Help wanted to choose a car

H

hollyrescue

Member
Due to retirement on health grounds (the car's health that is) my son's Mondeo must go. He can't afford another so good 'ole Dad has offered to fund the replacement.
He has 2 children 9 and 7.
His specifications are:
Smaller than Mondeo, Focus size maybe.
Cheap to run, so out goes Audi as service costs too high.
Solid drive on Mways i.e not "skittish", he has various hire cars from his firm and is worried about that factor on some e.g Almera.
Fairly large boot for shopping and hols.
Not VW Golf, pure prejudice on his part.

My specs are:
Not Renault or Citroen, I cannot be persuaded, due to unreliability.
Not Vauxhall, pure groundless prejudice on my part
Preferably Japanese, Honda out, dealer too far away and difficult to get to without car. Pity cos I like'em. Ford considered.
New, demonstrator or nearly new, but up to 2 years old considered
Not exotic price cos I'm paying. 0% interest deals attractive.
3 year warranty on new as minimum.
Reasonable service costs, and ideally specialist repairers available if out of warranty. Pity about Audi on these grounds.

Your opinions would be extremely helpful, any thoughts on Mazda for example, a friend is very pleased with theirs. He likes the Micra but considers boot too small (I don't).
Oh, I nearly forgot, his wife is American and drives like one! Only joking (I think).
I'd love to hear from you on this forum, then when he gets out of hospital we'll go and look at some of your recommendations.
 
hmmm...What sort of budget does he have? the new Honda Civic looks mighty nice, and meets a few of your specs, price is from 12-13k ish, not sure on relase date though...

edited to add: oops, just read "Honda out, dealer to far..."

DSC_2115-04-1.jpg
 
Ford Focus C-Max. Very happy with mine and some great deals out there. MPV practicality without being too huge. Great for kids. TDCi is an absolute dream to drive. Never thought I would say it, but Ford really have got their act together.
If interested, have a look on Matlock Fords website. This link is for the used, but nearly new models :
http://www.matlockford.co.uk/

C-MaxNo2.jpg


Reviews From 'Honest John' Web Site :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2005/03/26/mford126.xml


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2003/08/29/emford30.xml


A2 Gone but not forgotten !!!!!!!
 
We both like the civic, major problem is that the dealer is not easy to get to w/out a car, my neighbour has a RAV4 and finds this a real problem. The price is possibly on the upper limit with discounts on Hondas not freely given.He has had a hire Civic and rated it highly. I think it should be on the shortlist.
 
Toyota Corolla? Had the new shape one just prior to my now Avensis. Nice car.

Mazda....looked at the 6-nice looking car but interior looked like a hifi. Not sure what the 3 is like, but again looks good from the outside.

Steve - A couple of A2's, then a Corolla, now an Avensis T3-X 2.0 Auto
 
My opinions

If he would accept a small car, Honda Jazz(I own one) is the winner. Very low running costs and low depreciation offset inconvenience of dealer. Also in my experience(3 honda cars) dealers will complete any service within 2 hours if you tell them you are waiting. Hardly an inconvenience once a year. Toyota take at least 1/2 an hour just to book in my car. Next up I would agree with the C-max. You would be mad to buy new due to high initial depreciation. 1 year old 1.6tdci's are £8499 in motorpoint, a bargain IMHO.
If it has to be a saloon(mondeo) type car I would go for either a Toyota Avensis 2.0 D4D or 1.8(I run 1.8 which does 40mpg), the T3-x is £12999 on 05 at motorpoint or my favorite the Honda Accord(petrol unfortunately) also £12999 on 05 or if you need the 3 yr warranty £14499 for a new one. A whole lot of car for the money.

Sorry it is Honda dominated but in my experience the ownership experience is fantastic. Good luck choosing
 
ULP, yes the A2 is very suitable as a car, and he lives abut 200 yds from the dealer. It's the ludicrous cost of service and repair compared to...well....almost anything (BMW excepted). He could have mine and I would get a new one, I really can't saddle him with possible V high repair bills, and with no independants willing to tackle the A2 , VW will do any repair not requiring the diagnostic software, but that's it.
 
[8D]Toyroegeot!

Ok, I know too small in the boot department.

Your mind is best kept like a parachute.
A2 1.4 SE TDI replaced with a subtle, refined, pre schnoz design A3 2.0TDI DSG, the transmission of the future - today.
 
Anyone wants Avensis comments-let me know-I love mine!

Steve - A couple of A2's, then a Corolla, now an Avensis T3-X 2.0 Auto
 
The Mazda6 and Honda Jazz have been in the top 3 of the AutoExpress Driver Power Survey for the last 3 years on a trot (either the one or the other, 1st or 2nd). A close third is either the Skoda Fabia or Octavia. The latter is the car with the most repeat buys of the same car of ANY car on sale in the UK. That says a lot about the car and its dealers. You won't go wrong with any of those four.

Personally you won't get a bigger boot, a better TDI or a better quality car for the money than a Skoda Octavia. Get an Estate as it looks better proportioned than the hatch. Though both have massive boots. As the new shape (Golf 5 based) Octavia has just been launched you will get good 1 year old previous shape ones at the dealers). But as a new car even better. Rock solid residuals too. Their website still has details on the old shape one so you may even get a new old shape one? http://www.skoda.co.uk/skoda3g/survey.aspx [And remember that the proper way to pronounce Skoda is Schkoda since the S has a Š on it! LOL)

They still list a limited range on the old shape. You can't go wrong for just over £11000. These are the Estate prices:

Classic 1.6 173 £10610
Classic 1.9 TDI 90bhp 140 £11600
vRS 1.8T 180bhp 192 £14690

[Even a vRS is less than £15000!!!! But Insurance will be manic]

Get back issues of the Driver Power Survey editions of the Autoexpress magazine. These surveys (usually of about 25000 owners) are invaluable to rate cars and espacially dealers.

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[img=left]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-2/11882/a2andme2.gif[/img=left]
2001 A2 TDI SE Crystal Blue with Open Sky, 6CD Symphony II, BOSE upgrade, DIS and HALF a winterpack

iPAQ 4150 with TomTom+CoPilot bluetooth, rear cupholders, luggage net, fire extinguisher and floppy wiper

http://www.a2oc.net/pic_show.asp?picid=1572&type=1 On www.A2OC.net pictures UK160 to UK183
 
Thanks Johann, very useful info. We will tour the dealers when he has recovered from his op, probably within the next 2 weeks
 
We made a start as i left the hospital today. The runout Almera fully loaded with toys was very attractively priced £10K. The Mazda 3 was impressive with far less toys. Honda, Toyota and Skoda, Ford still to go.
 
Almera is total cack yes. Don't be fooled by toys! Go for what owners voted best!

____________________________________________________________________________________
[img=left]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-2/11882/a2andme2.gif[/img=left]
2001 A2 TDI SE Crystal Blue with Open Sky, 6CD Symphony II, BOSE upgrade, DIS and HALF a winterpack

iPAQ 4150 with TomTom+CoPilot bluetooth, rear cupholders, luggage net, fire extinguisher and floppy wiper

http://www.a2oc.net/pic_show.asp?picid=1572&type=1 On www.A2OC.net pictures UK160 to UK183
 
Budget is a bit elastic, about 12K and an M reg Mondeo, ideally 10-12K +Mondeo. I respect Johanns views he seems to know what he's talking about.
 
I detected a slight bias against the Almer!!!!
I only mentioned my respect for Johann's views as I have met him and have followed him on the forum for some time. Looking at it again, I seem to have suggested that it's only HIS views I respect, that was not the intention,there are some very constructive views offered which I am sure will help us to spend wisely. My apologies if it looked otherwise.
 
We think the Octavia is too big, much the same as Mondeo. We intend to tour the dealers tomorrow. Whilst in the VW dealer today for MOT I looked at the Golf Plus, very nice, stretching the budget a great deal though. Also 'er indoors is not confident that my daughter in Law will refrain from denting it (American and drives like one, remember?. Whist speaking to some of the VW staff, one said her sister had an Almera for the last 4 years with no trouble whatsoever, but if we went for that I would have to leave the A2OC, probably having all my badges ripped off in front of the entire membership!
Lets see what tomorrow brings.
 
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