Recommend a saloon, budget €9k max

JaMarcus Hustle

Hey guys,

Will be upgrading in the next few weeks. Never really shopped for a car before, been driving a 99 Hyundai Accent for years that I got after I graduated.

I have about €8k to spend, could go to €9/€9.5k max if need be. Looking for a nice saloon car, wouldn't be keen on anything higher than a 2.5 litre. I'm taking a rough guess in that I would be driving no more than 15k kilometres a year.

Was thinking something along the lines of a Merc C-Class, or BMW 3/5 series or an Audi A4.... but nothing jumping out at me. Any other cars I'm not considering? Or any other factors I need to consider? Not too worried about tax as I'm budgeting for that outside of the €9k.

Thanks.

bazz26

Subaru Legacy:


http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Subaru/Legacy/2.0-R/37713817589218060/


If fuel costs are not a concern then maybe a Mazda RX-8 is worth looking at:


http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Mazda/RX8/RX-8/38013848730547930/

MuppetCheck

Something like this would be worth a look if you tend to hand onto cars.

http://m.carzone.ie/used-cars/Honda-Accord-2.0-TYPE-SPORT-4DR-TYPE-S/36513807057145530

CharlieCroker

How about a nice 1.6 diesel Octavia...not!

Audi A6 2.0T, 523/5 msport, i always liked the Volvo S60 as well.

colm_mcm

Accord Type S

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/honda-accord-2-0-type-s-4dr/5766930

I'd nearly buy that myself...

Are the red badge and gear shifter supposed to be there?

I was down there last year he had GTI badges on all the 1.4 Civics

ba_barabus

They have a salesman there (or had as I'm not going back as long as he is there) who was pig ignorant on seperate occasions to me, my bother and my sister. He talked himself out of two sales by being constantly rude to them.

Gavman84

colm_mcm wrote: »

Accord Type s
I'd nearly buy that myself...

Are the red badge and gear shifter supposed to be there?

I was down there last year he had GTI badges on all the 1.4 Civics

The gear knob is like that as standard in type s have an 09 same shape myself just over a month. Loving car so far really nice to drive. The red badge isn't standard someone added that on.

colm_mcm

ba_barabus wrote: »

They have a salesman there (or had as I'm not going back as long as he is there) who was pig ignorant on seperate occasions to me, my bother and my sister. He talked himself out of two sales by being constantly rude to them.

We didn't have a great experience there either, looked at a Civic i-CTDi SE, to be fair he gave us a test drive in it but we weren't feeling it. Wanted something with cruise control, he told us you can't get cruise on the diesel Civics. He seemed lukewarm keen about selling it. We had to ask about an ES model (which had cruise control) he also had in stock, he didn't even get the keys and said it was basically the same thing. Gave us a straight price of about €100 or €200 off an already high price.
Maybe he thought we weren't serious. Bought something elsewhere the next weekend.
I think it'd be a good garage to get servicing done as the place isn't too big and flash and there's a tight ship, family run vibe but I just couldn't deal there.
Cars were immaculately presented and priced etc, loads of parking and all that.

ba_barabus

colm_mcm wrote: »

We didn't have a great experience there either, looked at a Civic i-CTDi SE, to be fair he gave us a test drive in it but we weren't feeling it. Wanted something with cruise control, he told us you can't get cruise on the diesel Civics. He seemed lukewarm keen about selling it. We had to ask about an ES model (which had cruise control) he also had in stock, he didn't even get the keys and said it was basically the same thing. Gave us a straight price of about €100 or €200 off an already high price.
Maybe he thought we weren't serious. Bought something elsewhere the next weekend.
I think it'd be a good garage to get servicing done as the place isn't too big and flash and there's a tight ship, family run vibe but I just couldn't deal there.
Cars were immaculately presented and priced etc, loads of parking and all that.

I'll keep mine short, he refused my brother a test drive as he didn't let out 'boy racer', my brother is pretty respectable to look at and looks nor sounds anything like a boy racer, hasn't much interest in cars and went on to buy a nearly new A4 that same evening. My sister was told that a new Civic was too expensive for her and would she be interested in a Yaris, she went on a week later to buy a new Civic in Clonskeagh motors and proceeded to spec it up. Cash buyers can do that. I was asked if I 'seriously' wanted to test drive a car in the rain. The sales man acted all huffy when I said it shouldn't be a problem if the car doesn't leak.

Never again. Now they could be the best garage in Ireland for after care but after those experiences I won't go back. It was one salesman who was responsible for all 3 incidents. If he is gone I'd give the place another go but if he is still there then it's a NO.

JaMarcus Hustle

Appreciate the replies guys, food for thought. Had never considered an Accord or an RX8, but strongly considering them now!

Like the look of these two RX8s, how do the prices look?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Mazda/RX8/TOURING-/37013789837708760/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Mazda/RX8/RX-8-SE3/33213643971438010/advert?channel=CARS

€9.9k a bit steep is it not, for a 2005?

colm_mcm

Have you googled rx8 reliability?

JaMarcus Hustle

colm_mcm wrote: »

Have you googled rx8 reliability?

Been reading loads of threads on here about them - they seem to be a great little car as long as you look after them and know what to be looking out for after X number of miles. I'm not too concerned about what seems to be an above-average to high fuel consumption - my estimate of 15,000 miles a year for me is a very high/safe estimate. It would probably be closer to 10k if anything. Anything else I should be warned about? Have never driven RWD before, but I'm sure a test drive will help me decide.

colm_mcm

I know someone who bought one that was uber minded, compression tested before buying etc, guy is very careful, still needed rebuild.

JaMarcus Hustle

colm_mcm wrote: »

I know someone who bought one that was uber minded, compression tested before buying etc, guy is very careful, still needed rebuild.

Interesting. Anything I've read has suggested that the RX7's were the ones that needed rebuilds and it wasn't as big a problem for the RX8. I'll keep researching.

Dave147

ba_barabus wrote: »

I'll keep mine short, he refused my brother a test drive as he didn't let out 'boy racer', my brother is pretty respectable to look at and looks nor sounds anything like a boy racer, hasn't much interest in cars and went on to buy a nearly new A4 that same evening. My sister was told that a new Civic was too expensive for her and would she be interested in a Yaris, she went on a week later to buy a new Civic in Clonskeagh motors and proceeded to spec it up. Cash buyers can do that. I was asked if I 'seriously' wanted to test drive a car in the rain. The sales man acted all huffy when I said it shouldn't be a problem if the car doesn't leak.

Never again. Now they could be the best garage in Ireland for after care but after those experiences I won't go back. It was one salesman who was responsible for all 3 incidents. If he is gone I'd give the place another go but if he is still there then it's a NO.

You'd think you would've learned after the first two times.

Bpmull

colm_mcm wrote: »

I know someone who bought one that was uber minded, compression tested before buying etc, guy is very careful, still needed rebuild.

The Rotary engine isn't built for reliability. The reason the engine is used it provides a large amount of power for the engine size. Also it can rev very high as it has no valves like normal engines who's engine revs are limited by how fast the valves can open and close. I still think there a great car but you'd want to have a nice bit of money out aside. I know someone who got stung with an engine rebuild on one too.

rai555

OP, would you consider 2.5 petrol auto japanese beauty ? something like http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/07-lexus-is-250/5617603