Opinions on a 1.4 or 1.6 litre family car

Jeapy

I'm looking to buy a new car and will not be trading in or looking for finance. Budget roughly 8k.
I only travel 10-20km Monday to Friday but I travel 200-300km at the weekend maybe twice a month. I'm not sure if petrol or diesel would be more economical.
I was looking at an Insignia, but my insurance was going to quadruple so anything over a 1.6L is out of the running. Even with going from a 1.2L (my current car) to a 1.6L is going to be a 41% hike in the premium for the ten months until my renewal next March, so a 1.4L might be the better option. Size wise, I'm looking for Octavia/Fluence type. We have an Ibiza as it is and with a car seat and baby gear, we've no space for comfort.
Looking for space, economy and reliability mostly, warranty would be a bonus.
Also, how much haggling room is there these days with dealers and the advertised price? I've had my current car from new in 2009, so I've no idea what things are like out there at the minute.
Any ideas?
Thanks, Jen.

bazz26

A Renault Laguna III is worth looking at, it's bigger, more comfortable and feels a nicer place to be than the Fluence. It being a hatchback means the boot is more practical than the saloon boot of the Fluence also.

For example, this one if the service history and a history report can back up the low mileage:



https://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=1977967&r=s.php%3Fm%3D72%26o%3D618%26r%3D2012%26pp%3D50%26g%3D0

Heres Johnny

At the upper ends of your travel estimates it's about 1000km a month or 12000km a year, at the lower it's 7200km.

If you are anywhere in this range yes buy a petrol. You'll get a good petrol car for 8k.

Your insurance sounds unusual, are you on a provisional or have you very little experience? Shouldn't go up by that much.
I've a 2.5 and I'm paying 700 euro

Fluence is a decent car as is the Octavia.
You should get a 2012/13/14 within your budget easily enough I'd say

Jeapy

Heres Johnny wrote: »

At the upper ends of your travel estimates it's about 1000km a month or 12000km a year, at the lower it's 7200km.

If you are anywhere in this range yes buy a petrol. You'll get a good petrol car for 8k.

Your insurance sounds unusual, are you on a provisional or have you very little experience? Shouldn't go up by that much.
I've a 2.5 and I'm paying 700 euro

Fluence is a decent car as is the Octavia.
You should get a 2012/13/14 within your budget easily enough I'd say

Nope, I'm 31. I've my full license since 2004, my own policy since 05 or 06, no claims, no penalty points. Insurance quote two years ago was 330, last year 400, this year up to 620. I shopped around and couldn't get any lower. To go from 1.2L petrol Ibiza to 1.6L diesel Octavia, they want another 260 until next March. I don't understand it at all.
Thanks for the info re petrol or diesel. I was looking at the MPGs but I know that doesn't really reflect my kind of driving.

Heres Johnny

The mpg on the longer journeys will be better with a diesel. Maybe slightly better on short journeys too but conventional wisdom nowadays says short journeys are not great for diesel engines you end up clogging dpf and causing yourself hassle and repairs that outweigh fuel savings.
You will get a petrol car a good bit cheaper than a diesel too which will help balance out the fuel costs.

colm_mcm

Get new quotes from different insurance companies as a new customer.

Jeapy

bazz26 wrote: »

A Renault Laguna III is worth looking at, it's bigger, more comfortable and feels a nicer place to be than the Fluence. It being a hatchback means the boot is more practical than the saloon boot of the Fluence also.

For example, this one if the service history and a history report can back up the low mileage:



https://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=1977967&r=s.php%3Fm%3D72%26o%3D618%26r%3D2012%26pp%3D50%26g%3D0

Thanks very much Bazz26. The hatchback would be much better for us. The engine being that bit smaller might make the insurance a bit better too.

Jeapy

OmegaGene wrote: »

Spend a day trying a few different models for insurance quotes, it’s not just engine size that has a detrimental impact on insurance I know someone that had a 1.4 Astra 2005 and went up to a 2010 Octavia and the insurance went down
Turns out she was being penalised for the age of her Astra and she joined its4women.ie for insurance and they have a sister company called 25plus
If you limit yourself too much on car size and engine size thinking because of insurance you could regret it later on €8kis a good size budget to play with

I did a bit of checking and can get a much better quote on e.g. Octavia or Laguna than my current one. I can cancel my current policy and change, so I will do just as you mention there. Thanks.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Jeapy wrote: »

Nope, I'm 31. I've my full license since 2004, my own policy since 05 or 06, no claims, no penalty points. Insurance quote two years ago was 330, last year 400, this year up to 620. I shopped around and couldn't get any lower. To go from 1.2L petrol Ibiza to 1.6L diesel Octavia, they want another 260 until next March. I don't understand it at all.
Thanks for the info re petrol or diesel. I was looking at the MPGs but I know that doesn't really reflect my kind of driving.

That has nothing to do with engine size so don't use it as a basis for what car to buy. Your insurance is based on value and safety ratings and annual mileage, at your age, engine size should mean very little.

bazz26

To be fair engine size can be a factor but it's not the only factor when it comes to insurance. FWIW I went from 2.0 litre to 3.0 litre recently and my insurance rose by €160 for the remaining 6 months of the policy, both cars were the same model type except for being a year younger and the engine size.

colm_mcm

If you’re paying monthly and have max no claims bonus you’d be as well to move if you got a better deal mid term.