Hi,
I'm planning to get rid of my 10 year old Ford focus diesel. I was thinking of replacing it with a new car - either an estate or suv, petrol engine (preferably) with an auto transmission. Unfortunately, in Europe due to newer stricter emission regulations it is becoming more difficult in finding engines that are not overengineered or severely downsized.
Toyota has some weird configurations on offer. On the corolla they only have a 1.2l turbo (120-ish hp), the rest are all hybrid. The rav4 has a 2.0l variant which seems decent enough, but the problem is that they fit all of their cars with cvt transmissions (reliability aside, they're weird to drive). The mechanics that work at their official service shop are not the best, only the thought of leaving a normal petrol car in their hands is concerning let alone a hybrid.
Honda has the 1.5 turbo engine with enough hp but sadly I've heard they're not as reliable as they used to be, on top of that they, as well, only offer cvt transmissions. They also only sell the civic in either sedan or hatch configurations.
Suzuki does not have anything with automatic transmission.
Mazda seems to be the only company that still sells some cars with torque converter transmissions coupled to naturally aspirated 2.0L engines but in the price range they still only have sedans or hatchbacks.
Hyundai seems to leave out the estate option for the new i30s. They also come with a new engine design which I guess only time will tell if it is good. I'm not sure about their dual clutch (dct) transmissions in terms of reliability.
Nissan and Renault (I know, I know) have the qashqai(rouge in the US I think) and the megane in the estate versions with similar configurations: edc transmission (dual clutch) coupled with a 1.3l turbo petrol (160hp). That specific engine is also borrowed to Mercedes and so far it seems to be not that bad reliability-wise. Also the transmission seems to be better than their cvt variants that were problematic in the past.
The options seem kind of limited and in the end I'll just have to compromise on something I guess.
I'm thinking on only keeping it 5 years or so (or how long the warranty period is).
Any thoughts/ideas?
Thanks!
@12davids
In a word, MAZDA CX-5 with a naturally aspirated engine and conventional transmission.
From what I've seen, the cheapest one with automatic transmission is around 35000 euro unfortunately. It's a nice car no doubt but out of my budget.
@12davids
That's crazy. A 2020 CX-5 with a 2.5 liter eng, etc. is around BASE MSRP RANGE
$25,190 - $37,155, depending upon what options you want to add, plus Destination Charge: $1100. That's U.S. Dollars not Euros or Pound Sterling.
Looks like the dealers have a little monopoly in the U.K and price their cars as such or your taxes to own and drive one are crazy high. GLTU!
Lower spec models start at around 24000 euro but they're all equipped with 2.0 engines and with manual transmission only. The bigger engine and auto transmission are available from the 3rd trim level upwards