Best Small / Medium Yard Car

[Pandapal]

As much as I would love to be able to afford a car that can tow, I currently can’t. But I am in the market for a car that will survive being a yard car!

I need a car that is less than £10k to buy second hand (ideally closer to £8k if possible).

Needs to be reliable (aka won’t break down too often!) and have decent economy (I drive 20 miles round trip to the yard twice a day, which includes a short motorway stint, and also drive to work three days a week). Also one that I don’t have to take to a specialist garage.

I’d like one that currently has less than 50,000 miles on the clock. Good boot size (ideally want to fit a large saddle plus the usual feed bags, general horsey detritus).

Being a bit of a techy that likes creature comforts and also makes work calls on the move I’d love if it had apple CarPlay or similar. (It’s handy being able to see maps on a screen rather than propping my phone up on a dash).

But other than that, something that isn’t fancy, that can get covered in mud, that’s a low insurance and tax category, and that’ll last a good number of years.

Anyone got a make and model that they can recommend from experience?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Skoda Fabias are good.

 

[Indy]

I've got a Dacia Sandero Stepway. I got it for the roomy boot, it's ace.

 

[sarcasm_queen]

We had a Dacia Duster for years. Great yard car, super cheap to replace anything. And was great in ice and snow.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I had a few Ford fiestas and VW polo's when I had the horses on livery and they were great, seats flatten down so can fit shavings and feed in, I moved yards once with my polo and put all my rubber mats in it all my feed bins and everything, it stank afterwards but i managed it

 

[suestowford]

I've got a Honda Jazz, I can get 6 bales of shavings in the back of that and still have room for some feed too.
When I bought it, I was looking at another car, but the boot space was puny. The lady said what did I want to put in it? I said, horse stuff, and she said I would like the Honda. I did. It does 50mpg average, that's a mix of short & long journeys.

 

[dottylottie]

very stereotypical of me being a 21 year old girl, but i love my fiat 500 and would absolutely buy a newer one when mine dies. in the 2 years i’ve had it it’s only needed work after it was left on the drive for ages dirt cheap to insure even when i first passed, £50 to fill up, and more spacious than it looks - i can fit in chaff, fast fibre, grass nuts and balancer if i put the chaff on the front seat lol.

compared to a polo for example, you get a far newer car for your money. mine is a 1.4 sport, and it’s unbelievably nippy! even my partner, who point blank refuses to drive it, commented on it having “beans”

 

[AmyMay]

Toyota, Honda, VW

 

[ponyparty]

Dacia Duster all the way! I absolutely love mine, so much space for dogs, tack, feed/shavings, child and assorted crap! It has Apple car play, and i got the Comfort model so has tinted windows (and I can’t remember what else came extra with this model but it feels pretty luxurious compared to the very basic car I had before). Cheap to insure and tax and good fuel economy.

 

[blitznbobs]

Ford B max... sliding doors and you can turn it in to a little van

 

[southerncomfort]

OH's duster has the Airplay thingie.

I love my little Kia Picanto, cheap to buy and run and very reliable.

 

[ArklePig]

I have a citroen c3 aircross. The boot is huge for the size of car. It currently has my dog in her crate and two small suitcases in the boot. The seats fold down completely flat to make a really useful space too. It has apple/android play. It hasn't given me one ounce of trouble yet in the 12 months I've had it. For me it's a decent compromise between a normal sized car and a decent boot. I'd never bought a citroen before but I wanted mod cons so fell in that sort of budget. Tbh I basically bought it for my dog and haven't been disappointed. I bought it last year for about 10k and it had 35k on the clock at that stage so should be in your budget.

I'd recommend it to anyone tbh!

 

[phizz4]

As much as I would love to be able to afford a car that can tow, I currently can’t. But I am in the market for a car that will survive being a yard car!

I need a car that is less than £10k to buy second hand (ideally closer to £8k if possible).

Needs to be reliable (aka won’t break down too often!) and have decent economy (I drive 20 miles round trip to the yard twice a day, which includes a short motorway stint, and also drive to work three days a week). Also one that I don’t have to take to a specialist garage.

I’d like one that currently has less than 50,000 miles on the clock. Good boot size (ideally want to fit a large saddle plus the usual feed bags, general horsey detritus).

Being a bit of a techy that likes creature comforts and also makes work calls on the move I’d love if it had apple CarPlay or similar. (It’s handy being able to see maps on a screen rather than propping my phone up on a dash).

But other than that, something that isn’t fancy, that can get covered in mud, that’s a low insurance and tax category, and that’ll last a good number of years.

Anyone got a make and model that they can recommend from experience?

Toyota, Honda, Kia and Hyundai feature in the most reliable lists. £8000 gets you a Toyota Avensis estate with a low mileage.

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[planete]

Honda Jazz. You get a completely flat space when the back seats are folded, ideal for dogs, hay bales, wheelbarrow...mine has never let me down and sails through its MOT every year.

 

[BMA2]

I did OK with...

Nissan Micra
Renault Clio

 

[ShowJumperBeckii]

I have a vw polo, always have had that type of car, fits all my yard stuff, dog create, gym bags and all the other collected rubbish!

 

[McFluff]

We had an MG3 for a while. Needed something cheap and reliable and it did the job. Got 18 month old with remainder of 7 year warranty for your budget. And it had CarPlay. Drove fine (I’m used to much bigger and faster cars, but actually thought it was ok). Friend now has it and loves it.

 

[YourValentine]

As much as I would love to be able to afford a car that can tow, I currently can’t. But I am in the market for a car that will survive being a yard car!

I need a car that is less than £10k to buy second hand (ideally closer to £8k if possible).

Needs to be reliable (aka won’t break down too often!) and have decent economy (I drive 20 miles round trip to the yard twice a day, which includes a short motorway stint, and also drive to work three days a week). Also one that I don’t have to take to a specialist garage.

I’d like one that currently has less than 50,000 miles on the clock. Good boot size (ideally want to fit a large saddle plus the usual feed bags, general horsey detritus).

Being a bit of a techy that likes creature comforts and also makes work calls on the move I’d love if it had apple CarPlay or similar. (It’s handy being able to see maps on a screen rather than propping my phone up on a dash).

But other than that, something that isn’t fancy, that can get covered in mud, that’s a low insurance and tax category, and that’ll last a good number of years.

Anyone got a make and model that they can recommend from experience?

Nissan micra, 5 door.
Decent boot space, if you drop the back seats you can fit a lot in (multiple sacks of feed and shaving bales). They are deceptively roomy for a small car.
Saddles fit comfortably on the back seat and wide doors mean they are easy to get in and out.

Passengers - you can fit adults on the back seat reasonably comfortably.

Cheap to run, reliable, comfy and have the basic mod cons of Bluetooth etc., but don't expect heated seats.
For 10k you should be able to pick up a well looked after, low milage model with change.

They also have excellent ground clearance. My poor Micra has been up more farm tracks and done more 'off road' work than most 4WDs.

I have/know the 2007 - 2015 models, can't comment on anything newer.

 

[ArklePig]

Oh yes, our micra refuses to die. I haven't really driven it much since I had an accident in the bigger car but it's an absolute work horse and parts have been readily available and cheap when we've needed them. Really cheap to run too.

So in short I recommend both of our cars

 

[Caol Ila]

Skoda Yeti.

 

[ponynutz]

No tech really (although does have phone bluetooth) but my Peugot 207 verve 2009 does fantastic and is regularly driven long distances either across the water or to and from university as well as to and from the yard and work 4 times a week.
Has broken down twice in the time I've had it (once was shock absorber which they are known for unfortunately) and other was wear and tear as it has over 70,000 miles.

 

[marmalade76]

I have a Passat estate as my yard car/run around. I love it, plenty of room, lovely to drive, reliable, good on fuel (my tidy car is a Disco) and has all the gadgets like heated seats (just what you need on the way home from the yard on cold winter nights ).

 

[pistolpete]

I love my Suzuki vitara. Such a nice car to drive and very reliable. Anything Japanese is my tip.

 

[Flame_]

I got a Toyota Urban Cruiser. Reliable make, compact for parking in urban area, diesel and does awesome MPG, 4x4 traction so I don't get stuck on icey yard drive in winter, they're tough cars, the back seats go down to make a compact boot easy to get 3 bales of shavings in and I got one with leather interior which is really nice.

Cons are, they only made them, until a recent reboot, until 2012 so they're old and a low mileage one is hard to come by, especially because they didn't sell well as new cars so there weren't many to begin with, and I don't think the tech is anything impressive (which I didn't care about).

 

[Love]

My little VW polo is 15 years old, done 130+k miles and is still solid as a rock. We’ve owned it since new (mum and me shared it when I first started driving before I ended up with it). Has been used and abused as a yard car for all of that time!

 

[Gallop_Away]

If you want a little 4x4 you won't go wrong with a suzuki Jimny. We had one before husband changed to a bigger 4x4.

They are fabulous little jeeps. 1.3 petrol so not stupid on fuel or tax. Ours never failed us through wind, rain or snow. The only reason we sold it was we just needed something bigger.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

very stereotypical of me being a 21 year old girl, but i love my fiat 500 and would absolutely buy a newer one when mine dies. in the 2 years i’ve had it it’s only needed work after it was left on the drive for ages dirt cheap to insure even when i first passed, £50 to fill up, and more spacious than it looks - i can fit in chaff, fast fibre, grass nuts and balancer if i put the chaff on the front seat lol.

compared to a polo for example, you get a far newer car for your money. mine is a 1.4 sport, and it’s unbelievably nippy! even my partner, who point blank refuses to drive it, commented on it having “beans”

My mum had a fiat 500xl which I took home to sell after she died.

I have a diesel alfa for comfortable long distance driving which I absolutely love. The fiat was the complete opposite, small, nippy petrol engine in a city car. I was very impressed with it. The boot was enormous and so adaptable with shelf options. The back seats were oddly spacious considering it was a city car. I really enjoyed driving that little car.

It would pootle along at 70 on dual carriageways and motorways but it all felt more comfortable at 60. (While the alfa settles into 70 very easily)