Renault Fluence, or maybe something more? SAAB/Accord?

HelmsDeep

Looking to buy my first car, and it’s just above a ‘Bangeromnics car’ recommendation. Here’s what I’ve been thinking:

Budget:
Ideally around 3500, really happy if less than 3k, but max 4,000.
Cheap tax bracket-
Good fuel efficiency
My biggest worry is that a car in this price bracket will turn into a money-pit, so something reliable or low cost to fix.
Ideally with a good NCT (for what it’s worth)
I need a car to cost me less than 5k all included: car + tax, nct, insurance, a mechanic to check it out, and a good service/valet after being bought.

Uses:
Small city driving during the week
With weekend warrior trips thrown in.
I’d keep this car for 2-3 years max. I’m not looking for something to run for the next 10 years.
Ideally a 4-door sedan, with a good bit of room for outdoor activities gear.A bonus would be roof racks, but I’ll install these anyways.
Double bonus would be a comfortable, enjoyable car to drive.

Been doing a lot of reading on the sub in preparation, and it seems one of the most popular recommendations is a Renault Fluence, circa 2011.
I’m sure the Fluence would tick the reliability and budget boxes quiet well, but I can’t take my mind off the SAABs, the Accords, the Superbs, those powerful engines, nice leather seats, how they look.
The Fluence just strikes me as a far less enjoyable motoring experience.

My question is: do you think I can have it all?
Is it worth taking the higher risk of getting a lemon/repair issues, and trying to find a 9-3/Accord?
Or with cost and reliability being most important to me, is the Fluence my best buy? Even a Grand Megane?

Alternatively, are there any cars that you think would fit me better?
Thanks for reading!

kirving

With Saab gone bust, I'd tend to steer clear of a 9-3.l, as much as I do like them myself.

Have you thought about an S40? Can be had quite cheaply, and tick most of your boxes. €3000 would go a long way. I do tend to go on about them, but I had one as a first car and loved it.

Swedish, like the 9-3 :-) Comfortable, nice place to sit, not too big for the city, but good on a long drive too, more space than you think with a fold-flat passenger seat.

jimmycrackcorm

Kevin Irving wrote: »

With Saab gone bust, I'd tend to steer clear of a 9-3.l, as much as I do like them myself.

They're based on GM platforms so there isn't any issue getting parts. Basically the 9-3 is a nicer more fun Opel Vectra

colm_mcm

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

They're based on GM platforms so there isn't any issue getting parts. Basically the 9-3 is a nicer more fun Opel Vectra

How many vectra parts does it actually use

HelmsDeep

Kevin Irving wrote: »

With Saab gone bust, I'd tend to steer clear of a 9-3.l, as much as I do like them myself.

Have you thought about an S40? Can be had quite cheaply, and tick most of your boxes. €3000 would go a long way. I do tend to go on about them, but I had one as a first car and loved it.

Swedish, like the 9-3 :-) Comfortable, nice place to sit, not too big for the city, but good on a long drive too, more space than you think with a fold-flat passenger seat.

I actually had been looking at them, forgot to mention them, good shout!
Couldn't find any ads that didn't make me skeptical though..
donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volvo-s-40/24361902
Like, is the fact that the car hasn't been sold in 104 days a red flag?
Because otherwise, the car looks good..

bazz26

That car is a UK import and that is 160000 miles not km. It's also a very basic model and that 1.6 diesel engine doesn't have a great reputation for reliability. Its also worth anywhere near that asking price for it.

It look at these instead:
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/renault-laguna-tom-tom-nctd-mint-condition/24997803
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/11-renault-fluence-nctd-and-taxed/24166095

HelmsDeep

bazz26 wrote: »

That car is a UK import and that is 160000 miles not km. It's also a very basic model and that 1.6 diesel engine doesn't have a great reputation for reliability. Its also worth anywhere near that asking price for it.

It look at these instead:

Thanks for that!
I had actually come across both those cars in my trawling.
The fact the Fluence has 250k kilometres, should that deter me?
Am I missing out on decent cars by filtering by less than 200k km? I was worried it was a bit of short sighted.

bazz26

The S40 you posted has 257k km on it. It looked fine to you until you were told it was 160000 miles rather than 160000 km.

To be honest your looking at 10 year old diesel cars, the majority of them will have that sort of mileage on them at this point, I'd be more suspicious of one that didn't. Judge the car along with how it was serviced over the years is a good rule of thumb but in this end of the market there is no sure fire way to be guaranteed a reliable car especially a diesel car.

barry181091

I'm in exactly the same boat as yourself Helmsdeep!

What put me off about the 1.6 S40 was the sort of "wet" DPF setup. How you have to refill this DPF fluid every 36k or something, plus the DPF is supposed to be replaced after every 75k miles

At the 10-year old car mark, it would be a lot easier to hit expensive issues with above. Otherwise its a lovely car from what I could see.

Saab 93's are lovely too.

Did you look at the Octavias? The look of the Renaults just put me off to be honest.

EDIT: What I noticed with my 1.6 diesel Fiat Bravo was that it was stellar for fuel economy on long journeys, motorways etc. Then around town it was far worse, easily knocking off 20 to 25mpg. So the whole diesel vs petrol isn't really clear cut at all

HelmsDeep

barry181091 wrote: »

.......
Saab 93's are lovely too.
Did you look at the Octavias? The look of the Renaults just put me off to be honest.

I did consider the octavias, but I ruled out lots of them based on the mileage.
Taking another look now, they seem a bit more promising.
Do you know of anything to watch out for in Octavias? Any particular models/engines to avoid?

adverts.ie/car/skoda/octavia/2011-skoda-octavia-greenline-nct-07-2021/19944339

^^ this car, albeit half the country away, looks good (I'm hesitant to say...)?

barry181091

HelmsDeep wrote: »

I did consider the octavias, but I ruled out lots of them based on the mileage.
Taking another look now, they seem a bit more promising.
Do you know of anything to watch out for in Octavias? Any particular models/engines to avoid?

adverts.ie/car/skoda/octavia/2011-skoda-octavia-greenline-nct-07-2021/19944339

^^ this car, albeit half the country away, looks good (I'm hesitant to say...)?

Unfortunately I am as unaware as you regarding these models. There does seem to be a bit on Honestjohn against the reliability on the diesels but again, hard to know.

The Saabs really seem bulletproof and pretty though

walshtipp

Get an old Octavia with the 1.9TDI PD engine. These things are fairly bulletproof.

HelmsDeep

walshtipp wrote: »

Get an old Octavia with the 1.9TDI PD engine. These things are fairly bulletproof.

Thanks for the tip.
Is there a certain website that's reliable for rating cars reliability? Or is this common knowledge.
The Good + Bad section on Honest John is all I've found so far.

I owned a 2.0t SAAB vector. An absolutely beautiful sounding engine. It was about 4 years old when I traded it in, not massive miles. Some minor mechanical stuff. One of the best looking cars of its time. Still see a good few around.

There's also a cracking SAAB driver forum. Not sure how active it is now. Sound blokes on it. Saabcentral

walshtipp

HelmsDeep wrote: »

Thanks for the tip.
Is there a certain website that's reliable for rating cars reliability? Or is this common knowledge.
The Good + Bad section on Honest John is all I've found so far.

Try www.reliabilityindex.com
But Honest John is usually fairly spot on in my opinion.