Which car?

[Launchbury]

I will be buying a new car in the next couple of weeks, for 2 adults and a small child - small to middle family car.

Is there a trusted website that will advise which cars are worth considering and which are rubbish?

Or, anyone have ides of which car is generally well thought of?

This is what is important;

- Small to medium family car
- Got up to 7K to spend
- Economical
- Will hold it's money reasonably well

Many thanks.

 

[Stivino]

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/topten/
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/
Other comparison sites are available.

 

[JohnD]

see if you can get a copy of the "Which" car guide.

You can read it free in any public library

I don't know if it is on sale to non-members.

Generally, the Japanese brands are way ahead of anyone else for reliability (Toyota, Nissan, Honda)

Fashionable or flashy cars are always poor value.

Some of the less well known far-eastern brands like Hyundai are very good value new, with long guarantees, but may not fetch much when you come to sell.

If you mean "new" then there are no best buys under £7k. The Kia Picanto is the highest scorer under £8k

The Daihatsu Sirion is a best buy at about 8.5 unless you get a special deal

The Mitsubishi Colt and the Toyoya Aygo, Nissan Micra are good superminis but rather small

If you start to look at used cars, you can get something biggger and better for the money

 

[stuartturbo]

depends on what type of car you want.
Now past affording fast family cars I now drive a Meriva Derv and like it for what it is ( currently covering 20k miles a year) resonable poke and i get 40ish mpg generally not "gentle"
I have 2 kids My boy is 7 and stands in at least 4"6 so that rear head room is a god send.We looked at the Golf and the focus when buying this. Zafira was to big then the meriva popped up and we both liked it.!!
If i had more cash I would have considered the C-max as well.
Love the Meriva's rear seating set up( rear seat move in then rearward to make a 4 seater with loads of leg room for the size of car

 

[gregers]

www.autoexpress.co.uk is also a good place for real term reports etc.

 

[Burnerman]

Nissan's Note is a strong contender - petrol and diesels available, sliding rear seat and twin level boot.
Nearly new, naturally.
John

 

[JohnD]

... a new car .... Got up to 7K to spend...

 

[Launchbury]

New car, sorry I meant new to me . I'm hoping to get something which is about 2 or 3 years old.

 

[JohnD]

that's much easier

medium family car, up to £7k?

would you prefer supermini, hatchback, booted saloon or what?

I just did a search on Which, used cars, £6-7k, superminis and medium, best buys only, sorted by highest scoring

The top few were:
Toyota Avensis (2003-2009)
Volkswagen Golf Plus (2005-2009)
Hyundai i30 (2007-)
BMW 1 Series hatchback (2004-)
Honda CR-V (2001-2007)
Volkswagen Golf (2004-2009)
Honda FR-V (2004-2009)
Toyota Prius (2004-2009)
Mazda 3 (2004-2009)
Hyundai i20 (2009-)
Mazda 6 (2002-2007)

The Avensis and the Mazda 6 are quite large and comfortable, easy to drive and stunningly reliable. I haven't been in any of the others but AFAIK they are all smaller.

 

[empip]

Could be worth a squint.

No guarantee of course.

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/

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