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?
American here, so I can only help so much, but I can give my personal opinion, and you can take it with a grain of salt.
Personally, I’d remove the VW from the list of the bat. I’ve never had good luck with them being super reliable. I also have seen a lot of friends spend a lot of money on problems with them (usually electrical/control system). Other people absolutely love/swear by them. I do not. Edit: I missed that the vw was a plugin hybrid the first time I read through. Personally. Run. Run far and fast from that car.
The warranty makes the Kia appealing, but having had both a Kia and a Hyundai in the family now, they are cheap and fall a part much faster than a Mazda or Toyota in my experience. In fact, our Kia was sitting in the dealership parking lot for like 4-6 months waiting for Kia to figure out how to fix a problem they made by doing a recall. Every time we asked how much longer, we got a “Kia doesn’t know how to fix the issue yet, so we don’t know” that said husband loves driving his Hyundai.
The Toyota. We don’t have that model here, but I’d imagine it’s like the rest of the Toyota line (at least the bulk of them). Cheap feeling, and boring to drive. Should be reliable, however, the batteries make it potentially very expensive to repair in a few years. How long do you plan to keep this vehicle?
The ford would probably be my pick from your list, but I don’t know much about the 1ltr eco boost. Its bigger cousins are fun to drive for what they are. They seem to be relatively reliable and potent for their size and get ok mileage.
Personally, if I were you, I’d look at Mazda. Both the 2 and 3 hatches might fit your requirements. For a while now they have been making much nicer feeling cars than you should be getting for the money. I’ve owned Mazdas (and some of the ones know to be the least reliable cars ever) and I have nothing but great things to say about the brand (minus one dealership) and driving experience. They seem to have really thought out what they are doing.
I’d second the Mazda recommendation. Depending on your family size now and in the future I can’t recommend the CX-5 enough if you need more space than a 3 hatchback.
If you can’t charge a phev at or work it it’s more of a lead weight than a benefit since you would have to take it somewhere to charge. I am jealous you are getting the MX-30 R-EV which would have been my pick for a new commuter Mazda.
Wow, that MX-30 R-EV looks really cool. The price will be insane, though.
I’ll check MX-5, but super quick search popped up only older ones (newest being 2015) in my budget.
I’m also an American with next to no idea how things are in Europe (except that cars are little).
I did see this car in a London dealership though and it seems like a half decent price for the car (from an American pov).https://www.balhamcarslimited.com/used-nissan-qashqai-balham-london-5189900
Its got lower than average miles, and imo nissan has masterbated making really comfortable seats.
Nissan has what?
Nissan and NASA were involved somehow to make “zero gravity seats”. They are actually comfy. Iirc they were only on the Altima, but they may have moved to other models now too. Before like 2010 they as well have been metal park benches. I agree.
Edit: apparently nasa wasn’t involved. Idk. I remember they were. Anyhow. They apparently used the zero gravity seats in just about everything now. You can see a list here
Nissan worked with NASA or maybe they just bought the tech (I seem to remember some kind of collaboration) for their seats. That’s why everyone loves them.
As for reliability, as someone who works on Nissans, avoid them like the plague. Plus parts for Nissan are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Valve covers for a 350z are over $400 EACH and that’s not the most outlandishly priced part I’ve looked up recently.
Edit: nasa wasn’t involved the seats were “inspired” by zero gravity. I remember a different story when they came out but whatever.
It’s hard to compare reliability for the same cars in North America vs western Europe since the weather is much better (compared to most of North America, so not counting California) and preventive maintenance is much more common in Europe. My friend is a mechanic that came from Europe to Canada and he can’t believe the shit people find acceptable to drive over here…
I’m in San Diego. Can’t really get better weather than here. However, for anything with lots of battery, high heat is bad, so there’s that.
All of that’s why prefaced my statement with I’m an American. No one else had replied yet, so I figured I’d give my $0.02 as someone who works on cars.
Not saying your reply was bad, just wanted to add that disclaimer because VWs are considered to be great cars in Europe and as a person who does preventive maintenance I’ve never had as much issue with mine as my girlfriend has had with her Honda for example.
Interesting piece of info. Thank you.
Well, interestingly enough VW is considered one of the more reliable brands in Europe. Indeed, cars and their usage is way different on both sides of the pond… Why would you dismiss hybrid option? The car supposedly was well serviced throughout its life, with all prescribed oil changes, spark plug changes, etc.
As for Kia the good thing is Kia has authorized service right in my small town (15k people). I know the brand has (had) its problems, but again, the reputation of the brand is quite high now. This could not be said like 10-15 years ago, when these cars were considered mostly trash. Nowadays? Everyone says they’ve matched (or even surpassed) traditional European brands.
If I checked right Auris should be renamed Corolla. No idea why Toyota did this name change, especially when Auris was a thing for only like 10 years and now we’re back at Corolla name. Weird. Never mind, Toyota states their batteries should be like 90% after 10 years? That’s more than enough with me assuming it’s true. And how long do I plan to have the car? Probably until it falls apart, like both my previous cars did 🙃
Glad to hear good words on Ford in general. Was one on top of my list. I’ve been happy with our Mondeo over all, but it’s 20 years old, been through some tough conditions and it shows…
I’ve indeed looked at Mazda offerings. If I had the money I’d be driving 6 already 🤣 My coworker is huge fan of the brand and he can’t recommend it enough, so I hear it almost every day. The 2 is definitely too small, I mean it would be probably OK inside, but its boot is virtually non-existent. The 3 looks quite nice, it has decent sized boot, but I’m not a fan of small back seat window design. I have small kids and the car feels really dark inside and has very restricted view out, which is not really a thing I’d want, sadly :-( Pricing is decent for 3 too. The 6 would be ideal, but I can’t really fit in my budget with one.
Iirc is rated pretty high in reliability here too. That doesn’t always translate perfectly to reality. I dismiss the hubris option of a VW without thought. As I said, I’ve seen too many vw with electrical issues, and then add in a complex hybrid system. Lol. No thanks. As I said, others may disagree with me, but this is my experience.
Kia may have a good warranty, sure. They may also have a service center near you. That doesn’t mean they will honor the warranty (manufacturers deny for BS all the time) or like in my experience, they legitimately don’t know how to fix a problem, and you’re left without a car for months on end. As I said, we were like 4-6 months without our car before I got so frustrated I traded it in on the hyundai. The quality of materials they use, in their late model cars, from what I’ve seen, is inferior to the more established brands like Mazda or Toyota. They also feel cheaper to me.
I’m pretty sure I said the Toyota would be fine just boring like the rest of them. Yeah, a Corolla is boring and cheap feeling but should be reliable.
Ford is ford. There’s a reason they sell as many cars as they do worldwide. Would I personally prefer a Japanese (built in Japan) car to a ford? Yes, but would I prefer a ford to a VW? Again, yes.
Imo, you literally can’t do better for the money than a Mazda. If the 2 is too small, then look at then CX3. Same chassis totally different feel. Or, the 3 comes in a sedan too, which is usually cheaper. Late model Mazdas feel, and drive like they should cost at least 15k more than they do, and if you can make it work, worth the price imo.