Recommend car

restive

I am changing my car. I have a budget of roughly 15k. I drive to work on rural roads. I clock about 22,000 km a year. I used to have a 1.8 tdci Ford Focus. Running costs were high. I would like a hatchback. What are my best options. Economy and reliability are important.

Thanks.

restive

Would a switch to petrol be justified?

bazz26

What do you mean by running costs were high on the Focus? Repairs or general costs associated with usage?

restive

bazz26 wrote:

What do you mean by running costs were high on the Focus? Repairs or general costs associated with usage?

Repairs. Dash had to be replaced also. About ,€40 a week on diesel.

restive

I test drove a VW golf 1.6 tdi at lunchtime. €15,000.142 in from the UK. I thought. The acceleration from 0 was a little less than the focus?

D Trent

https://www.donedeal.co.uk/cars-for-sale/honda-civic-i-dtec-se-1-6-120-bhp-one-owner-low-m/16753881



https://www.donedeal.co.uk/cars-for-sale/volvo-v40-d2-cross-country-lux-auto-2-500-scrappa/15120552

Shefwedfan

You mention 22k per year but on daily trips what are you looking at? to & from work?

Also long distances at weekend?

restive

Shefwedfan wrote:

You mention 22k per year but on daily trips what are you looking at? to & from work?

Shefwedfan wrote:

Also long distances at weekend?

37 km (23 miles) roundtrip. Also the same at weekends.

restive

Nice cars dtrent. But why is the mileage so low?

heldel00

My father tells me that the VW 1.6 golf is a disaster on country roads. You will spend your life in 4th gear because the minute you go into 5th, you will have some reason to slow down and it can't cope with 5th gear.
If you really want one he says go for 2 litre

Shefwedfan

restive wrote: »

37 km (23 miles) roundtrip. Also the same at weekends.

If you want economy and reliability then electric is the best option.....

Might be worth posting on electric forum.....with that sort of round trip you would only need to charge every so often.....

Don't think electric and automatically think Leaf, plenty of other options.....

photosmart

Seat Leon 1.6tdi
VG value second hand - you would get a 161 for 15k with under 20k miles.
Cheap to run

Shefwedfan

photosmart wrote: »

Seat Leon 1.6tdi
VG value second hand - you would get a 161 for 15k with under 20k miles.
Cheap to run

Not really cheap to run if loads of short trips like the OP said he/she was doing.

restive

heldel00 wrote:

My father tells me that the VW 1.6 golf is a disaster on country roads. You will spend your life in 4th gear because the minute you go into 5th, you will have some reason to slow down and it can't cope with 5th gear. If you really want one he says go for 2 litre

What would you recommend? Is the slow acceleration from 0 normal?

heldel00

He loves everything else about the golf apart from this issue. Says he would buy a golf again but not 1.6tdi.
My husband had the same dislike with his 142 Passat. He got a 1.6 seat ateca last week but it has a higher brake horse power so its no longer an issue.
Don't know if I'm making much sense!

bazz26

At only 37 km round trip a day you don't really need a diesel car. You should look at petrol or hybrid cars too.

restive

bazz26 wrote:

At only 37 km round trip a day you don't really need a diesel car. You should look at petrol or hybrid cars too.

How large a petrol engine would you recommend?

Shefwedfan

restive wrote: »

How large a petrol engine would you recommend?

Hybrid might be better

Lexus CT200h would be good starting point: http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/lexus/ct/used-2013-131-lexus-ct-200h-advance-c-dublin-fpa-205263184477816

Toyota Auris either: http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/toyota/auris/used-2013-131-toyota-auris-1-8-hsd-lu-tipperary-fpa-144518670332184

First time I seen one of these but might be option : http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/peugeot/3008/used-2014-141-peugeot-3008-2-0-hdi-al-dublin-fpa-193490920315194

dil999

bazz26 wrote: »

At only 37 km round trip a day you don't really need a diesel car. You should look at petrol or hybrid cars too.

But its 22K kms per year which pushes the OP into diesel territory over petrol. For a 10mpg difference in performance, he would be saving the guts of €300 per year.

bazz26

dil999 wrote: »

But its 22K kms per year which pushes the OP into diesel territory over petrol. For a 10mpg difference in performance, he would be saving the guts of €300 per year.

22k km is under 14k miles per year. I wouldn't call that diesel territory. And a potential failed EGR valve on a diesel engine for example would cost at least twice that €300 fuel savings in fuel to replace.

Shefwedfan

dil999 wrote: »

But its 22K kms per year which pushes the OP into diesel territory over petrol. For a 10mpg difference in performance, he would be saving the guts of €300 per year.

Seriously?

How does a 37km round trip bring you to diesel? in reality if doing 22k km per year and all short trips the OP is ideal for electric but doesn't seem to like the idea. Even with hybrid they have a chance of doing a fair bit of the trip on battery.....

Potentially loads of issues if going with diesel due to all the short trips.....

dil999

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Seriously?

How does a 37km round trip bring you to diesel? in reality if doing 22k km per year and all short trips the OP is ideal for electric but doesn't seem to like the idea. Even with hybrid they have a chance of doing a fair bit of the trip on battery.....

Potentially loads of issues if going with diesel due to all the short trips.....

Yes. Seriously.

There's another 9,000 Kms in there, over and above 7 days a week of 37 km trips

22Km per annum is above average mileage and diesel will save him just under €300 per year over a petrol. Seriously.

dil999

bazz26 wrote: »

22k km is under 14k miles per year. I wouldn't call that diesel territory. And a potential failed EGR valve on a diesel engine for example would cost at least twice that €300 fuel savings in fuel to replace.

What are the chances of an EGR valve failing?
What are the chances of something failing in his petrol car costing him similar money. I have driven 4 diesels over the last 12 years averaging 25K Kms per year. Never had an EGR valve fail. My servicing didn't increase over previous petrol services. Diesels are no longer more expensive than petrols to purchase. Looking at the OP's location its unlikely to be city driving. So not sure how you can say that a diesel car will cost more.

bazz26

22k km is not above average mileage, it is under 14,000 miles per year which is perfectly average for your typical petrol car owner. An EGR is one example I took, they can and do fail. Yes 14000 miles of mostly motorway driving is fine for a diesel car but it's also fine for a petrol/hybrid car too. Diesel doesn't have to be the default choice just to save a few bob on fuel. Also there a strong possibility that the excise duty will be increased on diesel fuel in next month's budget to bring it closer to petrol to start encouraging people away from buying diesel cars so there may not even be much of a saving on fuel anymore.

Shefwedfan

dil999 wrote: »

Yes. Seriously.

There's another 9,000 Kms in there, over and above 7 days a week of 37 km trips

22Km per annum is above average mileage and diesel will save him just under €300 per year over a petrol. Seriously.

Every thread descends into the same pattern, OP asks for advice...gets options and then diesel brigade wade in with unrealistic stats and normal following by a load of there personal experience which based on boards users a diesel car has never broken down for any boards user

Anyway, if doing 37km then car could potentially do most of journey on battery so cost of fuel = zero.

How anyone could recommend a diesel for a 37km journey is beyond me but this is Ireland and it happens everyday on here.....

joe40

Just as a matter of interest what is diesel territory, I do about 17000 miles per year daily commute is about 48 miles round trip on main road, generally steady 60 mph driving for most of the journey. I have always had diesel but is it time to think petrol for next car.

BoatMad

I never understand these arguments

its simple , compute the TCO for different forms of car, including diesel, petrol, pure electric and Hybrid

TCO is purchase costs over the period, less depreciated value ( if you intend to sell on the car) , plus all running costs , servicing , tax etc AND the cost of credit

if you get a clear winner, the decision is clear, if not you will have to subjectively evaluate what you want ( you could eliminate depreciation as final value is often very subjective )

otherwise you descend into nonsense just looking at one cost against another

dil999

bazz26 wrote: »

22k km is not above average mileage, it is under 14,000 miles per year which is perfectly average for your typical petrol car owner. An EGR is one example I took, they can and do fail. Yes 14000 miles of mostly motorway driving is fine for a diesel car but it's also fine for a petrol/hybrid car too. Diesel doesn't have to be the default choice just to save a few bob on fuel. Also there a strong possibility that the excise duty will be increased on diesel fuel in next month's budget to bring it closer to petrol to start encouraging people away from buying diesel cars so there may not even be much of a saving on fuel anymore.

Average mileage in Ireland in Ireland was 16.9K km in 2010. Not sure how it would have skyrocketed since. Its always better to look at actual facts and figure that gut feelings when it comes to saving money. AA currently uses 16000 Km for their average cost analyses
https://www.cartell.ie/2010/11/average-mileage-in-ireland/

Its unlikely that the government will increase excise on diesel in the next budget, considering its probably going to be an election year, and a significant number of people drive diesels.

BoatMad

dil999 wrote: »

Its unlikely that the government will increase excise on diesel in the next budget, considering its probably going to be an election year, and a significant number of people drive diesels.

no, but a rebalancing of motor tax is definitely being considered to move the emphasis away from C02, in practice the Gov are considering more granularity in the lower end which will force many cars up a slot or two


diesel equalisation is unlikely to start this budget, but there is a considerable difference in fuel prices and this is usually when the Gov acts

dil999

BoatMad wrote: »

no, but a rebalancing of motor tax is definitely being considered to move the emphasis away from C02, in practice the Gov are considering more granularity in the lower end which will force many cars up a slot or two


diesel equalisation is unlikely to start this budget, but there is a considerable difference in fuel prices and this is usually when the Gov acts

Moving motor tax away from CO2 is I believe a good thing.

The equalization of petrol/diesel is more than tricky from a political point of view. 70% of new cars sold in 2015 & 2016 were diesel. Since almost all commercial vehicles are diesel, raising the excise will have a huge negative impact on the economy. Not something that will happen in the near future.

BoatMad

Not something that will happen in the near future.

I know what Finance is arguing, I also know that next year is likely to be an election year, that many be the bigger persuader !!!

we shall see.

70% of new cars sold in 2015 & 2016 were diesel.

yes but the national private fleet has still a petrol majority overall

dil999

BoatMad wrote: »

I know what Finance is arguing, I also know that next year is likely to be an election year, that many be the bigger persuader !!!

we shall see.



yes but the national private fleet has still a petrol majority overall

whats the split?

BoatMad

dil999 wrote: »

whats the split?

55% Petrol, 45 % Diesel

Casati

The OP might consider electric car, I'd direct him to post a query in the E.V forum

If keen on diesel, which would save him closer to 500 a year versus petrol for fuel, the 1.6 Golf/ Leon is fine as long as you go for the 110bhp model. I've a lot of driving done in an Octavia with this engine and it great on country roads. The 90bhp is lacking though so I'd avoid

All cars can give trouble, I've had a lot
of diesels and the EGR clogged up in one but if you have a good mechanic they can clean it out again. Equally petrol cars are not exempt from mechanical issues ether so buy as new and as low mileage as your budget allows

restive

Casati wrote:

All cars can give trouble, I've had a lot of diesels and the EGR clogged up in one but if you have a good mechanic they can clean it out again. Equally petrol cars are not exempt from mechanical issues ether so buy as new and as low mileage as your budget allows

Casati wrote:

If keen on diesel, which would save him closer to 500 a year versus petrol for fuel, the 1.6 Golf/ Leon is fine as long as you go for the 110bhp model. I've a lot of driving done in an Octavia with this engine and it great on country roads. The 90bhp is lacking though so I'd avoid

Casati wrote:

The OP might consider electric car, I'd direct him to post a query in the E.V forum

What kind of electric car would I get for 15k. I know nothing about electrics.

bazz26

Nissan Leaf.

Casati

restive wrote: »

What kind of electric car would I get for 15k. I know nothing about electrics.

If you post on the Electric Cars sub forum you'll get great advise. I think you'd get a 2016 Leaf for that money but there are other options out there

Shefwedfan

restive wrote: »

What kind of electric car would I get for 15k. I know nothing about electrics.

Standard answer is Leaf

Other options available like Zoe/i3 etc

Post on electric vehicle forum....