Help - €7000 to buy a Hatchback

iancairns

What would you recommend?

15 year old Yaris has finally jacked it in.

Would love a golf but wondering if there might be better value of more sense with something else.

All suggestions welcome!

Thanks

colm_mcm

Quick run through similar cars

Toyota Auris
Seat Leon
Mazda3
Ford Focus
Skoda Octavia
Opel Astra
Audi A3
Peugeot 308
Renault Megane
Honda Civic
Hyundai i30
Kia Ceed

Those would be direct Golf rivals.

Do you need back doors or a big boot though? Would something in between the Yaris and Golf be suitable?

cocoman

iancairns wrote: »

What would you recommend?

15 year old Yaris has finally jacked it in.

Would love a golf but wondering if there might be better value of more sense with something else.

All suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Ford focus.
For €7000 you might be able to get an 08 (new tax bands) . Might be stretching it to get s diesel but plenty of petrols available.
Nice car to drive and cheaper to service than a golf.

iancairns

colm_mcm wrote: »

Quick run through similar cars

Toyota Auris
Seat Leon
Mazda3
Ford Focus
Skoda Octavia
Opel Astra
Audi A3
Peugeot 308
Renault Megane
Honda Civic
Hyundai i30
Kia Ceed

Those would be direct Golf rivals.

Do you need back doors or a big boot though? Would something in between the Yaris and Golf be suitable?

Hey Colm, thanks for speedy reply.

Car is mainly for low mileage around Dublin City with the odd trip out west so would like a safer feeling car for those trips unlike a 2000Yaris!


No particular other requirements than that. Just an opinion from someone who knows more about that area than me. Thanks!

George Dalton

If I was in your position a Civic would be high on the list.

Reliable, economical, nice to drive, hold their value well, what more could you ask for!

thehouses

I would go with an Auris. 08 onwards for low tax. Don't know what they would sell for but they would be much stronger than a Yaris.

colm_mcm

Another vote for the civic here. Mines been faultless since I got it 3 years ago.

George Dalton

thehouses wrote: »

I would go with an Auris. 08 onwards for low tax. Don't know what they would sell for but they would be much stronger than a Yaris.

You need to go to 2009 and way over the €7000 budget to get the legendary and much sought after "chape tax" on a petrol Auris. CO2 tax on a post July 2008 1.4 model is €570 so 99% of them were registered in the first six months of 2008 and are taxed on cc @ €385.

Toyota rectified the situation in 2009 with an Eco model which is in the €280 band but as I mentioned €7000 won't get you into one of those.

Plus the Civic is a far nicer car in any case :pac:

colm_mcm

Even in 09 they were still selling 1.4 as they had stockpiles of them left from early 08.
The UK got the 1.33 much much earlier than Irish dealers did.

We sold a good few petrol ones after July in 08. It was still 70/30 in favour of diesel. They were doing great deals to get rid of them.

thehouses

George Dalton wrote: »

Plus the Civic is a far nicer car in any case :pac:

Civic's are too "triangular" for me. The Auris is much sportier looking!!

colm_mcm

Knitting isn't actually a sport.

murphyebass

thehouses wrote: »

Civic's are too "triangular" for me. The Auris is much sportier looking!!

Not sure if that was a joke.

Just in case....

Civic all the way if it's between that or an Arse.... sorry Auris.

JohnBoy26

thehouses wrote: »

Civic's are too "triangular" for me. The Auris is much sportier looking!!

Drive the two before you make up your mind. To drive the civic is definitely more sporty, wouldn't be hard for it to be either tbh

Everyone has their own opinions but honda went all out with that civic in terms of looks and tbh it's still looks fresh enough today. The auris didn't look great when it came out and it has aged terribly in the meantime IMO.

JohnBoy26

cocoman wrote: »

Ford focus.
For €7000 you might be able to get an 08 (new tax bands) . Might be stretching it to get s diesel but plenty of petrols available.
Nice car to drive and cheaper to service than a golf.

1.4 and 1.6 Petrol focuses of that vintage are more expensive to tax on the new tax system. It's significantly more to tax a 1.4 focus on the new system compared to the old.

thehouses

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Drive the two before you make up your mind. To drive the civic is definitely more sporty, wouldn't be hard for it to be either tbh

Everyone has their own opinions but honda went all out with that civic in terms of looks and tbh it's still looks fresh enough today. The auris didn't look great when it came out and it has aged terribly in the meantime IMO.

It's a case of each to their own. The newest model civics are fine, but I think the model before that looks terrible.

For Forks Sake

colm_mcm wrote: »

Even in 09 they were still selling 1.4 as they had stockpiles of them left from early 08.
The UK got the 1.33 much much earlier than Irish dealers did.

We sold a good few petrol ones after July in 08. It was still 70/30 in favour of diesel. They were doing great deals to get rid of them.

My sister bought a 09 SE petrol Civic in Gowan motors last year. Only 19k miles in 5 years, can only assume the previous owner died. Nice enough to drive for what it is. Tax rate is something ridiculously low on it.

bazz26

My old man has a 2009 1.33 Auris which was imported from the UK. TR spec model so it's similar to the Luna spec sold here but has a few extras toys such as climate control. I've driven it a few times and it was ok but then again I'm used to driving diesels with a bit more power. Hate the driving position of it though, feels like your sitting on it rather than in it. A new battery and tyres were the only things spent on it in 4 years.