Any advice on car @ €9,000?

magpie

I'm looking at replacing my old Golf, and to get another one with about 50k on the clock and a 98/99 reg will cost about €9,000.

So I've started looking at the alternatives. It seems you can get a Saab 9-3 for around the same price so I'm wondering what they are like for reliability, cost of servicing, spares etc.

What else could I pick up for this money that would be a reasonable family car?

Borzoi

magpie wrote:

. It seems you can get a Saab 9-3 for around the same price so I'm wondering what they are like for reliability, cost of servicing, spares etc.

I usually pay about €600 for an annual (10K) service from a specialist Saab mechanic, more in anything major needs doing. AFAIR the one and only main dealer service I got cost about €800

Reliability is good though. Having said that mines up to 75k now and I'm looking at shocks and clutch in the next year - about €800 for the clutch, €1200 I think for the shocks. So look at the milage and service carefully!

lomb

why dont you get the shocks done from kwik fit or one of them wont cost more than 300-400 and get the clutch done from a clutch specialist like mr gearbox for half that as long as original parts are used durability should be the same. tbh 600 euro to have the oil changed is crazy. fair enough 600 for the water pump/timing belt and tensioners but this is only every 60000 miles.
theres nothing unique about sabb mechanically there just a general motors car underneath.

an original clutch kit is 165 euros from german swedish and a front shock set is 85euros and rear shock set 60 euros. all parts prices are on www.gsfcarparts.com

Borzoi

lomb wrote:

why dont you .....

wait till I actually want some help on my car, and in the meantime try to keep it on topic and help magpie.

lomb

i thought i was helping him he asked re parts costs for sabb and service costs., i was just pointing out parts are roughly the same money as a golf, and service should b no more.
thing is when u get into say mercs or bmws parts especially non service parts get crazy. a windscreen for an s class which u can also pick up for 9000 euro (96 one) is 3000 euro!!!!!!

magpie

Any thoughts on an Alfa 156 re: reliability / suitability as a familymobile?

Eoin

recent thread here on the topic...

Eoin

Gurgle

magpie wrote:

I'm looking at replacing my old Golf, and to get another one with about 50k on the clock and a 98/99 reg will cost about €9,000.

You have been grievously mis-informed.
A 98-99 golf with reasonable mileage should set you back around €6 - €7k max.

halkar

Magpie would you be interested in a 2001 diesel xsara, yearly service would cost around €150-200 . She is going for steal

alias no.9

magpie wrote:

Any thoughts on an Alfa 156 re: reliability / suitability as a familymobile?

If you have young kids or are planning to have young kids (the kind that you need to bring a pushchair for) forget the 156, the shape of the boot means the pushchair will never fit in. Other than that, there are lots of tales of woe with the 156, but almost never first hand accounts. Like any high performance engine, they need the oil to be checked at least weekly, often stuff like this is ignored, often leading to these tales of woe (you'll notice they'll almost always be company cars that go wrong). I think it was here where one poster told how his mate had an engine blow in a 156 and less than a year later the brand new replacement engine blew, that doesn't sound like a random event to me.

In general, if you're buying second hand, buy based on the condition of the car you're looking at rather than a reputation, check out the car thoroughly and make sure the timing belt is changed. If it doesn't look and feel right, then it's probably not right, walk away.

Eoin

From what I can tell, the 98 Golf was the Mark 3, and you would expect to pay between 5 & 7.5K depending on condition and the usual considerations (In fact, it is probably the same model as your 1994 Golf?).

The 1999 Golf was the Mark 4 model, and the prices seem to average around 10K.

(Check out www.cbg.ie and www.carzone.ie for 2nd hand prices - these are mostly dealer prices though, so I would imagine that they are a little on the high side :rolleyes: ).

Eoin.

magpie

You have been grievously mis-informed.
A 98-99 golf with reasonable mileage should set you back around €6 - €7k max.

Not if www.carzone.ie is anything to go by.

the shape of the boot means the pushchair will never fit in

That's the 156 out for me so, sorry Eoin. I need a double-buggy friendly 'whip'

Magpie would you be interested in a 2001 diesel xsara, yearly service would cost around €150-200 . She is going for steal

Depends if our definitions of a 'steal' are the same.

Thanks for the advice guys.

halkar

Magpie, pm sent

lomb

the golf is worth the extra in one way it really feels a cut above the average car.
however dont be mislead into thinking they have excellent reliabilty. they have several common failure points that ALWAYS FAIL.
common problems are early water pump failure-every golf needs the timing belt/tensioners and water pump replaced at 60k regardless.check this has been done,
internally broken rear wiper motor causing boot light microswitch sensor in the lock to get wet and fail, needing a look replacement believe it or not. also the rear motors rarely last 20000 miles and cost 100 euros to replace( the brass pipe running thru the center that carries the water siezes -which then breaks internally causing rear to get wet- every mk 4 golf suffers this)
common clutch bearing failure although i havent suffered this.
fuel consumption on the 1.4 is SUPERB. however performance is not although it doesnt feel slow. handling is sure footed. LOVELY interior especially the comfortline one.
superb resale value.

BrianD3

A 98 Golf may be the Mk3 or Mk4. The mk4 was introduced around midway through 98 IIRC.

If 98 Mk4 Golfs are really going for 9k that is madness. Who in their right mind would pay 9k for a 7 year old obsolete family car. It really shows the power of the VW image/brand.

As for the SAAB, if what Borzoi says is true and it costs 600 quid in service costs every 10k miles that would be a major disincentive.

How about a Focus? Or a Renault Megane classic - excellent family car with huge boot and pokey engine, poor image though. You'd get a 2000 or 2001 one for 9k. My brother has one and it hasn't given any trouble in the 5 years he's owned it.

BrianD3

lomb

golfs really are nice cars though. nicer than most.
worth 9k as people are willing to pay that ie sought after. i wouldnt buy any other new.

magpie

Any thoughts on a citroen xsara then? My one worry would be that it's french. My first car was a Peugeot and it was just horrible for reliability, or lack thereof.

lomb

i also had a peugeot 405. anything that could go wrong did. however it was a 92. i will never buy peugeot again.
mayb things have changed since then?
personally i like toyota (reliable, nice to drive and nice powerful engines for their capacity, nice gearboxes,comfy seating, logical controls although stearing leaves a lot to be desired) and volkswagen( fabulous interior, incredibly surefooted really a class above, would shame many 40000 euro cars for driving experiance, really nice to drive, modern styling)
i have driven several new ford focus and to be honest i hated them, they handled lovely but that was about it. i prefer an old mk iv golf to a new focus. not sure what new model focus is like but is nothing to look at.
i have seen many old xantias on the road so they must be somewhat reliable.
u really need to consider expected resale values though unless u indend on driving it till it dies.

Renegade_Archer

Seat Toledo. Nice pokey engines, built on the golf chassis. Uses VW parts. No bothers. Speaking from personal experience, the TDIs are nice, around 50mpg with 0-60 of 11-12 seconds, and excellent midrange power. Shorter service intervals obviously than a petrol, Ive never had a petrol one, but they're all based on the VWs. Plenty of space as well, should fit a family easily enough. We did over 150K in our MK2 Toledo(30k/year), and have just passed the 100K mark in our MK3.

The MK3(00 - 04) models look a lot sharper, the only thing I dont like about them is they took out the hatch boot of the MK2(94 - 99)(massive boot you could literally throw stuff into) to a saloon boot. Still a good big boot, just harder to get stuff into it.
Found the MK2 with its big arse was a bit of a wanker in the ice, but as long as you dont take the piss with it, it'll be grand. The MK3 has improved road holding, more airbags etc..


Regards


Ewan

unkel

lomb wrote:

fuel consumption on the 1.4 is SUPERB. however performance is not although it doesnt feel slow. handling is sure footed

Have same experience with that engine. Performance is fine for most people

magpie wrote:

I need a double-buggy friendly whip'

So you like the Golf, but need more bootspace. Agree with BrianD3 that €9k plus your old car is absurd for a 7 year old Golf

You should consider the Skoda Octavia. Boot is about same size as my BMW 7-series but higher and not as deep, so more practical. The range of engines should cater for any need you have...

puntosporting

You'd pick up a 00 toyota avensis for that kinda money,super reliable,massive boot and pretty decent on juice for a 1.6 saloon!

magpie

Thanks again for all the advice gents. Will check out Octavia and Avensis.

samo

I had an 02 Avensis - great car, was gutted to get rid of it but fell on hard times! Was great space with 2 kids, huge boot and could really rocket if you needed it to. I really liked that car BUT I did find it heavy on petrol, used to cover about 400 miles a week and always had to put €50 a week into it and was lucky not to have put more in! This was on a 1.6 petrol, as much as I loved the car it did prove expensive in that respect.

We also had a 1.5 V-Tech Honda Civic saloon (98) which was driven for the same distances but cost approx €30 - €35 per week. The Honda is our main car now and while smaller in terms of space etc is just as reliable but much cheaper for running costs etc It can also move pretty fast when it wants to. Our 98 last year with sunroof, all elec, alloys, spoiler etc cost us €6.5K which wasnt bad.

Also heard great things about the Octavia as far as fuel consumtion goes, if you look at the Avensis I'd check out the diesel - although i havent heard of many people with them apart from taximen who probably have a different perspective to most!

lomb

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29115

unkel

Avensis is very reliable but a lot more expensive than a same age Octavia. So for your budget, you could probably get an Octavia several years younger than an Avensis

lomb

read the link above avensis do suffer from gearbox problems there are several posts on boards about this.
ive had good luck with the corollas and regardless of what clarkson says they are nice to drive.

puntosporting

On tyhe avensis ,9 out of 10 taxi drivers in my area seem to be driving them so that must be a good sign

unkel

lomb wrote:

read the link above avensis do suffer from gearbox problems

Ehhrr your link is a single thread with one follow up post? :rolleyes:

Toyotas are probably the most reliable cars in the world. Not that I like them though

lomb wrote:

ive had good luck with the corollas and regardless of what clarkson says they are nice to drive.

Current Corolla is the most boring and un-engaging car I have ever driven. If that is the way forward, I'd rather go backward to rusty old 70s cars like the Renault R5 or 80s cars like the Peugeot 205

lomb

not sure bout new corolla my father 98 is lovely and i look forward to driving it. i dont like big heavy cars like passats or avensis unless they have 2+litre engines..
the old 205s in fairness were unreliable sh%t

samo

I took drove current corolla a few months back (was rental car though!) was very unimprssed. Very dull and didnt think I could drive a car with less ooomph that the peugot 307 but this was it!

The 98/99 was a lot nippier but hatcback horrible to look at.

lomb

ur probably rite samo. the 98 one my father has is in a nice blue but most important its a saloon. the hatchback was a dog for sure.

i genuinely do look forward to driving probably because of its engine and gearbox very very sweet for a 1.3. incredibly free revving, feels just as tight at 72000 miles as when brand new. going thru the nct tomorrow so wel see..........