Best small/medium hatch?

[oldcarltonfan]

Ladies and Gents,

I need a car and I’m after ideas. Specifically, I need a small/medium size car with the following essential criteria:

• Can, just, fit 5 adults for occasional short family trips to the beach, but will mostly be driven solo.
• Can, just, fit a bike in the back, with the front wheel of the bike removed and the rear-seats folded. N.B. 700c tourer with mudguards.
• Can be fitted with some sort of roof-rack, preferably via built-in hard points or fwd/aft roof-rails.
• Costs less than £15k
• Will last a minimum of 5 years, for @ 10000 miles a year, with turn-key reliability. After the 5 years I don’t need huge residual value as I would probably give it to one of the kids or run it until it died.

All other needs, such as petrol or diesel, reasonable economy, sensible running costs, Android Auto, DAB radio etc are desirable, but not essential. Boring is fine, I am of an age where I don’t need excitement when I drive and I have a motorcycle for sunny days.

My first choices to explore are either the 2021 Dacia Sandero, top spec, new, hopefully haggle for the extended 5-year warranty thrown in, or, a 12-month-old Ford Focus 1.0 eco-boost hatch. One is duller than the other, one is cheaper, but both seem to be well reviewed and fit for purpose.

Are there better options?

Thanks.

 

[Archie_tect]

Seat Leon... 1.4 eco petrol... just like them!

 

[oldcarltonfan]

Thanks, I'll see who suggests what and start looking on Auto Trader or similar for what is out there. First one to look at is the Seat Leon.

 

[cyberknight]

Mrs Ck loves the dacia stepway

 

[Salty seadog]

My 2002 Toyota corolla d4d 2.0l turbo diesel.
It fits your bill exactly.

 

[Drago]

The Sandero is cheap, but the lowish NCAP ratings don't inspire. The Renault sourced turbo 3 pot isn't very nice either, and has a pronounced power band. But it is cheap. Be warned - Dacia dealers don't haggle, part of their ethos. You pay the asking price for everything or youre shown the door.

The Fiesta has a decent NCAP rating, is a very well developed peachy flexible engine, is robust (the early ones suffered coolant loss issues, long since sorted), but isn't a cheap product. That said, youll get some discount of a new one, particularly at the moment.

It all depends on the value you place on refinement and safety, and only you can decide that.

To be honest though, inside a car is an inconvenient place for a bike in so many ways, and fearfully dangerous in the event of a smack, but its your upholstery and your neck.

 

[KneesUp]

Is this a 'What car do you drive?" thread? :-)

Been very happy with my Mk8 Civic (not this one, not the one before it, but the one before that) - nothing much ever goes wrong with it, it has a big boot and clever seats (you can fold the bases vertical to make a big space where the back seat passengers would be, without using the boot - I reckon you could fit a 26" across the car with a wheel off that way) It takes a full sized bike with the wheels on with the seats down, can do 50mpg on a long run if you're careful (usually more like mod 40s) and it cost significantly less than your 15k budget (and would be even less now)

Edith- it’s the 1.8 petrol I have. The diesel will do more mpg I’m sure. The petrol has got naff all torque but it’s powerful enough. I tow a trailer with it and am considering a small, light caravan.

 

[Bazzer]

Golf. I'm now on my 7th, currently a hybrid.
Choice of engine size as well as fuel; petrol, diesel or PHEV. I suspect an electric Golf will be outside your price range.
My last one was sold only last year with 190k on the clock, the one before that with 1/4m miles. Both on their original clutches and exhausts.

 

[Pale Rider]

My local independent is still seeing problems with the 1.0 Ecoboost engine, so I reckon even a late used one is more of a risk than you need to take.

You won't go wrong with a Focus in other respects, so how about a 1.5 diesel?

A quick search on Autotrader suggests you could get a dealer supplied 2019 car for your budget.

 

[oldcarltonfan]

Thank you to everyone for the comments. I had not even checked the NCAP rating of the Sandero yet, good point. I will also expand my search to look at Civic, Golf and Leon options.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Hyundui i20 or Suzuki Swift

 

[fossyant]

My folks have a Sandero Stepway, top of the range one. Never missed a beat in 3 years. Nice car if a little basic.

 

[biggs682]

Our Nissan Note does all you ask.

And so would a Honda Jizz

 

[Tripster]

Golf, had a GT diesel, a 1.6 diesel Match edition and now have a 2017 Golf GTI. The 1.6 diesel we sold to a family friend 3 years ago and it’s still going strong, never misses a beat and ultra reliable as is our GTI.
My old GT diesel was I think 2005 and again a brilliant car

 

[vickster]

Fabia estate
no need even to remove the wheel of a medium sized bike