The best cars for financially-educated people are the top Japanese cars (leaders of reliability and low TCO = Total Cost of Ownership), few years old (the first owner is taking most of the depreciation hit), very well maintained and technically checked, for a lower than market price. Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Suzuki, Subaru, Mitsubishi have each amazing cars, leaders of most segments. For luxury the only financially-smart choice is Lexus.

My old citroen xsara Picasso 1.6 diesel still does 60 mpg.. Not bad for a car that cost £100...eight years ago. Now with 230 thousand miles on clock... Still going strong .

Bought a Punto Evo 1.4 2010 ,2 years ago for £3300 with 15k on the clock .Very simple engines, great for a DIY mechanic. Oil and filter change every year is £30 (2.6 litres of oil) Timing belt, water pump and tensioner around £120 and easy to do yourself. The exhaust from the cat back is less than £100 inc delivery and is simple to change. No dpf , egr , turbo/intercooler ect.

My econo-money went on a 2018 Honda Civic 1.6 i-Dtec. 60mpg or more all day long, comfortable, fairly practicle, nice to drive.

Not exactly mega economical but I recently bought a 2000 Merc C200, very very reliable engine and not bad on fuel, 38mpg max I've seen. But it's a 44k mile car from new, absolutely immaculate, insane service history, it's had a gearbox service and everything! £1,500 only 50 miles away. I've done thousands of miles in it and it's been amazing. For not even close to £2K, it really is amazing what you can get!

Love what you told about those Opels

As ever my k11 Micra laughs from his throne! Those C class Mercs are meant to be somewhat troublesome from what I've heard, as per most German cars of the 2010's. I'd go with an E class and make the risk worthwhile if it were me! Great vid as always mate, cheers.

I've had Vauxhall in the past and I totally agree with you avoid them.

The VW UP is an ideal vehicle for countryside living as it is superb on small country lanes and gives well over 30 miles per gallon. Surprisingly roomy inside and is quite nippy.

Good video you know your stuff

Punto was probably the best value car on that £2.5k list and you just dismissed it for being Italian. It's the best looking and quite fuel efficient (40-50mpg), and the FIRE engines are very reliable and designed not to lunch themselves if the cambelt fails.

was waiting for a CR-V recomendation :)

You keep talking about 'button spew'... I'd far rather have that than all yer shitty screens with menus and sub menus in my car.

avoid the older insignia 2.0 tdi

Would love the premium stuff, had few in the past but the insurance for me in NI makes them expensive to run. Looking for a £5/6k car at minute. Probably go all captain Sensible with a useful Skoda Octavia estate or a Berlingo/Partner. Im getting too old for excitement 😅

Octavia vrs tdi mk2. I do a 70 mile round trip and motorway speeds and my average of the last few tanks has been 56Mpg so cant complain 👌

If you want a Mercedes buy an auto not a manual, the original micra’s were ok but most of the later ones are at the breakers, scrap.

What do we think of the Mazda 3 skyactive G 2.0 petrol? In terms of reliability and cost to run?

Can I ask what you think about the Honda civic 1.6 ID-TEC 👍

No one ever seems to talk about the Ford C-Max. Do the C-Max’s suffer from the same automatic gearbox issues as the Focus? I just got an automatic C-Max 61 reg with 50,000 miles on it. Think it might need a new belt, but Ford want £900 to do it.

Old Mazda's. Good but rusty AF underneath. . Old Fords, good but got to look at those wheel arches very carefully. Old Vauxhalls, boring to look at at, but less rusty & quicker than the Ford of the same size engine. Old VW's & Skoda's really slow. I'm with you on the Honda's though.

Mk1 focus, cheap to run and buy, plenty of trims, ulez compliant petrol, you’ve got the hatch, sedan, 1.4, 1.6 , 1.8 , 2.0 not very economical, fun to drive something different ay

You think exactly the same way I do when looking at cars, no Vauxhalls, French or Italian cars and no autos 😂

Corsa timing chain issues ?

The cheapest car to run is my 2.4 hardbody Nissan pickup. In 9 years I only had to change spark plugs

Prices still dear ..got ford focus zetec climate 1.8tdci 07 with 60k 6 years ago ...still got it

£5000 budget, go for the honda civic 1.6 diesel. 60mpg and free tax. Ultra reliable.

Great, enjoyed the video. Probably the Seat Ibiza 1.4

I had Civic 1.4 ishift.. do not bother..i did not mind it that much as i drive it like a manual. but wife hated it.

why is there an ep3 in the thumbnail

Every car looks better in black

Really glad i found your channel. Any chance you'd give me a hand choosing a good 2.2 15 plate evoque? 😂

With the greatest respect, we could all just sit and trawl through Auto Trader. This is hardly worth a watch.

Buy cheap, buy twice, cars with spaceship milage can be worth a risk but be prepared to scrap it if it develops issues that will cost more than it is worth to fix. They are ok as a local runabout but i would at least pay double and get a better lower milage car with a full history. If your budget can go to £10k then some more desirable cars become an option, just do your homwork, and budget for an independant inspection, these online checks will only warn you of reported issues.

Whats the point in a "cost of living" related video featuring anything over £3k

saying a vw is more reliable than a corsa vws suck allways breaking down

Why is president zelensky doing on this channel 😂 i thought he was attacking Russia, i suppose he has to make a living 😂