New car for €3500

Tiana000

I am a female in my 20s. Looking to buy a 2nd hand car for max. 3500.

I am considering VW polos as drive a VW golf plus and heard polos are reliable.

Also considering a Skoda Fabia or Ford Fiesta.

Any advice about these makes and models would be great. I won't be driving long distances, mostly town driving.

Thanks

hadook

I had 1.2 petrol Fabia for years and I loved it (bought it at a year old in 2004, drove it til it was no longer economical to repair last March).

Cheap to tax, insure and run (~45MPG mixed motorway & city driving). I found it great for city driving as it was quite a nippy wee engine and small enough to park pretty much anywhere. Servicing costs were always really reasonable too and parts are easy to get & cheap. It's no Octavia for space but you can fit 3 Great Danes in with the seats down

Engine eventually started to struggle @235k miles so I'm the mostly apologetic owner of a Roomster now (more space for the dogs ).

Tiana000

Thanks Hadook. That's good to know that the parts were easy to get. That's one thing I was concerned about.

And great you're giving time to three great Danes and taking them for nice walks, lucky dogs!

TGi666

If you do go for a fabia I would try go for the 1.4 as the 1.2 is just a tad sluggish for my liking, and it shouldn't cost you a whole lot extra in fuel either

Ded_Zebra

I know it's not on your list but what about a yaris? The best car in that class IMO and with the 1.3 quite nippy.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/for-sale-3dr-toyota-yaris-05-1-3-petrol/5008861

Tiana000

My dad had actually reccommended the toyota yaris yesterday. Thanks for that. And thanks TGi666 for the advice about engine sizes in Fabia

kerten

As a yaris mk1 and fabia mk1 owner,

Fabia is definitely more comfortable, silent and refined car than mk1 yaris.

Yaris is spacious, more reliable and has better visibility than fabia.

Fabia has bigger boot but yaris has an adjustable backseat with large boot access (I once carried a washing machine with a yaris backseats folded down )

Both are very easy to drive but yaris is easier to get in an get out.

Driving wise, both doesn't offer too much but I prefer Fabia due to lower seating position.

fryup

mitsubishi colt, easy to drive and bulletproof

ted1

You could get a nice 206cc. Girls se to like them

Tiana000

Thanks Kerten, Fry Up and Ted. I'll have a look into the mitsubishi idea. Mitsubishi seems to have a good name. Good to get the direct comparison on Fabia and Yaris too.

JcDubz4life

Whoever told you VWs are reliable is not your friend.

If reliability is your main concern then ya can't do much better than a small petrol Japanese car e.g toyota yaris etc.

JohnBoy26

A MK1 Yaris is the only way to go tbh. They are the most reliable and well built small car out there and are cheap to maintain and economical to run.

bazz26

A nice UK spec Yaris here:


http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/toyota-yaris-05-colour-collection/4737878

colm_mcm

TGi666 wrote: »

If you do go for a fabia I would try go for the 1.4 as the 1.2 is just a tad sluggish for my liking, and it shouldn't cost you a whole lot extra in fuel either

But if its a mk1 fabia, then isn't the 1.4 the olden days 60hp pushrod engine from the felicia?

Wossack

suzi swift worth a look in?

George Dalton

colm_mcm wrote: »

But if its a mk1 fabia, then isn't the 1.4 the olden days 60hp pushrod engine from the felicia?

Mostly yes. The odd one came with the 1.4 16v, which would be the pick of the bunch (faint praise I know :pac:)

TGi666

colm_mcm wrote: »

But if its a mk1 fabia, then isn't the 1.4 the olden days 60hp pushrod engine from the felicia?

Yeah, my father went from a 1.4 fabia to a 1.2 fox (I'm going to presume its a similar engine that was in the fabia) and the fabia drove smoother and was working out nearly the same for him on fuel