First car for girlfriend. Budget approx €5000

120_Minutes

Hi, My girlfriend will be buying her first car soon (mid 30's first time driver) and it will be a car we'll be sharing as I plan to sell mine and buy a small van for work.

She has a budget of approx €5000 euro. I'm partial to Fords, she's partial to VW, and probably 08 onwards.

What is this respected forums opinions on bang for buck, all round value for money cars in this price bracket? I reckon a nice focus titanium or golf. *EDIT* we've no kids, so no need for a "family" car ...yet!

We're easy on engine size (maybe at least 1.6) and fuel types.

All suggestions considered.


Thanks in advance!

bazz26

Depends on how much driving you will be doing but post 2007 petrol engine options in both Focus and Golf for 5k will be limited to entry level engines and they will few and far between since the majority sold were diesel from 2008 onwards. Petrol Golfs and Focus for 5k won't be cheap to tax on the new motor tax system either if that's your main motive for 2008 or newer.

A Kia Ceed or Hyundai i30 petrol would offer better reliability and performance compared a 1.4 Focus or Golf. Both cars are pretty much the same underneath and the 1.4 litre petrol engine in the Ceed and i30 offer equal if not better performance than even the 1.6 petrol in either a Golf or Focus of that era.

colm_mcm

Kia Pro Ceed might be an option, all the good bits of a normal Ceed but in a 3 door. 1.4 would be a rocket compared to a 1.4 Golf* or Focus



*non turbo

Nuw

Don't forget the first year insurance will be at least 2k and probably more as she's past 30.

I'd personnaly go for something like this or this.

AndyBoBandy

As it's a first car, expect it to get many dings and prangs, so whatever you go for, treat it as the learning car, and perhaps in a year or 2 go for something you'll fall in love with.

dbagman

Bought herself a 09 1.8 diesel focus with 81k on the clock for 4950 about 2 months back. Great yolk. Miser on diesel (well I drive a 3litre jeep so for me anyway) and still a nippy car. English reg originally so stuff like fog lights and aircon and heated windscreen as standard. Like you I'm a ford man too so I love it. Looking a kuga now myself.

120_Minutes

Some great replies so far. Never even thought of the c'eed or the i30, maybe i'm not expecting anything under 1.6 to have any poke (my current is a 1.6 and i'm afraid if we go lower i'll be disappointed in the lack of power)

that said, the fiesta linked above looks nice.

isn't the 1.8 diesel focus engine supposed to be problematic?

also, is "paddy spec" cars still a thing? is it worth looking to NI or england for possible imports?

colm_mcm

The Ceed / i30 has 108bhp. Golf/Focus would be 80bhp usually.

Tow

120_Minutes wrote: »

i'm not expecting anything under 1.6 to have any poke (my current is a 1.6 and i'm afraid if we go lower i'll be disappointed in the lack of power)

First time car, in reality you looking at 1.1 to 1.4l when you factor in insurance costs.

aerofoiled

If you can live with a 3 door, a Volvo C30 could be worth a look.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2008-volvo-c30-low-kms/15920417

dbagman

120_Minutes wrote:

isn't the 1.8 diesel focus engine supposed to be problematic?

The 1.6 is apparently. The 1.8 is a ford engine whereas the 1.6 is Peugeot I think. Anything I read online said 1.6 was the one that gave trouble though

grogi

dbagman wrote: »

The 1.6 is apparently. The 1.8 is a ford engine whereas the 1.6 is Peugeot I think. Anything I read online said 1.6 was the one that gave trouble though

What about the wet belt in 1.8?!

bazz26

OP do you even need a diesel car? 5k will buy you a much better petrol car than a diesel one.

120_Minutes

Tow wrote: »

First time car, in reality you looking at 1.1 to 1.4l when you factor in insurance costs.

Would having her as the named driver on the policy alleviate that somewhat?

120_Minutes

bazz26 wrote: »

OP do you even need a diesel car? 5k will buy you a much better petrol car than a diesel one.

No we're totally open on fuel type. It doesn't have to be diesel at all.

dbagman

grogi wrote:

What about the wet belt in 1.8?!

What now???

georgefalls

First time driver..? Knock a zero off your budget, and let her wreck it... Stats show you're more likely to crash your first car, than your second one..:D

Lia_lia

120_Minutes wrote: »

Would having her as the named driver on the policy alleviate that somewhat?

It will help but will still be expensive! I'd do some online insurance quotes for some random cars on Done Deal to get an idea. Some companies won't give a quote if a learner is on the policy. When she passes the test it should go down a good bit.

bazz26

120_Minutes wrote: »

Would having her as the named driver on the policy alleviate that somewhat?

That's known as fronting in insurance terms and insurance companies are well aware of it, they will insist the registered owner of the car be the policyholder. And in most cases insurance companies will just load the highest risk driver on the policy anyway irrespective of whether who is the policy holder.

Blazer

You can't have two cars under your own name and a named driver on it.
I used to have it with Axa, I was main driver on both with nanny as named driver but they rang to stop it. So either 1 car with missus as named driver, or two cars with a policy each and you're looking at over 2.5K for her.
I've been checking it out already for my missus and its a joke.

DaveyDave

By first time driver do you mean a new learner permit? Or has she been driving and isjust getting her own car? If she has a full licence try adding yourself as a named driver to her policy. For myself as a new full licence driver adding my mam as a named driver brought my quote from €3,600 down to €1,400.

Then again it appears that if I had 1 year named driver no claims it would yield similar results! When my GF is starting to drive the she'll be a named driver on my policy, get named no claims experience, full licence and then drive open policy on my insurance. If she absolutely needs her own car but then hopefully she'll have experience so that her own policy will be much, much cheaper to start with.

grogi

Blazer wrote: »

You can't have two cars under your own name and a named driver on it.

Why? I used to do majority of miles on both of our cars while Mrs was sporadically using one or the other. So should I have misrepresented the truth and put Mrs as the main driver on one of them?

What about a crazy situation when I have 3 cars? I would be running out of spouses...

120_Minutes

Just to add further information, about a month ago I rang BOI to get her added to my policy and was quoted only three hundred odd euro.

She's not even passed her test yet. But maybe because my policy is up in sept might have had something to do with it.

bazz26

Yes, so €300 from July to September which is 3 months. That would work out at about €1200 for the full year to be a named driver, not exactly cheap but still probably cheaper than her taking out a policy of her own which she eventually have to do anyway if she wants to build up her No Claims Bonus in her own name.

Blazer

grogi wrote: »

Why? I used to do majority of miles on both of our cars while Mrs was sporadically using one or the other. So should I have misrepresented the truth and put Mrs as the main driver on one of them?

What about a crazy situation when I have 3 cars? I would be running out of spouses...

Because the insurance companies no longer allow it.
But if you do come across one that does allow it by all means let me know

DaveyDave

bazz26 wrote: »

Yes, so €300 from July to September which is 3 months. That would work out at about €1200 for the full year to be a named driver, not exactly cheap but still probably cheaper than her taking out a policy of her own which she eventually have to do anyway if she wants to build up her No Claims Bonus in her own name.

Some insurance companies (quite a few that I've looked at) will accept named driver no claims discount. Could be worth being a named driver for a while. €1,200 a year vs €3,000-4,000. That way when she gets her own insurance it won't sting quite as much but of course, will have limited options.

If I remember correctly named driver NCB would have dropped a policy down by a grand for me from €3,500. Every little helps I suppose.

6 months of named driver insurance cost me €600 on my mam's policy.

pm1977x

DaveyDave wrote: »

Some insurance companies (quite a few that I've looked at) will accept named driver no claims discount. Could be worth being a named driver for a while. €1,200 a year vs €3,000-4,000. That way when she gets her own insurance it won't sting quite as much but of course, will have limited options.

If I remember correctly named driver NCB would have dropped a policy down by a grand for me from €3,500. Every little helps I suppose.

6 months of named driver insurance cost me €600 on my mam's policy.

AIG will also convert existing named driver NCB into a full NCB if you drive (as main policy holder) under them for a year without claiming, which is very handy when you're transitioning from named to main.