Advice please, Mondeo - Focus - Corolla

susie1

Hi, i'm looking for some help please,
Need to get a new car, have 2500 to spend, prefer to spend less if i can.

Mondeo 1.6
Focus 1.6
Corolla 1.4

Looking to reduce motoring costs all around, but also need something that can be fairly reliable. I don't do much milage, approx 200km on motorway weekly, rest is around the town, so petrol i'd assume is best. I do prefer a roomier car if possible. Any help, with what i should be looking at, mileage guide would help too.

Atlantic Dawn

For reliability and running costs I would say the Corolla. The Corolla has a timing chain so in an ideal world should never need to be replaced, not sure on the others if they are belt or chain.

ba_barabus

Links to ads?

We had an 07 Mondeo 1.6 and it wasnt great on petrol, 38mpg iirc no matter how hard I tried. It was very slow also but huge.

Corolla for running costs and easy of life, 1.6 Focus would be nice but not as easy on petrol. A nice drive though.

What about a 1.6 Avensis? Id prefer it to everything else

susie1

would the corrolla be nippy on the motorway?
struggling to find one in my price bracket. what do you think of the verso?

Nuw

For motorway use, off the three listed, I'd go for the focus myself, the other two will not be as comfortable at these speeds (as in able to overtake and maintain speed without struggling). However, as mentioned, it would probably consume more petrol than the corolla and cost more to maintain.

The Avensis seems like a nice alternative, I'd go for the 1.8 myself though, will probably be easier on petrol in real life and considering your usage.

You could probably find a decent Mazda 6 with a 1.8 within budget as well, nice car to drive, pretty much bombproof, and should be reasonable on petrol.

Cee-Jay-Cee

For your budget I'd go for a 1.4 Corolla. Your looking at a 2005 car with your budget. They're a nippy enough car and return 40mpg easily on even short runs.

If you do decide on the Focus go for the 1.6 if you can, they're actually easier to run than the 1.4 and every bit as reliable.

A 1.6 Mondeo will be harder to run and very under powered. I'd steer clear.

If your willing to go for something with bigger engine then I'd go for an Avensis 1.8 like this one

> https://www.donedeal.ie/view/14474655
Toyota Avensis 1.8 Luna nct 02/2018

Or this one >>> https://www.donedeal.ie/view/14534383
2007 Toyota Avensis

Or this 2008 Mazda 3 1.6 (bullet proof engine and will do 38mpg all day long) >>> https://www.donedeal.ie/view/14488281
2008 Mazda 3 petrol

Stravos Murphy

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

For reliability and running costs I would say the Corolla. The Corolla has a timing chain so in an ideal world should never need to be replaced, not sure on the others if they are belt or chain.

Is a car having a timing chain or timing belt really a make or break?

Atlantic Dawn

Stravos Murphy wrote: »

Is a car having a timing chain or timing belt really a make or break?

For a €2500 car putting a new timing belt in to it could be 20% of the price of the car so yes.