A few years ago £5K to spend on a car didn’t sound like very much at all. At best it was a reasonable deposit to put on whatever you fancied down at the new car showroom. Times have changed and now £5K could very well be all you want to spend of your hard earned on a fresh set of wheels. The great news of course is armed with five grand and your copy of Used Car Expert, you can get yourself a car that will be sensational value for money. Don’t believe me? Then take a look at these we found during a hard surf around the Autotrader website.
A Happy Shopper
If all you want is a small and simple little hatch for going to the shops, a local commute and maybe the odd family-related adventure, then you want a Toyota Yaris Verso. No longer made, it remains an incredibly popular buy as it fits in with so many lifestyles. Proof of just how good and desirable this car is, is the fact that a Toyota dealer is prepared to stock an eight-year-old car with 56,908 miles. Main dealers usually stop at 4 years old. It is a reflection of the times, but a glance at the price pages of this guide reveals that a top example of a Yaris Verso GS can be found for as little as £3200.
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Something for the Family
In an increasingly dull world, we can at least rely on Citroen to come up with a handy sized family car that looks interesting inside and outside. The C4 has been around since 2005 and you can get a very tidy one for not very much at all. There seems to be a huge number of three door VTRs around at the moment, but you can’t beat a 1.6 SX for family duties. I stumbled across a privately advertised 2005 example at £4250 with 33,000 miles, which was lower than the surrounding dealer models. According to our price guide that looks good value. Compare that to a 1.6 Ford Focus which is even pricier and that may tip the balance towards putting a C4 on your drive.
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Bag a Load Lugger
Buying yourself some space has never been easier or cheaper and £5K gives you a huge choice. A massively underrated and under priced shifter off stuff is the last generation Vauxhall Vectra. The load bay is huge and with Vauxhall mechanicals it is cheap enough to run. Tempted as I am by the 3.2V6s, the reality is most people would need to buy diesel, and you could get a facelifted one too for £4,990, like the one owner 2006 with 87K miles in Life specification I just spotted. According to our book a 1.9CDTi even with less mileage, should be a bit more, so a great buy.
In the Lap of Luxury
£5K can easily buy you a lot of car, trouble is, that often brings £50K running costs with it. But that’s all part of the fun. Now an Audi A8 provides a massive amount of amusement and was amazed to discover that you could buy a 4.2 V8 with a 2002 plate. Even with 108K miles it is barely run in and has a specification list as long as an Orang-utans arm. That’s an £11,000 car, down from over £50K new but even if you allow for the mileage this is a cheap set of wheels. And certainly more sophisticated than a Jaguar XJ. A Jag has more character, but for once Audi gives you much more kit for your money.
Let’s Off Road
If all you want to do is work hard, tow stuff and fill your wagon full of children, dogs and luggage it’s time to consider a 4 x 4. Especially as they are now so cheap. We hear great reports about the Hyundai Santa Fe as a workforce, so have no hesitation in going out to find one at £4995. That buys a 2004 2.0TD with just 42,000 miles on sale at a trader. Some may say that it isn’t pretty, but actually what 4 x 4 really is? On the facing page of the price section you’ll find a Jeep Cherokee and I wouldn’t fancy paying a premium just for the badge, would you?
So there you have it, five categories of car and everyone is catered for. Now these are mainly dealer cars with warranties and service histories, so you really won’t be risking your money. We want to know what you would buy.