New Car Ideas

nowayout1

Hey, this year i'll be upgrading my 2004 Carisma to at least a 2009/2010 car.
What I'm looking for is a diesel 1.6L car with a 6 speed gearbox.

was looking at a Ford Focus but they don't do them to at least the 2011 model and the Mondeo is just a 1.8L which is dearer on the Co2 tax than my current car. Do the Volvo S40's come with a 6 speed? Any suggestions would be great and first hand accounts on what to look out for and what's known to go in a car that will be costly like the exhaust sensor in the VW, Seat, Audi & Skoda cars.

To add to it, I have a 5 month old baby and fiancee. So a car with a big boot to hold buggy and weekly shopping as well.

Bpmull

Why would it have to be 1.6 and 6 speed your basically wipping out alot of decent cars any vw, audi, skoda, seat thats 1.6 TDI are 5 speed they will still do 55-60 mpg under the right conditions and don't Rev that high at motorway speeds. It's not like 5th in a 5 speed has the same ratio as 5th in a six speed. With newer diesel you will often only drop 200-300 revs with the extra gear due to the different ratios so it's not like you gain a full extra gear.

Anyway to answer your question the only cars I can think of that are under 1.6 diesel and 6 speed are:
Some 1.6 tdci focus
Astra 1.3 cdti are all 6 speed

MuppetCheck

Do you do diesel mileage or type of driving? If you don't there's plenty of petrol cars that won't cost a bomb to tax or run. I'd only buy a diesel if it was getting used properly.

colm_mcm

Facelift i30/ceed is 6 speed

nowayout1

@bpmull I'd happily go with a 2litre car but don't want to be paying through the hilt with road tax as i've been looking some 1.8L & 2.0L are more to tax on the new tax system than my current car which is €358 per year.

@muppetcheck yeh i do motorway mileage each day from dublin to Kinnegad each day.

I've been driving my parents 2011 Skoda Octavia which is a 5speed 1.6l and I feel like it'd be better to drive with the extra gear and more eco friendly/ fuel saver with the 6th gear

Bpmull

Tbh if you don't think a 1.6 tdi octavia is economical I don't know what your going to get. Either that or you must be doing a lot of short trips which ruins economy. My parents have a 1.6 tdi octavia 2011 too and on any kind of long run you would get 55-60 mpg they are not quick but a six gear wouldnt really help that and your not really going to get a whole lot more mpg out of any 6 speed.

From 2008 onwards motor tax based on emissions not engine size so lots of 2.0 diesels that still have low enough tax.

nowayout1

thats true that 2.0 diesels are a lot cheaper on the new tax than on the engine size. I find it hard looking at cars online and trying to figure out how much they are on tax. I mean some say road tax €390 or €200. is there a way to figure out how much they cost on the new road tax? Like do a lot of them come around €270 €280 or €390?

bazz26

You can enter the car's reg number below and it will tell you how much it costs to tax:

https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/motortaxinforeg.do

What sort of budget do you have?

colm_mcm

Don't get too hung up on tax. You're spending thousands on the car and thousands on diesel/tolls etc.

ninty9er

I had a 08 Vectra that cost €390 to tax. I was happy to pay that considering it was a much better car than some of the older crap at the same level

nowayout1

be €10,000 plus trade in with my car

bazz26

An 11 year old Carisma is worth feck all as a trade-in. Any trade-in price you get will most likely be inflated and made to look attractive but reality it just added back onto the price of the newer car. You might be better off selling it privately and then negotiating a better price on the newer car.

Renault Megane III is worth looking at. Vastly superior to the previous model in the reliability department and are modestly priced:
http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Renault/Megane/Dynamique/105414159273317440/

Or if you need something a bit bigger long term for an addition to the family, then the Laguna III is worth looking at too:
http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Renault/Laguna/3-1.5/57714044046324480/