Need a car - 3K to spend

ohnonotgmail

I'm in the market to change my car. It needs to be

07 or upwards
long NCT
automatic preferably
1.8-2.2 engine. the tax doesnt really bother me.
diesel preferred but not massively fussy once the mpg isnt ridiculously
budget of 3K but could possibly stretch a little more

am i being unrealistic?

I seen this on donedeal which fits the bill

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-320i-automatic-just-passed-nct/16182861

any thoughts on this?

bmwguy

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I'm in the market to change my car. It needs to be

07 or upwards
long NCT
automatic preferably
1.8-2.2 engine. the tax doesnt really bother me.
diesel preferred but not massively fussy once the mpg isnt ridiculously
budget of 3K but could possibly stretch a little more

am i being unrealistic?

I seen this on donedeal which fits the bill

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-320i-automatic-just-passed-nct/16182861

any thoughts on this?

Just one thing on that car, you will not get anywhere close to 43mpg like the ad says. Although true of most cars really. Unless you sit on motorway all day at 100 kmph you are looking at sub 30 mpg combined.

ohnonotgmail

bmwguy wrote: »

Just one thing on that car, you will not get anywhere close to 43mpg like the ad says. Although true of most cars really. Unless you sit on motorway all day at 100 kmph you are looking at sub 30 mpg combined.

i'm currently in a previous generation 320Ci which is supposed to give 30mpg. i get about 25mpg. Most of my commute is motorway.

bmwguy

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i'm currently in a previous generation 320Ci which is supposed to give 30mpg. i get about 25mpg. Most of my commute is motorway.

You only get 25mpg with mainly motorway? That is pretty poor but I guess you have a mix of driving. This one won't be any better than the old one. It's not LCI by the looks of gearstick which are meant to be a bit better fuelwise. If mpg is important to you and you are changing to get better consumption then do not buy this car. The 20d of that time gave about 43mpg the petrols certainly do not

bazz26

A little above budget but I'd bet what you spend extra on the purchase of the car will be more than saved on the repair bills of that cheap BMW. It has better chance of getting 43mpg too:



https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/honda-civic-85k-miles1-8-automatic-like-a-new-/15961477

smelly sock

Would you not look at some thing a little older with less milege? The BMW has huge miles on it and will cost a bomb to repair. Is the timing belt done?

smelly sock

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volvo-s40-1-8se-full-leather/16243063

ohnonotgmail

bmwguy wrote: »

You only get 25mpg with mainly motorway? That is pretty poor but I guess you have a mix of driving. This one won't be any better than the old one. It's not LCI by the looks of gearstick which are meant to be a bit better fuelwise. If mpg is important to you and you are changing to get better consumption then do not buy this car. The 20d of that time gave about 43mpg the petrols certainly do not

I presume the 318i of the same year wouldnt be much better on petrol?

bmwguy

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I presume the 318i of the same year wouldnt be much better on petrol?

No, not really. According to honest john owners are getting lower mpg in a 318i auto than a 320i auto

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/bmw/3-series-e90-2005/318i

Jobs OXO

smelly sock wrote: »

Would you not look at some thing a little older with less milege? The BMW has huge miles on it and will cost a bomb to repair. Is the timing belt done?

No timing belts in BMWs. If you are going to suggest something at least know about what you are talking about.

bennyc

I am looking around in the same price bracket and would love something like this. They seem to be appearing around the 3K mark now, 1K tax though.

acronym Chilli

Also interested in this thread as it's more or less where I'm at in the market.
First of all, to chip in a car:
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/renault-laguna/16135479
1.5 diesel Renault Laguna, 2007, asking €2900 (high?, but certainly within budget), nicely, it has NCT to July 2019. I think that's already a Laguna 3, which is where Renault got their act together.

In my own case I've been back and forth on the question of petrol/diesel (economy, vs repair costs), also have been considering doubling down on petrol and going the big-engine route (e.g. 2005-2007 Lexus GS300)... but as I do a lot of miles the fuel+tax running costs really do start to build up compared to even e.g. a 2.0l petrol (but lovely to cruise along in, and automatic is great I must say). Can afford it, but there are other things to spend money on. Repair mishaps on a diesel put me off, but as I'm driving about 20k miles a year, I've lots of fuel savings to offset say a DMF against.

I'm not looking at all at BMWs/Mercs/Audis on the assumption (right/wrong) that they'll tend to be dearer for what they are and in each case putting stuff right won't be cheap. Currently I'm driving a 2002 93 that has a few bits going that I don't want to spend on. Might go Saab again in the end, but there are so few of the nice ones around...

Matty.C

Volvo S60 2.4 D5 automatic. Very good on diesel for a big fast car 45 is managable on a good run. One of the strongest engines ever made (5 cylinder) capable of huge mileage once looked after. Tax is high but decent fuel economy and reliability aling with the comfort make it a good choice. A hell of alot of car for the money!

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/07-vovlo-s60-2-4-d5-auto-high-spec-new-nct-08-2018/15459638

Matty.C

acronym Chilli wrote: »

Also interested in this thread as it's more or less where I'm at in the market.
First of all, to chip in a car:
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/renault-laguna/16135479
1.5 diesel Renault Laguna, 2007, asking €2900 (high?, but certainly within budget), nicely, it has NCT to July 2019. I think that's already a Laguna 3, which is where Renault got their act together.

In my own case I've been back and forth on the question of petrol/diesel (economy, vs repair costs), also have been considering doubling down on petrol and going the big-engine route (e.g. 2005-2007 Lexus GS300)... but as I do a lot of miles the fuel+tax running costs really do start to build up compared to even e.g. a 2.0l petrol (but lovely to cruise along in, and automatic is great I must say). Can afford it, but there are other things to spend money on. Repair mishaps on a diesel put me off, but as I'm driving about 20k miles a year, I've lots of fuel savings to offset say a DMF against.

That was around the time renault improved but still wasnt the best car in the world.

Have you considered something like a Volvo S40 2.0d. There a good car and not a million miles away from a saab..

Would avoid a diesel saab because they used 1.9jtd engines which give various problems namely turbos, swirl flap failure (which lead to a knackered engine) and serious dpf problems and egr problems.

The S40 2.0d uses a psa 136 engine which is not completely trouble free (few engines are) but is one of the best diesels of that age.. If your doing 20k a year and went with the likes of a S40 diesel I highly doubt the amount saved on diesel would be undone by repairs ...

Here one i found below

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/s40-2-0-diesel-new-nct-6-speed/15837449

The miles is in km so its 155k which is average for 10 year old diesel... its 6 speed too so good for motorway work.

acronym Chilli

Matty.C wrote: »

Volvo S60 2.4 D5 automatic. Very good on diesel for a big fast car 45 is managable on a good run. One of the strongest engines ever made (5 cylinder) capable of huge mileage once looked after. Tax is high but decent fuel economy and reliability aling with the comfort make it a good choice. A hell of alot of car for the money!

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/07-vovlo-s60-2-4-d5-auto-high-spec-new-nct-08-2018/15459638

Had been thinking through options like S60 2.4 D5. Hadn't seen that wagon (at €2650), but had come across one Lambe O'Connor have: http://www.loc.ie/viewanad.php?ad_id=1786573&r=%26z%3D8
it's higher mileage, same age, and €1300 more expensive.

Downside that had pushed me away from that make/model was report of relatively meagre interior space for the size of the vehicle (all relative of course, but I'll have a hassle-penalty from her-indoors the more barge-like this car is).

Matty.C wrote: »

Would avoid a diesel saab because they used 1.9jtd engines which give various problems namely turbos, swirl flap failure (which lead to a knackered engine) and serious dpf problems and egr problems.

Yes, I'd come around to that way of thinking. With regard to Saabs, only looking at petrol models. I get the impression that the 1.9 is fine if you maintained it properly, but as a used proposition it's a bit of a crap-shoot.

The S40 2.0d uses a psa 136 engine which is not completely trouble free (few engines are) but is one of the best diesels of that age.. If your doing 20k a year and went with the likes of a S40 diesel I highly doubt the amount saved on diesel would be undone by repairs ...

I'll have a look at those too. I reckon that a reasonable diesel (giving say 6l/100km) would save me at least €1500 in fuel costs per year versus my current 2.0 turbo petrol, which is a fair chunk of money for the repair fund.

That's where the Lexus idea (e.g. GS 300 V6) started to come undone for me. An extra 700 of tax per year, extra insurance costs (based on engine size), and then extra fuel costs (no reduction anywhere). It would be a very comfortable place to sit, and by all accounts very reliable... so I might still return to it; but I'll definitely be throwing one or two grand a year at it for the pleasure...

If I could find a slightly special Saab (e.g. Aero) with decent provenance, that'd be my ideal sweet spot. Manageable running costs, something to take a bit of an interest in, but not too invested either.

grogi

Jobs OXO wrote: »

No timing belts in BMWs. If you are going to suggest something at least know about what you are talking about.

Tomayto, tomahto... What difference does the name make?

acronym Chilli

Matty.C wrote: »

Here one i found below

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/s40-2-0-diesel-new-nct-6-speed/15837449

The miles is in km so its 155k which is average for 10 year old diesel... its 6 speed too so good for motorway work.

In fairness to the seller, he says it's due a timing belt in 20k km, which I'd hit in about 6 months. Any idea what the price of a timing belt job on that car would be?

Jobs OXO

grogi wrote: »

Tomayto, tomahto... What difference does the name make?

If you don't know what the difference is between a timing belt and a timing chain then motors mightn't be the best forum for you

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