First family car - Automatic Petrol

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Sun 8 Apr 2018 15:35
First family car - Automatic Petrol - Newbie86

I have just started looking for my first car and a bit confused due to the wide variety of options available. I have to admit that I am fairly new to vehicles and any help would be appreciated.

Key criteria -

Budget - Around 8-9k, Automatic, Petrol, decent rear leg room and boot space, family friendly with child seat to be fixed and not too high on insurance since it is my first car.

I was looking at a 2012 ford focus but the rear seats seems to be a bit cramped up. Any other cars that I could look at?

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Sun 8 Apr 2018 16:14
First family car - Automatic Petrol - SLO76
The problem you’ll encounter at this money is that many autos are actually highly complex automated manual gearboxes which are very prone to catastrophically expensive to fix problems. The Focus is sadly a big no no with their terribly weak Powershift gearbox as is anything from Skoda, Seat, Audi or VW with their DSG box.

I’d stick with Japanese cars with either a CVT box or a conventional torque converter set up. The Honda Civic 1.8, Mazda 3 and Toyota Auris 1.6 CVT are all safe bets.

Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20180221395...9


Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20180306429...3


Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20180215373...2



Edited by SLO76 on 08/04/2018 at 16:19

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Sun 8 Apr 2018 16:38
First family car - Automatic Petrol - RobJP

As SLO says, really. Avoid anything by VAG and the Ford Powershift gearboxes, and by staying with the Japanese brands you'll have a good chance of getting something that's reliable.

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Sun 8 Apr 2018 19:22
First family car - Automatic Petrol - daveyK_UK
You are correct the Ford Focus is very cramped in the rear seats

Toyota Verso would be a good choice based on your criteria, likewise a Hyundai ix20 or Kia venga

The Hyundai and Kia petrol automatics are tourque converters and will be reliable

Avoid Ford automatics and VW/Seat/Skoda/Audi automatics

You may also wish to consider a Vauxhall Astra estate provided you go for the petrol 1.6 - the automatic For this Astra is reliable, I had a quick check and you can get a 65 plate for your budget with some manufacturer warranty left. The Astra has decent leg room and are very cheap to repair.

Avoid the 1.4 petrol turbo automatic in the Astra

Edited by daveyK_UK on 08/04/2018 at 19:23

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Sun 8 Apr 2018 21:32
First family car - Automatic Petrol - Newbie86

Thank you all for the feedback, lots more options to consider and will look into these.

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Sun 8 Apr 2018 23:42
First family car - Automatic Petrol - DavidGlos
Davey- what's the issue with the Astra 1.4 petrol turbo? Was on my shortlist as a replacement vehicle!

Cheers
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Mon 9 Apr 2018 00:05
First family car - Automatic Petrol - SLO76
Davey- what's the issue with the Astra 1.4 petrol turbo? Was on my shortlist as a replacement vehicle! Cheers

Was just wondering about that one too. It’s a perfectly decent wee car as far as I’m aware. The 4cyl petrols, turbo and non are robust and pretty straightforward with a conventional autobox and they’re great value with the latest model available from main dealers at just over £9k. The Fiat designed diesels and 1.0 3cyl turbo are all still to prove themselves but the 4cyl motors are well known.
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Mon 9 Apr 2018 12:01
First family car - Automatic Petrol - daveyK_UK

Early version of the 1.4T suffered from head gasket failure

GM amended the engine and removed the problem at some point in the past few years, but I dont know when exactly - aka what reg plate you should avoid

If you buy a recent example you should be okay, but the early version of this engine did have head gasket issues.

In all fairness, its a cracking engine, plenty of power and the clutch handles the power far better than the Ford Focus does with the eco boost which wants to race away or stall.

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Mon 9 Apr 2018 12:29
First family car - Automatic Petrol - madf

I have had 3 adults with ease in my Jazz CVT- two over 6 feet tall - in the rear And a large boot.

Edited by madf on 09/04/2018 at 12:29

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Mon 9 Apr 2018 14:39
First family car - Automatic Petrol - SLO76
“Early version of the 1.4T suffered from head gasket failure

GM amended the engine and removed the problem at some point in the past few years,“

Hadn’t heard that, cheers for the heads up.
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