Hi,

I'm about to sell my 07 reg Mazda 6, which I've had effectively from new, because at 128,000 miles I'm worried about possible future costs and Mazda parts aren't cheap.

I'm looking for a small to medium 5-door hatchback with low overall running costs and having trawled through a number of web sites the recommendations seem to be Fiesta (but I don't really like the styling) VW Polo or Golf, (Golf is probably too expensive) Honda Jazz, Kia Rio or Kia Ceed. I would also prefer Petrol to Diesel.

My wife likes the Polo but it's very much smaller than I'm used to and really I'd prefer something nearer Focus sized.

I'm not too concerned over performance or it being a drivers car, but despite being retired we still do around 12,000 miles a year and routinely travel from Devon up to Kent to visit family so it needs to be able to cruise happily on the motorway.

Any comments / suggestions.

John.

Personally I'd go for the Jazz as it's most likely to be the most reliable, they have quite cute styling too. I looked at getting one before I bought my Volvo and was very impressed.

Fords are still garbage (oh that will upset the fans) but they are...

Only had experience with small kia's which where cheaply made, constantly needed paint sorted and new wheel bearings, not sure if they have improved, they certainly could not have got worse

That's not a very high mileage for the Mazda tbh I'd expect it to happily run for twice that, especially if you've always owned it and know it's full history

Wife has a 2006 Honda Jazz Auto. £120 road tax. 37mpg in heavy city traffic, 50mpg on motorway at 70mph,will cruise at 80 with
4 people easily.
Bit of a Tardis inside, full 5 seater and a fair sized boot. It has become the car of choice over my SAAB 9-5 Diesel .

wouldn't disagree with others comments the only thing i would say is that if you are buying new, given your mileage you'd get 7 years and 84,000 of kia warranty which isnt bad

I bought a brand new Ceed SW (estate) on a 13 plate - if you go for that then probably worth you knowing I managed to talk down the price quite a bit from the windscreen price to what WhatCar said was possible. I think the model we had was the '2'. We were debating between an Octavia (nasty interior), Superb (bigger than we needed), Focus (more cramped and more expensive) and the Ceed. Like you, I did not care about 'driveability' as it's our family wagon and it is relatively sluggish compared to all the supermini/small hatchback cars we had before this. But it sits at 140kph nicely on the French motorways when we go on holiday, ditto for the trek from Essex to Staffordshire to see my parents. I usually manage about 55-58 mpg on 200 mile trips, can manage over 70mpg on long runs if I drive carefully but i value my time too much to hang around!

No real problem with quality of the car, we do not have a track record of expensive cars, so think it is a nice car. But it was put heavily into perspective when I got in my mates '17 plate Volvo a few months ago....

[Edited on 30/1/18 by jps]

Being a fan of VAG cars I'd go for the Golf if you can stretch to it. The Polo is a bit diddy for motorway cruising. There are independent VAG specialists around for servicing etc. which helps keep running costs down.

A colleague has a 1.2 TSI fabia with the DSG gearbox, and its briliant, genuinely a very good little car, done over 120k in it. The equivalent Polo would get my vote. Totally agree that a golf is 'more' of a car, but the new-ish Polo's feel surprisingly solid at motorway speed.

Alfa Romeo 159 2.2 Petrol, superb car!

On an unrelated note...mine is for sale!

And its super economical!



Assuming you believe 20+ mpg to be economical

Everyone I know who's had modern Fords has been delighted with them. My Mondeo mk4 was great. Tyres, brakes pads, battery and oil/filters were the only things I had to do in the 80k ish miles I had it for, though it was ready for a clutch when I sold it at 95k.

Had several VWs and wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Quality control is dreadful.


By coincidence I've just bought a brand new Mazda 6 petrol!

Stu

[Edited on 31/1/18 by SJ]

You also get a full 7-year warranty with Kia used-approved - for which it needs to be less than 18 months old and with less than 18,000 miles. We got a 1.6 petrol Cee'd with reasonable toys, cruise control (good for those motorway trips and I wouldn't get a car without it now), bluetooth. Not nearly as torquey as a turbo diesel but very quiet and comfortable. Don't think much of the sales service, or the centralised after-sales and servicing set up, but it is a nice car.

Mazda 3 or MX-5 Mk3 checked on rust.