Advice on best option for family car

Clamball

Hi everyone, been reading some topics here and getting great advice about how to go about buying a second hand car.

We have a 1999 corolla hatchback and a 2007 Madza 3 hatchback and we want to get rid of the corolla and get newer car than the 2007 Madza. We love both cars, although the corolla is showing it's age. I had a Kia Rio before and just hated it. My budget is about 10K. I drive about 500km a week so comfort is really important to me, would a new Madza 3 or 6 be the best?

Based in Cork which I found a bit of a pain the last time as some of the better cars were way up the country and with 2 kids it was difficult to go see them.

bazz26

At 500km per week you should probably be looking towards a diesel car, here is a nice looking Hyundai i30. Good reliable car and the diesel is nippy enough:


http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Hyundai/i30/1.6-Diesel/31413536869281060/

Also the Kia Ceed which is the sister car of the i30 and light years ahead of the Rio you drove. This one is outside budget but there are cheaper ones outside of Cork if you can travel:


http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/KIA/Ceed/1.6TD-5DR/201201211706983/

Mazda 6 is a good car but the only diesel options on your budget are the old 2.0d which I would not chance, they had terrible problems with that engine at the time.

Matthewjohn

A Ford Focus is reliable, comfortable and good to drive

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Ford/Focus/TITANIUM/32013530599020890/advert?channel=CARS
Or estate

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Ford/Focus/1.8tdci-/30813529694914400/advert?channel=CARS

166man

OP has asked for advice on a family car, I wouldn't want to be a family of four in a Focus or Cee'd. Go for something bigger, it will be reasonably the same on fuel and more comfortable for 500km a week. This would suit nicely IMO...

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4216988



Plenty of space, plenty of power and good fuel economy. It suits your criteria anyway AFAIK. Tax is high though, €710 a year.

Bpmull

+1 on the octavia vrs great safe and serious power for a 2.0l diesel. They still will do 50mpg if driven right.

JohnBoy26

166man wrote: »

OP has asked for advice on a family car, I wouldn't want to be a family of four in a Focus or Cee'd. Go for something bigger, it will be reasonably the same on fuel and more comfortable for 500km a week. This would suit nicely IMO...

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4216988



Plenty of space, plenty of power and good fuel economy. It suits your criteria anyway AFAIK. Tax is high though, €710 a year.

Tbh them Skoda Octavias aren't that comfortable at all. The seats are rock hard in them. Also the one you linked most likely has the troublesome 2.0 pd engine.

Bpmull

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Tbh them Skoda Octavias aren't that comfortable at all. The seats are rock hard in them. Also the one you linked most likely has the troublesome 2.0 pd engine.

Octavia's are comfortable and that comes from someone who has too. I find the standard leather hard on them but the cloth or vrs seats are very comfortable. To say they unreliable is a joke the octavia's didn't have that troublesome engine it was some vws. The only trouble the above engine gave was injectors and all them cars were recalled so no problems there. Great car my uncle has one.

JohnBoy26

Bpmull wrote: »

Octavia's are comfortable and that comes from someone who has too. I find the standard leather hard on them but the cloth or vrs seats are very comfortable. To say they unreliable is a joke the octavia's didn't have that troublesome engine it was some vws. The only trouble the above engine gave was injectors and all them cars were recalled so no problems there. Great car my uncle has one.

Maybe the Vrs is comfy. Sorry I was confusing it with the standard model which isn't. You do realise that the Skoda has the exact same troublesome 2.0pd unit as Vws. They gave more than injector trouble too. Oil pumps also give trouble on them. The 1.9tdi is a much more reliable engine.

st1979

What about a bmw 5 series diesel. Serious comfort economy and with a good mechanic cheap to service as any other car. Forget about reg plates being newer or older. Just enjoy driving a luxury car. And easy to sell after

Bpmull

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Maybe the Vrs is comfy. Sorry I was confusing it with the standard model which isn't. You do realise that the Skoda has the exact same troublesome 2.0pd unit as Vws. They gave more than injector trouble too. Oil pumps also give trouble on them. The 1.9tdi is a much more reliable engine.

The seats are nice in ours and we have a 1.6tdi elegance and a 1.9 tdi ambiente. I know the classic base model had uncomfortable seats but it was the only model. My uncle has never had any trouble with his 2007 vrs and I have never heard of an oil pump going in them but I'm not saying your wrong as I don't know. None of our octavia's have ever been in the garage for anything other than a standard service. My uncle is buying a second vrs that's how much he likes them and he a mechanic.

colm_mcm

Bpmull wrote: »

+1 on the octavia vrs great safe and serious power for a 2.0l diesel. They still will do 50mpg if driven right.

An Octavia isn't any bigger for passengers than an i30 though

166man

colm_mcm wrote: »

An Octavia isn't any bigger for passengers than an i30 though

I'd almost certainly have thought so. Trumps it on boot space too.

Bpmull

colm_mcm wrote: »

An Octavia isn't any bigger for passengers than an i30 though

I'd didnt mean it was any bigger for passengers than a i30 sorry didn't say that clearly. The octavias boot is probably slightly bigger but i never saw a i30 boot so i dont know. The octavia is more of an alternative. We have had 2 Santa Fe's and an ix35 and they were all reliable. Hyundai is a good brand and I quite like the i30. The octavia was just an alternative really just if the op didn't like the i30.

Clamball

Guys, thanks so much, great ideas I would never have thought about. Thanks so much for sharing some of your knowledge with me.