Recommend a car...

cletus

Right folks, never thought I'd have to start a thread like this, but there you are

Looking for 09 onwards, would need a saloon or estate, max budget is €3000.

There are a fair number of cars on donedeal that fit my criteria, 90% of which are diesel, but every time I come across a car I'm interested in, Google will throw up 'known issues' for all of them.

Is there no such thing as a reliable diesel engine? Am I just hearing a small number of horror stories? Was every 10 year old car in this country a ****ing taxi?

If you guys and gals could recommend a make and model I should watch out for, that would be great

Big Nasty

Every car has it's faults. Often the more plain and boring the cars tend to have less reliability issues than more exciting cars. There's good reason Ford / Toyota / VW are so popular in this country. I'd start there.

Heres Johnny

Nobody posts about how their car started first time this morning and want to share with everyone how well it has been running.

The internet is a complaints forum, every car has known issues and every car has real issues. Ive had Alfas, BMWs, Audis and Peugeots and something went wrong with all them. Well not the Audi but I only have that 6 months so far.
My friends Skoda Octavia which is recommended here all the time left him stranded in Wexford.

You're relying on having a good inspection and a bit of luck

Mrnew

also issues can be worse or less depending on how it has been looked after in its life

bazz26

Your also looking at 10 year old cars, alot will depend on how the car was minded by it's previous owners rather than google reviews.

cletus

Thanks for the responses so far. I had been looking at what I would have considered 'reliable' brands, but horror stories about Mazda and vw engines, issues with the wet belt in Ford engines, as well as perennials about the likes of Saab and others pop up everywhere

I'm very much willing to take any given car on its merits.

Having said all of that, regarding the 1.6 petrol avensis, just how underpowered is it?

colm_mcm

Hyundai i30/Kia Ceed is probably your safest diesel option in that age/price bracket

Do you actually want a diesel though?

cletus

colm_mcm wrote: »

Hyundai i30/Kia Ceed is probably your safest diesel option in that age/price bracket

Do you actually want a diesel though?

Not particularly, but it's be nice to finally get in on the cheap tax everyone is always banging on about

bazz26

If your driving style and mileage is not suited to diesel then best stay away from them. On your budget your going to be looking at a fairly high mileage diesel and because modern diesels are more complex any potential repair costs could well overshadow any small savings on motor tax. Also there are a good few post 2008 petrol models that came with cheap tax.

A year old than you said but it looks very clean and the petrol ones rarely give trouble:
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/08-kia-ceed-1-4-estate-low-mileage/21357158

cletus

I reckon I'd be safe enough re. distance and driving for diesel, but like you said, more complex, and I usually do the work on my car's, but never worked on a diesel engine