I once said to a mechanic friend why manufacturers have not produced a maintenance free and totally reliable car after all these years. He replied 'Excuse me, but unreliable cars have kept me employed for the last 40 years'.

15 years ago I could buy a say 9yr old car top of the range Peugeot 306 in nice condition for £1000 around 70K mileage.  Now prices are completely stupid asking thousands for such old cars; daylight robbery. Even 8 years ago I could get the same thing for £300 on Ebay UK.  Motoring is just becoming out of reach for people on minimum wage incomes.  How ordinary working class people find the jobs and wages to fund new electric cars I do not know.

I would love a video, "6 cars that are great to buy"

I started buying older cars....no sensors ....no beeping or binging when you get in.... no dash lights to worry about...
just turn the key and go.

Driven Honda and Daihatsu/Piaggio for forty years, and only been stranded twice. Very cheap used purchases and absolutely minimal running costs.

Drove a SAAB 900 for 20 years and it never failed. Too bad they're no longer in business. Thanks GM......

Thank you for your time making this video. I respect your honest opinion when it comes to cars as we are not all magpies and some of us do pay attention to the details and on-costs. Car tax can be a killer too so what seems reliable can be quite bad on the old road tax. Its all swings and roundabouts with cars. If youre quite handy and resourceful then you can save some money but many people are not so its worth knowing why you dont sell certain cars.

I have a 17 year old Vauxhall, still going strong. Love my car. ❤

Can’t beat most 90s cars upto 2002 and then forget it

The worst cars I have had were MPVs:  Ford Focus C 1.6 petrol and Vauxhall Zafira 2.0D; they were useful and great to drive until the engines fell apart around 100k miles. Best experiences in 50+ years of driving have been with a Vauxhall Cavalier, Volvo 240 estate, Honda Acty (fantastic little van), among various Volkswagens. I'm now 71 and am happy with my 18 year old Honda Jazz 1.4 manual petrol, especially as everything works - including the factory fitted sun roof and electric wing mirrors!

The speedo clock on the Fiat 500 is often unreliable, replacement costing over £500.  As far as I know, the manufacturer has done nothing to improve reliability since my own 2015 model, which I was glad to get rid of.  The "wet belt syndrome" would seem to be the biggest and most expensive issue, which would seem to be particularly best avoided.  So much unreliability in 21st Century cars which did not seem to apply with vehicles of the previous century!   Perhaps too much hi-tech is the main problem, though some of the faults are basic yet expensive to rectify!!   A very informative video, by a honest dealer who is willing to part with his knowledge.  Very much appreciated.

Super advice Lee! Keep up the excellent updates

Very interesting. Thankfully I bought a Ford Focus 150TDCI with  a manual gearbox. I also have a 14 year old KIA Piccanto 1 which is proving very good  if a little underpowered. Your reference to the X type, which was a Mondeo with a Jaguar badge, is interesting as the diesels fitted to Mondeo did colossal mies  when used as taxis. Really useful info there Thanks.

had a C4 Grand Picasso 57 plate 1.6 VTR Manual diesel ...was absolutely brilliant, now have a Grand Picasso 14 plate, again 1.6 Manual diesel, spot on.

Dear friend,
Your spot on here. I have a 2014, 1.2 ltr Peugeot 2008 which uses 1 liter of oil per month. No faults or leaks  according to my great local  garage. Terrible oil use that i have to top up every week. Apart from that the car has been super reliable in total. Just normal brake and suspension wear and tear i think ? which is always the yearly mot issues.
Overall the car is great apart from the oil consumption i would recommend them.
Stevie in Fife.

I leased my first Vauxhall Mokka 1.6 in 2017, partly because I'd just paid off the mortgage after 27.5 years and fancied driving a decently new car, partly because the seats were so high that my elderly parents could get in and out much more easily than your usual car. The only trouble I had with it was the pulling power, particularly up hills fully-loaded with two kids, wife, luggage and a dog.
I part-exchanged the Mokka for a new 1.4 model in 2020 (69 reg) and have driven it ever since. The acceleration is much better.
After my marriage break-up I moved to Scotland from Essex and took the car with me. The only trouble it's ever given me is a sensor fault which cost pennies to fix, and it passed its MOT the last two years running.
With a 5-star safety rating, I've travelled the 1000 miles between Essex and The Highlands roughly 16 times (5 times this year) and it's reliable, comfortable and economical.
No complaints.
If anyone owns the new Mokka please tell me your experiences with it, as it doesn't seem to be as good as the original.

I have always had Hyndai i10...fantastic cars..never ever had s problem!!

Great post buddy , love this channel , more so for its car content and knowledge over the sales element ..
Would love a “best budget” buys too as others have said ..
Give the people what they want 😅

Always blame the car but not the owners who do lack of servicing

09:59 We have a 2010 Insignia SRI TD 160, owned it for about 9 years now.  Can't say I recognise the faults you describe.  Some years ago it had a bad year where we had a few bills, mainly around ABS and cooling system, but it's settled down to be little trouble lately.  The headlamps tend to fog up due to water ingress.  We had damp in the boot at one point but it was an easy fix.  If you get a "Low Oil Pressure - Stop Engine" warning on an icy cold day, replacement of an oil pickup rubber seal inside the engine is required, which is a bit of a pain.