Havent a clue what car to get anymore :(

AdamOHare

I have been switching and swaping between what car to buy for ages now. Every time I settle on a car I find out that it suffers X problem, so therefore get this car instead, but this one suffers from Y problem, so to avoid that hassle you should probably get this one.... but then again this one suffers from Z problem. And then add in insurance/tax considerations.

My budget says 5K-7K (closer to 5 the better)


I say Id like a saloon. I thought the mazda 6 was quite nice but the 1.8 liter petrol is probably going to kill me on juice. The honda accords looks to be the right job. But a 2.2 liter diesel? The insurance company are absolutely going to shaft me.


The insurance companies say to get a "beginner car" like a yaris or micra or something else around (or under) a 1.4 petrol. (Young male with hardly any named driver experience. Still on L plates.)

Im saying a firm no to that crap. I have a round trip of 24 motorway Km's just to get in to town and back every day and thats before we start talking about the ****ty country lanes destroyed in potholes that I have to drive through just to get to the motorway. And then weekends I usually go sailing and thats 60Km (round trip) on a motorway maybe once a week.


What would be a good compromise that keeps me and the insurance company happy?

jimbomalley

Have a diesel a4 while the missus drives a petrol ford focus. The audi is in and out of the bloody garage, not a bother with the focus. Love my car, very pretty imo. Problem is my mechanic also loves it. Dont buy VAG, great marketing has got them where they are. True for all german cars, no better than what the french are making imo - there I said it!!
Itd say in order of preference (all petrol too)
Focus (always ranks well in reliability and repair costs)
Accord
Most toyotas (even though I think they look like muck they go forever)

Zcott

1.8 Civic.

peter barrins

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JohnBoy26

peter barrins wrote: »

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You could also do a lot better than a 1.4 Focus. For the op's budget there are far better 1.4 cars out there.

maidhc

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

You could also do a lot better than a 1.4 Focus. For the op's budget there are far better 1.4 cars out there.

Name 1!

JohnBoy26

maidhc wrote: »

Name 1!

I will do better than that for you, I will name three. A Toyota Corolla, Kia Cee'd and a Hyundai I30 are all much better cars in 1.4 form than a 1.4 Focus.

peter barrins

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JohnBoy26

peter barrins wrote: »

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The op wants to spend 5-7K. The latter two can be got within that budget. As for your post, well to be frank it's a load of rubbish, VVT-i oil issues only affected earlier cars so your Aunts car must of been mistreated to suffer a seized engine.

Tbh I never mentioned an Avensis but the Mk2 Avensis is one of the most reliable cars in it's class. If your mechanic is telling you he wouldn't touch a VVT-i engine, Then I suggest you get a different mechanic as these are one of the easiest engines to work on and maintain and are very reliable. If your mechanic was competent, he would know that most VVT-i engines that had issues, had their block replaced by Toyota and are perfectly fine now.

As for the Focus being tough and reliable. Yes It's reliable enough, but not very tough imo. They give their bits and pieces of trouble, Silly little things go in them like water pump housings, rear wheels bearings etc. Even look at the Honestjohn link you have in the above post and look at the long list of faults he has for the Focus, It's quiet a long list for a car you call ''tough and reliable''.

However it's reliability is not the reason I am dismissing it as a car for the op. The reason i am dismissing a 1.4 Focus is because they are as dead as a dodo and they aren't all that economical either. All the cars I mentioned above are more economical and have far better performance than a 1.4 Focus.

peter barrins

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peter barrins

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JohnBoy26

peter barrins wrote: »

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A 1.6 Focus is a different kettle of fish to a 1.4 Focus performance wise. Also just because their is many of them on the road doesn't mean that they are a tough car. As i said they do give their bits and pieces of problems but in general they are reliable enough.

Tough to me though means more than just reliability. A tough car to me, is a car that will stay going and give little or no problems no matter what hardship you throw at it. A Corolla of that era is certainly far tougher than a Focus IMO and the later Korean cars such as an I30 and Kia Cee'd are also tougher than a Focus IMO.

As for the motoring press, I highly doubt they rated the 1.4 version as best in class as it clearly isn't. Larger engined version do drive well however and are deserving of the praise they got.

I agree with you however that a 1.4 is plenty quick enough for the op, just not a 1.4 Focus or the even slower 1.4 Golf.

peter barrins

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I'm driving my first car at the moment - a 2000 1.4 Ford Focus.

I picked it up for €950, but knew it needed a few bits and pieces done to it (mostly cosmetic, the car is a bit rough looking, but mechanically sound). Ended up paying about 500 to get everything brought up to scratch.

Since then, though, it's been perfectly fine. Now, admittedly, I'm only in it a month or so, and that's not really a long enough time for me to see m/any faults appear, but my mechanic reckons it's in great (mechanical) condition and that I shouldn't really have any issues with it.

As a beginner looking for a runaround first car (and then planning to upgrade to something a bit nicer in 2014 when I'm more comfortable on the road and hopefully hold a full license) I can't fault the Focus. I've driven (drove?) a couple of cars and I really like the Focus. I find it very comfortable and for most of my driving (through towns, etc. with 50kp/h and 80kp/h speed limits) it's quick to reach speed limits for me. I won't be shooting up to Mondello Park anytime soon, so that's about as 'fast' as I need it to be.


As a first car, for ~€1,500, I think I got a really good deal, and it's a really good car to drive in my opinion (so much so that I've already kinda decided that the next car I go for will very likely be another Ford Focus). If I were you, OP, I'd do the same thing I'm doing. Get the first year of insurance out of the way, pick a car that you can properly learn in (something you won't mind banging off a wall or pillar in a car park or such, should you be unfortunate enough) and then when you get the full license, when your insurance is a tad more affordable and when you're a more competent and confident driver, sell it on and move up to something more along the lines of what you actually want to own.


Out of curiousity, is there much difference in the size of a hatchback or saloon car (I have a 5 door Focus. I know 3 door cars are generally not as long from front to back). I always wanted a saloon car. Was never a fan of hatchbacks, but now that I'm actually driving, I don't see myself owning a saloon anytime soon. They seem very impractical (for parking and the likes).


EDIT: I also work out that I'm spending (roughly) in/around €4-€5 per hour of driving. Is that good or bad?

AdamOHare

Just thought Id let you all know.. Im probably going against popular opinion here..... and without meaning to open a can of worms either. I read the thread. The ford focus got some good reps (looking at you mainly KKV) and Ive decided Im gonna go for a focus. I really like the look of the zetec models. So I think thats what Im gonna go for.

I was gonna buy private aswell, but I just found out my cousin is after a passat so we figure if we buy from a garage we might get a bit of deal since buying 2 cars. Well thats the plan anywho. Thanks for all the help everyone.

peter barrins

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