Toyota Auris Touring Sports Hybrid for London Private Hire? Where to buy? Advice appreciated.

[Fostel]

I am going to buy a used car for Private Hire very soon. Following the great response I received online as well as feedback from my friends I decided to go with 'Japanese car' and Toyota hybrid technology seems to fit the bill well.

Roughly searched Toyota Auris Touring Sports Hybrid at Toyota used approved: www.usedcars.toyota.co.uk , CarGiant: www.cargiant.co.uk 

and Autotrader: www4.autotrader.co.uk , just to find out that they keep the value well and not many of them are available.

Any other trusted websites that I missed?

 

As a father of two under 5's, I am looking for comfortable, safe and reliable estate/MPV cars with some luggage space. I will be doing long (1k miles) motorways trips few times per year. That's why I am not discarding diesel's completely. I know many would suggest hybrids-only for the private hire city driving but how they are noise/mpg wise when on motorways?

I am aware that many diesel issues are not existent in hybrids. What are the main mechanical advantages?

I've been also considering:

• Hyundai i40 estate 1.7 Diesel
• Ford Galaxy (XL)
• Toyota Auris Touring Sports 1.8 Hybrid
• Toyota Verso (7 seater) (Petrol vs Diesel)
• Toyota Avensis 2.0 Diesel (Manual vs Auto)
• Toyota Prius+ (7 seater) Hybrid
• Skoda Octavia 1.6 TDi
• Skoda Superb 2.0 Diesel

 

The budget is up to £16k, won't spend more at the moment. 

 

• What car to choose? Positives/ Negatives? Suggestions?
• Hybrid or diesel? Petrol maybe?
• Manual or automatic?
• How many miles max on the car's clock to be worthy as a second-hand?

 

Options: More interested in leather seats, lumbar support or panoramic roof rather than Sat Nav and fancy low profile alloys.

 

Thanks.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

It seems me that you need to consider:

1. Widening the geographical area you are searching within

2. Being more flexible as regards your wants (leather seats, panoramic roof, etc)

3. Increasing your budget

4. Looking for something else within your existing budget.