What ten grand car?

Petrol

Focus sizeish but not a Focus, one litre engine worries me

As new as poss.

Economical (I do a fair number of miles)

And of course, reliable with no known foibles.

Not bothered about room for a bike ,I use a towbar rack

Personal experience would be valued!

Look no further than the Mazda 3.

Kia/Hyundia for boring reliabilty IMO

I'll say it again, Fabia estate.

Bigger boot than a Focus (hatch) but narrower so dead easy in town.

Ours is the posher SE-L avec 110bhp petrol and a few options. If it's just one or two of you regularly, commonly a bunch of bike or walking gear on the back, occasionally an extra passenger or two locally, it just works.

The smaller engines are well proven, many with big miles on, and have (as long as you avoid wet belt) few issues. Ours pulls well, gets 45mpg around town, maybe 53/55 on long journeys.

Kia Ceed/Hyundai i30

In 2016 my car died as I was looking to buy a new house. Didn’t want a car loan to impact mortgage so bought a £4(?)k Dacia sandero with 10k miles on the clock.

9 years later it’s still going strong having only replaced springs, joints, brake pads and tyres. Every time it was in the garage, parts were super cheap.

when it finally dies it will be replaced with another Dacia. Overall, considering purchase price and plus running costs, I’m fairly certain it’s worked out cheaper than a bus pass.

If you just want a car, it'd be hard to look past a Dacia or Kia/Hyundai - but pop into a showroom and see how much you could get a new/nearly new one for, might be cheap enough (ie rather than paying cash, a PCP/hire purchase and you gain a long warranty).

My eldest son is very happy with his twenty year old Honda Civic - 200k miles, still going strong. Cost him £600 or something like that.

So you could just get yourself sixteen Honda Civics?

That was after a very problematic Ford Focus (to be fair to Ford, it had had a very chequered life).

10 year warranties on toyotas so I'd be going there.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501097886273

3 year warranty left, bombproof hybrid system so nice and economical.

We bought a Dacia Duster new in 2014 the intention being to drive till it dropped.

97K miles & 10 years later, a couple of issues nothing serious BUT ....

At the last MOT I was warned the following year it would need significant welding due to rust and other rust related work.

It has been used and abused but I did expect it to last longer. I won't buy another Dacia based on this.

I'm guessing the 'and abused' but probably hasn't helped it...

As you mention a tow ball rack, you'll need something with a decent nose weight and can take a towball...

Kia Ceed, for £10k you'll likely still have some of the 7 year warranty left.

I heard there were two grades of Dusters and the basic white ones loved by French farmers suffer from rust.

@RobinL I heard they sorted the rust / welding issues in later models but the newer ones are a lot more expensive than the bargain basement first ones.

We had one of the second gen Focus Ecoboosts, purchased as a one-year-old ex-lease with 14k on the clock for £10k. Ran perfectly for the three years we owned it apart from some issues with the alloys (corrosion, air loss). Heard many horror stories about exploding engines and timing / cam belts disintegrating though.

A 1.5 TDCi Focus?

Not bothered about room for a bike ,I use a towbar rack

Check how much this will cost to fit.  Prices are becoming obscene!  I'm swinging towards getting a small van at some point because between the cost of getting it fitted, and insurers seem to be now classifying them as a "modification" which even if it doesn't increase the specific policy, does rule out a lot of policies.

That or roof racks and accept the trade off in MPG Vs premiums.

I was gonna say you could get a nice little van for that kind of money

I would have a van tomorrow but Home Office approval wouldn't be forthcoming! Every time I look at a faintly cubic car she points and shouts,"VAN"!

We had a fabia estate. It was a 14 plate with a 1.2 petrol engine. Sadly the engine blew up with very little warning 3 years ago and so the car was only 7 or 8 and only had 60k odd on clock. Can't complain really as it only cost us 5.5k to buy and so we had quite cheap motoring from it. It actually blew the day we were moving house though and so left me in a spot of bother. I would still have another as it was cheap and practical.

Focus sizeish but not a Focus, one litre engine worries me

As new as poss.

The 1.0 EcoBoost motor does have a reputation, the main problem, as I understand it is owners just chucking whatever cheap oil they’d pick up at the garage or Halfrauds, which apparently causes the wet belt to shed material thus blocking the oil system. Given proper services by a good garage, who know the engine, they should last pretty well.

Of course, buying second hand means trusting all that’s been done. My Ford has that engine, but I bought it at 14 months old with 3300 miles on the clock. It was a Motability car that had been slightly damaged and repaired/replaced then sold on through a dealer. My Ford garage did a basic service as per the mileage, and it had its 40,000 mile service done in November at 34,000 miles. I expect it to last a good while yet, at least 60,000 miles, but I now only do around 4000 miles per year.

Truth is, I absolutely love the car, I chose it having been able to drive a couple of hundred different cars and it ticked every box - if anything happened to the engine, I’d actually be prepared to replace it with a new one or a short block.

Dacia are not bad, drove a few, also the Mazda 3, but all the cars I was driving would now be seven or eight years old, and things have changed and improved in many, Dacia in particular. As always, caviat emptor.

I got a Dacia Sandero Stepway...£12k, 3 or 4 years old low mileage. Had it a year. It's been good, not fast but it does all that car stuff.

Civic 1.8 petrol  the tourer estate is a great all rounder  .. great mpg and bomb proof with money left over ..

Given proper services by a good garage, who know the engine, they should last pretty well.

Even looked after Ford shortened the lifespan on them and from what I have read it doesnt give much hint its failing and when it does chances are its new engine time. The bill for replacing them is stupidly high since Fords theory was it wouldnt be needed and hence it basically needs the engine removing.

I have just been looking at it for my non ecoboost fiesta.

Main dealer, who couldnt identify it as a non ecoboost, said it would be 3k so looked for recommended independents. Found one who quoted me 400 vs their ecoboost price which is about 1.4k. As far as I can tell that seems to be about normal.

Civic 1.8 here

Simple and well engineered, you’ll get a good low mileage mk9 for less than 10k. Will likely last a long time, cavernous boot if not the most exciting.

1.6 petrol for me back in 08 for £8,250 with 8000 miles on the clock. Ran it until 125,000 for little money as Ford were doing services on the cheap with European breakdown cover included for £120 a pop. Cam belt at 100K wasn’t super expensive, but passed it on for a 520d which has been equally brilliant over the twelve years I’ve had it. Old Focus is still running at 180,000 miles now so those normally aspirated engines can last.

I know this is a cycling forum...but kill me now.

How long do you intend to keep it? Some modern cars are still rusting to the point of MOT fails at 10 years old.

2018 Mazda 3 here on 109k miles, other than servicing, consumables nothing has broken. 2litre 168bhp averaging 47mpg over cars life

Completely failing to tick most of your boxes, but hey, this is STW.

If I was buying a ten grand car at the moment (I'd probably spend a bit more tbh, to get a lower mileage one), I've always fancied a Passat R36 - had this generation in a diesel estate a few years ago and it was a great car

Some modern cars are still rusting to the point of MOT fails at 10 years old.

Up here that's not uncommon. Doesn't matter what brand you buy. If your not fastidious with washing the salt off the underside and keeping it protected.

Salty brine don't care what the badge is.

Oh and very wise man to avoid the ford ecoboost. Seems to unanimously be the worst engine ever. Doesn't matter who services it. Woman that works with my wife is on her third warranty engine on a dealer maintained car. Even as the owner of a (different) wet belt engine....you couldn't pay me to have one of them.

Why not a diesel?  Honda Civic 1.6 diesel has a superb engine, smooth, quiet, fast enough and  ..... 60mpg!  The car isn't bad, either.

Some modern cars are still rusting to the point of MOT fails at 10 years old.

My local garage says this. Basically modern cars last about 10 years, that's it. They reckon anything newer than about a 15 plate you can expect to be replacing within 10 years or be faced with massive bills to keep them roadworthy.

They say that older cars will generally cope with a steady trickle of reasonably economical repairs.

Not bothered about room for a bike ,I use a towbar rack

Why? If you're getting a 'new to you' one you can get anything, within reason/budget. Now is the time to get one big enough to be able to get your bike in

FOGFull Member
I would have a van tomorrow but Home Office approval wouldn’t be forthcoming! Every time I look at a faintly cubic car she points and shouts,”VAN”!

Mine was even less politically correct, I think the politest the Berlingo was called was "Pope mobile".  Then I got one as a stopgap, it eventually went when I couldn't be bothered to fix something on a car I no longer needed (and had no value).

Now she's shopping for actual vans!

Cars from Scotland or NE England can suffer bad corrosion if the owner hasn't hosed off regular.

dissonanceFull Member
Fords theory was it wouldnt be needed and hence it basically needs the engine removing.

Nah,  replacing the belt just requires a fair amount of labour and a reasonably expensive couple of tools to get the timing correct and tighten things back down.It'st definitely done on the car though. Sorry for the Chinese propaganda link but this company do a lot with these engines:

https://www.tiktok.com/@thecareditionltd/video/7385480151565339937

https://www.tiktok.com/@thecareditionltd/video/7343578482913447200

And trail_rat's friend that's had three engines, well that just seems like something else is wrong. for example: they didn't clear one of the secondary oil strainers properly after the first failure and the others died from low oil pressure, she keeps taking it back to the same garage that are using the wrong oil, they reused parts in the engine swap that are causing an issue, the used second hand engines that had already had oil pressure problems.

Just to be clear, i'm not in the slightest bit recommending a car with this engine but something's not right there.

Sounds like we know the same person ?

It was dealer serviced and the engines were replaced under warranty. - both mentioned in my op.

Interesting they would cut corners on refitting in order to keep fitting new engines......

Not like there's an open class act against ford for the design.....

I'm accepting my non ford wet belt will likely let go one day - although I have changed it on my drive and it was a caker + use the correct oil.  ..... But we also have the technology here to fit something else in its place if/when it does. At least I can see the belt and watch the belt for degredation.

Wife just bought a Volvo V40, op's need list was about the same as hers. V40 is Focus based, and 2016(?) on has Volvo engine. Nice car.

For a little more, you should be able to get a Toyota Corolla Hybrid Estate from 2019/2020.  We had one as a hire car for 2 weeks and it did over 80mpg and wafted around town on its battery.  It would still have 5 years left on its warranty, is either road tax exempt or £30 and for short journeys, costs nothing at all.  I was genuinely impressed and that’s coming from BMW BEV and ICE cars that we own.

I would run a mile from any Euro6 diesel if you are using it for lots of school drops-offs/smaller trips.  If you are lucky the service cost around EGR's and DPF can be mad, if you unlucky it will cost more.

A lot of Eastern built cars dont seem to have any underseal protection to speak of any more.  Easilly solved by a yearly jetwash off and some https://bilthamber.com/product-category/anti-corrosion/ products every couple years underside

First and boring things first...

You use a tow bar rack so you need a vehicle homologated for a tow bar or to sell the rack and get some roof bars/stick it in the car.

That immediately narrows your options.  Skoda (as one example among many manufacturers) required factory fit wiring/upgrades to cooling on a significant number of their smaller and petrol models in order that they could tow. Most fitters won't want to put a towbar on a non-prep'd car.    This makes a minefield of looking at second hand cars.

You need to do your research on the models AND check the VIN plate on the car you're buying.   We looked at a number of hybrids that had a claimed towbar limit on Parkers/Auto trader but no actual limit on the vehicle.

We ended up calling ahead asking dealers to send us the weights off the VIN plate before viewing to save their time and ours.  The online supermarket sellers are utterly hopeless for this so you risk wasted trips.  Local independents are much better as cars tend to be on site.

I'm a fan of the 1.0 ecoboost but we've had ours a long while and it's been meticulously cared for.  I wouldn't buy another unless it was practically new (ours was 3 years old, ultra low mileage when we bought it).

Makes and models - I drive a big diesel estate so I won't offer guidance other than if you do big miles and long trips don't rule out a diesel

In the grand old tradition of recommending  what you have, I got a 2 1/2 year old Vitara 1.0 Boosterjet, 4 years ago for £11k - pre covid price increases

It's been utterly faultless (kiss of death), getting 45mpg on a 50/50 of dual carriageway/town driving, and 60mpg on a trip to Corfu 18 months ago.

Decent spec, with Android Auto, reverse cam, sat nav, cruise, a/c. Boot size isn't too bad, but you need the seats down for any decent amount of cargo