Looking for advice on a smallish hybrid car second hand

No small real hybrid cars exist except the Yaris, the rest are those pretty pointless mild hybrid ones.

Move up a size and Toyota does the Corolla and Kia/Hyundai do some as well. But beware because many Kia/Hyundai cars are those mild hybrid ones.

What’s your average mileage? Will the additional hybrid purchase expense ever break even Vs a simple petrol engine. I’m on around 10k per annum & the last time I run a calculation the numbers didn’t stack up. Total cost of ownership.

I'm working on the assumption that 10k is the budget rather than mileage. But was your calculation based on a manual car vs hybrid?. Because if the OP's elderly couple want/need auto, that will skew things much closer. Also, with something like the Yaris hybrid, the benefits are going to be much more apparent if the journeys taken are mainly short urban ones, where the mpg can be double what you'd get in an ICE equivalent. With lots of journeys at higher speed, the benefit would be much smaller.

Yaris of any sort, hybrid would be nice and easy to drive. Definitely not a BMW 1 series, uncomfortable seats, very low, no room in the back. What about a Suzuki swift or Ignis? Can't really go wrong with one of those. Also Kia picanto is a very good small car, perhaps too small? A year or two old Dacia Sandero would give you a comfortable car, good value.

Thankyou all for valued input. Appreciated

Everyone here assessed the Hybrid option and now realises thar approx 6000 miles a year (with a high percentage of that being around town) won't save more than £150 per year with Hybrid eg Yaris

Above suggests (albeit a Hybrid was considered) that ICE would be fine if up to max 4 years old (maybe newer). Only downside is that the small cars thinking about seem to be Hybrid even in the last 2-4 years.

Focus has to be up to 4 years old and ICE but also with option for PCP if that exists on used car?

Thoughts

Edited by SMConn on 08/05/2024 at 07:33

How about a Hyundai i10. We bought one 7 years ago on advice on this forum and other places. Easy to drive, easy to get in and out of, best of all no hybrid. Personally I would steer clear of the Yaris. They have tiny 12v starter batteries that go flat if the car isn't regularly driven. We can leave the i10 for 3 or 4 weeks when we go on holiday and it still starts straight away. A friend with a Yaris has had issues when not driving his for a week.

PS. If you can find an older non-hybrid Yaris then that will be fine.

In terms of the i10s 'sympathy' towards 12V batteries, I retiree neighbour who's owned its KIA sister car, the Picanto (same age as yours) has faired very well in that regard. Sometimes when they've been away staying with friends for many weeks on end - including in the depths of winter, and yet it starts first time, even after a long lay-off during the pandemic first lockdown period.