Looking for buying advice

ifaour

Hi, I'm looking to buy our first car. And I have no idea what's best since I've never owned a car and I have a specific situation (below):
Family Size: we are a family of 3 (2 adults + 1 year old baby)
Car Type: I prefer a crossover or something stylish (I know this is vague, so open to hear people's definition of stylish ) as long as will have good boot size (for buggy and grocery or buggy and luggage for roadtrips)
Used/New: no preference
Budget: 10K-12K cash (or as deposit for a new car)
Engine type: no preference -- but hybrid might be a good idea (read below)
Timing: I'm not in a hurry, can wait for next year (3-6 months)
Usage: minimal due to the following:

1. we use the DART for everyday commute
2. we will use the car for short weekend trips nearby (grocery, taking baby to swimming classes .. etc)
3. occasional road trips (e.g. Dublin to Cork/Killarney/Galway) every other month

Personal Situation: I might relocate outside of Ireland in 1-2 years (but not guaranteed)

For the above details:

• What do you recommend, buy New or Used?
• If used, how far should I go? 2016? what about mileage? is there a general rule of thumb?
• for the minimal use I described, is a hybrid or PHEV worth the extra money? I guess for majority of weekend trips can be done on the charged battery, but again I won't use the car too much so does that justify the extra money for hybrid/PHEV?
• since I might need to sell in 2 years time, wouldn't buying used a better idea? or do certain cars hold a good resale value, even if buying new?
• I see a lot of good used 2015/2016+ cars around the 14K-16K mark, and I'm happy to up the cash budget if it's mind blowing deal. Or would 10K deposit and 4K-6k in finance be the same?

James Bond Junior

Prius or a lexus Ct200h if you want something a little more special to be inside.

Buying new or nearly new would be an awful waste of your money with the lack of use. I would not be spending any more than what is budgeted and even at that €7/8k would even get you something decent and change for a nice holiday or few weekends away.

bazz26

I think a hybrid would be wasted on you too as it sounds like your not using a car enough to warrant the premium you will pay for one. Also due to your lack of car use and potentially moving abroad in a year or two spending that sort of money on a car makes little sense. If it were me I'd be looking at a cheap Japanese petrol car with a decent boot for baby's things, it will do the same thing for you over the next 1 or 2 years except it will have already suffered most of its depreciation already. Spending 12k on a car that isn't going to be used that much will mean you will only get back about half of that money when you sell to move abroad in 2 years. It will just depreciate on your driveway.

Del2005

Why not a Go Car subscription for the running around and hire a car for the country trips?

ifaour

Thanks all, very helpful. I will quote and respond below

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Prius or a lexus Ct200h if you want something a little more special to be inside.

Buying new or nearly new would be an awful waste of your money with the lack of use. I would not be spending any more than what is budgeted and even at that €7/8k would even get you something decent and change for a nice holiday or few weekends away.

Again, thanks for the sound advise. I saw a lexus Ct200h in the neighborhood and it looks really nice, inside out and the boot seem acceptable. I couldn't find a lot on carzone and all are automatic. I thought automatic cars are hard to sell in Ireland?
Also what is an acceptable mileage? per the statistics the average annual mileage is around 17K (petrol) but it seems that Irish people drives A LOT more so not sure if I can trust those studies

bazz26 wrote: »

I think a hybrid would be wasted on you too as it sounds like your not using a car enough to warrant the premium you will pay for one. Also due to your lack of car use and potentially moving abroad in a year or two spending that sort of money on a car makes little sense. If it were me I'd be looking at a cheap Japanese petrol car with a decent boot for baby's things, it will do the same thing for you over the next 1 or 2 years except it will have already suffered most of its depreciation already. Spending 12k on a car that isn't going to be used that much will mean you will only get back about half of that money when you sell to move abroad in 2 years. It will just depreciate on your driveway.

Thanks! what do you have in mind? I'm looking into other options (example Citroen DS4 looks nice but have bad reviews, renault and skoda has nice cars as well; but for japanese like Toyota they seem expensive unless I would be looking for 2012/2013 or older)

Del2005 wrote: »

Why not a Go Car subscription for the running around and hire a car for the country trips?

This is what I'm doing now and why I mentioned my timing is flexible
But it's good to have a car around for emergencies (we had one and we had to wait for a taxi which wasn't great) and spontaneous tasks (woodies .. etc).

colm_mcm

The boot is tiny in the CT, it’s a Yaris sized boot.

ifaour

colm_mcm wrote: »

The boot is tiny in the CT, it’s a Yaris sized boot.

Thanks, I will need to try out few cars (rentals probably) to get a real sense on boot sizes in different car categories.

James Bond Junior

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/toyota-auris-hybrid-2012/19958703

bazz26

OP, you don't need to spend 12k on a car when it's going to be unused alot and your looking at moving abroad in 2 years time. You will be lucky to get 6k for it in 2 years time so you will have lost 6k on car in two years that will be mostly parked up in that time.

For example:
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/kia-ceed-2008-new-nct/17056009

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/hyundai-i30-2008/19414092

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2008-hyundai-i30-warrantynctlow-kms/19782445