Looking for a car

linfield

Have about 6-7K to spend.

Looking at an audi a3 but am open to suggestions.
I do about 300 miles a week on average. Some weeks it may be 80 miles and others could be 600. I am a male in my 20's with no dependents.

Is it worth spending the extra to buy from a dealer rather than on donedeal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

linfield

Bump...

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volvo/S40/1.8-SE-F/37713850493158650/advert?channel=CARS

Came across this car which looks to be great value. Is there anything that I should be wary of when looking at this car? Are the s40's a reliable car? What's the fuel consumption like with the 1.8? I'm thinking it would be a better drive as the car is a bit heavy for a 1.6 engine.

I'm torn between that and the following a3.

http://www.adverts.ie/car/audi/a3/audi-a3-2005/4117675

hansfrei

Five grand for a nine year old Volvo? No thanks. The other link doesn't work for me.

linfield

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A3/1.6-ONLY/37113809036102710/advert?channel=CARS

the link is something similar to this car without the stain on the drivers seat!

Danny Mulcahy

I had an 07 seat Leon 1.9tdi.
It was a great car and never gave me any trouble over the 5 years of ownership.
Comfortable/economical and reliable.
It was very good on juice on motorway spins...180k kilometers on the clock when I let it go.
It was also very spacious for a hatchback

hansfrei

linfield wrote: »

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A3/1.6-ONLY/37113809036102710/advert?channel=CARS

the link is something similar to this car without the stain on the drivers seat!

I wouldn't. Big money for a very average or probably below average motor. Pricey when they break too. Seat, Ford, a petrol Beemer for that kind of money.

Sobanek

hansfrei wrote: »

Five grand for a nine year old Volvo? No thanks. The other link doesn't work for me.

Why's that? Reasonable mileage, dealer... These can be bought for under 4k now, but from DoneDeal and private sellers so no warranty either.

hansfrei wrote: »

I wouldn't. Big money for a very average or probably below average motor. Pricey when they break too. Seat, Ford, a petrol Beemer for that kind of money.

Seat - crap interior
Ford - crap car in comparison to the S40 spec and comfort wise
BMW - the only reasonable alternative, but the engine in the 318i (2.0 143hp) is not the most reliable engine in the world.

You should be able to get a golf gti dsg for that money.

Or a seat Leon with the same engine.

If you intend to keep them a while consider converting to LPG. The volvos love LPG.

You should be able to get a volvo s 60-80 for a reasonable price, with full leather, really comfortable and the 2.0 petrol 5 cylinder is really smooth!

Idbatterim

E6950 for that, give me a break, E6950 also buys the below! LOL

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-5-series-523i-se-lthr/6085944

magentis

that 5 series looks yummy,that dealer is fair enough too,they are around a long time.

linfield

thanks for the responses. The BMW is lovely but a 2.5 petrol would kill me financially.

How about this one?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A6/2.0-TDI-/37713794637780560/advert?channel=CARS

colm_mcm

That could kill you financially too. At least the BMW will do it in regular intervals.

linfield

colm_mcm wrote: »

That could kill you financially too. At least the BMW will do it in regular intervals.

True. I have a 03 A4 which I was planning on trading in as it's starting to act up a small bit.

Genuinely have no idea what to buy. The exterior of the leon is lovely but the interior isn't great.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Opel/Astra/SXI-1.4-/37313739970499270/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Fiat/Bravo/1.4-16V-/37313795161292840/advert?channel=CARS

these are another 2. I'd have concerns over the reliability of the Bravo but a year warranty is encouraging from a main fiat dealer. Other than that I am clueless.

or I like this too...

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Passat/PASSAT-B/201345219599270/advert?channel=CARS

bazz26

These are pretty good on fuel and very little goes wrong with them:


http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Honda/Civic/1.8i-SE/36313817600424350/

magentis

I would say stay away from the fiat 7500 is a lot for what it is.
ive had dealings with the sellers before and wouldn't find them great tbh.

Green Hornet

Danny Mulcahy wrote: »

I had an 07 seat Leon 1.9tdi.
It was a great car and never gave me any trouble over the 5 years of ownership.
Comfortable/economical and reliable.
It was very good on juice on motorway spins...180k kilometers on the clock when I let it go.
It was also very spacious for a hatchback

I have to disagree with the space thing. They are tiny inside and absolutely terrible interior.