Need a second car - what to get?

LirW

Hello,

we're moving later this year, out of Dublin and my partner will be commuting, but only a bit of it by car.
We're currently living in Dublin and have a 1.1l 06 Citroen C3, so does its Job really. But once we're living out we need a second car, because I need it locally and the sir has to drive around 25 km to the Bus station and back, it should also be well enough for 1-2 trips to Dublin each month.
Also the budget will be fairly low, but I'd like to get some input upfront, so I have a bit of a picture.

Any advice is appreciated!

Brian2011

LirW wrote: »

Hello,

we're moving later this year, out of Dublin and my partner will be commuting, but only a bit of it by car.
We're currently living in Dublin and have a 1.1l 06 Citroen C3, so does its Job really. But once we're living out we need a second car, because I need it locally and the sir has to drive around 25 km to the Bus station and back, it should also be well enough for 1-2 trips to Dublin each month.
Also the budget will be fairly low, but I'd like to get some input upfront, so I have a bit of a picture.

Any advice is appreciated!

Ford Focus Diesel 1.6 or ford fiesta if a small car is all you need, shouldn't go too far wrong with either

colm_mcm

You could go very far wrong with a 1.6 diesel Focus. They're a lottery reliability wise.

Brian2011

colm_mcm wrote: »

You could go very far wrong with a 1.6 diesel Focus. They're a lottery reliability wise.

you could but,you could say that about a lot of diesel cars especially if they are 100k miles plus,

They are reliable enough overall.

I know that the New Fiestas (2009 onwards) have a very reliable engine, diesel or petrol.

bazz26

I'd be looking towards a Mk2 Prius hybrid.

colm_mcm

Brian2011 wrote: »

you could but,you could say that about a lot of diesel cars especially if they are 100k miles plus,

They are reliable enough overall.

I know that the New Fiestas (2009 onwards) have a very reliable engine, diesel or petrol.

The fiestas often have the newer 1.5 engine, which is more reliable, we have a good few vans with that engine and they've been A1 so far.

The 1.6, especially the older 16 valve ones (which would be the older cheaper ones) are very chancey.

It isn't fair to say that all diesels are this bad, for example the VW 1.9 TDI (bar a few variants), the Toyota 1.4 D-4D and the Kia/Hyundai 1.6 CRDI are great engines that rarely throw up the sort off issues the 1.6 Peugeot engine in the Focus does.

A Mk2 Prius would be a very safe suggestion, with some combined driving it could work out very economical.

Chuchote

Depends where you're moving to, and where each has to commute to.

LirW

Chuchote wrote: »

Depends where you're moving to, and where each has to commute to.

South Wicklow, Tinahely area. Commute is to Arklow where he catches the bus that stops right in front of the office.

Eg Ford: Was thinking of looking for similar cars to the named ones but not Ford since I have a few cases of bad experience with Ford in my family.

Chuchote

There's a bus from Tinahely to Dublin at 9.57. Crazy timing!

And driving, it takes 15 minutes less than from Carrick-on-Shannon, according to Google Maps.

LirW

Chuchote wrote: »

There's a bus from Tinahely to Dublin at 9.57. Crazy timing!

And driving, it takes 15 minutes less than from Carrick-on-Shannon, according to Google Maps.

We know the route pretty well and worked around it a lot and decided to go with the bus option since it's handy because the stop is right in front of his office.
I forgot to mention, he might get a transfer to Wexford within the next 2 years, which would be around 45 minutes drive, so this would be another factor for the second car.

Chuchote

LirW wrote: »

We know the route pretty well and worked around it a lot and decided to go with the bus option since it's handy because the stop is right in front of his office.
I forgot to mention, he might get a transfer to Wexford within the next 2 years, which would be around 45 minutes drive, so this would be another factor for the second car.

Wexford might actually be faster with the motorway; friends in Gorey appear to say "Beam me up, Scotty" and appear in Dublin.

LirW

Chuchote wrote: »

Wexford might actually be faster with the motorway; friends in Gorey appear to say "Beam me up, Scotty" and appear in Dublin.

It doesn't take too long to Arklow and when you go up to Wicklow and take the motorway from there, it's pretty fast too, even I as a granny driver in a granny car do it relatively quick

Anyways, that's for another time, just need to find the suitable car for our needs now.