happyglow

Inspired by this thread I did some car window-shopping earlier. Blimey, there are some decent buys around at the moment, and that's just looking at asking prices. Not sure I'd have the heart to bargain much!

My list of priorities when I get there:
Hug family
Huge sleep
Long walk with pooch
and then bank account, phone, CAR!

MagsB

We used to have a Ford Focus and it was a fantastic car. We intend to get one again when we move back to the UK in April. DH is quite a petrol head and done lots of research, but keeps on coming back to the Focus. In South Africa we currently have a Toyota Carolla, fantastic car!

lf1

As I said earlier, I don't know much about cars, but when I moved back I was chatting to one of the locals about cars. He raved about his Skoda (can't remember the model) and said it is essentially a VW. It is just finished differently and doesn't have the price tag associated with a VW. The dealership, where I bought my car, confirmed this. I didn't end up with a Skoda as they didn't have any used automatics available at the time.

Englishmum

Yes, you're right. I think they're made in the Czech republic and essentially the same platform as a VW Passat. Our company car here in Switzerland is a Skoda Octavia estate, we didn't get to choose, it was inherited from another expat who moved on. It's not a 4x4 but winter tyres are compulsory Oct-Apr and it sticks to the road like glue. In the basement car park in our condo a neighbour parks his VW Passat estate adjacent to our car; they're the same size although I actually think our car is slightly higher than theirs (but the wheel sizes may be different).

What I did find though was that when we took a road trip to see our friends in Grenoble, France (approx 7 hour drive) I sat in the back on one leg of the journey whilst my spouse and son were in the front. My back was killing me after a while, I was pretty uncomfortable as the back seat seems to be very upright and you can't adjust it.

I think when you first move house it's always useful to have a car with a bit of space....the number of times I've had to go to places like IKEA... and had to try and fit boxes and odd shapes into a car. I'd never buy a saloon/sedan at all, it would at the minimum have to be a hatchback.

Actually I quite like the look of the Honda Jazz (or possibly called a Honda Fit) cars and would check one out if I was looking for a small car in the UK.

Oddly enough, my son has a Subaru Outback in the US and it's been (so far) extremely reliable. However, as it is a 4x4 it's always been a bit heavy on the petrol, which isn't so much of a problem in the US but of course it is in the UK!

Btw; a litre of unleaded petrol here costs CHF 1.84 (approx GBP 1.30)

dunroving

I had read that the Fabia was based on the Polo and the Octavia was based on the Golf - but I agree with you that size-wise, the Octavia seems closer to the Passat. I gained an admiration for Skodas at the 2004 Tour de France. 7 days of watching Skoda Octavia estates tearing down the mountainsides of the Alps gave me an appreciation of their road-holding and appearance. I think the Octavia is still the sponsored team car for the TdF. The intense demands of the TdF are not something every car can handle and it says something that they go with Skodas rather than something like a BMW.

My comments about the Subaru being expensive to repair were more to do with repair costs and cost of parts than any reliability issue. Having said that, I did have some very weird problems with my Subaru (bog standard Legacy estate) - it was bought second-hand, about 7 years old and I have a suspicion it had been thrashed on a farm by one of the previous users. It's definitely not an economical car, whatever way you look at it, though.

Tockalosh

Try a Honda Jazz as a previous poster has mentioned. I am over 6 foot and had no dramas on a 2200 km trip recently with the mrs, 2 kids and lots of baggage.
Skoda station wagons are excellent as well

Avoid Fords and Vauxhalls. They really are crap

windsong

I wonder how difficult it would be to get used to a much smaller interior in a car in the UK compared to cars in the USA. I have a Toyota Camry here. It's only me but I am tall and so it feels more comfortable. I doubt any of the "average" cars in the UK would be anywhere near that size inside - and by USA standards it is only average.

windsong

I have a friend (a Brit) in the USA who actively sought out a Subaru Outback. He says it is a good solid car and is ever so glad he bought it. I don't know if Subaru has similar quality in the UK, though.

Tockalosh

You should be able to adjust quickly. We have owned 2 cars in Oz. a 2001 Toyota Landcruiser and the 2012 Jazz. The latter had more elbow and knee room than the cruiser though the former did negotiate the potholed roads of up country Queensland a little smoother
Some of the small cars are badly laid out but cars like the Jazz are very clever and make the maximum use of space. Try one

happyglow

I agree. Horses for courses and all that. In Canada I drive a large wide SUV which I love, but when I hop into a small hatchback in the UK it doesn't feel vastly different, size wise. I jsut have to remember to change gears again!

windsong

Ohh that's another thing - changing gears I drove in the UK before coming to the USA so I was used to gear-changing but now I am not so sure. I have got used to the lazy life of driving an automatic.

happyglow

Me too, but don't worry, it all comes flooding back. My only problem was remembering to put it in neutral before starting the engine

Redgal

Don't know anything about cars I'm afraid but wanted to say congrats on the job!

Tockalosh

Why bother going back to a manual. Get an auto Jazz

lf1

I learned to drive in the UK, but don't have a UK DL. I can trade my Cdn DL for a UK one, but will be restricted to driving an automatic car. So, I got myself an automatic as I don't fancy having to sit the British test. Automatics are far more popular in the UK than they were when I left over 30 years ago, so there is a much better choice available.