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Looking at changing my car car, budget of upto 7K.
Not sure what I want, but something ideally with 5 doors and a large boot. 1.6 to 2.0 litre.
Any particular cars to look at or more importantly avoid? (I dont want any French cars,lol)
Kia or Hyundai, long warranties and solid, if somewhat uninspiring, cars.
VW Passat all day.
I'm on my 2nd in 12 years! current one cost 5k 5 years ago, it just refuses to die.
It is the best V4M object I have ever bought.
Agree with jekkyl. I'm not interested in cars, just want something big and reliable. I'll get another Passat when/if! the current one dies.
The Passat is a great car, but a saloon would not be my first suggestion if "large boot" was a requirement.
Honestly though, vague question is vague. My little Civic has five doors and a boot that will swallow bikes far easier than my old Passat, and the performance from its 1.5L engine would absolutely slaughter the 2L Mondeo I had.
Put a bit more meat on the bone maybe? What are you really looking for?
Is there any good reasons to avoid French cars anymore? It's not the 80's, your Lucas distributor cap won't fall off.
The Passat is a great car, but a saloon would not be my first suggestion if “large boot” was a requirement.
Who mentioned saloon?
The 2 estate passats I've had, had massive boots. Great cars.
Good point. I didn't consider estates, it's not something I've ever had the need for personally.
I'm a fully fledge estate fanboi. Never had a saloon, always hatch or estate, or van now....
Mondeo ticks many boxes here.
a large boot. 1.6 to 2.0 litre.
That sounds more like a glovebox...
Shut up.
🤣🤣
Mileage - go for petrol if low. Be wary of ad blue - both my mate's Audi and son's Caddy works vans have needed costly repairs when the ad blue system has packed in.
Literally anything!
I can echo the Passat fans, I've had some older ones and they were great. Got a 2010 Octavia VRS TDI estate now, does the job but not as well finished as the Passat (it's also slightly smaller being on the Golf sized platform).
Outside of that, pick something you like the look of and go from there checking out the common issues etc. although to be honest if you read too much into it you'd never buy any car at all!
Why are you changing? Issues with your current car? 2nd hand market from what I've seen is still a bit silly but not as bad as it was.
In the spirit of recommending what you have. I've a Vauxhall Insignia 1.6 cdti eco thing. Very much a bland as a bland thing but is comfortable, economical £20 a year road tax, and just gets on with things. Loads out there for not very much money. The crank problems have been solved with the newer engines, so don't let stories about that put you of.
Don't write off a smaller petrol. I'm impressed at the turn of speed our 1.4tsi has - and it's just done a Scotland to Spain and back with 4 of us and 4 bikes on board...at 40mpg.
The VW group petrol 1.4tsi turbo engine is amazingly good. Pulls well from low revs. Different version 129 and 150Bhp. The 150 doesn't feel underpowered in my Skoda Superb estate and gets real world 52mpg on A roads and mid 40s on the motorway at 75mph. Drop to high 60s mph and it will be around 50mpg.
There are versions with a chain and versions with a cambelt. The belt is a service item at 5 yrs 50k miles. Somewhere around £500. So needs checking if due and factored in to price.
If you are looking at the 1.4 engine from Skoda, VW etc. avoid the dsg auto box. It's the smaller dry clutch setup and not as durable as the bigger variants. Stick to the manual and you'll have a good motor.
My 1st Passat (1.9 TDi) was the best & most reliable car I’ve ever had. Sold it with 235k on it.
My 2nd Passat (same engine) was the worst. However I think it’d been heavily clocked.
My Mondeo Estate has been excellent but is now suffering from the onset of tinworm.
avoid the dsg auto box. It’s the smaller dry clutch setup and not as durable as the bigger variants.
Avoid the early ones, they are dry clutch.
The newer ones are wet and seemingly reliable. Better be, now I've got one.
And yes, we've the 150bhp 1.4tsi - its a bit of a goer, yet sips fuel. It doesn't match the diesels I've had for 20 years for grunt with a really big load on board (canoes, bikes, 5 people) but that's a small percentage of the time I'm driving.
If you are looking at the 1.4 engine from Skoda, VW etc. avoid the dsg auto box. It’s the smaller dry clutch setup and not as durable as the bigger variants. Stick to the manual and you’ll have a good motor.
Can confirm - mine is borked. Looking at a 1500 quid repair bill. Engine is fantastic though.
Avoid the early ones, they are dry clutch.
The newer ones are wet and seemingly reliable. Better be, now I’ve got one.
Correct, the 7 speed dry clutch (DQ200) is pretty much guaranteed to fail at some point, but the 6 speed wet clutch are great.
As another "recommend what you got", I'm very happy with my Kia CEED Diesel. Fast enough, big enough, comfortable enough, feels solid and has just done an 800 mile round trip from Perth to Gloucester fully loaded at a measured 67.8mpg. Also cheap to service and £30/year tax.
Nope on the recent boxes not being dry clutch (too many negatives).
All 1.4 dsg boxes are 7 speed dry clutch dq200. Apart from the plug ins which are a variant of the dq250 and named dq400e or something.
Some of the larger engines are being mates to a 7 speed wet clutch box (dq380/381) which is where some of the confusion stems from.
I found the Passats at old work to be quite uncomfortable after around 100 miles my Mondeo was much better, could sit in there all day
Get a test drive!
Honda civic estate.
Not many estates on auto trader in budget however. The hatch backs are as good and alot more common.
I did 60,000 miles over 3 in one from new. It had 2 tyres and 3 services. No rattles, no squeeks, No problems. It was a lease car, I changed jobs and it went back to the lease company.
I bought a second hand BMW 335d. It killed a egr cooler, sent hot exhaust gases through plastic pipe and cost £2500 to fix after three months. I asked BMW if there was a recal on the part, they said no so I paid. After a couple of months ingot a letter through the post saying the egr cooler was being recalled for failing and sending hot exhaust gases thought plastic.... I got most of my money back.
I spent a lot of time wishing I'd bought a civic tourer instead!
Our 60 plate Octavia estate 1.4tsi keeps showing up as sub £3k value on WBAC.com. Manual.
Dewficnitkey decent boot (not as big as the 900S but decent enough) and big floor area ion seats are folded down.
I think the clutch might be on its way out, but its been reasobalky easy to look after apart from that.