Morning folks, clearly the best forum for all walks of life inc ‘what car’ threads.

Currently having a bit of a problem with a new (to me) car. Paid £8k cash for it 8 weeks ago and currently facing a repair value of almost 50% of that following a major failure. Im working with the dealer to resolve it and expect a Refund / Repair / Replace outcome. I think I’m going to push for a refund and take my money and invest it in something else.

So what cars are currently considered to have bombproof engines and reliable gearboxes? It’ll cover about 12,500 miles a year inc a daily 12 mile each way commute with some stop / start rush hour traffic.

Needs to be large enough for bikes, wife and x1 child for weekend trips away.

Only requirements are Petrol / Manual / 5 Door & Reliable! Will consider an estate. Looking around the £5k mark with reasonable mileage. Up to around 10-12 years old.

Thanks in advance.

A Honda of some description.

An accord tourer if you are prepared to hunt one down or a civic.

Won’t be flash,will probably be reliable.

Mazda 6 that I had was incredible. Diesel sport.

I don’t know about the recent ones, but Toyotas used to be utterly bulletproof. Boring as hell, but mechanically unkillable. I’ve been driving a Honda Jazz for the last 10 years, that’s had a couple of recalls, but otherwise has just needed routine servicing. Refrigerators on wheels, but absolutely trouble free.

However, any modern car will be vulnerable to neglect and abuse, so checking the service history is important. Obvious thing is that aluminium engines can corrode if the coolant isn’t flushed and replaced, and high-tech transmissions will also need to be properly serviced. Timing belts are another potential issue. Those things can be so expensive if they go wrong that the car is basically a write off.

First reject your current car, asap.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/

Then as a above, I would look at Ford Focus petrol (cheap bits, not latest ecoboost things) Toyota Avensis 1.8 or Auris, Maybe Honda Civic (reliable but damn expensive when wrong) and my own choice a Volvo V50 with 2.0 petrol.

Any car can have issues, even bombproof ones

Main thing is make sure its been well looked after and do your research to see if there are any known issues that need to be sorted or have been done according to the history

Best thing to do is find a car you like then join a forum and ask/read up on any known problems and keep on top of any maintenance

Cars are like women, find a good reliable one and you never want to change it, get one that constantly causes you problems and costs money and in the end you know it makes sense to get rid of it

All of the mini cab drivers around here use Priuis’, so if you want bombproof then that’s where you need to invest your money.

Volvo V70 – ours is the 2.4non turbo 140hp petrol, not brilliant on fuel but no DPF/injectors/turbo/dual mass flywheel to fail.

14 year old, 182k miles. Feels like new still and brilliant to work on. Has had normal consumable items plus a few items that needed stripping and cleaning (rear wiper, boot lock mechanism, ignition/autobox interlock cable). I have a good online Volvo dealer that does discounted genuine parts at reasonable costs and plenty of online forum support for them.

THE BEST SEATS EVER!

This reliability index is a good place to start….
UK cars reliability index

Lower score = better.

I’ve got a Mistsubishi Lancer (2nd on the list) and so far it has been impressively reliable.

In the usual recommend what you own fashion – my 61 plate Skoda Octavia 1.8TSi has been great mechanically (I only do about 7k miles a year though although that is mostly short journeys so I guess pretty hard on it)

There’s some known issues with the engine but nothing that I’ve experienced and a couple of known problems (e.g. rear washer can leak into car and quite bad condensation – both of which I’ve experienced) but in the 7 years I’ve owned it it’s only ever had a basic service or oil change every 18 months or so and never broken down or had a mechanical fault.

That said there’s a few horror stories around about Octavias and also the VAG 1.8TSi engine so no guarantees they’re all bombproof!

We’ve put 135k on our 2007 2.2 diesel Civic – now sitting at 151k

It does about 16k a year with a mixture of use.

Apart from the usual service stuff it’s been almost flawless. Surprisingly tough too. A truck tyre blew off the rim of a lorry I was passing on the A14. It hit me first. Car seemed to jump off of the ground as we went over it at 70mph in the dark. The only thing that needed tending to was the drivers seat ……

Good on fuel, no Dpf, chain rather than belt. Really comfy and surprisingly quick ….. for a diesel and spacious.

That said no car is bomb proof. **goes off to touch some wood**

Subaru. Forester. Non turbo version, 2.0lt
Good size for bikes, very easy drive, never to set the roads on fire.
Suspension often sounds rough, but thats what they sound like.
Wish I didn’t PX mine when I got a new Subauru.

A Honda Civic would be near the top of my list there.

But also a Focus, there are about a bajillion of them in the country and thus easy to find a good one.

(CRV here, which is basically a 4wd Civic with big bones, also ex-Focus owner)

where do you live.

a 10-12 year old car round here is fit for the scrap yard in most circumstances.

Age kills cars round here before milage.

I would start by not looking at 10-12 year old cars.

That said no car is bomb proof.

Not, strictly speaking, true…

A Honda of some description.

LOL – my Honda CRV has just cost me £2500 in 4 months!

There is no such thing as a bombproof car – sometimes you are lucky, sometime you aren’t.

There is no such thing as a bombproof car – sometimes you are lucky, sometime you aren’t.

You make your own luck.

Hehe, I was following this thread in the hope of finding my next car. Bulletproof and reliable are high up my list of requirements 🙂

My anecdata to add to the pile:

A Honda of some description.

My FR-V has been OK so far. But just after I got it it broke down over Christmas, on a long journey on my own with two small kids. Stuck brake caliper. The guy who towed us home said: “Oh, yes, they’re very reliable Hondas, yours is the first FR-V I’ve picked up”. Which if I’m being honest wasn’t much comfort.

I would look at Ford Focus petrol

Ours was decent until the engine mount sheared and the engine fell out. Happily this happened at about 20mph but it made a hell of a bang. The Mrs had just got back from a trip up the M1 in it, I hate to think what would have occurred if it had happened at 70mph.

my 61 plate Skoda Octavia 1.8TSi has been great

I liked my Octavia. But it did have an interesting problem whereby the electric driver’s seat switches could go nuts and start moving the driver’s seat about of its own accord. Happened to me the first time at about 65mph on the A50 just about to join the M6. Seat started trying to crush me into the steering wheel. Easy fix in the end, but quite unsettling at the time.

This reliability index is a good place to start….
UK cars reliability index

Lower score = better.

Citroen C3 Picasso looks ‘reet with an index of 37, eh? Ours had a fault whereby the engine would unexpectedly cut out while just driving along. This mostly seemed to happen to us on the motorway which as you can imagine added an extra frisson of excitement to long journeys.

Anyway, take from this what you will. I suppose the main take-away lesson is to make sure you don’t take me car hunting, as I seem to have a bit of a knack for finding problems.

I’m nearly 40 and have owned 3 cars.

Two of them have been toyota avensis estates. The first of those two didn’t die, it got shipped in a container to Afghanistan where I imagine it’s still going strong. The guy who bought it only buys old toyotas.

No BMWs on that reliability list !

If your looking for reliability I would suggest japanese. Honda or Toyota.

It’s the servicing too, my local indie spots potential problems and fixes them. But you pay, these 2 year service intervals are killing cars early. I always do the oil every year at least he can spot stuff.

Our old 02 yaris was bombproof but was written off in a no fault accident.

Fair point poolman. Perhaps that’s why my cars appear to last compared to others who’s fall apart round them

This reliability index is a good place to start….
UK cars reliability index

Nah, it’s only cars that people have deemed it necessary to buy a 3rd party warranty on. I’ve never considered that on any car I’ve bought and don’t know anyone who has (cue: multiple “I have!” replies!)
And which of the top 10 would you be seen dead in! Hyundai Getz FFS 😆

I went through a similar thought process to you, narrowed it down to an accord, octavia or passat estate.

Got a passat esate with fsh for 8k.it had nearly 70k miles but had spent its life mainly motorway driving. Spent 450 changing the belts and water pump and only expect consumables now.

Its huge, fits loads of kit, comfy, fast enough and looks good.

Checking mot history is a great way to assess how a car has been treated and only considering cars with full history is the way to go.

I had a 2.2 Diesel Civic for a year, mechanically it was fine, I went to fold the passenger door mirror in one day and it came off in my hand. Someone had cased a jump at sompeoint too, so on the drive back from Chamonix we had to buy a lot of gaffa tape to keep the undertray attached and not dragging on the floor. Also, the dust cover for one of the break discs rusted through and made the most horrific grinding noise, then the cable for the fuel cap cover broke. It went to we buy any car for very little money and with very little fuel in!

It was comfy and good on fuel, I’d not recommend one to someone though!

Set autotrader to Honda and Toyota and petrol only and see what it throws up. This is the advice of a mate that works for the AA whenever anyone asks what to buy