Any advice on a car

mcbobbyb

Hi, Were looking to get a new car, it will be used mostly for short trips so was thinking petrol. Needs to hold 2 adults and 2 kids at the weekends. Looking at between 5-7500 euro to spend. Don't want to pay made money for tax and insurance. Looked at a few 1.6 modeos. Any opinions on Citroen c5s?
Any advice would be great.

colm_mcm

How about a Prius?

mcbobbyb

Seem expensive for my budget and there's not a lot to choose from. Unless its a few years old or deceit mileage.

colm_mcm

Your budget would get an 07 Prius to be fair.
They don't just explode when they hit 100,000 miles.
They're a very well but and reliable car that'll be easy to sell on.

Of course you'll get C5s and mondeos cheaper. 1.6 mondeos are horrid things.

bazz26

Honda Civic saloon:


http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Honda/Civic/1.8I-SES/37313893471975080/

The 1.8 litre is quite good on fuel and these cars generally hardly every give trouble.

mcbobbyb

Yes Honda are great. I'd have to get somthing off that one. Its at the top end. Are Honda expensive for maintanance, and parts etc.

colm_mcm

I've a 1.8 civic and in the last 18 months and 35k odd I've had it, nothing outside of servicing was needed.
Parts can be a bit pricey but you're not likely to need many.
Service prices are normal, and there's no timing belt to worry about.

mcbobbyb

Sounds good I'll start looking out for one. Is there anything to look out for. Any changes in model or engine that would be better/worse

colm_mcm

Nah, they're all the same. Post 08 didn't have much impact on tax, so no harm in an 07

Noccy_Mondy

Noo, stay well clear of the 1.6 in the mondeo. Disaster. Cant believe that there were so many of them sold back in the day.

mcbobbyb

Thanks. If I see any I might post them up.

colm_mcm

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/08-honda-civic-1-8-petrol/6870005

R.O.R

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Noo, stay well clear of the 1.6 in the mondeo. Disaster. Cant believe that there were so many of them sold back in the day.

They are far from a disaster, and for the OP's requirements, sound like it would suit fairly well. Need to be pushed fairly hard to get any sort of decent performance from them, but that's not everyone's priority. Some people are happy pottering around, and it isn't dangerously slow.

I've driven plenty (we replaced a large fleet of them) - most had led a very hard life and were 200k+, but mechanically they were all pretty sound (interiors were a different matter).

Accord would be another one to consider OP - 2.0i Petrol will run forever with just standard servicing. Bit thirsty and tax is relatively high, but decent size, decent specification, and has a nice bit of poke if you need it.

fmcg_scribe

mcbobbyb wrote: »

Hi, Were looking to get a new car, it will be used mostly for short trips so was thinking petrol. Needs to hold 2 adults and 2 kids at the weekends. Looking at between 5-7500 euro to spend. Don't want to pay made money for tax and insurance. Looked at a few 1.6 modeos. Any opinions on Citroen c5s?
Any advice would be great.

When buying a car, you need to reflect on reliability, running costs, and residuals ("the 3 R's").

Some cars are not very reliable and that can affect the running costs and the residuals for those models. In general, French and Italian cars do not fare well in reliability surveys. That might put the Citroen C5 out of the running.

If a car is not well built or has not been well maintained by previous owners, it might spend too much time in garage workshops being repaired, which will increase your annual running costs.

If a particular make or model of car does not command great residuals, you could find that depreciation is the single cost incurred over, say, two or three years of ownership. That will matter when you're trying to move the car on and you're considering the total cost of moving to another car.

Residuals can be affected by a lot of things that are more subjective rather than objective - branding, perceptions, heritage, and so on.

In recent, years compact executive cars, such as the Audi A4, the BMW 3 series, and the Mercedes C class, have taken market share from family saloon cars of other brands, for example, the Ford Mondeo.

Residuals can also be affected by long-term changes in the types of cars in demand. For example, SUVs of one or sort of seem to be in greater demand than most other body styles and coupes and convertibles are not in great demand compared to, say, 10 or more years ago. These sorts of issues will affect your car when you're trying to move it on because you or a garage will need to find a buyer for your car and some types of car will be more attractive than others to the majority of buyers.

Your choice of car can be as very personal decision, so if your heart is set on something like a Mondeo or a C5, you have to be true to yourself. Other cars worth considering - Nissan Qashqai, Skoda Superb, Skoda Octavia, and Skoda Yeti.

mcbobbyb

Thanks and I understand what you mean. Ideally I'm thinking of a car that keeps its value as I might look to change it every couple of years. So Citroen is ruled out i suppose. I'm not stuck looking at 1.6 either. I'm in my 30s and have been driving years. Yes performance is not essential but I would like to be able to overtake a slow car when needed without too much hassle.

Noccy_Mondy

R.O.R wrote: »

They are far from a disaster, and for the OP's requirements, sound like it would suit fairly well. Need to be pushed fairly hard to get any sort of decent performance from them, but that's not everyone's priority. Some people are happy pottering around, and it isn't dangerously slow.

I've driven plenty (we replaced a large fleet of them) - most had led a very hard life and were 200k+, but mechanically they were all pretty sound (interiors were a different matter).

Oh ya well if performance isn't the major concern, then fire away. I test drove a few 1.6's when I was looking for a car, and comparing it to the 1.8...
I suppose if you're one of the few that think they don't need a diesel, then it can be a contender. I'm probably over reacting a tad, since performance would be one of my higher concerns :P