What Car Should Letters Get?

[Letters]

So, our Swift ( :bow: ) is on its last...wheels.
The garage actually declared it dead but then upgraded it to alive, but it's not long for this world.

What car should we get? Need a decent size boot, don't need anything too fancy.

And...go.

[Marc Overmars]

What’s your budget?

[GP]

Either a Ferrari GTC4 Lusso or a Kia Ceed.

[Letters]

What’s your budget?

Under £10,000.
On Wednesday we are seeing a Nissan Note.
2015, only about 9,000 miles on the clock. That’s about £8,000.

One thing I’m finding frustrating is that each car model seems to have multiple versions so I’m finding it hard to compare like with like.

I have no clue what I’m doing, our mechanic recommended the one we are looking at.
Then last night MrsL WhatsApp’d me (I’m away with work) about some Ford Fiesta she’s seen.

:crying:

[Mac76]

i don't know what a Swift is but if a Fiesta's in the running you're probably in the same situation as i was about 3-4 years ago when i bought our car - ie you need a 'supermini' type thing which can do everyday about-town stuff but be fine for longer distances when needed?

I did quite a bit of reading about Vauxhall, Ford, Nissan, VW etc and we ended up with a VW polo 1.4 with 4 doors - about 6 years old when we bought it but only 32k on the clock :)

great car, really comfortable drive (the only downside of which is i keep nearly dropping off on the motorway), and no extra unneccessary crap to up the price or go wrong

leaving aside all the stuff about VW diesel and what they did/didn't do wrong the petrol cars are still very reliable and just feel like quality

[Letters]

i don't know what a Swift is but if a Fiesta's in the running you're probably in the same situation as i was about 3-4 years ago when i bought our car - ie you need a 'supermini' type thing which can do everyday about-town stuff but be fine for longer distances when needed?
Pretty much.

Boot size is an issue for us at the moment so even if our car (it's a Suzuki Swift) wasn't dying we'd have needed a new one this year anyway.
Will have a look at the one you suggested. Ta :good:

[Mac76]

with seats folded down you can get a lot in a polo too - and no i don't work for VW ;)

[sorry i wrote 'golf' to start with but was talking about a polo]

[Marc Overmars]

I personally love VW. In my experience they've always been reliable and they tend to hold their value well. I recently bought a new Passat much to the laughter of my mates, but it drives really well and it's also very practical for what I need with a kid on the way.

Would definitely recommend a Golf or Polo for your needs Lettuce.

[Coney]

with seats folded down you can get a lot in a golf too - and no i don't work for VW ;)

I am running an old Golf atm - my Audi A4 died so I took this from my daughter and bought her a Focus Estate as she has a 1-year-old and needs a massive boot. Will upgrade later in the year. Was thinking of getting an Audi A3 but the Golf has grown on me. Since they first came out (in the late 1970s), Golfs have always had a good reputation for reliability and being a good all-round machine (bar the emissions scandal but I reckon most diesels manufactured at that time had the same emissions level.)

My wife has a Focus Saloon and is very pleased with it. We thought the Fiesta a little small for us but really small people might like it. :whistle:

Focus and Fiesta have decent reputations.Ditto Golf but a few quid more.

@Letters - just go round a few dealerships and see what they have for second hand so you can get an idea of size, etc. then check out online to see what is available. There are indeed loads of models but unless you are incredibly picky or want some particular fancy feature, then you should be able to find something. You probably don't need 0-60 in 1 second, silly spoilers or other fancy crap so I wouldn't worry about it. Important is that the amount of space in the basic car is enough and that you feel OK sitting at the wheel.

[GP]

I'm telling you, Kia.

A Ceed or a Rio, depending on the size you need.

You can even get it in red to match your one shirt.

[Globalgunner]

If they still sell Jettas. Thats the one to go for. Its a Golf with a massive boot tacked on. Alternatively the Korean cars, Kia or Hyundai are as dependable as sunlight in my experience and I have part ownership of a garage

[McNamara That Ghost...]

A Mini.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

Need a decent size boot, don't need anything too fancy.


Isn't that how you found MrsL? :ninja:

[Letters]

:p

Now MrsL wants us to look at a Nissan Quasqai :(

I don't know what I'm doing... :crying:

[GP]

Qashqai is quite a bit bigger, but a good car.

If you're looking for something of that size, check out the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage.

[Letters]

It's a 2013 one but has only had one somewhat elderly owner so it's only done about 10,000 miles.
It does look quite good but it's a bit over budget - £10,500 they want although I know that generally one can negotiate about these things.
Will have a look at the ones you suggested too. Ta.

[Özim]

Qashqai has had some reliability issues with lots of things going wrong, it's affected Nissan's reputation for reliability apparently. It's a crossover SUV in reality, not a hatchback.

[Letters]

:crying:

[Letters]

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/nissan/qashqai/owner-reviews

:shrug:

Obviously you're going to get some bad reviews, some people will have problems and they're going to be cross about it. But you could say that about any car.

[Letters]

Although...

https://www.whatcar.com/nissan/qashqai/hatchback/used-review/n804/advice

FFS

:ilt:

This is so stressful! Just tell me what to do, someone!

[Letters]

This one's already been sold :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47469562

[Mac76]

This one's already been sold :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47469562

It reminds me of hotblack desiato's ship in Hitchhiker's:

"Touch it..."

"I can't feel anything"

"Yeah man, it's totally frictionless"

:lol:

[Globalgunner]

Letters just buy a Roller and be done with the pretence of not being a Toff. Big boot is standard and cost are down to £5000

[Letters]

Meh. We’ve gone with the Quasqai.
It’s more than I wanted to spend but we had a test drive today and it did seem quite nice and it has a good boot size which is important for us.

I known they’ve had some reliability issues but this one is 2013 and has had no problems and our mechanic reckons that most of the problems were with the older ones and soon got ironed out. They’re very popular, we saw a few just now when we went for a walk.

Best thing is if we do get problems with it I can blame MrsL which if my maths is right means I’m winning our marriage :cool:

[Globalgunner]

Ok congrats on the Qashqai. Second best car Nissan make after the GTR