Girlfriend is after a new (to her) second hand car, £5-6k budget, Fiesta/Focus size! under 10k miles per year, lots of short to medium trips, no real motorway action, doesnt want something expensive to run or impractical so no BMW / MX5 shouts pleaase, simply after some sensible suggestions for her to look at…

her current short list is

Seat Ibiza
Seat Leon
Honda Civic

🙂

Don’t mock….. Mercedes A Class….. mine’s been ace for the last 30,000+ and servicing from independent specialists has been no more than for any other car I’ve had.

You’d get a newer shape 160 or 180 cdi engine for that bugdet.

Mini Cooper. Extremely cheap to run, fast enough, fun. Not much of a boot, but with the seats down there’s enough room for shopping etc.

Jazz. End of thread.

suggested Jazz, she doesn’t like them, Wouldn’t a Mini / A Class have to be relatively old / well used to fall into budget?

Qashqai possibly?

You might get an ’07 mini private for £6000. They changed the engine for the 07 model year from a wheezy Chrysler unit to the BMW/Peugeot/Ford JV unit. A cracking engine. Ms Engineer’s got one and it just loves to be thrashed (not when she’s watching, obviously). BMW have even ‘engineered’ the sound.

Daft question: but if she wants something Fiesta sized, why isn’t a Fiesta on the list?

A mate recently picked up a 3 series compact for that price which was 8 years old and had a valid 37k on the clock – so if you look around for a bit that might be of interest, seems to run far more economically than my car anyway.

she doesn’t want a fiesta

Beetle?

Edit: it’s like a Golf, but not a Golf!

Deffo stay away from BMWs.
What about a Polo?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/

considered a Polo but cant help but think you get more for your money with the more modern Seat Ibiza

Panda?

another i suggested & she doesn’t like, she is 24, so no real surprise the oap styled panda & jazz didn’t cut it

Honda civics rule. Rarely break. I’ve got a 1996 with 100k on it and its never let me down. 17yr old soon.

We are off to look at another one but brand new as our main car as they are so reliable. Hold value well and a bit different than a golf.

Fair enough – how about the Suzuki Swift? Or even, the Fabia Vrs – are 24 year olds too young to carry Skoda Stigma?

Jesus does she have self confidence issues?

Bloke to bloke conflag so no offence meant

We’ve been looking at Swift Sports for Mrs BS, I like what I see. I think VRS Skodas are a bit ugly and seem too expensive too me, ditto Polo.

We wouldn’t have a Mini for any money though, 2 friends ours have/had them, 1 a petrol 06 plate which has needed a new engine and clutch in under 50k and the other a Cooper D ’09 plate which has had 3 engines under warranty due to cracked blocks, sold back to dealer in the end at a 4k loss in 2 years.

considered a Polo but cant help but think you get more for your money with the more modern Seat Ibiza

Possibly, but the flipside is less depreciation.
Fiat 500?
Alfa MiTo?

500s hold value ok an cost nowt to run. We had a 1.2 pop it had little power but was fun none the less.

Mini if she can get one. My pal’s wife just got a new one after putting 100k on her old one.

Otherwise Seat rather than VW, or what about a 207?

Mazda 3 ,based on the Fiesta floorpan but not a Fiesta obviously.
Audi A2,might be a bit older than some of the others mentioned but was very well engineered and a bit ahead of its time ,still looks current.
Kia Picanto,may just scrape into a new shape one on that budget,very nice little car.
Renault Twingo,not my cup of tea but she may like it,the sporty ones are supposed to be a hoot to drive.
VW Lupo GTI or Seat Arosa sport,both fun little cars.

Hyundia i20. we paid £7K for 10000 mile, 10 month old one. Not as smart inside as some but for the price hard to beat.

i20? Shes 24 not 36.

Mazda2 is youngish

hora – Member
Jesus does she have self confidence issues?

Bloke to bloke conflag so no offence meant

No, but she isn’t keen on spending her hard earned on something she associates (quite rightly) with old people…

Mazda 2 looks cool if can be had for £6k, 207 worth a mention too! cheers

Volvo c30 is worth a look or a well looked after Alfa 159 if she wants something more swish