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My old faithful 1994 Mazda hatchback is finally starting to fault so I'm in need of a replacement (preferably an upgrade).

I am a musician so I would like something with a decent amount of boot space.

But I'm also doing my PhD in the city so am walking to and from the city and thus spending only a small percentage of my time driving. On a similar note, my street is very narrow and only street parking is available, so something too big is likely not sensible.

As such, I've been looking at station wagons, for the music gear, but then also hatchbacks because of only needing a small town car most of the time.

I find myself struggling to find the best of both worlds.

As I'm still studying my budget range is preferably under $6000.

I started looking at Nissan Wingroads, but haven't found a decent one yet.

As of right now my most likely choices seem to be a:
2001 Nissan Primera*, 157000 km
2004 Volkswagen** Golf 2.0 ltr, 90000km
2002 Subaru Forester. 150000 km
Or a small early 2000s corolla hatchback of some sorts.

*The Primera is CVT. And from reading around on these, and other forums, I get the general consensus that CVTs should be avoided. Is this true? Is 2001 too early and too likely to cause trouble?

** I have also heard from people that VWs should also be avoided. How much truth is in that? Are they at all reliable?

I am veeeeery open to suggestions.

Also, as a more general question. When looking for a used car in this very budget price range, what is an appropriate level of km's? When does it become too many?

I very much look forward to any help you can give me.
I was happy with my little Mazda and am getting rather disillusioned with the process of finding a new car.

Hi there,
This is a very difficult price braket to be hunting in. You are correct, I recommend staying away from the Primera CVT's as they were very problematic.
The Golfs did seem to have issues with the transmission, but not all are bad, sometimes they may just require a service. Foresters are great, not know for being fuel efficient, but can do a lot of km's relatively trouble free. I would say that acceptable km's for a car of this price range, would be 100-180km with the ideal being 100-150km.