Best choice for used vehicle

Miamiheat

Hello,
First post on Boards.ie in search of advice.

I moved to Dublin last year for work and I am looking to buy a car, only for evening and weekends as I do not need it to go to work.

Here are some considerations affecting my choice:

1. Although I could afford a relatively new car, my stay in Ireland may not be more than 12 to 24 months. But then it may be 6 months. So I would be inclined to buy a very cheap car assuming I would sell it faster and would be more willing to lose 500€ if need be to just cash in and leave.

2. I am very big (big and tall) and may be receiving visitors, so I am also inclined to get more of a family car.

3. Although flexible, I'd like to keep my budget to 2000-2500€, knowing that after that I have to inccur road tax and NCT and insurance and possible repairs etc....

For this kind of budget, I have found myself a couple of theories, but not knowing the country, driving conditions, reliability in this weather etc... I'd like to get advice from the "locals":

- option 1 is to buy the newest, or lowest mileage possible for the price, and that will take me to very small cars with 1 liter engines and I am not sure how these hold up if they are 4 to 6 years old.

- option 2 is to buy older car but more luxurious such as BMW or MB, that may have had 1 or 2 owners max, and that I "assume" were manufactured with better long lasting materials, may withstand better the effects of time, but that will also have a lot of mileage. The 1 or 2 owner part would be a better garantee that if the car changed hands only once in 10/12 years then the car must have been good, and if i see it in good overall conditions the owner/owners may have cared for it better.

- another consideration is that I need to test drive the car and only feel confortable driving automatic, as I have never driven with stick shift on my left hand side.

Thanks for the advice you may be able to give.

Shane732

I'm afraid this is going to be another Skoda thread.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/LOOK-LOW/201049200518464/advert?channel=CARS

Little be outside your budget but you might be able to do a deal on it.

Relatively speaking it's a nice car (once it hasn't been clocked).

Going to be tough to find a 10/12 year old car that only has 1 owner.

colm_mcm

Don't buy anything off that garage :eek:

Shane732

colm_mcm wrote: »

Don't buy anything off that garage :eek:

Yea it was a poor choice of garage all right. Was looking for a low mileage Octavia quickly and it popped up.

johnos1984

OP check out the bangernomics thread is my advice.

You could find some large barge very cheap in there that would suit your needs

Miamiheat

Lets get back in perspective:
There are several BMW series 5 out there around the 120K miles mark and I have seen a few advertising full service history and 2 owners. Let's say I stretch the budget to 3500€. Will a SKODA be better?

Max_Damage

Don't buy anything off that garage :eek:

Agreed.

Miamiheat

Max_Damage wrote: »

Agreed.

Trying to get advice on a car, thanks for the warning on the garage.

Miamiheat

Miamiheat wrote: »

Lets get back in perspective:
There are several BMW series 5 out there around the 120K miles mark and I have seen a few advertising full service history and 2 owners. Let's say I stretch the budget to 3500€. Will a SKODA be better?

It won't be
- as comfortable
- as spacious
- as well specced
- as nice to drive
- as nice to look at

It will be
- lighter on fuel
- cheaper to tax

It might be
- cheaper to maintain

No way is it better anyway.

colm_mcm

Nissan maxima and opel omega would be worth a look too.

Ferris

colm_mcm wrote: »

Nissan maxima and opel omega would be worth a look too.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1763993

Looks good but for the money he would have to NCT (national car test - lasts 2yrs) it for you. NCT should not be a problem for these cars.