UK Used Cars

[PeteWhite]

I bought a VW Touran (new) back in 2004, first 5 years were fine, no problems, but since then I've probably spent in excess of ?4,000 keeping it on the road... gearbox, fusebox, alternator, clutch, turbo, radiator and steering rack all required attention... It still has some problems - doesn't start properly when warm (?!), clicking noise behind dashboard, and 4th gear is dodgy. I've now gone Japanese and drive a Nissan Qashqai.

[Wakers]

French cars are not reliable.

Peugeot topped the list recently for percentage of cars that didn't pass their first MOT. It was a ridiculous number too.

Japanese cars are the most reliable.

[44MLX]

VW, Audi, Toyota, BMW, Ford would be my preferences.

[garethevans1986]

Just sold my Renault Clio - no major problems.

Just bought a Vauxhall Zafira 08 plate.....dealer did a crap job of fixing it up.

GE

[WolfieZero]

Coming from my own experience and what people told me (I bought a new car 2 weeks ago so it's still fresh) here's my pointers.

Polos are supposed to be very good cars; a lot of engineers I know raved about them, though these where private aircraft engineers so take it as you will.

Fiestas are good little runners; nothing special but if you want something cheap and no frills then a good choice.

Corsa's seem to get a bad rap; I've just bought a brand new one (1.3 ecoFLEX 2012 Limited Edition) based on the fact my mum has had one and she rides the clutch and a friend of mine has bought a second one

Fiats are a no go; nobody seems to like them, not even their owners

Kia are very good; they are just an very family safe car and look "meh"

Renault and Peugeots engines are very good (having owned a Clio and 207); the issue with them is their electrics aren't great and both cars I've had their electrics have failed including the ECU chip in my 207

BMW Mini's I stay away from; everybody I know and every car mechanic I've spoken to about them have said their engines are very bad and typically need replacing when they go wrong

Alfa's are good when the weather is good; parts can be expensive and the cars outdate very quickly and if it gets cold the older models will complain

Toyota's are reliable runners; not sure of part costs but heard they can be expensive and difficult to work on

Hopefully that will give you a good run down on used cars. These are obviously all opinions so don't take it as fact by any means but something to keep in mind when doing your research.

Have fun looking for a car!

[philcruicks]

Toyota, Vauxhall are good, VW's are good...but if they do go wrong the repair costs are stupidly high.

Fords are also quite good.

Stay away from French makes and British makes (Rover/Jag etc..)

[mbowman]

I've had two fords, both very reliable, never had any faults. first was a fiesta, 52reg 89k miles (no problems besides a new clutch but expected at that many miles - wear and tare rather than fault). wanted something a little faster and better mpg so upgraded to a focus 08 reg, very good car.

My friend has a Clio and he's always got problems with it, only a 55reg with 25k miles on it and its had 2 sets of 4 new tyres, new battery, some part of the wheel was snapped as well so that got repaired, pump for the washer jets doesn't work either, windscreen never clears properly like its got a gap/leak some where, interior falling apart, head unit doesn't work when cold, sure can think of some other reasons haha.

Another friend had a C1 always having some sort of problem. 3 friends HAD cosras, all had major problems each paying out a good few hundred ? to fix them.