My mum has decided to replace her very reliable Clio. The new car must have enough boot space for her golf bag and electric trolley without folding the seats down. She wants to be able to go to a supermarket etc after golf without having all the golf equipment on show. The current hotlist is:
Skoda Fabia Estate (1.4 16v Elegance)
Honda Civic (1.4SE)
Seat Leon (1.4/1.6S)
Definite no-nos are the Golf and Focus as the golf stuff won’t fit.
The Fabia and Civic specs can be had for around £11k after discounts. My mum is impressed with the low price (£10k before discount) of the well-specced Leon 1.4, but performance-wise the 1.6 seems a closer comparison (considering dad will also drive it).
She would prefer to buy new and the car will be kept for 6 years doing about 6k per year, as the Clio has.
The Backroom and the CBCB rate the Leon very highly. Are the smaller petrol engines OK and is the 1.6 worth having over the 1.4?
Which car would fellow Backroomers recommend?
Thanks,
James
PS While checking broker prices for these, I tried www.broker4cars.com forgetting that broker4cars has a .co.uk ending. Drivethedeal have registered the .com version to themselves – a bit sneaky!
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Assuming that price isn't an issue, my preference would be
1. Civic
2. Leon
3. Fabia
Probably I'd go for a nearly new 1.6 Civic in this situation, as you'll get better performance for less money. If the 1.4 Civic is too slow, and you can't afford a 1.6, then get the Leon 1.6.
The Leon is a good car, but the 1.4 is too slow for me and none of them are all that spacious. The 105 bhp engine apparently needs 98 RON (super) unleaded to run properly, which is surprising for a car in this price range.
While I like the Fabia a lot, it is still a Skoda and at those prices, I'd be nervous about depreciation, given how cheap a Focus or Golf is now. It's also based on a smaller car and there is not as much space as a Focus or Civic.
It's a shame the Focus isn't an option as they're great cars, but none of those you suggest is a lemon either.
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Check out small 4-door saloons, with a proper boot. The Seat Toledo is the same as a Leon but with a boot. The Focus and Astra are also available in 4-door saloon versions, the Astra having a particularly large boot.
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And particularly horrifying depreciation for them all compared to the hatchbacks above.
At three years old, small saloons make sense, but brand new a Focus, for instance, can easily lose an extra grand over the comparable hatchback and take longer to sell.
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There are so few Focus saloons about in the UK that you might find that you could get one new at a very good price.As regards depreciation at 3 years and 36k if it makes a grand less than a hatch and its done the job you wanted, what does it matter?
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The Leon's boot is too small for my clubs. It's a woods out job to fit them in. Annoying but not the end of the world. I can confirm that the boot on our Focus is a little bit smaller so the same problem exists there. This is not to say that these boots are small it's just that they don't have the diagonal length. Saloon boots are generally better in this respect because they are longer (even though the space is less practical for almost any other purpose)
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I suppose it depends on the individual bag and trolley. Before doing anything else, my mum went to the dealers with the bag and trolley and tried the cars for fit.
The Leon and Civic will take the clubs and trolley widthways with ease. The Skoda isn't wide enough but the boot is so long that the bag can go in diagonally.
The trolley causes most difficulty since the boot must also be long enough. I used to have a Citroen ZX with a sliding rear seat which would have done the job.
I'll mention 4-door cars though I think my mum would prefer a hatchback for any large loads. Their other car is a 3 Series Coupe without folding seats so this one would be the 'practical' one. The new car needs to have 4/5 doors to help with giving elderly friends lifts to bowls!
I have suggested the Focus estate but my mum complained that it would be too big. Cars such as the Berlingo get ruled out for that reason too.
James
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James.
How about a Peugeot 306 5 door h/back.
I've had 2 over the last 8 years (both diesel)no problems with golf clubs and trolley.
Dennis.
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why would you want to put a small golfer in a boot;-)
chris
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My mum finally settled on the Civic.
She was impressed by the Leon, but it has a low boot floor relative to the boot opening. Lifting the golf things over could have irritated her back.
The Fabia had no problems with boot space but she found the 1.4 16v very noisy (after the Civic). The 8v 1.4 was quieter.
I pointed her to the Civic Imagine which seemed incredibly good value. She liked the huge amount of room inside and despite having the oddly placed gear lever she felt the gears were better than the Skoda.
The local dealer wouldn't come down far on price, despite her being armed with prices from another Honda dealer, DriveTheDeal and UKcarbroker. As I expected, the dealer queried the broker prices, thinking they must be imports or excluding tax, warranty or servicing.
While I would have just gone to one of the brokers, she went with the dealer, after they phoned saying they would reduce the price further. Still a few hundred more than the brokers but she prefers the reassurance of dealing direct with a local dealer in case things go wrong.
I think the Imagine, with 2 years free servicing, aircon, metallic paint, mats and flaps included in the price is a good deal.
Thanks for all the replies to this post.
James
PS I think cars 'know' they are about to be replaced. The Clio's clock died on the day the Civic order was placed this week (only thing to go wrong in six years). I'm also replacing my car next month so was conveniently rear-ended today (full rant in another post).
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