Info On Which Car To Buy, Please.

Mrs Shiney needs a new car. Here are some parameters to help reduce the options.

She does a very low mileage (about 2,000 per year). So fuel consumption unimportant.

Not diesel.

She needs a good size boot as she carries a fair amount of stuff in it.

She would prefer a shortish bonnet on the vehicle.

Front and rear beepers would be useful - optional extras, possibly (although they are probably cheaper if they come as standard).

Built in satnav an advantage but she has a portable one.

Electronic communications (hifi/wifi/phone/cd player etc.) unimportant.

Safety and comfort more important.

Preferably four door, but two doors at a push.

body style not too important.

Currently driving a 17 year old Volvo S40 - to give an idea of what she likes. Would not want less boot/storage space.

Please ask any other questions you may think important.

Anyone want to buy a 17 year old Volvo S40 with low mileage.

 

The S40 was a joint venture between Volvo and Mitsubishi (Carisma was the Mitsubishi car on the same platform), so you are in mid to large saloon territory, with fairly good build quality. Assuming a similar size/style, I would say:

Skoda Octavia - either saloon with a decent size boot, or estate if you want even more. If even more space is needed, then Skoda Superb is also well worth a look - again, either saloon/hatch (very clever arrangement) or estate.

 

Thanks for all your comments and advice so far.

Answer to first part of your post is both . There's no public transport (we knew that when we moved here 45 years ago) and she's out and about quite a lot.

A new car.

I think that when we bought the S40 17 years ago it was smaller than the newer models. So mid size is OK unless she needs a bigger car to get the boot space.

Fold down seats would not be practical as she stores a lot of things in the boot. So, if she needed to fold the seats down to make the space the seats would never be used.

 

I still say Octavia - their customer satisfaction levels are amongst the best in the business, to the point that they embarrass their parent company VW. They are based on the same platform as the VW Golf, so well tried and tested and a nice blend of handling and comfort.

I would also suggest looking at the likes of the Kia Sportage - nice roomy car, easy on the pocket in terms of running costs, and a 7 year warranty - very hard to argue with. The Nissan Qashqai that I have is also a belter of a car - got to be the most comfortable in its class, and very versatile; I haven't had a moments trouble with mine, and it is very cheap to run (I get a whole month's running for around £60, but I am on diesel). The downside of the Qashqai is that they only have a three year warranty.

 

Thanks for all the further suggestions. When I collate all of them I may have a look around before shortlisting things for Mrs Shiney. She doesn't yet know that I've put this post up and would not have heard of most of the suggestions. She just drives cars but has no interest in them apart from them getting her from A - B.

@fat controller Thanks for the suggestions Do all of them have good boot space?

The economy factor and the warranty are not major influences on the purchase. Very low mileage makes both of them fairly insignificant factors. We only had one big fault with her Volvo, after 7 years, and Volvo refused to take any responsibility for it, stating that we had never used a recognised Volvo service garage in all those years (we use the local man down the road). They changed their minds after I issued a summons immediately.

@martin-f Thanks, we'll, naturally, look at the new Volvo as she's so used to it but the reports on boot space don't seem too good. She doesn't want too fancy or complicated controls as they may be too confusing.

@Sandy Ground thanks but Citroen!!!!

 

When we replaced Mrs JWK's car 3 years ago we really like the Dacia Duster, if you're not bothered about brand/badges then it is exceptional value for money. It has good room inside although everything is a bit basic, they don't even have a radio in the base model - so it certainly fits your requirement here:

I think beeping parking sensors are a must too. As far as I know this can be specified on just about every new car now, and if not you can get them retro-fitted for very little.

(We didn't go for the Duster in the end because at the time there wasn't an automatic version)