First car - Focus, Corolla or Civic?

SheRa

Im buying my first car and would appreciate some advice.
Im a learner driver, Ive got €4k to €6k to spend, would like a hatchback, 5dr, and am thinking of either a Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, or Nissan Almera as I like the look of these cars and they seem to have a good name on boards too.

Id like to not have to replace the car for 5/6 years, I wont be doing heavy mileage on it, a few trips down the country a year, to run around in at the weekend etc.

How old a car with what type of mileage could I get away with for my requirements? Its more important to me that I get a reliable brand with a good safety record than a newer car. God I sound like an auld fella:o.

Thanks.

Captain Slow IRL

I'd pick the focus or corolla if I was restricted to a 5 door hatch, a civic if I was going for a 3 door. (5 doors are just fugly!) The 5 door civic will probably be the cheapest one to buy out of the lot.

The focus is probably the nicest to drive, and is pretty reliable - make sure it has a lengthy nct (like with any car you purchase) and evidence of timing belt changes when required. I think it is around 60-70k miles, and they can snap without warning. Also check for an engine managent light illuminating and extinguishing on the dash when you start the car. Wheel bearings can go in the back but it'll sound like you're in an aeroplane!

The toyota and civic are pretty solid investments as well - the 5 door version of each is an ugly car, IMO, and neither would give you too much trouble if they have been taken care of. I don't really have much to say of the almera - don't have an awful lot of experience with them!

colm_mcm

5 door Corolla is horrible too, only the 2002 on models are nice looking, and the OP won't be able to get one of these within budget.

Consider a Mazda 323. some nice well equipped ones out there.

bigpinkelephant

???? 5 door cars are way nicer than 3 doors! Plus it's soo much easier for wen you have passengers!

colm_mcm

bigpinkelephant wrote: »

???? 5 door cars are way nicer than 3 doors! Plus it's soo much easier for wen you have passengers!

not quite:

3 Door Corolla,


5 door Corolla



3 Door Civic

5 Door Civic


in this price range, the 5 door models are not too nice looking

kerryman87

I have a 5-door civic saloon for sale at the lower end of this price range and don't think it looks too bad. It's a very reliable car and has served me great going up and down to college being able to bring everything I need with me and still have space for passengers. Excuse the advertising

1999 Honda Civic for Sale :
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=55532&cat=2

JHMEG

kerryman87 wrote: »

I have a 5-door civic saloon

That's a 4-door.

blackbox

JHMEG wrote: »

That's a 4-door.

..:rolleyes: He's obviously not going up and down to college to study maths!

S.I.R

SheRa wrote: »

Im buying my first car and would appreciate some advice.
Im a learner driver, Ive got €4k to €6k to spend, would like a hatchback, 5dr, and am thinking of either a Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, or Nissan Almera as I like the look of these cars and they seem to have a good name on boards too.

Id like to not have to replace the car for 5/6 years, I wont be doing heavy mileage on it, a few trips down the country a year, to run around in at the weekend etc.

How old a car with what type of mileage could I get away with for my requirements? Its more important to me that I get a reliable brand with a good safety record than a newer car. God I sound like an auld fella:o.

Thanks.

1.4 is the best you can do on most insureance companys... depending on age... ( Duh )


but honestly, if you need somethign you can jsut ch8uck the keys into and go... corrolla or civic... need something a bit more refined... the almera.

need something to enjoy the roads in ?? go for the focus...


Honestly can go wrong by buying Any of the listed.

G-Money

Personally, I wouldn't buy a Ford. I don't have a great opinion about them but I've never owned one myself.

I'm driving a 2001 Almera and so far, so good (touch wood). It only has 48,000 miles on it which is quite low I think. I haven't really had any big problems with it either so far. I found out last week that Nissan did a re-call of a lot of Almera's and Primera's to fix a problem with an engine sensor that would cause the car to stall and not start again. However I checked with the local Nissan dealer and quoted the chassis number and they were able to confirm that the re-call work had been done.

I guess the only problem I have had so far with my Almera was to do with the boot. On my 2001 model there is no keyhole in the boot door to unlock it, nor is there a handle inside the car to pull to open it either. It's totally dependant on the central locking. I could unlock all the doors but for some reason the boot would not unlock. This seemed to go away itself but then a few days or weeks later it happened again. I bought the car 2nd hand but the garage gave me a 1 year warranty on it so I brought it back and they fixed it quite quickly. There basically was a wee box with two arms that come out of it that pull the lock open and push it closed. They replaced that unit and that was it. It actually took longer for them to get the internal bodywork off than it did to replace the part. I think replacing the part itself took about 2 minutes.

I think with a Toyota you would be grand enough too. My folks have a 2001 Corolla but I don't like driving it that much. I like the brakes on the Almera much more as you barely have to touch them.

SheRa

Thanks for all your help. i saw a few 5 dr Civics today and they aren't the most attractive I have to say. Think I'll veer towards a focus. I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers.

colm_mcm

S.I.R wrote: »

but honestly, if you need somethign you can jsut ch8uck the keys into and go... corrolla or civic... need something a bit more refined... the almera.

Could you go into some detail on how the Almera is more refined than a Civic, Corolla or Focus?

omb0wyn5ehpij9

I have a civic for sale at the moment, it is my first car, and would highely recommend getting one!

[snipped]

kerryman87

BrynW wrote: »

I have a civic for sale at the moment, it is my first car, and would highely recommend getting one!

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=60390&cat=2

That's the link to my civic!

Quiet You, I'm trying to make a sale

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

Could you go into some detail on how the Almera is more refined than a Civic, Corolla or Focus?

I'm very much a fan of the Almera in terms of no fuss A-B motoring, but I find myself in agreement with Colm on this one: how exactly (or even vaguely) is it more refined?

Masada

That I would like to know, and i have one outside the house right now., they suffer from some small electric faults and the fuel pump is a common failure. The brakes can give trouble on the older ones too.,
The focus I wouldnt touch at all given the choice, fords reliability has fallin dramitically in recent years, my bro is an avid ford fan and so far hes had the 2000 model break down from, believe it or not, a cracked ECU board. he now has the 2006 one and the 2006 transit connect, the transit water pump died and over heated the engine, the focus cut out recently with an ECU fault and is sitting in fords service centre at the mo.,

My other halfs mother had the older corrola 5 door and it was actually a realld solid car, she traded it for the verso which was plagued with probs from the day she go it and ended up just selling that and getting the new plasticy corrola saloon,,.,
Those civics arnt the best looking car i must admit but they are pretty much bullet proof.,

peanuthead

blackbox wrote: »

..:rolleyes: He's obviously not going up and down to college to study maths!

Were you joking when you said this?????

cabrwab

Forgot to leave the ol'opinion when i orginally read this.

Corrolla or civic if you can, although i wouldn't have the 5door of either.
i think the corolla from that era (01) while boring, takes abuse from learning driving, i didn't learn how to drive in one but my girlfriend did and she found it great, this was after driving her dad's avensis.

Id say the civic is more fun to drive and fairly bullet proof too.
Focus disappointed me when my dad got one as a company car, they aint bad, think i was expecting more "puma" from it!
Its still a ford!
He had no problems with it.

pburns

Pah! Focus, Civic and Corolla are all vastly over-rated piles of ****e...

What you need is a Renault Megane. Great car, sticks to the road and goes on forever

r3nu4l

To be perfectly honest I think that for a first car the OP should consider a Fiesta, Corsa, Clio or other supermini...

As first cars there is nothing wrong with them and he's likely to get something newer for his money.

Just a thought.

/I do realise that for some people, these cars are considered too kiddie but as first cars they are perfect.

Masada

maybe space and the ability to carry passengers is a priority for the OP? theres plenty of decent small cars out there but if thy not what your looking for then its pointless.,

SheRa

Thanks for all your replies guys.
Im female btw, I think some of you thought I was male:).

I dont want to get a clio, fiesta, yaris as I have to say they are really unappealing to me.

I have seen a Corolla hatchback 5dr I like, its a 2001 luna, with 55,000 miles. Im going to go the dealers at the weekend to see it. Its €5000 but I hope to bargain it down. Any pointers on the max I should pay (if I do decide to buy it) for it? Thanks.

S.I.R

colm_mcm wrote: »

Could you go into some detail on how the Almera is more refined than a Civic, Corolla or Focus?

Its quite simple actually, For you see, fords are Mazda's so that straight away means you don't buy one, the civic... underpowered, under steers like crazy and well, it was and still is a W.I.P. the corolla is an ok car, its a nice h/b but the interior sucks, almera's has decent road going ability's , decent looking and Very reliable.... and the interior isn't as depressing as a toyota interior.


Simple enough decision imo.


also Shera... hmmm make sure its the Vvti engined one or do your best to remove his ego/genitals as with a 1.4... you need any power you can extract without modding it and adding to your insurance.

SheRa

S.I.R wrote: »

also Shera... hmmm make sure its the Vvti engined one or do your best to remove his ego/genitals as with a 1.4... you need any power you can extract without modding it and adding to your insurance.

Its not Vvti. A few of my friends have 1.4l cars without Vvti, and the power is fine.

I have absolutely no wish to mod it:eek::eek:. Im not a modified car fan at all I have to say.

Whose ego/genitals are you referring to btw?

Trinity

I have a corolla, although not a hatchback and i have to say i love toyota cars, they are reliable. You get up, go out, they start. I had a yaris before this and again, no problems at all.

zilog_jones

S.I.R wrote: »

Its quite simple actually, For you see, fords are Mazda's so that straight away means you don't buy one...

Ha ha ha, oh wow!

SheRa wrote:

Its not Vvti

If it's a 2001 Corolla 1.4 petrol it has to be VVT-i (4ZZ-FE engine). Toyota did not sell a non-VVT-i 1.4 - it replaced the 1.3 litre 4E-FE engine along with the facelift in 2000.

SheRa

zilog_jones wrote: »

Ha ha ha, oh wow!


If it's a 2001 Corolla 1.4 petrol it has to be VVT-i (4ZZ-FE engine). Toyota did not sell a non-VVT-i 1.4 - it replaced the 1.3 litre 4E-FE engine along with the facelift in 2000.

Thanks Zilog. I just presumed that it wasnt a Vvti as it wasnt mentioned on the spec. How much would you pay for it?

colm_mcm

S.I.R wrote: »

Its quite simple actually, For you see, fords are Mazda's so that straight away means you don't buy one,

Fords are Mazdas? no they're not. they share technology and rebadge a few cars over and back, but that doesn't make the Focus a Madza, even if it did, what's wrong with Mazdas? they're fantastically reliable, in fact a 323 of that era would be nigh on imposible to beat for reliability. aside from that, how can you possibly say that the Focus is to be avoided, it's proven to be a very capable car, in terms of looks, handling, safety, and packaging. It's also highly regarded reliability wise.

S.I.R wrote: »

the civic... underpowered, under steers like crazy and well, it was and still is a W.I.P.

Aren't all evolving models of cars a W.I.P? again, I can't imagine how you'd rank an Almera higher than one.

S.I.R wrote: »

the corolla is an ok car, its a nice h/b but the interior sucks, almera's has decent road going ability's , decent looking and Very reliable.... and the interior isn't as depressing as a toyota interior.

Last time I looked, most Almeras were without ABS, and side airbags, the engines were thrashy and whiney, the gearchange was rubbery and not enjoyable at all. In terms of "refinement" (Which I understand is a word to describe areas such as noise, vibrations, ambience, even image, if you want to stretch it that far) the Almera is well behind most cars in it's class. for example, when you close the door on an Almera, you hear a clang, something you'd expect from an 80's/90's car. when you activate the central locking (provided the buttons on the keyfob haven't stopped working) you hear a terrible hollow grating noise coming from the doors. The seats are uncomfortable and cheaply finished, the seats themselves are far too low, and the car generally gives off an aura of being a cheap mode of transport. Reliability-wise they're nothing to shout either.

You've shown once again, that contrary to your lofty claims, you have little experience of driving any of the cars you talk about. For the record, I would say the Golf/Bora would be the most "refined" car in this class. I wouldn't buy one, but I certainly wouldn't buy an Almera either.

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

for example, when you close the door on an Almera, you hear a clang, something you'd expect from an 80's/90's car.

I agree with everything else, but using the sound a door makes when closing is a metric invented by salepeople of German cars to, perhaps misleadingly, illustrate to potential buyers that their "quality" and therefore reliability was better than their Japanese counterparts.

In addition to what you've said the Almera is far more "bouncy castle" in its handling than the other two, and isn't as surefooted on the road. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because of that cheapo rear suspension, and that it has no anti-roll bars front or back(:eek:).

Despite all the Almera's faults, it is cheaper than the Corolla and Civic and a good first car.

E92

The Ford topped German TUV reliability surveys on more than one occasion. Bar the earliest models they seem to be trouble free. They are a great car to drive, something the Corolla is most definately not.

The Almera? Unless it handles like a go kart, and I don't know since I have never driven one, I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole. They are quite simply rubbish. Noisy, uncomfortable, bland, cheap feeling, bad over bumps, not even terribly reliable judging by the amount of times I've seen stories here about reliability.

The Civic I've no idea about.

SiR what is the deal about Mazdas? They're probably more reliable than Toyota excluding the in house designed diesel in the 5 and 6 and of course the ultra rare RX-7, the modern cars are as good as anything else out there in any measure, and I'm sure they're great to drive based on my limited experience of Ford too.

Masada

To be honest id usually read someones post on these kinda threads and respect their opinion, thinking, maybe they have experienced some issues with a certain car and thats what gave them the opinion they have,
But from reading some of the posts that S.I.R as posted he/she just talks complete waffle with no meaning or substance to it, i get the feeling they just like to be argumentative.
Theres a few good regulars on here that know what they are talking about and when they say they dont like something they can give you an accurate discription as to why they dont like it, not just the usuall, "it fell apart", or its "japanese" etc etc.,

I fail to see why someone would bother posting such meaningless info.,


oh, and the corolla or civic FTW.,

JHMEG

E92 wrote: »

The Ford topped German TUV reliability surveys on more than one occasion.

My sister-in-law's '01 Focus 1.4 put a piston out through the side of the block this evening at about 6 o'clock as she was driving home from work in Cork...

There are 2 Focuses in the family, and while the generally don't let people down they do give a bit of trouble. Up until today that is. From my own experiences they aren't up there with the best of them yet..

S.I.R

Ok to clear a few things up:


Fords are ok, nothing worth bragging about as the moment you do, they either depresiate or fall apart... litterally.

the Mazdas: 323's... never was a great car, always rusty, would sheer its cam shaft if rev'd high ( to over take, building up speed for the motorway... etc )
Even now in there current state, they seem to Hate... and mean it with a passion, their: Head gaskets , clutch master cyclinders and any/every eltronic gismo put into it.

the only relyable mazda ive seen is the rx-7... tryed and tested, sure it needs a bit more routine maintenance and the econemy is rubbish, i'd rather cry about fuel prices then having the AA know me by first name!

Moving swiftly on,

colm_mcm: You must have driven the chinese/indian 1970's taxi knock off or something because all the 00-08 models ive been in are generally nice cars... the car that say... a mechanics Wife would own... or indeed he himself would ( if he wanted to differ from the usual audi/old renault usual buys. )

I find them quite comfortable, quite more so then most cars in its range, granted its no Bmw but still, for the price is a respectable and no the almera isnt a go-kart but when there pushed to legal limits on the road... you can't exactly complain, as theres no way you can, its a respectable performance for a modest car.


now,

the focus - there ok, i honestly, after the amount of times ive killed myself trying to fix them... i couldn't possably own one... just too many scar's... litterally from doing everything any anything to them... namely trying to replace there brakes/axle.... needless to say i won't take them jobs again.

Civic: the civic's been around since what... 1970+ ?? in them 30 years... they havent managed to Master the car. I know you won't understand so ill spell it out for you you little fan boys: Honda, much like other car makers rely on a tuning company to give performance... correct ? ( i.e mugen for honda, m sport bmw, m sport for dodge ( they made the SRT engine and sold it to them.... thats off topic ) etc. ) but the one thing i can understand is, today you can go out, buy say a 3 serise, and there a great car, near 50/50 weight distrabution, handling is second to none, power is there ( regardless of engine at this stage ). In order to cut down on build costs , you'll 1 screw will hold 2 parts on... so yeah, taking 1 part off, takes another off... which makes them slower to fix, more repair costs.

What do you get when you buy a civic these days ??

Sure the eg6/ek4-9 had a unibody design ( more then likely the best thing honda have done apart from the s2000/nsx ) but now you get a car that sends you through the windscreen when you shift, understeers you into a pole, high rev's you till the point of head gasket failure ( trying to extract the... 160 WHP ? ) See theres that, the Poor reputation that honda drivers have, not for the modding but for general sense of driving, not to mention the civic was and still is the most stolen car in Ireland, as far as my memory goes. So OP, dont let me stop you, if you want a Civic, by all means, They can be Extremely relyable ( as any car can be ) but with no clean ones around... you will have to pay through the teeth for a ex - nun owned one
as every other one has Halford Deal of the Week parts installed... Cmon... how can Lowwing a civic 60 mm on cheap springs help handling ?? maybe in a straight line but jesus... 60 mm is toooo ( and again ill say it... Tooooo ) much... !

So, whats there left in that budget to buy ?? Corrolla or almera... pref 02' Onwards as its the relyable serise, or mark in the production life span of the almera... though im sure a new one will come out and blow this one out of the water then the new one the next new one etc.

IF theres one peice of advice i can give its this: Buying a car , be it new or used is the luck of the draw IMHO: New cars, even being the same model... out of 10... atleast 5 will be good but some have issues, which is nothing to worry about, get the dealer to sort them out under warrenty, your sorted. Used cars, the same kinda thing, almost all dealerships now give warrentys except for trade sales.

Im just sick of people Branding one car bad and one car good as, id rather go out and drive a old bmw all my life then suffer driving , say a type R civic or a under powered golf...

colm_mcm

You haven't a clue S.I.R, maybe when you reach your 20's you'll learn a bit more.

S.I.R wrote:

Im just sick of people Branding one car bad and one car good as, id rather go out and drive a old bmw all my life then suffer driving , say a type R civic or a under powered golf...

this is exactly what you did in your last post though

SheRa

Ahem. This thread appears to have gone off track into a slagging match between posters.

So.. Back to the query at hand, what price should I be paying for a 2001 1.4l 5dr toyota corolla luna with 55,000 miles? The seller is asking for €5,000.
Thanks.

groupb

Do'nt know but I would still consider the only German hatch with jap realiability
- The Focus.

Captain Slow IRL

SheRa wrote: »

......what price should I be paying for a 2001 1.4l 5dr toyota corolla luna with 55,000 miles? The seller is asking for €5,000.
Thanks.

It's not a bad price, but you should be able to get a few hundred off - have a look at [url=
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&sortby=PriceAsc&maxrows=50&MakeID=31&ModelID=263&Year_Min=2001&Year_Max=2001&Doors=5&GroupID=738&IsPrivateSale=1]these[/url]

Green Hornet

S.I.R wrote: »

Im just sick of people Branding one car bad and one car good as, id rather go out and drive a old bmw all my life then suffer driving , say a type R civic or a under powered golf...

S.I.R. No offence but I'm beginning to believe that you have some kind of obsession with Japanese cars. I've seen some completely ridiculous posts where you claim bumpers, doors etc fall off of Japanese cars when they go over 60 mph. Completely unbelievable rubbish. You seem to have a vendetta against Honda in particular.

Its you who is branding one car manufacturer bad and another good. The difference in this thread is that you have now expanded your umbrella to include Ford and VW as well. Is there any manufacturer who makes a good car?

I'm also beginning to believe that you enjoy starting argumentative posts on purpose to evoke a response from other posters .

bigpinkelephant

groupb wrote: »

Do'nt know but I would still consider the only German hatch with jap realiability
- The Focus.

I thought Fords are American, no?

Well maybe they are made in Germany but it is an American marque? I am sure not all Toyotas are made in Japan etc?

E92

Actually Henry Ford's Granddad came from Ballinascarty in Wesht Cork, so Ford are Irish in origin, which is why I've always had a grá for Fords since I'm from Cork.


OP: Don't bother with the Corolla. People seem to think that because it is a Toyota it MUST be better than everything else out there. The Corolla isn't going to have you by the side of the road but I would say it would be fair bad luck if any of the other vehicles did the same thing.

The Ford looks far better, is far nicer to drive, if slower with a 1.4, is more comfortable, quieter, nicer inside, more spacious and safer to boot. The Corolla is very light on the road as well, though to be fair the 1.4 is surprisingly good but then again it's so light on the road it would want to be able to move.

€5,500 is a good price for a Corolla Luna with 55k on the clock, but it's a buyers market so don't be afraid to try and get a bit more off.

I'd still be going to my nearest Ford garage long before a Toyota one though, but whatever floats your boat;)!

Hal1

+1 I've bought a Fórd recently and not a bother with her. It's really a nice smooth drive and is good on the MPG's.

colm_mcm

€5k is about right for a 01 Corolla Luna. nothing much to worry about mechanically, make sure stereo works, and listen for a rattle on idle that gets worse with revs - inlet manifold. easy fix, but will cost a few hundred.

mr-aido

it has 115k miles black with standerd body kit aloys white spoiler for 3500 email me for num if interested:)

groupb

That really sounds nice. If you're a boy racer.