Help me buy a car (2026)

I'm currently driving an old Yaris but it's on it's last legs and I'm nervous about its MOT in May. I'd like something different.

My favourite car I've owned was a Suzuki Swift and I suppose that's an option. Certainly, it's kind of what I need - I commute into the outskirts of a city but also like to zip up and down motorways to see friends, so I don't want something that is too "city car". I like the idea that I could use the car to use the Euro Tunnel, which is my way of saying I'd like something reliable and robust, I guess.

I'm not particularly "car-y" or a petrol head and I find cars going wrong really stressful. I've liked the times I've bought brand new and its given me a good few years without unexpected expense (or too much thought). I realise that this is kind of extravagant.

What would you go for?

I have a Suzuki Ignis which is city-car sized but doesn’t feel cramped. Meant to be very reliable too.

I'm not particularly "car-y" or a petrol head and I find cars going wrong really stressful

Sounds like the case for an EV.

My Mazda CX-5 turned 12 yesterday, and I'm still pretty happy with it. It has its issues, but I'd get another except for the fact that the dealership in Tupelo where I got this one dropped Mazda and only sells Hyundais now.

BYD dolphin or atto 2. Davis spring, Renault 5, Nissan micra. OG Hyundai Ioniq, Hyundai inster, mg4

i also have a mazda cx-5 and it is the first vehicle that i owned that i'm not ashamed to talk about. you wrote "favourite" so not sure about your locale but given the vast inflation on car ownership in the US i think the cx5 has a lot of bang4buck appeal

original post also includes "MOT" "motorway", and "Euro Tunnel".

Anyway, go electric! I own an ev, ama.

I'm in the states like WmC, so I end up watching a bunch of youtube videos about evs in the UK and Europe that we can't even get here. The Renault 4 looks dope imo. And I dig the recent Smart reboot models.

I like my VW Golf (2019 US model) for its incredible versatility, roominess, fuel economy, decently soft quiet ride, precise steering and good reliability. Unlike in the US, there are a plethora of models with different equipment available in the UK/Europe - powertrain choices including gas/petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and more. Good car that does everything well.

Pondering looking at a 2026-style Fiat Panda.

Anyone good on car finance?

There's a 0% PCP offer here:

https://cars.suzuki.co.uk/offers-finance/swift-offers-and-finance/

It seems limited to 8000 miles a year which isn't enough (so it only really works if I plan to buy the car at 4 years, as far as I can tell) but are there any other obvious advantages/disadvantages compared to taking out, say, a loan from a bank?

are you more comfortable leasing or owning?

Owning, really.

Its easy to look at PCP too much from either angle imo, positive and negative

if:

- it makes the downpayment on what you need more manageable
- you're clear on why you need the newer/more expensive option
- you are honest about what that balloon payment is going to feel like at the end of the four years
- you get service/warranty etc included
- the monthly costs and annual mileages are realistic

then it can get you four years of better car than you were looking at, with as much certainty as you're going to get

when we were buying, I wasn't sure about how battery degradation was working out, and that pushed me towards the newest technology, no previous owner/mileage, direct warranty

the tradeoff is the obvious- that balloon payment looks like worse value every year as it approaches.

but it made more sense for us than i had ever really though a new car/pcp setup would tbh once i had decided that i wanted the car/type etc

in jan 2028 we will pay the balloon payment off with a car loan and look at buying service packs over the equivalent number of years. we need to keep servicing through official channels to keep warranty in place but the monthly payment covering both loan and whatever the services might cost will be a good deal lower than the current outgoing anyway

i think we'll own outright after 8 years, ill have been driving a very fine car for all of that time and while it wont have much trade-in value vs what i paid, ill only be looking at switching at that stage if battery technology has really jumped forward in that time

seems like the 8000 mile limitation only applies if you turn the car in at the end of 4 years instead of buying it outright with the balloon payment per darragh xp

also i didn't realize UK cars had mile odometers? i would have thought km

not in europe innit

Thanks all.

Current thinking is get a Suzuki Swift, MG3 or Fiat Panda, possibly using PCP finance for the first few years and accepting, unless I put away money, that the "final payment" will feel a bit annoying. I'm open to messages telling me I'm being a dick, mind. I know there's an idea that buying "nearly new" rather than "new" is generally accepted as a good idea ... but it doesn't actually seem to save that much.