Small engine car needed

m4r10

Need to replace my car with a 1 - 1.2L one, budget 3 - 3.5K. Saw a few Renault Twingo GTs around my budget, would they be OK reliability wise? I was inclined towards a Yaris, but the Twingo offers a bit more punch. I'm not sure though whether to trade the Yaris' reliability for the Twingo's extra bit of power.
TIA for any advice.

kerten

What is the motivation behind small engine choice ?

Is it insurance limitations or fuel economy?

What kind of driving do you do and what kind budget do you have?

m4r10

Road tax and insurance being the primary restrictions. There's another bigger car in the family so this one will be used primarily for school and shop runs, to a max 15k km per year.

Budget, as stated in OP, 3 - 3.5K, maybe stretching to 4k for a good car.

Belfast

I would go with the Yaris.
There are a lot more Yaris out there on the second market in your price bracket.
https://www.breakeryard.com/car-parts/toyota/yaris/common-problems

Renault Twingo
is know to have electrical problems
https://www.breakeryard.com/car-parts/renault/twingo/common-problems

bazz26

Fiat Punto:



https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/10-fiat-punto-1-4-team-irish-car-/20575208

Cheap tax and I cannot imagine insurance being expensive on it.

kerten

If it is the running costs limiting the engine size, I would restrict it to 1.4 lt to have more choice.

At that budget range, I would stick to small japanese/korean petrol cars. Yaris, Swift, jazz would be my choices.

m4r10

Thanks for the input all. I was all set for a Yaris, but the idea of a GT got the better of me.
I'll settle with one of the old reliables then and save myself possible headaches in the future.

Shefwedfan

If you brought up your budget a small bit you could go for electric car. If only for doing short runs etc it would be perfect.

Cheap tax, insurance and service costs. Fuel costs are tiny as well.

My car was due a "big" service. Was told it was 300 euro. Told them it was electric version and not the diesel/petrol one, the "big" service is now 120 euro :-)

Just an outside the box idea. A renault zoe with a battery lease will be cheap. Or for a few more quid go for battery owned. I know outside listed budget but worth a mention

Renault Fluence is other option, battery lease as well: https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/renault/fluence/used-2012-renault-fluence-e-z-e-wicklow-fpa-201812022936653

Dont mind the price, they will be lucky to get 3k for it......people have bought the battery out before

m4r10

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Didn't think of electric cars as an option, but looking at a few, they're a bit more outside my budget.

Thanks for the advice anyway.

ED E

bazz26 wrote: »

Fiat Punto:

The first ever car to get a 0 NCAP rating. The Panda was the 2nd. Maybe pick another brand.

Shefwedfan

m4r10 wrote: »

Didn't think of electric cars as an option, but looking at a few, they're a bit more outside my budget.

Thanks for the advice anyway.

Yeah it's an issue. Used electric cars are going up in value instead of down


As I said outside budget, but some people will buy based on fuel savings, so to do the 15,000km you mentioned, will cost you maybe 150-200 euro in electricity is you do all charging at home. Maybe 1,200 in petrol. So saving of 1k per year.

Having a second car means you dont have any worries about long distance driving etc which would put off most people.



If going down petrol option then I would go Yaris, solid as a rock.....

bazz26

ED E wrote: »

The first ever car to get a 0 NCAP rating. The Panda was the 2nd. Maybe pick another brand.

It got a 0 NCAP rating when tested in 2017 because the model was on sale since 2006 and wasn't designed to the standards of the 2017 tests. Cars within the OP's price range are not going to have the latest 5 star ratings either because they are not the latest models but they probably had a decent rating for the time the model was launched.

I'm sure if you took any 10+ year old car and tested it at today's test standards they would come back with a poor or 0 NCAP rating, all that means is that they don't meet today's standards.

colm_mcm

bazz26 wrote: »

It got a 0 NCAP rating when tested in 2017 because the model was on sale since 2006 and wasn't designed to the standards of the 2017 tests. Cars within the OP's price range are not going to have the latest 5 star ratings either because they are not the latest models but they probably had a decent rating for the time the model was launched.

I'm sure if you took any 10+ year old car and tested it at today's test standards they would come back with a poor or 0 NCAP rating, all that means is that they don't meet today's standards.

+1 you’re looking marks if stuff like autonomous braking isn’t available, or the font used on the isofix labels isn’t clear enough.