C-max/Avensis to Galaxy

slave1

Folks,

Have
08 1.6 diesel C-Max with around 17k miles on the clock, I brought her in from the UK in 09, new tyres and taxed for another year
07 1.6 petrol Avensis with around 50k kilometers on the clock, Irish reg

Little people not as little anymore so seriously looking at moving to a Galaxy, budget restricts me to 07 (08 at a stretch).
Which car would ye guys hold onto when trading in, I am going the trade in route as I'm not sure the grief of a personal sale is worth it.

As a base I had a chat on this guy, which will cost me circa €7-8k with the C-Max trade in.
Concern on mileage as I've never purchased a car with that high a mileage before.
Mind set on Galaxy.
Cheers

Oh, meant to add that my eye is drawn to this guy also, lower BHP however much lower mileage

Leonard Hofstadter

60,000 miles is nothing on most cars really - when properly maintained a reliable modern car, like the Galaxy, should do 200,000 miles without too much effort.

The Ford will sell for more - it is diesel, has very low mileage and is on the low road tax system, though the Avensis will always have a loyal following due to sheer ignorance and blind loyalty amongst the massess the fact it is a Toyota - Toyotas always sell easily enough. That said, in say 3-4 years time when there will be a massive selection of low tax diesels on 08 regs available to buy and they will be much cheaper than now because they will be six or seven years old, the Avensis will be a hard car to get rid of, Toyota badge or not.

The Ford is a far more practical car - but it is a diesel and if you drive it around town the whole time then the DPF will give trouble and they are very expensive to replace. The Dual Mass Flywheel is likely to fail at some stage too (typically between 60 and 100k miles) - but this is true for any modern diesel irrespective of what make you choose. On the other hand, the VVTi engine in the Avensis is well known for burning copious quantities of oil at higher mileage (not till well after 100k miles though) and they do give gearbox trouble as well.

If you can afford to keep the C-Max, then that's what I would do.

If you are buying a Galaxy, try to find a 2.0 diesel - I've heard that the 1.8 TDCi suffers from dreadful flat spots in the power delivery. And the LX is very basic. I'd be aiming for a Zetec though if you're on a tight budget that might be easier said than done. On the other hand, the 1.8 TDCi has been around for donkeys years (it certainly dates back to the Mk1 Mondeo in 1993 and I think it was in the Sierra and Escort as well), it is an extremely well proven engine and doesn't have the dreaded DPF, so it will prove to be a very reliable proposition.

Alternatively, consider the Zafira - that has seven seats as well and probably will be easier to find within budget.

slave1

Amazingly (to me) I'm getting nothing from dealers, I'm interested in around 9 cars currently on the usual websites. First dealer I got talking to and forms the first post above, of the remaining 8 dealers they had no-one available to talk to me (€20k car) so I left my number with them and only 1 phoned me back. I would have thought a ~€20 sale would get a bit of customer service but nothing and I haven't even mentioned the trade in, are we back where we were during the boom where a second-hand purchase was frowned and you were treated like sh1te because it was all easy new sales.
Anyhow, heading on hols in a week so will revisit when I get back, should be interesting to see if those cars are still there...

Plug

See can ya get the 2.0 so much better. That 1.8 is rubbish the power is either on or off. Saying that it dosen't give trouble except the DMF but most diesels do that.

Zubeneschamali

slave1 wrote: »

Amazingly (to me) I'm getting nothing from dealers

From things guys in the trade have posted here over the years, it seems that lots of car salesmen think that the telephone and email are a waste of their time, and only customers who physically walk into their showroom and speak to them in person are worth bothering with.

slave1

Well I'm not going to travel all over the country without asking simple questions in advance over the phone like NCT/repair/service/tyres/history/clarification of ad. details etc, only after those initial queries would I travel and only to those who displayed a level of expertise to me.