clueless about cars, which would you buy???

bungaro79

i'm hoping to trade in my 01 skoda fabia in the next few weeks for a 08 model car and to be honest i'm pretty clueless! i live less than 5km away from work and i don't do huge mileage on top of that and i'm looking to spend about 8k to get something with good mileage and which won't give me too much trouble.
am i right in thinking i should be looking at something with 10,000 miles (16,000 km) per year?? i read the buying a used car thread which was great and i did a search on carzone.ie to see what kind of cars are in my price range and these are the ones that i'm looking at:

http://www.beepbeep.ie/used-cars/car-details.html?car=58657_1458109

http://www.beepbeep.ie/used-cars/car-details.html?car=58618_1454859

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Toyota/Corolla/1.4-4-DR/713236812973640/advert?channel=CARS

would love to hear opinions on which you would choose and why??
thanks!

eth0

bungaro79 wrote: »

i'm hoping to trade in my 01 skoda fabia in the next few weeks

power steering giving bother?

bazz26

A Kia Ceed is worth looking at, it will still have the balance of it's 7 year warranty left, they are good on fuel and reliable:


http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=5513313901191630

Hyundai i30 is pretty much the same car:

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=5013293085379980

colm_mcm

Not the corolla anyway.

I'd be thinking as above, Kia, Hyundai, mazda3, mazda6,

ShaneMc2012

Id get the Ford out of the three... Reasons: Id never buy a car that didn't have a picture, I wouldn't even bother going to look at it, it tells me they are not very bothered, the Mondeo looks very clean and has a good enough price but the Corolla looks ugly, especially in that colour, seems cheap though.

bazz26

1.6 litre engine in the whale that is the Mondeo, is underpowered and thirsty. LX is the base model too.

Tigger

bungaro79 wrote: »

i'm hoping to trade in my 01 skoda fabia in the next few weeks for a 08 model car and to be honest i'm pretty clueless! i live less than 5km away from work and i don't do huge mileage on top of that and i'm looking to spend about 8k to get something with good mileage and which won't give me too much trouble.
am i right in thinking i should be looking at something with 10,000 miles (16,000 km) per year?? i read the buying a used car thread which was great and i did a search on carzone.ie to see what kind of cars are in my price range and these are the ones that i'm looking at:

http://www.beepbeep.ie/used-cars/car-details.html?car=58657_1458109

http://www.beepbeep.ie/used-cars/car-details.html?car=58618_1454859

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Toyota/Corolla/1.4-4-DR/713236812973640/advert?channel=CARS

would love to hear opinions on which you would choose and why??
thanks!

small milage to work + what would i buy = http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/3062513






i have a diesel one it cost more than twice as much (but my daily round trip is 50 miles)

Tigger

bazz26 wrote: »

1.6 litre engine in the whale that is the Mondeo, is underpowered and thirsty. LX is the base model too.

not a whale but needs power or its a BARGE

bungaro79

thanks for the replies so far, as they aren't that common i never really thought about the kia or hyundai but will check them out. what about the opels?? there are other astras (with pics), what is the general consensus on them??

just out of interest, why do people not rate corollas??? again have no real knowledge on different cars but reading threads on here and people don't seem to like them and just wondering why??

and eth0, yeah the power steering isn't the best, is this a common thing on older fabias??

eth0

bungaro79 wrote: »

and eth0, yeah the power steering isn't the best, is this a common thing on older fabias??

common enough there was even a thread about the power steering on the new ones a few days ago. I just put a new angle sensor in mine cost 162e, seems to be ok now.

is the steering wheel light coming on?

colm_mcm

bungaro79 wrote: »

just out of interest, why do people not rate corollas??? again have no real knowledge on different cars but reading threads on here and people don't seem to like them and just wondering why??

Huge on the outside, tiny on the inside, sitting on the floor, poorly equipped, not amazing on petrol, quite heavy but doesn't feel as solid as it is.

Big Nasty

Less than 5k to work? Would you not walk or cycle?

bungaro79

i do usually cycle but just need the car sometimes for work and also where i train is a 20 min drive away. thats why i'm only looking at about a 1.4 - 1.6 engine.

steering light coming on alright the past few months, no problems with it really, only notice it when reverse parking.

good to know about the corolla colm! what about opels, do you rate them?? i've also been looking at mazdas since you mentioned them and have found this....

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Mazda/Mazda3/1.6-TOUR/3513288721392100/advert?channel=CARS

MuppetCheck

When will people realize that mileage doesn't matter. Service history, clean bodywork and interior, no nasty noises and away you go. Town cars can get thrashed more than commuting cars.

Don't let low mileage fool you. The OH has a tiny mileage car and it's a heap as its thrashed, slammed into bumps and never serviced. Mine has many multiples of the mileage and it's like new in comparison.

bungaro79

MuppetCheck wrote: »

When will people realize that mileage doesn't matter. Service history, clean bodywork and interior, no nasty noises and away you go. Town cars can get thrashed more than commuting cars.

Don't let low mileage fool you. The OH has a tiny mileage car and it's a heap as its thrashed, slammed into bumps and never serviced. Mine has many multiples of the mileage and it's like new in comparison.

i'm taking all of this in muppet!! thats why i'm thinking that buying off a garage is better as they should hopefully have the service history?? if there was any damage with the bodywork i assume they have to let you know??

colm_mcm

bungaro79 wrote: »

if there was any damage with the bodywork i assume they have to let you know??

They'd have to know first. Also you'd have to specifically ask them. If it came down to it, proving that A) they knew about it, or they did or didn't tell you - would be difficult.

Cars sold privately would have service history too.

SJPK

out of them three, i'd go with the astra! family has a 06 one, 1.4. in general very good car however its the life spec so fairly basic this is the only downfall i can see. alright on petrol, very economical on long runs! only fault so far has been the garage it was bought from didnt change the oil filter so when it came to a bit of DIY it had disintegrated and needed a professional hand :P overall very comfortable capable car!
also them alloys look terrible on that corolla :P

bungaro79

think i'm slightly the wiser now on my car hunt!

probably going to go have a look at a few cars in the next week. so say i'm looking at a car worth 8k and i get a trade-in of €1000, what should i be offering ?? 6000 and meet somewhere in between?? and a full tank of petrol?! since i will be buying off a dealer i suppose walking away will suss out how fair the offer is??

bazz26

I would not bother trading in a car with a trade-in value of €1000. It is worth nothing to the dealer and he will just add the trade-in value back on to the asking price of the newer car. Better off buying the new car straight (no trade-in) at a discounted price and shifting your old car privately.

bungaro79

going to check this out in the next while, its 4 years old and has only 20,000 miles!! what d'ye think?!

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Opel/Astra/1.4-Club/5913334830343360/advert?channel=CARS

eth0

bungaro79 wrote: »

steering light coming on alright the past few months, no problems with it really, only notice it when reverse parking.

Would it come on straight away or after driving for a while. Could be the angle sensor like what seems to have sorted the problem on my one

MCMLXXV

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Less than 5k to work? Would you not walk or cycle?

Walking 5k would take the guts of an hour

Mycroft H

RoverJames wrote: »

Walking 5k would take the guts of an hour

5k on a bike would take 20minutes. Anybody who is halfway fit would be able to manage that.

Cycling is no doubt totally viable, I was just commenting on the walking bit

n1ck

Who likes cycling when you can have a nice car? :P

Indricotherium

That corolla looks nice apart from the manky alloys.

I have one and it gets about 6l / 100km tipping around the n4 and the city centre.

It's a little bit underpowered if you stick by the gear change indicator on the dash is the only bad word I'd say about it. Nice lot of room in the front, room for real people in the back. The air conditioning only seems to do icy cold and roasting hot though.