Cars & Motorbikes Whats the cheapest 2nd hand car with a lot of goodies?

I need to purchase a car in the near future so have started doing a bit of research on carsales.com.au to get a feel of what my quite modest $15k budget will get me (cheaper the better).

The criteria I'm after is:

• Decent boot space (for pram / growing family)
• Fairy modern - post say 2012 ish
• ideally have ISOFIX points for baby seats
• as much modern safety equipment as possible (i.e. Auto emergency braking)
• GPS
• Bonus points for lots of goodies i.e. blind spot monitor, rear camera, proximity key, adaptive cruise and massive bonus points for memory seats (wife and I will use the car with big height difference between us)

I know I'm asking a lot out of a small budget but so far have come across the below list that meet most if not all the above

1. 2015 onwards Ford Mondeo Trend (seems to be the pick of the bunch so far)
2. 2013 onwards Subaru Liberty Premium or Outback Premium
3. 2012 onwards VW Passat with relevant options (although bit suss on the VW reliability - not sure if that's warranted or not)
4. 2013 onwards Mazda 6 Atenza or Touring
5. 2015 Kia Optima Si

I thought I'd throw it out to the forum so see if there are cars that meet my criteria I should add to the list for consideration.

 

Toyota Aurion ?
as vanilla as they come, but has the Toyota badge on it.

 

Before even seeing your list my first thought was the Mazda 6.

I used to have one and loved it.

Blacky

 

Hi. Please dont get a Subaru Liberty. Get the Outback. I so want one.

Why? I have a Liberty which I love to pieces, but it is very low to the ground. I keep driving (scraping) over the top of the garden beds they place around shopping centre car parks and which I just cant see. I have done all sorts of damage to the underneath of my car and to the sides of my wheels.

I hear that VW make great cars that are quite cheap second hand because they cost a mint for maintenance.

 

Thanks @bmc
I had a quick look and the Presara model, it has a lot of features. I couldn't find one with Auto emergency braking in my price range, any idea what year / what model has it by any chance?

 

Thanks Blacky for your feedback. I've been doing a bit of reading on these, apparently the early model diesels (the years I will be looking at) had some issues. Was yours the petrol or diesel model? If diesel, did you have any issues?

 

Hi Angel, thanks for your reply. The Outback is the only car in the list we've actually taken for a test drive so far, my wife and I both liked it. My wife actually made the comment that she liked being a little higher for better visibility, so I get your point.

As for VW, I've never owned one but other family and friends have. Its a funny one, about half of them love them, the other absolutely hated owning them because of maintenance and issues with gearboxes.

 

We had a 2004 Outback that one of our kids inherited 4 years ago when we bought a new one. They are still driving it with a young family. Prams, Isofix car seats etc. Does not have all the bells and whistles you are after but for what is now a 15 year old car it has been a great car. I am sure they are looking at our 2015 Outback wondering if they will inherit it too - this time it might be wishful thinking!!

 

Secondhand I'd be inclined to go something Japanese (Subaru, Toyota or Mazda). Reliable and cheap to repair. Avoid Nissan as they have had a lot of issues with their gearboxes.

I've had an Optima in the past and although a fine vehicle, some of the parts were stupid expensive.

From the list you've put up there I'd go the Mazda 6. My mum had one of those (same vintage). A petrol 6cyl. Was an absolutely fantastic car.

 

If you liked the Subaru Outback then do check out the Forrester. I gather from your post that your wife might be height challenged like I am and the Forrester is a SUV so higher again and that makes life easier getting kids in and out of the back seat if they are higher up. When I'm driving our Liberty I feel like I'm sitting on the road.

With the GPS wish I'm sure most of those will have one but if it's not too your liking then go somewhere like Autobahn/jbhifi and get a new head unit which does Apple Car Play or the Android Equivalent eg Pioneer AVH-Z2250BT Touch-screen Multimedia player with Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth

Another option might be a Honda CRV

 

Mine was a petrol.
5sp auto. But pretty sure I could have got a 6sp manual at the time (and would have preferred to). But got a really good deal on the auto.

I bought it with low Kms. And put probably 100kms onto it. And sold it for $5k less than I paid. So pretty happy.
I did a lot of country driving and never had a fault with it. Though I’m pretty good to cars and service/maintain them well.

I’m pretty sure if you search the Internet you’ll find stories of faulty cars of every make/model. So pick out which one you want. Get it looked at by a mechanic. Go buy it and hope for the best.

Blcky

 

Thanks for your reply. Interesting comment about the Optima, I was under the impression the new Korean cars were like the Japanese with regards to cheap parts and reliability. Something for me to consider for sure.

 

I think they're getting there, if they aren't already. I just remember paying $700 for a custom power steering hose. The mechanic told me that if I owned a Camry it would have been an $80 part....

This may have changed these days? I am not sure...

 

Haha, yes she is a little 'height challenged', a nice way of putting it
Ok, I'll check out the Forrester, thanks for the tip and thanks for the link to the head unit, that does potentially open up other cars in our price range.

 

Mazda 6 has to be the winner there, so much car for the money, and bulletproof reliable. We own a 2016 3 and love it. My family has owned Mazda's for years and never had a problem with any of them (well, at least until we were well into 10+yrs 300,000km+ territory).

Watch out for Ford products with the Powershift gearbox, too many long term reliability questions even with the better wet clutch in the Mondeo's.
Passat is a lovely car and has a decent record for reliability in the diesel (don't touch the 1.8 petrol with 7Spd!) and the 6Spd DSG is actually a more reliable option than Powershift.

Optima interiors seem to wear poorly and smell bad, but I think that's my personal bias. I used to like them a lot and was really disappoint when I looked at a 3yr old example a while back.

Subaru's seems to have a patchy reliability record. People either tell you they're 100% bulletproof or total lemons. Mine was a lemon, great to drive though. They hold their value really well.

 

What Tom said . I've got a 2014 diesel passat and it's been bullet proof.

Mazda 6 also a good option Stay away from dry clutch dsg and CVTs. Awful transmissions.

 

Thanks a lot Tom for your detailed thoughts and comments, I really appreciate it.

The Mazda 6 is definitely getting some praise in reliability stakes which is comforting especially buying second hand and hoping to keep it for a little while. Its funny you mention owning the 2016 Mazda 3, I was browsing car ads this morning and came across a 2016 Mazda 3 SP Astina BN sedan with 50k kms on the clock advertised for $14k from a Ford dealer. So I rang them straight up and was told "oh sorry, its meant to be $24k"

I wasn't necessarily looking for the Mazda 3 but having read soooo many ads recently I knew that was a crazy price so had a nibble.

As both you and @shorty suggest, from my research thus far I gather the dry clutch transmissions on both the Ford and VW (which I assume also refers to Skoda?) are problematic. I'm wanting ideally to avoid DSG's all together, I believe the MD series (2014 onwards) of the Ford Mondeo in the petrol version don't have the dual clutches, just a normal gear box, so haven't entirely scratched them from my list.

 

+1 for the Mazda. Can’t go wrong. All though a jap car they are actually tested and driven on Aus roads - resale is ok too. Have driven all, Mazda 3s, 6s, CX5s, CX9s, all great cars.

Second option is Toyota Camry / Aurion as mentioned. Maybe not as nice looking, more on the reliable side and easy to replace things.

 

Go the Mazda 6 or the Kia. Remember the Kia will have 7 warranty on it so if a 2015 model is in your budget it has approx 3-4 years warranty remaining.
Generally the newer and lower k’s the better.