Which small diesel hatchback is most maintainable?

Simon ("Simon" ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

The size of the bonnet is the smallest problem with common rail injection and multiplexed electronics. That's before you consider that DIY maintenance within the first few years is going to cause all sorts of potential problems with warranty and resale.

Anyway - why piss all that depreciation money up the wall if you're going to penny-pinch when it comes to 20k mile service intervals?

Given you're talking about wasting loads on depreciation why do you want to make it even harder to resell by buying one with manual windows and no aircon?

Basic maintenance won't be a huge issue with any of them.

Fault diagnosis and replacement of electronic sensors that require connection to a computer are going to be the problem for most DIYers.

From my personal viewpoint, I would rule out anything French simply because the only reliable thing is likely to be the frequency of faults occurring.

It would seem that you are not a driving enthusiast, and just want reliable transport. My vote for you from the above list would be the Yaris.

Chris

Those 3 are essentially the same car. Spares are not expensive from GSF/Euro- and the dealer isn't always as pricey as you think.

As others have said, buying a nearly new car without aircon is madness. I wouldn't buy a newish car without it- you will have trouble selling it on.

Home maintenance is not a problem- servicing is easy, but some operations on all of them are likely to need electronic diagnostics. For the 3 above, VAG-COM.

TBH, if you want low spec, and home maintenance, save a heap on depreciation and buy something a bit older and simpler. Servicing a nearly-new car yourself is a false economy, except maybe if you're keeping it until it's very old and knackered.

Thanks for the replies. The plan is to buy new or nearly new, get it dealer serviced until the end of the warranty, then DIY service it for several more years, so I'm not too worried about resale value. Hopefully I could cope with the electronics side of a new car, assuming the manufacturers don't use passwords or encryption to keep DIYers out (are they doing this yet?), because I work in a related area.

Nope, they just rely on obscurity. VAGs are the easiest to get the software for.

Here I plead the case for my 2004 Pug 206 HDi still going strong at 114,000 miles with only a rear bearing failure at 94k to blot the copybook, and the only main dealer service to exceed £400 involved changing the timing belt and all fluids. Still averaging 55mpg and using no oil, and now being serviced by the village mechanic at £28 per hour. Still enjoy driving it too.

Can also remember father in laws 1997 Renault Safrane which covered 125,000 miles with no problems at all, not even the autobox! Wisely he sold it before everything failed at once.

Something as old a design as the Ka or 306 / ZX is a bit of a PITA to fix compared to something designed 30 years ago (ie, MK2 Golf, MK2 Astra). Realistically, with a nearly new car, little will go wrong before 10 years are up unless it's a complete heap of s**te, so buy what drives well and depreciates slowly.

And FYI, the Micra and Clios share floorpans and are made on the same line. Mazdas and Fords tend to share a lot of parts / floorpans too.

And as others have said, get something with electric windows and air con. These things relatively rarely go wrong and any recent car without them will be difficult to sell on, and even if they *do* go wrong, air con can be left inoperative and windows can normally be persuaded back up. They're hardly things that will leave you stranded at the side of the road. I've seen many a lazy electric window but the only one that's ever failed on me was a manual one...

On the 1.9 PD units changing a passenger headlight bulb is a bit of a pain, also as will all the modern TDi engines the fuel pressure will easily cut right through your hand if you go meddling.

The Mk5 is coming later this year so prices of the Mk4 will drop off then.

The XUD engine is a pain to fix?......One of the best (albeit slow) engines there were!

Compared to something designed 10-20 years earlier, yes. Driver's side wheel and wheel arch liner need to come off to do the cambelt, and you have to undo one of the engine mounts. On something like a Golf, it's a piece of piss. To swap glowplugs you have to remove the inlet manifold. Compared to something new, it's fairly simple still. I had a look under the bonnet of a new Swift the other day, and it looks like tensioning the alternator is an under the car job...

In message , Doki writes

That's not unusual. Its hardly difficult anyway.

They are a PITA on a lot of modern engines, my 2.0 TDCi Focus for instance.

OTOH compared to something like a MK2 Golf it's hardly simple. What's easy to maintain very much depends on the person asking the question's viewpoint and skills. Certainly anything new or nearly new is unlikely to require anything other than routine maintenance and it's not going to be a major problem with most cars. I'd be more keen to avoid the stuff that's horrendous - 20V Fiat Turbos etc.

Aircon, electric windows, all tried and tested and reliable systems. Micra is quite big inside for its class. I think the Yaris is chain drive (could be wrong) but it would be my choice off that list, unlikely to need anything but basic servicing for its lifetime. Fiesta also will be cheap to maintain in 5 yrs plus as there'll be plenty of crashed ones being broken.

If you reckon that at average miles most of the above need an oil/filter change every year, glowplugs/coolant/brake fluid every three, there's not much to choose.