I’m in Europe, looking for family car and have no idea what to look for, as cars are far from my thing.

I’ll start with a bit of info. We don’t drive that much, most often just short rides in town (like groceries, kids to school, etc.) or short drives to nearby towns (10-15km). Longer distances about once a month (50+ km). Slughtly bigger car is a preference as we usually have stuff to carry in boot. Currently we have old Ford Mondeo turnier from 2003 and due to its engine problems it needs to be replaced. I have around 15k € budget, so will be looking at used market cars.

Because of intended use I scratched out all diesel offerings. Right? Leaving me with either gasoline or hybrid options. Full EV are probably no go due to price. I’ve picked a few possible cars from local/nearby sellers and would really appreciate your input on them (or alternatives I should be looking at).

Ford Focus wagon from 2019. Has 1.0 ecoboost engine (92 kW / 125 hp), has some nice equipment options like auto AC, heated seats, steering wheel and front screen. It has a mileage of just about 90k km (60k miles). It’s priced slightly under 13k €.

Toyota Auris sports wagon hybrid, from 2018. It’s typical Toyota prius-like hybrid with 1.8 liter engine and electric motor. Not plug-in hybrid. Mileage of around 150k km (100k miles). It’s slightly less equipped than the Focus (and it doesn’t support android auto or carplay) and is priced around 15k €.

2019 Kia Cee’d wagon. It is probably the simplest car in this list - it has 1.4 liter engine without direct injection and without turbo (73 kW) - does it mean less things to break? Other equipment is pretty good though (parking camera, heated seats and wheel, …), it has mileage if just 40k km (25k miles) and it should still be in factory warranty till 2026. Priced at 12.5k €.

There’s also VW Passat variant 2016 plug-in hybrid. It’s decent condition, although it has over 210k km (like 140k miles). I don’t have option to recharge at home (flat), but there are 2 or 3 public stations in walk distance. Priced at roughly 16k € it’s slightly over my intended budget, but it’s a bigger more comfortable car and has plenty of optional features (like parking camera, driving assistants, full led lights, etc.).

And there’s about another gazzillion of cars and my brain hurts… Would you please help me decide?

  • kurcatoviumOPEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I wrote a long post as a reply, but it seems it didn’t post itself. Sigh… I’ll shorten it for now.

    Kia

    • I checked up on that specific engine, should be powerful enough for non-aggressive drive style (me) and requires more shifting to achieve acceleration - fine both with me and wife, current Mondeo is similar story
    • good thing is Kia has authorized service and dealership in my small town (15k people)

    Fabia

    • I drive 2016 Fabia Combi at work, it’s 1.2 tsi (81 kW) and it’s pretty good drive-wise, but inside it feels quite cheap and noisy (both from lack of outside isolation and squeaking noises of cheap hard plastic inside) despite I have one of the highest specs (heated seats, cruise control, parking sensors)
    • I wouldn’t really mind it, but… I’m in Czech Republic where Skoda is from and everyone treats the brand as a national treasure and these cars are stupidly overpriced here - used Fabia prices are comparable to those of Ford Focus and honestly, Focus is a step above Fabia