First car? Used and just to get to work.

Question

DUDETUDE101

First car? Used and just to get to work.

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a car for the first time. I don't drive often with working from home but my work is 20km away from where I live for reference. I just need something to run around and occasionally (maybe twice a month for now) go to the office. No road trips or long-distance drives. Car can be small as well, I'd just like it to be reliable, not have a lot of complicated parts (looking at you BMWs), easy to maintain, and with decent fuel economy. Not sure what brands / makes / models fit the bill here as I've never looked before so looking for some advice on what to get or where to look. I have 30k for a down payment and make R25000 a month.

Thanks.

Status: Open Jan 04, 2022 - 12:31 AM

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Martin

Jan 04, 2022 - 12:31 AM

Hi there

Your specific set of circumstances would allow for quite a decent selection of cars, especially given your good deposit and income level. Depending on how you feel about operating a manual-gearbox car, our first recommendation would be a new Suzuki Swift - mid- and high-end models have all the creature comforts you could want, but the automatic option is a bit unrefined. These cars come with a good warranty, are proven to be reliable and cheap to run and easy to drive, and exceptionally light on fuel as well.

Seeing as your driving will be traffic-bound, any of the current city cars will do the job, but we'd still steer clear of the 3-cylinder offerings, purely based on real-world economy and driving refinement. You may also want to consider a Hyundai Atos, which has very well-proven mechanicals and will be cheap to run as well, or even a high-spec Kia Picanto - both of these will definitely fit into your budget.

Alternatively, you could go with the ever-popular VW Polo or Vivo, but be aware that those cars are bound to be expensive to insure due to their high theft risks. With this in mind and considering your usage case, shelling out so much for one of these cars' insurance will really be a waste of money...

Hope this helps!
The AskAutoTrader Team

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Martin

Jan 06, 2022 - 10:06 PM

Hello again!

We hate to perpetuate stereotypes here at AutoTrader, but some brands do have excessively expensive repair/maintenance parts, or their parts are hard to find. Honda is notorious for expensive repair parts - while their cars don't often need extra attention, they can cost a fortune to fix in the event of something going wrong.

French- and Italian cars in general also suffer from parts supply and parts pricing issues, even though some of their models are surprisingly cheap to maintain or repair - the Renault Kwid is an example of a French car with very affordable parts, but it would unfortunately mean that you'll have to drive a Kwid...

Hope this helps, and happy hunting!

The AskAutoTrader Team

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Hi! Thanks for those options and the advice on steering clear of cars with high theft risk. Are there any other brands or makes I should avoid for reasons like that or that are really difficult to maintain?

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