Buying A Car - Understanding your needs

Thinking about what you need from your next car will help you avoid ending up with a roadster when an MPV is really the order of the day.

Click here if you need some help narrowing down your choice.

Ask yourself these questions:

• How much cabin space do you need? Do you ever actually use the rear seats or would even a five-seat compact MPV be too small to cope with your family plans?

• Do you need a lot of boot space or will the car only ever be used for the weekly shop? If you carry lots of kit around, you’ll benefit from added room.

• What sort of journeys will you make? A tiny runabout is great if you just need to buzz around town but, if you take to the motorways often, a little more power and comfort would be welcome.

• How many miles will you cover? The more miles you do, the more likely it is you’ll be able to pay off the added cost of a diesel and start saving cash.

• Is outright performance important to you? Would you spend the next three years kicking yourself if you got a 1.6 instead of that 2.0-litre?

• Is safety the top priority? Do you want the best Euro NCAP score and as many airbags as possible?

• Whatcar.com has more than 1000 new and used cars reviews online now, from the smallest and cheapest to the fastest, biggest and most expensive. Use them to help you make a choice.

What Car? Factsheet: How to buy a car

Browse through by sector from our Car Reviews homepage here, or use the drop down menus through the site to pick out a particular model you're interested in.

Buying a car