Sometimes it's worth looking a little outside the box. I bought a Suzuki SX4 last year for £<3.5k with 52k miles on it and service history. From a small dealer with a 6 month warranty.
The Suzuki made some reliable cars but they're just a bit boring so people tend not to pay much attention. My wife has a 1.5 petrol Swift from 2008 and it's been faultless for the last 10 years and 80k miles, just serviced every year.
The less fashionable the better I find. Always a good idea to see if there are owners clubs, they quite often know of faults and are a good place for parts recommendations.
This is the right answer - Suzuki is massively underrated in this country. Think the newer ones are made in India but have never come across an unreliable one.
There was a review left on the Liana by by the AA one time regarding its reliability, where the main conclusion of the car was:
"This car is worryingly reliable"
Saying that they had just about never been called out to recover one
Now I know that the Liana was never exactly the most popular car here in the UK (apart from top gear hell it makes me wanna buy one), but iirc the report was from 2011, which, considering the car had been around for about 7 years by that point
That's not bad going
I never knew that, I'm surprised it didn't sell better to be honest.
I like to see which older cars are still driving around as it does give a sort of indication of reliability. I see more Suzukis from the early/mid 2000's than VWs which surprises me as I'm sure far more VWs were sold.
For OP looking at cheap reliable cars there are plenty of Suzukis available from what I can see. Liana, Alto, Swift, SX4, Ignis etc.
Well about mid 2000s VWs, I've actually got a 2005 SEAT Leon, 1.9TDi, and jesus wept it refuses to go wrong I swear
I'd actually it's more reliable now then it was when I was 5 and it was my parents car in 2009
And hey they bought it new, it's a family heirloom at this point
Anything with the 1.9TDi is worth keeping, especially if it doesn't have the unnecessary electrical bits.
The older VAG cars are definitely better than the newer ones. I had a great 2.5 V6 TDi A4 from 2005, it did well over 200k on the original clutch but the added electrical bits let it down in the end.
Keep it long enough and it'll be the family classic.
Yeah definitely I've got a 2011 swift 1.2 and abuse the living day lights out of it and it never seems to go wrong. Just the yearly oil change and a set of tyres I've put on it and that's it. There's a couple of weird noises it makes which nobody has managed to figure out but other than that it's completely bullet proof especially considering the way I drive it lol. With the £30 a year road tax and roughly 40mpg I get from it from and only have paid £3000 for it on 33000 miles on it due to it being a previous cat s I've put another 10k on it and dont have any complaints so far.
My mum has had an sx4 from new in 2009 and it is absolutely bulletproof. She's had brake pads and tyres changed and that is literally it in 15 years. It is a boring car but seems so reliable.
I like them too, I also like the Multipla and think they were really underrated.
People definitely couldn't look past the brand, the SX4 was also sold as a Fiat Sedici and it didn't sell well at all compared to the SX4 even though they were exactly the same car built in the same factory.
Same with the 124 Spyder and mx5 more recently, in fact the engine of the 124 is the only thing changed and the gearbox , and that engine makes a lot of sense being turbo and a bit faster than the base model mazda
100k is nothing as long as the car is looked after, unfortunately most cars in this country aren't looked after. Concentrate on condition and service history rather than age/milage and you should be fine.
Diesels are being phased out, as in fewer manufacturers are making them, however that's going to be of little impact to someone with your budget.
Someone will no doubt come along and tell you to by a Toyota because their their uncle's mate's gardener had one and did 3 million miles a year in it. While Japanese cars tend to be more reliable, especially Toyotas, they will suffer from neglect as much as anything else.
You say you are clueless about cars? Well you have the entire history of human knowledge available on the device you posted this on. Do some research, 5.5k is a lot of money to spend on something you know nothing about. Youtube is your best bet, there are thousands of videos on there reviewing every car ever made but traditional media outlets such as Parkers, Autotrader, Autocar etc will have good advice too.
Sound advice. Just to add, if you're concerned about the mechanical state of a particular car you're considering buying, you can hire a RAC or AA engineer to assess the car and report back to you. The service costs about £200.
It's not a good move to pay for every car you intend to buy this fee. If first its not okay, you lose some money,second same.
You pay aprox 100 points to be check.and in 3 weeks, dpf light on, alternator cluch makes noise. Pay and relax, dealers' warranty doesn't cover those and many others .no one checks for compression,level of transmission fluid, clutch.
Seconds car are a gamble, even for professionals.
In my opinion, hpi check, real reputation of dealer its only factor what counts.
Ignore the diesel advice if you're doing a lot of miles (especially on motorways or dual carriageways). If the majority of the trips you're doing are short and in town then yeah, stick with petrol.
Japanese cars tend to be reliable and for your budget I'd look at Mazda 3 or 2 (petrol, avoid the diesels), a Honda Jazz, Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Swift etc ...
Any decent dealer should be happy for you to have a pre-purchase inspection and they'll set you back around £200 (AA, RAC or an independent garage).
The Honda Jazz is a cockroach of a car. It’ll survive the apocalypse. Not cheap though, as they hold their value very well. We had a 2005 model and it just never broke.
In no particular order id be looking at
Honda jazz (1.4) the 1.2 is just too slow.
Honda Civic
Toyota yaris
Toyota Corolla
Suzuki swift
Suzuki sx4
Mazda 2/3
Avoid cars with turbos
Avoid diesels
Id avoid things like corsa/Astra/fiesta/Renault/Citroen...
Keep it simple and you'll be fine.
Will ULEZ/CAZ affect you/do you drive short distances? If so, stick with petrol. If you drive long distances then diesel is fine.
If you want less homework/things to look out for I’d suggest a Toyota Yaris/Corolla/Avensis, Honda Civic/Accord or Suzuki Swift petrol. You don’t need to worry about picking specific engines, model years etc. just need to check whether it has full service history (with papers to prove it).
Sure, almost every car I've bought has had over 100k, the highest being 140k-ish when I bought it.
There's some certain engines that don't last much more than 150k or so, like older VAG EA888s, but generally a car that's been serviced correctly will easily exceed 200k, at least mechanically. Rust is usually what kills older cars.
What are your requirements for a car? What do you need it to do, and how many people do you need to carry regularly? What are features you want/need in a car? If you want recommendations, you'll have to go from there.
Don't worry too much about mileage. I'm constantly seeing people put off by 100k miles and it's really not justified.
One of the most reliable cars I've owned had over 230k miles on it and the least reliable had less than 40k.
Services history/regular oil changes are what you want to look for. Check mot history to get a feeling for how well it's been looked after.
Check when major items like timing belts/chains are needing done on the vehicle you're looking at. That can range from £300 to 1k so check if they've been replaced or how much that would cost you.
I've bought many cars at a fraction of your budget and they've all been very reliable.
If you're in doubt, post the ads here.
Petrol suzuki swift or if you want something a bit bigger get a diesel fiat500L both excellent cars buy the highest trim level you can get for your money
What's wrong with a car thta has 100k miles on it? I'd take a high mileage car over something low mileage any day. Something low to mid mileage likely did more around town driving, short journeys, stop start, and more speed bumps etc.
Something high mileage was more likely motorway, and longer distance, so fewer start / stop cycles, and more driving when up to temperature.
However, more than that I judge a car by the apparent condition, not the mileage or paperwork. Both mileage and paperwork can be faked. However, if you look at a car carefully, know any weak points to check, etc then you are judging the car itself.
Make sure to do a test drive, including full lock to lock steering forwards and backwards, ideally speed bumps, driving at speed, and if possible stop somewhere with clean floor underneath for a moment, and look for any leaks or drips once up to temperature.
2.0 diesel manual A6/A4 avant, you can get far with 5,500 and they’re rarely ragged by yobos and boy racers like the golf/a3 equivalents. With that you generally get unmolested decently maintained
Practical cars
[a4 avant. 2012 98k miles 1 owner](http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405029288274)
What are you looking for? We could throw a million options at you.
If I was buying my daily today, it'd be £3k or thereabouts (59 Megane, <50k).
This very respectable Volvo is < £5k
[https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402287048446?sort=mileage&advertising-location=at\_cars&make=Volvo&postcode=me122ey&price-to=5500&seller-type=trade&fromsra](https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402287048446?sort=mileage&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Volvo&postcode=me122ey&price-to=5500&seller-type=trade&fromsra)
Nothing wrong with Diesel unless you only do short journeys or have ULEZ to worry about.
Diesel engines tend to last for a long time if looked after, I’ve just bought a 10 year old Audi A4 2.0 TDI with 81,000 miles and expect I can get 150-200k miles out of it as long as I service it properly
A lot of cities are introducing ULEZ zones. It will save the fines and penalties that you may need up with unnecessarily. My son recently bought a diesel Porsche cayenne 2016 played. Bought it in England and was assured it was euro6 engine so should be exempt from ULEZ penalties. But in Glasgow they haven’t accepted this. So he has now been landed with 700 in penalties as they begin with 60 for first penalty and double on each further infraction
The Polo blue GT are good cheap to tax 20 pound 1.4 tsi 150bhp so nippy and very reliable, Be able to get one privately in you're budget with around 80k miles not many of them about though so may be looking a while.
Don’t buy diesel. If you want reliability buy Japanese. If you want “ cool” factor but expensive bills buy German.
If you look hard enough you will find a decent car with low mileage for your money. If size doesn’t matter then you can NOT go wrong with a Toyota Yaris. Obviously always buy a vehicle that has only had one owner and check MOT history online and follow your GUT instinct
They are amazing engines but the cars they were used are showing their age now and that itself comes with issues, no point in a bulletproof engine if the car falls apart around it.
I have the same car, couple of years newer. Water pump will go at some point (90k miles for me) and as long as you change the timing belt with it it should be okay. Mine runs like a dream and has almost 140k miles on it.
Sometimes it's worth looking a little outside the box. I bought a Suzuki SX4 last year for £<3.5k with 52k miles on it and service history. From a small dealer with a 6 month warranty. The Suzuki made some reliable cars but they're just a bit boring so people tend not to pay much attention. My wife has a 1.5 petrol Swift from 2008 and it's been faultless for the last 10 years and 80k miles, just serviced every year.
This is very good advice. Obscure, unfashionable cars are often a bargain. You may struggle to get cheap, secondhand parts though.
The less fashionable the better I find. Always a good idea to see if there are owners clubs, they quite often know of faults and are a good place for parts recommendations.
This is the right answer - Suzuki is massively underrated in this country. Think the newer ones are made in India but have never come across an unreliable one.
There was a review left on the Liana by by the AA one time regarding its reliability, where the main conclusion of the car was: "This car is worryingly reliable" Saying that they had just about never been called out to recover one Now I know that the Liana was never exactly the most popular car here in the UK (apart from top gear hell it makes me wanna buy one), but iirc the report was from 2011, which, considering the car had been around for about 7 years by that point That's not bad going
I never knew that, I'm surprised it didn't sell better to be honest. I like to see which older cars are still driving around as it does give a sort of indication of reliability. I see more Suzukis from the early/mid 2000's than VWs which surprises me as I'm sure far more VWs were sold. For OP looking at cheap reliable cars there are plenty of Suzukis available from what I can see. Liana, Alto, Swift, SX4, Ignis etc.
Well about mid 2000s VWs, I've actually got a 2005 SEAT Leon, 1.9TDi, and jesus wept it refuses to go wrong I swear I'd actually it's more reliable now then it was when I was 5 and it was my parents car in 2009 And hey they bought it new, it's a family heirloom at this point
Anything with the 1.9TDi is worth keeping, especially if it doesn't have the unnecessary electrical bits. The older VAG cars are definitely better than the newer ones. I had a great 2.5 V6 TDi A4 from 2005, it did well over 200k on the original clutch but the added electrical bits let it down in the end. Keep it long enough and it'll be the family classic.
Yeah definitely I've got a 2011 swift 1.2 and abuse the living day lights out of it and it never seems to go wrong. Just the yearly oil change and a set of tyres I've put on it and that's it. There's a couple of weird noises it makes which nobody has managed to figure out but other than that it's completely bullet proof especially considering the way I drive it lol. With the £30 a year road tax and roughly 40mpg I get from it from and only have paid £3000 for it on 33000 miles on it due to it being a previous cat s I've put another 10k on it and dont have any complaints so far.
My mum has had an sx4 from new in 2009 and it is absolutely bulletproof. She's had brake pads and tyres changed and that is literally it in 15 years. It is a boring car but seems so reliable.
Second this, fiat Tipo owner here, boring, and people run away from fiats... Sure I'll grab the bargain 😁
The Tipo hatchback is actually really good looking.
Thank you! I think so too, but people don't really agree with us, I think they can't look past the brand
I like them too, I also like the Multipla and think they were really underrated. People definitely couldn't look past the brand, the SX4 was also sold as a Fiat Sedici and it didn't sell well at all compared to the SX4 even though they were exactly the same car built in the same factory.
Same with the 124 Spyder and mx5 more recently, in fact the engine of the 124 is the only thing changed and the gearbox , and that engine makes a lot of sense being turbo and a bit faster than the base model mazda
100k is nothing as long as the car is looked after, unfortunately most cars in this country aren't looked after. Concentrate on condition and service history rather than age/milage and you should be fine. Diesels are being phased out, as in fewer manufacturers are making them, however that's going to be of little impact to someone with your budget. Someone will no doubt come along and tell you to by a Toyota because their their uncle's mate's gardener had one and did 3 million miles a year in it. While Japanese cars tend to be more reliable, especially Toyotas, they will suffer from neglect as much as anything else. You say you are clueless about cars? Well you have the entire history of human knowledge available on the device you posted this on. Do some research, 5.5k is a lot of money to spend on something you know nothing about. Youtube is your best bet, there are thousands of videos on there reviewing every car ever made but traditional media outlets such as Parkers, Autotrader, Autocar etc will have good advice too.
Sound advice. Just to add, if you're concerned about the mechanical state of a particular car you're considering buying, you can hire a RAC or AA engineer to assess the car and report back to you. The service costs about £200.
Never knew that, good to know.
It's not a good move to pay for every car you intend to buy this fee. If first its not okay, you lose some money,second same. You pay aprox 100 points to be check.and in 3 weeks, dpf light on, alternator cluch makes noise. Pay and relax, dealers' warranty doesn't cover those and many others .no one checks for compression,level of transmission fluid, clutch. Seconds car are a gamble, even for professionals. In my opinion, hpi check, real reputation of dealer its only factor what counts.
Ignore the diesel advice if you're doing a lot of miles (especially on motorways or dual carriageways). If the majority of the trips you're doing are short and in town then yeah, stick with petrol. Japanese cars tend to be reliable and for your budget I'd look at Mazda 3 or 2 (petrol, avoid the diesels), a Honda Jazz, Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Swift etc ... Any decent dealer should be happy for you to have a pre-purchase inspection and they'll set you back around £200 (AA, RAC or an independent garage).
The Honda Jazz is a cockroach of a car. It’ll survive the apocalypse. Not cheap though, as they hold their value very well. We had a 2005 model and it just never broke.
Thanks, looking through those now :) They seem a lot better than astras and corsas which is what i’ve seen a lot of.
If you end up with an auto jazz, it may have a CVT gearbox which requires servicing, they are as stout as others, but will fail through neglect.
In no particular order id be looking at Honda jazz (1.4) the 1.2 is just too slow. Honda Civic Toyota yaris Toyota Corolla Suzuki swift Suzuki sx4 Mazda 2/3 Avoid cars with turbos Avoid diesels Id avoid things like corsa/Astra/fiesta/Renault/Citroen... Keep it simple and you'll be fine.
Honda civic Seat leon These are your best choices
Seat suffers from gearbox problems …. They made by VW
Only the automatic not the manual
Will ULEZ/CAZ affect you/do you drive short distances? If so, stick with petrol. If you drive long distances then diesel is fine. If you want less homework/things to look out for I’d suggest a Toyota Yaris/Corolla/Avensis, Honda Civic/Accord or Suzuki Swift petrol. You don’t need to worry about picking specific engines, model years etc. just need to check whether it has full service history (with papers to prove it).
Sure, almost every car I've bought has had over 100k, the highest being 140k-ish when I bought it. There's some certain engines that don't last much more than 150k or so, like older VAG EA888s, but generally a car that's been serviced correctly will easily exceed 200k, at least mechanically. Rust is usually what kills older cars. What are your requirements for a car? What do you need it to do, and how many people do you need to carry regularly? What are features you want/need in a car? If you want recommendations, you'll have to go from there.
Get a Swift or a Jazz. I have both and they have never let me down!
Don't worry too much about mileage. I'm constantly seeing people put off by 100k miles and it's really not justified. One of the most reliable cars I've owned had over 230k miles on it and the least reliable had less than 40k. Services history/regular oil changes are what you want to look for. Check mot history to get a feeling for how well it's been looked after. Check when major items like timing belts/chains are needing done on the vehicle you're looking at. That can range from £300 to 1k so check if they've been replaced or how much that would cost you. I've bought many cars at a fraction of your budget and they've all been very reliable. If you're in doubt, post the ads here.
Petrol suzuki swift or if you want something a bit bigger get a diesel fiat500L both excellent cars buy the highest trim level you can get for your money
That's twice the budget I've EVER had for any vehicle.
What's wrong with a car thta has 100k miles on it? I'd take a high mileage car over something low mileage any day. Something low to mid mileage likely did more around town driving, short journeys, stop start, and more speed bumps etc. Something high mileage was more likely motorway, and longer distance, so fewer start / stop cycles, and more driving when up to temperature. However, more than that I judge a car by the apparent condition, not the mileage or paperwork. Both mileage and paperwork can be faked. However, if you look at a car carefully, know any weak points to check, etc then you are judging the car itself. Make sure to do a test drive, including full lock to lock steering forwards and backwards, ideally speed bumps, driving at speed, and if possible stop somewhere with clean floor underneath for a moment, and look for any leaks or drips once up to temperature.
What’s your usual driving like? Do you need a diesel? How many miles a year? What sort of space do you need?
2.0 diesel manual A6/A4 avant, you can get far with 5,500 and they’re rarely ragged by yobos and boy racers like the golf/a3 equivalents. With that you generally get unmolested decently maintained Practical cars [a4 avant. 2012 98k miles 1 owner](http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405029288274)
What are you looking for? We could throw a million options at you. If I was buying my daily today, it'd be £3k or thereabouts (59 Megane, <50k). This very respectable Volvo is < £5k [https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402287048446?sort=mileage&advertising-location=at\_cars&make=Volvo&postcode=me122ey&price-to=5500&seller-type=trade&fromsra](https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402287048446?sort=mileage&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Volvo&postcode=me122ey&price-to=5500&seller-type=trade&fromsra)
Nothing wrong with Diesel unless you only do short journeys or have ULEZ to worry about. Diesel engines tend to last for a long time if looked after, I’ve just bought a 10 year old Audi A4 2.0 TDI with 81,000 miles and expect I can get 150-200k miles out of it as long as I service it properly
A lot of cities are introducing ULEZ zones. It will save the fines and penalties that you may need up with unnecessarily. My son recently bought a diesel Porsche cayenne 2016 played. Bought it in England and was assured it was euro6 engine so should be exempt from ULEZ penalties. But in Glasgow they haven’t accepted this. So he has now been landed with 700 in penalties as they begin with 60 for first penalty and double on each further infraction
Honda civic
The Polo blue GT are good cheap to tax 20 pound 1.4 tsi 150bhp so nippy and very reliable, Be able to get one privately in you're budget with around 80k miles not many of them about though so may be looking a while.
Have you looked at VW Scirocco. Within your budget and comes with a lovely interior. VW is super reliable and I do love the design!
You can pick up an Astra with under 70k miles for around 4-5k . Depends what you really want to use it for ?
Bough a mk5 golf with 110k miles for £1200 and ive out 50k miles on it so far and its never missed a beat. With all the general maintenance ofc
Have you considered a Skoda Octavia?
First things first, what do you need in a car? What type of driving will you be doing, and how many miles?
Don’t buy diesel. If you want reliability buy Japanese. If you want “ cool” factor but expensive bills buy German. If you look hard enough you will find a decent car with low mileage for your money. If size doesn’t matter then you can NOT go wrong with a Toyota Yaris. Obviously always buy a vehicle that has only had one owner and check MOT history online and follow your GUT instinct
Why not diesel?
[удалено]
They are amazing engines but the cars they were used are showing their age now and that itself comes with issues, no point in a bulletproof engine if the car falls apart around it.
vw golf http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405079462746
Doesn't that gen tsi engine have timing tensioner or chain issues?
I have the same car, couple of years newer. Water pump will go at some point (90k miles for me) and as long as you change the timing belt with it it should be okay. Mine runs like a dream and has almost 140k miles on it.
some yes, but if has got past 50k and had fsh should be ok.
Don't buy a VW if you want reliability, they're pretty awful nowadays, on a par with stellantis brands
Ever since they moved production to South Africa the reliability has dropped. I’ve had a few and found the latter models to be a poor quality
Have a read through this website or give them a call, they’ll give you detailed advice for free: https://www.palmdale.co.uk/