Upgrade Advice

bener

Hi Folks,

I’m looking at upgrading my car, currently drive a 00 318i. I have a budget of 8k but the cheaper thebetter. I’ll be mainly doing citydriving, only a few a miles a day but will be taking a round trip from Dublinto Limerick every second week. My mileagemay increase in the next few months with work as well. Should I be aiming to get something above 08so I can avail of the cheaper tax bracket? What make or model would be most reliable?

Any advice appreciated.

Anan1

What do you want to get from the change?

bener

Mainly piece of mind, my 318 is overheating and I've had to put a bit of money into it lately for other parts. I want to get something that hopefully won't give me much trouble and I could hold onto for 3 or 4 years before I would change it. I was thinking opel vectra / astra or mazda 6 but definitely open to suggestions.

djimi

Dont get caught up in the post 2008 tax thing; you could well find that the difference in price between buying 2008+ and pre-2008 is a lot more than you will save in tax over the time you own the car.

Idbatterim

would you be getting rid of the 318 if it werent for the overheating issue? you can get a 1.6 or 2L mondeo for that price from a dealer for a 2008. I think the tax thing depends on the car (for your budget), your either buying an average car and getting cheaper tax or buying good car and paying more tax...

bener

To be honest its not just overheating theres a few other things wrong with it but it drove away. Apart from the overheating theres an engine light on for the past 2 years and it doesn't drive properly either (its very jumpy in low gears and lately there has been a huge decrease in power). I had the cat and a sensor changed a few months back but it only half fixed the problem and now its worse than ever.

What else can I really do? I don't think its worth pumping more money into a car thats worth f**kall anyway.

Idbatterim

yeah sounds like there are multiples issues there, to be expected from a 13 year old E46 in fairness. There are some very nice E60's going for very reasonable money now and would be different league to the E46 you currently have... maybe something like the below...

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4609943

colm_mcm

Only reservation I'd have is that the e60 will also be old in a few years and may require similar maintainance to the e46

Idbatterim

Only reservation I'd have is that the e60 will also be old in a few years and may require similar maintainance to the e46

true, depends on what op wants to spend, he could get a 07 for 8k...

or the E90 is another alternative... (both E60 and E90 both have 6 gears, so good for the limerick to dublin motorway cruise. Id also want something with cruise control if I were you op...)

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/320-IES-/32713597305663930/advert?channel=CARS

If you are in Dublin, how about converting your next car to LPG ??

Anyway the reason I say this is that a 30 mpg car works out as cheap to run as a 60 mpg diesel, tank consumption (not trip).

There are a good few Volvo 2.0L turbo's that you could possibly convert, Max power is 150 hp and VAG petrols are out, seemingly the cost of the kit for these engines is very expensive. Direct injection petrol is the problem there.

Just look up lpg.ie or call them, but as you drive from Dublin to Limerick once every two weeks you could fill up in Naas or Kilcullen for 81C/L in winter or 75C/L in summer. There are LPG outlets dotted around Dublin and a cheap enough one in Tallaght somewhere.

If you are thinking reliability and worried about cost etc, I know people laugh at me for even conceiving the idea, but how about converting a prius MK II 2004-2009. You can get them at a decent price, 5-6 K for the car with 80-100 K miles, 1,000 for conversion.

Most important though is depending the price you can get the LPG but at 81C/L including 5-10 efficiency loss of LPG (according to Prius owners who converted) you would be driving a car that in petrol or diesel terms can get 90 mpg!

The Prius is also one of the most reliable cars on the road in the world !

Mine has 144,000 kms no faults, water pump changed on recall.

bener

Thanks for all the suggestions lads.

Mad Lad I like the sound of that idea but I don't want to go through the all the hassle of geeting it done.

I think I will stay clear of BMW's this time. I'm also considering spending somewhere in the region of €3000 - €5000 instead as I won't be doing a whole lot of driving.

I saw this on done deal, what do ye think?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4634982