Transcription
You know what? I could probably make this entire channel completely about all the ways that modern cars keep you spending money at the dealership. Whether that's a £500 bulb replacement due to the insanity of modern car electronics or the brake pad change that needed a 2,000 computer and a subscription to carry it out. There's certainly plenty to talk about.
The reason that I don't do that is because I made this channel to try and offer good, solid car buying advice. I can't help but speak on these ludicrous stories as they appear, but at its core, I want the channel to remain a solid resource for car buyers. So, with that in mind, here's a collection of reliable used cars that your local mechanic or yourself can still fix.
Okay, so starting at the bargain basement end, then not just in terms of reliability, but also repairability, I'd be looking at a Toyota Auris. Now, these first appeared way back in 2007. They took over from the old Corolla, if you remember those, which again was extremely reliable. The issue with those is they're quite hard to come by nowadays in good rust-free condition. For that reason, I tend to stick looking for an Auris. There's more of them out there still available. I'd go for petrol as well. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing inherently wrong with the diesels. It's just that from a DIY, a repairability point of view, the petrols were a good bit simpler, which helps in that department. These engines, they've got all the hallmarks of old school reliability. So, no turbos, they're chain driven, minimal electronics on them, and even when you open the bonnet, you'll see all the service items. They're really easy to access. You can get to the belts, the coils, the filters without having to dismantle the whole front end of the car, which unfortunately is quite a common trend on more modern stuff. It is a very DIY friendly car. And because Toyota made so many of them, parts are still easy to get a hold of and fairly cheap. The reassuring thing with these is just about anything on them can be fixed relatively cheaply and easily. The exception being excessive rust. So do your due diligence. Have a look at the MOT histories for that specific car and if you see an excess of corrosion and rust, just move on to the next one. Good rust-free examples are out there and they're worth finding. That goes for all the cars in today's video really. As for the Auris specifically, just as I mentioned sticking with petrol, I'd also recommend sticking with manuals because the auto was actually a semi-automatic multi-mode transmission as they called it, which was actually quite complicated for its time and it can be pretty expensive to repair as well. Don't worry, I'll be sure to mention a couple of good automatics later on in this video, so stick around for that.
If you can get away with a slightly smaller car, these are one of my personal favorites, the Toyota Aygo. And by extension, the Citroen C1 and the Peugeot 107. If you're not aware, these were all platform shared. So under the skin and the badge, they are the exact same car. It makes no odds which one you buy. They are all superb, reliable, easy to fix, cheap to run little cars. The other added bonus of these little cars is because they were so popular, you're going to find lots of support out there for them in terms of how-to guides and part availability. The only caveat with these cars is avoid that 1.2 engine like the plague. The little one liter, that's a superb engine that honestly has no business being as reliable as it is. But the 1.2 equipped with a wet belt is anything but reliable, so avoid it.
If an automatic is what you're after, then it's back to some of the more predictable recommendations here. First being the mighty Honda Jazz with a small caveat. Try to buy one of these from 2012 onwards if you need an automatic. The reason for this is from 2009 until 2012, Honda were fitting that i-Shift gearbox. You might have heard of it. Just like the Toyota that I mentioned previously, it was a semi-automatic automated manual. It could be a little bit jerky. It felt like you were being driven around by a learner driver. And if it did have problems, it could be expensive and quite complex to repair. After 2012, Honda began using the CVT gearbox, which was a lot better. CVTs in recent years, they've gotten a bit of a bad reputation. I think personally that's due to the awful examples that you're going to find out there and the likes of Jukes and Qashqais, but the Honda unit is really quite reliable. I've seen them go beyond 200,000 miles with just routine servicing. Just be sure to buy the correct Honda CVT oil when you're servicing it. You'll find it online pretty easily. The only thing is the moment you start searching for specific things like CVT oil, you start seeing those adverts everywhere for it, don't you? Given I'm often buying car parts, I get that a lot. Well, I did until I started making use of today's video sponsor, NordVPN. Because it encrypts your internet traffic, it allows you to browse safely and anonymously so you can say goodbye to those annoying intrusive pop-ups. And if like me, you occasionally need to connect to public Wi-Fi networks, it'll keep you safe from the hackers and snoopers who are just lying in wait for someone's personal details. With Threat Protection Pro, it'll even warn you if you're about to click through onto a fake shop that's about to scam you. Every single month, it's preventing tens of millions of these scams from taking place. The other thing that NordVPN does, it continually monitors the dark web. So if your personal details are ever leaked and put up for sale like a cheap Corsa, you're going to know about it immediately. And on top of all these handy safety features, the one thing that I really value is being able to access the services that I'm usually region-blocked from when I'm not in the UK, even if I've paid for them. With NordVPN, I can just bypass that block and crack on with my usual car shows wherever I am in the world. Try it out for yourself using the link in my description, nordvpn.com/scottishcarclan, and you'll even get four months for free by doing so. It's completely risk-free with their 30-day money-back guarantee. So, you've really nothing to lose, right?
So, the other obvious Honda mention here is the Civic, and that's an especially good choice if an automatic is the preference here because they use a good old-fashioned torque converter gearbox, which is very smooth, very reliable. Be careful here though because just like with the Jazz, these also used that i-Shift gearbox, that automated manual that I was talking about. Now, it was in use with the Civics up until around 2009. Thankfully, it's quite easy to spot. Get a look at the gear stick inside the car. And if it looks like this, then that's the i-Shift semi-automatic gearbox. Whereas the torque converter looks like this. Now, if you like the idea of the Civic, but you prefer something in saloon, well, unfortunately, we didn't get this generation of Civic in saloon here in the UK. You did other places in the world, but for whatever reason, not in the UK. So, the slightly more obscure but good value, I think, choice is the Honda Accord here. These are quite often overlooked. If you stick with the petrols, they came with what I'd rate as one of the most reliable 2-liters ever produced. And honestly, I would mention how easy they are to work on, but there's really no need because the things never go wrong anyway. You could also get them in estate form if, like me, you need to carry around a big goofy dog.
As for the larger SUV type cars, this probably comes as no surprise, but I'm a big fan of the Honda CR-V. I know I've spoken about it several times on the channel. I'm not going to repeat myself today. I think they're great cars. I really do. You can't go wrong with them. Petrol, diesel, manual, automatic. Have a look at them if you are interested. In this video, I'm going to focus on its very worthy competitor, the Toyota RAV4. Dependent on budget, you'd be looking at either a Mark III or a Mark V. For around £4,000, you're going to find plenty of Mark III's out there. A bit like the CRVs, you can't really go wrong. Whether you choose petrol or diesel, manual or auto, they're all pretty good as long as they've not been abused, as long as they've been taken care of. Where these one up the CRV in terms of choice is because they come with long and short wheelbase options. So just depending on your own needs, you maybe save a little bit of money there going for a short wheelbase version. If your budget stretches to about £6,000, you could look towards the rather handsome Mark V. These were made from 2013 onwards to compete with the 2012 model year Mark V CRV. Either way, they're both very good.
Now, on a note of underappreciated SUVs, one that I think is worthy of a mention here is the Suzuki Vitara and Grand Vitara. For as little as £2,000 to £3,000, it's a lot of car for the money, you can pick one of these up. Now, the Suzuki's party piece is its off-road ability. They came equipped with a proper full-time four-wheel drive system in low range and the gearbox, where the CRVs and the RAV4s, they made do with a part-time all-wheel drive system. The only caveat with the Suzuki is don't go in expecting the refinement of the others. It certainly ticks the boxes in terms of reliability and repairability. It's quite a simple car under the skin, but not quite as refined as the RAV4 or especially the CRV. They were a little bit more agricultural, but very capable and dependable. And like the rest of the cars here, they've got a big following, so there's plenty of support in terms of parts and guides.
And there you have it. I do hope this list is helpful for you. And if there's any cars that you would add to it, remember, not just reliable, but also repairable and DIY friendly, let me know in the comments section below. Also, let me know if you'd like to see more videos like this, and we'll continue to make them into the new year. As for now, thank you so much for watching. Please do hit the like button if you've enjoyed it. Hit the subscribe button if you haven't already, and I'll see you soon.