Need help picking 2nd hand car

ceekay74

Looking for any observations, suggestions, information and opinions on these cars;

Ford Focus
Nissan Almera
Opel Astra
Renault Megane
Skoda Octavia
Toyota Corolla

Which would be a better choice? Looking for something reliable for a small family. Mostly town driving, very little motorway driving. Looking at 2004/07 models.

Thanks in advance.

JohnBoy26

ceekay74 wrote: »

Looking for any observations, suggestions, information and opinions on these cars;

Ford Focus
Nissan Almera
Opel Astra
Renault Megane
Skoda Octavia
Toyota Corolla

Which would be a better choice? Looking for something reliable for a small family. Mostly town driving, very little motorway driving. Looking at 2004/07 models.

Thanks in advance.

Out of that list the corolla would be the best option Imo. Reliability and build quality on the corolla is above every thing else on your list.

ceekay74

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Out of that list the corolla would be the best option Imo. Reliability and build quality on the corolla is above every thing else on your list.

Thanks JohnBoy, appreciated.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

In fairness though, then you'd have to drive a corolla.

Out of the list you gave I would pick the Octy every time.

ceekay74

I should probably add that the car would be a 1.3 or 1.4 only.

Does that change anything?

bazz26

What sort of budget do you have?

Cleveland Hot Pocket

ceekay74 wrote: »

I should probably add that the car would be a 1.3 or 1.4 only.

Does that change anything?

1.4 would be pretty dead in most of the cars above tbh.

bazz26

I'd be looking towards the Hyundai i30 or Kia Ceed if budget permits.

ceekay74

bazz26 wrote: »

What sort of budget do you have?

No more than 4,000

ceekay74

bazz26 wrote: »

I'd be looking towards the Hyundai i30 or Kia Ceed if budget permits.

Ok thanks, how are they better? (completely clueless)

ceekay74

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

1.4 would be pretty dead in most of the cars above tbh.

Do you mean unresponsive?

bazz26

They are both very good cars but I'd doubt you will find an i30 or Ceed within your €4k budget.


I'd be looking at Toyota Corolla hatchback on your budget. Something like this:



http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Toyota/Corolla/1.4-5DR/201407221695602/

Cleveland Hot Pocket

ceekay74 wrote: »

Do you mean unresponsive?

I mean where you are driving constantly with your foot to the floor as the engine isn't powerful enough for the car.

JohnBoy26

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

I mean where you are driving constantly with your foot to the floor as the engine isn't powerful enough for the car.

1.4 Octavias are desperate yokes though. Not only are they very underpowered but they also have a soft engine. The Corolla is a much better performing 1.4 comparison and is a lot more reliable.

colm_mcm

07 Kia Cee'd
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/kia-ceed-1-4-ex-5dr/6431894

robtri

Out that list in a 1.4; would have to be astra
Just avoid almera, horrible yoke

And dont believe the hype abput toyota, better built me arse.... The amount of major global recalls they have they are no better built than any other marquee

JohnBoy26

robtri wrote: »

Out that list in a 1.4; would have to be astra
Just avoid almera, horrible yoke

And dont believe the hype abput toyota, better built me arse.... The amount of major global recalls they have they are no better built than any other marquee

That e12 corolla didn't suffer from many recalls though.

Any way isn't it better of them to acknowledge their issues and rectify them instead of sweeping them under the carpet like some other car makers have done? Maybe that's why they've had more recalls than anyone else by not hiding from their issues.

The fact still remains, an e12 corolla is a superior car to an astra. It's much better built, has a much higher quality interior, is nicer mechanically has a much nicer engine and is more reliable.

colm_mcm

I can't remember any recalls on the E12 Corolla tbh.

May have been a steering joint recall or something.

JohnBoy26

colm_mcm wrote: »

I can't remember any recalls on the E12 Corolla tbh.

May have been a steering joint recall or something.

I can't remember any recall either but Im not 100% sure tbh.

ceekay74

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

1.4 Octavias are desperate yokes though. Not only are they very underpowered but they also have a soft engine. The Corolla is a much better performing 1.4 comparison and is a lot more reliable.

What does a soft engine mean?