Buying a used car in Ireland guide

Hi All

Would like your advice on purchasing 08 - 10 estate diesel with low tax, high mpg was considering between these

Opel Astra 1.7
Ford Focus 1.6
Kia Ceed 1.6
Skoda Fabia 1.6 or 1.9

also is it better to go with older low milage say (2008 - 80000miles) or newer (2010 - 120000miles) for approx. same price

Thanks in advance for your opinions

Am planning to get a 2010 or '11 Honda Civic 1.4 model in the New year. Can anyone give suggestions on it please? I really like the looks of it, but know nothing much about how good it would be to drive?? Upgrading from 08' Yaris

colm_mcm wrote: »

Don't bother with the 1.4. Its as slow as a 1.0 Yaris.
The 1.8 petrol is more economical in real life and has de chape tax too!

Thanks for the reply, just checked the 1.4l has 135gm co2 emission with 280e road tax? while the 1.8l with 155gms.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Cheap compared to cc based tax
Tax is €390. Which is cheap for a 140bhp 1.8 petrol
I get mid 40s mpg from mine, and could do better if I drove more economically.

I see....that's impressive. Also which one has better specs, is it the type S or SE one better equipped? Thanks

Hi all,

I hope this is the correct forum, part of the forum to be asking this. We are thinking of changing our car in the spring but might do it a bit sooner if we found the right yoke. Currently we have a 06 2.0 Passat, tis going fine at the moment but a few things went wrong with it since we bought it in 09 from the North, and tis nearly time to be getting rid of it now. My wife does a good bit of driving for work, in or around 30k miles a year, lot of driving to Cork and Dublin from Limerick on the motorway, so a bit of comfort and economy would be the main things I guess.

Ideally I was thinking we might be a 12 Passat, Highline or an Avensis maybe though we only ever have had VW. I am a bit clueless on cars so is there any other make or models in the same sort of range as the Passat or Avensis that I could be thinking of? Budget would be anything up to 23k ish.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Michael

Hi Bazz,

Thanks for the info, had never even thought of one of those so I must start keeping an eye out for them. Definitely the warranty aspect is a big plus. I assume one of those would be as efficient as the Passat? I will have a look on autotrader and see what the craic is on these.

Michael

Any advice please, have bought a ford Ka 2011, was advertised as having central locking and didn't realise till got home it doesn't. Passenger door only locks and opens from inside car, no key whole on passenger side, would have thought driver side would lock and unlock. Car advertised on their website and on another website both saying same specifications. Garage says they just type in type of car and rest is automatically filled in. They have to come back to me with cost of getting dental locking put in. I told them they would have to meet me with half of the cost. They have not been in contact with me since last wednesday

No I brought it back to garage and they said it is not fitted. Brought to ford garage to get a second opinion, they said some models made that way, no locking, manual windows and no spot lights

Oh didn't know that, thanks

Just wondering if anyone has any experience on 1.6 Passat, reading both good and bad reviews

05 petrol

colm_mcm wrote: »

New model 05?

yes, or an 06 2.0 Diesel, any advice appreciated

Ladies and Gents, your advice would be most appreciated.

I am looking to buy a car, I have my heart set on an estate as it will more often than not be filled with lads going to matches or have a bike and sleeping bag thrown in the back. It will be used almost exclusively for long trips at weekends and sit in the driveway during the week.

I am on a tight enough budget (2500-2750 max) and was looking at the 1.2 Fabia of which there are currently three on donedeal.

However, a friend told me today that getting an estate with a petrol engine was going to be tantamount to burning money every time I took to the road.

Someone else then said that if I am going for an estate I need to go diesel...I am not sure why.

Then having probed them further, they told me that the 1.9 diesel engines in Passats and Skodas from the early noughties are indestructible and if I get into one now, I will have a car for life, so to speak. As such I am now looking at 1.9 tdi Octavias from 04/05.

So I have a number of questions:

1) If I am going estate, do I need to go diesel?
2) Will a petrol estate cost more week to week than a diesel anything?
3) Are Skodas good because they are good, or are they just easy to find parts for?
4) What else should enter the conversation when talking about hardy, spacious, reliable, economical estates?

Much obliged!

LimerickCitay wrote: »

Ladies and Gents, your advice would be most appreciated.

I am looking to buy a car, I have my heart set on an estate as it will more often than not be filled with lads going to matches or have a bike and sleeping bag thrown in the back. It will be used almost exclusively for long trips at weekends and sit in the driveway during the week.

I am on a tight enough budget (2500-2750 max) and was looking at the 1.2 Fabia of which there are currently three on donedeal.

However, a friend told me today that getting an estate with a petrol engine was going to be tantamount to burning money every time I took to the road.

Someone else then said that if I am going for an estate I need to go diesel...I am not sure why.

Then having probed them further, they told me that the 1.9 diesel engines in Passats and Skodas from the early noughties are indestructible and if I get into one now, I will have a car for life, so to speak. As such I am now looking at 1.9 tdi Octavias from 04/05.

So I have a number of questions:

1) If I am going estate, do I need to go diesel?
2) Will a petrol estate cost more week to week than a diesel anything?
3) Are Skodas good because they are good, or are they just easy to find parts for?
4) What else should enter the conversation when talking about hardy, spacious, reliable, economical estates?

Much obliged!

Estate will only use a marginal amount of extra fuel. You most certainly don't have to go diesel

Petrol will use more fuel, but tax/insurance/maintenance will be cheaper, you'll pay more for a diesel car and will be often be looking at cars with bigger mileage.

Maybe look at a suzuki liana.

Insurance probably works differently here to the US and is not very transparent.

NCB - No Claims Bonus is basically the number of previous years claim free driving you have under your own policy or as a named driver on someone elses policy. Insurance companies offer discounts when you have xx number of years claim free driving but will require documents from your previous insurance companies as proof.

Involuntary Excess - This is basically a set figure that you have to pay if making a claim against your own insurance policy. For example if you have an involuntary excess of €250 and you make a claim of €1k for damage then the insurance company will only pay you €750 (the cost of the claim minus your policy excess).

Voluntary Excess - This is similar to the above where you have the option to add it onto your policy on top of the involuntary excess, in order to make the annual premium more affordable. So take the above example again. Add a voluntary excess of €100 to the already involuntary excess of €250 means any settlement the insurance company pays you out on your own policy will be the settlement figure minus the €250 and €100.

We have different levels of cover on offer here and depending on which insurance company you are with the cover will vary. Generally these are main policies:

1. Third party - this covers any damage/liability made by you to another individual or their vehicle only. This is the minimum level of insurance cover required by law.

2. Third party Fire and Theft - as above but also covers your own car against being stolen or if it is destroyed by fire.

3. Fully comprehensive - This is the most comprehensive (self explanatory) insurance policy out there and covers you pretty well as the other injured party. This can include legal fees, medical bills or car rental while your car is off the road.

However insurance companies also offer add ons at an extra charge such as windscreen cover, breakdown recovery, No Claims Bonus protection, etc.