15K to spend on new or 1 yo

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Tue 18 Jan 2011 16:18
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - redpuma

Any advice appeciated. I need something reliable,economical, 4/5 door or an estate.

Will do approx 12000 miles a year and want to buy it from a main dealer.

I have narrowed it down to the following:

Quashqai diesel- 3 months waiting

Avensis Estate 2.0D 2010

Mazda 6 2.2D 125 or 163 2009

Passat 1.6D 2010- old model, fantastic fuel economy but is it reliable?

Mini Cooper Clubman 2010- hard ride? perhaps pointless

Lexus IS 220D 2009

any other cars I may have overlooked?

Many thanks

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Tue 18 Jan 2011 19:21
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Boulder2k9

Out of the cars on that list I reckon the Toyota and Mazda are the best, heard many stories about the fuel economy on the Qashqai being quite poor and alot less than claimed mpg. Passat is a good solid car but I reckon it would be gutless with the 1.6TDI engine, fuel economy should be good and havent heard of any stories about the engine's reliability yet. I have not driven and have no experience of the Mini Clubman. For me the IS220d is just a dressed up Avensis with very little space inside.

The Toyota is a suprisingly good looking car, should be reliable and good on fuel too. It is a little boring though. The Mazda is the quite similar although is more exciting to drive. Not sure about the reliabilty of its 2.2 diesel engines though. Personally I would have the Avensis as an estate.

Good Luck.

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Tue 18 Jan 2011 21:03
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - leaseman

You may have to wait for it, but go for the Qashqai 1.5 DCi in whatever spec. you can negotiate. Friends and family discount, if you qualify, may put an N-Tec within your grasp. The Sunderland factory is flat out to meet back orders. I have two clients who have already waited 5 months !

Economy is undoubted on this car and residual value will be, in my opinion, better than any of your alternatives.

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Tue 18 Jan 2011 22:06
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Lygonos

Skoda Octavia

15k buys a lot of new car or 1-yr old.

Turbo diesel or petrol are both economical, hatch or estate are big load-luggers (certainly bigger than the Clubman)

No-one laughs at Skoda these days.

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Tue 18 Jan 2011 22:11
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Lygonos

One of HJs favoured discount traders Drivethedeal.com are doing Brand new petrol hatch vRS (Golf GTi in sensible shoes) for 16thou but can be done with 50% deposit and 2yrs 0% APR.

At 12k miles pa, I'd be looking at petrol personally.

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Tue 18 Jan 2011 23:06
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - oldtoffee

>>>At 12k miles pa, I'd be looking at petrol personally.

Me too, 15k absolute minimum preferably 20k+ miles p.a to make diesel economics begin to work. VW Group petrols are proving that a small capacity blown petrol can get close to a diesel for economy.Factor in the UK's higher price for diesel and scare stories of DPFs, flywheels and clutches you can see why petrol is back in favour for people like you. I'm also with Lygonos on the Skoda vRS, I've had one, it's a great car and has the get up and go that no diesel this side of a 30k BMW 330d will give you without killing your wallet at the pumps.

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 18:30
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Boulder2k9

Yes but unfortunately the majority of the petrol engines available in the cars on the OP's list (excluding the mini) are pure ****.

Their diesel engines that they make are far superior to the petrol engines.

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 19:46
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - john96

If you are looking at a qashqai surely yeti worth a shout? look much better too!

Edited by john96 on 19/01/2011 at 19:46

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 21:13
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Lygonos

Considering the nature of cars listed by the OP I am suspicious he/she hasn't test-driven them yet.

Not superior in the reliability/long-term prospect states possibly.

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 21:57
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - madf

List does not make sense in terms of running costs or interior space: Mini vs others? As for petrol diesel issues, ... think about £1.75 to £2.0 per litre...

And total running costs incl VED and depreciation and maintenance and tyres.

The list given is so wide in scope, the answer to" what have I missed?" is virtually every car inbetween.

To make a rational choice, passengers and usage need to be described. Like journeys, carrying what? (eg sofas at weekends) etc. A Mini Clubman is a different car completely to a Lexus...let alone a Quashqai.

More thinking about Musts versus Wants is called for...eg ease of parking?

Edited by madf on 19/01/2011 at 21:58

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Thu 20 Jan 2011 13:37
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - TeeCee

Yes but unfortunately the majority of the petrol engines available in the cars on the OP's list (excluding the mini) are pure ****.

Their diesel engines that they make are far superior to the petrol engines.

Odd that. I'd have said that the Jap manufacturers invariably do a better petrol than diesel as that's where their domestic market is. I certainly find the Toyota/Lexus diesels hideously uncivilised by comparison to their petrol equivalents. Each to his own I suppose.

As you've already excluded the MINI, the only candidate on that list for potentially being better as a diesel in my book is the Passat, although if Mazda are using the Ford / PSA unit they're probably there too, the petrol "6" that I test drove the other day wasn't anything to write home about and I like the Ford / PSA diesels. The Passat diesel would have to have improved significantly since 2007 when I last drove one for that to be true though, "bag of nails" was my assessment at the time......

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Thu 20 Jan 2011 17:10
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Boulder2k9

The petrol engines in the Minis these days are good too. What I mean by the above statement is that the diesel engines in almost all the cars on the list are better than the petrol alternative in terms of refinement at high speed and fuel economy. Also being a diesel it will have torque which is very useful in an estate. A petrol engine in a Mazda 6 or Toyota Avensis for example would be slow, have poor fuel economy and be noisier at high speed. Toyota's Diesel engines are superior to their petrol ones in my opinion.

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Fri 21 Jan 2011 00:13
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Avant

You should certainly add the Octavia to your shortlist (or widelist!) as Lygonos suggests. If the vRS is too expensive try the 1.8 TSI engine in an Octavia.

I too would go for petrol for 12,000 a year (and am about to do just that myself): an additional factor to the points well made above is that VAG diesel engines seem to be in short supply, so there are long waiting lists. Petrols are coming through quite quickly.

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Fri 21 Jan 2011 08:47
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - ForumNeedsModerating

I'm just wondering why you're not considering a Mondeo hatch/estate - I can thoroughly recommend them.

I tried a few of the cars on your list when looking around last year - I had similar criteria & cash as you. The Mondeo 2l diesel Zetec trounced the lot in my view.

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Fri 21 Jan 2011 22:50
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Tim16V

Lexus IS a dressed up Toyota?

OK so they're not the most spacious inside but at 12000 miles pa I recommend you test drive a petrol IS 250 auto before making a decision. Turbine smooth, great seats, near silent and top inherent (rather than perceived) build quality. My Mrs does a lot of short school runs etc and a 100 mile round trip once a week and it's showing 30 mpg average - amazing. High 30's mpg on a cruise.

I spent a lot of time looking in to this before parting with cash last Sept and the car's been textbook in terms of reliability since then.

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Sun 23 Jan 2011 21:04
15K to spend on new or 1 yo - Big John
Be careful re Mazda 6 - search for "Mazda 6 dpf" - big big problems!!

Skoda have huge discounts on New Petrol Octavias and Superbs:-

I've managed to find Octavias from 11k & Superbs from just under 14k!! (Drive The Deal)

Edited by Big John on 23/01/2011 at 21:06

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