

Hmmm, thankyou :)

I will have to see if I can get a Cee'd on test drive for a couple of days -- I know my local dealer is not averse to doing this. If it's comfortable -- bye bye Ford at that price! Seeing as it'll come with a five year balance of warranty as well.

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Wed 18 Aug 2010 20:40
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - SteveLee
My girlfriend's brother has one - it's very good, comfy and quiet. The suspension set up is more comfort biased compared to the Focus. Nothing, absolutely nothing has gone wrong with it in the 18 months since new.

Check the service book carefully to ensure the warranty conditions haven't been breached i.e. no late services.
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Sat 21 Aug 2010 08:52
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Damper

Hyundai currently have the i10 Classic on offer for £6995, that car has a not too shabby 4 star NCAP rating and comes with 4 airbags. This car is also considered to be a pretty good motorway driver when required

The Fiat Panda is a decent drive and just under £6K will get you a brand new entry level 1.1 Active Eco, due to the older design these have a 3 star crash rating and only come with driver and passenger airbags.

If you like the Aygo then the mechanically equivalent Citroen C1 is available on offer at the moment for £6495. That gets you the base model VT, which is 4 star NCAP, granted you do not get any toys but in the long run this means less to go wrong in the years to come. I have owned one of these and they are fun little cars. The only thing to watch is I have read that the Aygo (and I assume sister models) can suffer with interior leaks which there does not seem to be a definate solution for. Modified door seals have been produced but owners of even brand new ones (check the Aygo forums) are still complaining of water ingress.

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Mon 23 Aug 2010 00:32
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - carl_a

Where?!?!?

There are over 10 of them on Autotrader. Lots of different mileages, best one seems to be 19,000 miles 1.6 GS 58 reg (2009) £5250.

But keep it quiet we don't want to much demand to put the prices up ;)

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 19:49
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - P3t3r

I think a Fiat Panda would be ideal, but it's best to test drive cars and go for what you like. It is very unlikely that they will have any rust within 10 years. You can get a new 1.2 Dynamic (with air con) for less than £7k.

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 20:45
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - pcvpilotmick

Kia Rio 1.4

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 23:11
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Nomag

One of my staff is also a part time driving instructor (full time till she started with me).
She runs a 56 plate 107 basic 5 door although she specced it with one extra - aircon (v wise as an instructor I guess)

She neglects it like hell, but gets the oil changed.

It's had two clutches.

That's it.

It's done 125k miles!!

And it is a suprisingly pleasant small car to drive and be driven in.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 23:19
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Falkirk Bairn

Citroen C1 VTR+ - higher spec model (over £9K) available now for about £7K thru brokers

Normally the basic C1 is around £6400

C1=Peugeot 107=Toyota Aygo - same factory, different badges and only small variations in specifications

I would not normally consider French cars due to dodgy electrics etc but the C1 is a Toyota in all but name.

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Mon 23 Aug 2010 00:44
Reliable Small Car - good for 8 to 10 years. - Kancho

Can't comment on current reliability but we bought an '97 R-Reg 1.4 VW Polo new and sold it 3 years ago, in all that time it never gave us a moments bother, never broke down, always started, never needed anything other than servicing/tyres/brakes/exhaust apart from once it needed a new windscreen wiper selector switch off the steering column which was a cheap part.

It was a fantastic little car and I was sorry to see it go, but new babies meant we needed something bigger.

I still see it knocking around and it looks & sounds fine.

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