€3000 reliable car

If all you are worried about is reliability I'd go for the Auris from your list, but it won't be much fun to drive if that's a factor to you.

The Focus is good and good to drive but not as durable as the Auris longer term.

I think any Golf in your price range is likely to be leggy and worn when compared to what you can get from other manufacturers.

My only experience of the Astra was as a hire car and while it had some nice extras like lane departure assist, I felt that it wasn't a car I'd want to use every day, for example the brakes overheated with not particularly heavy use - not sure if this was just the specific car I had or if its a common problem. It just didn't feel like a quality product to me. Not bad just not great.

Have a look at the bangernomics thread op. Some very knowledgeable contributors there as well

Would something like a Yaris be too small? for 3k you could get a nice looked after example I'm sure. Can't get much more reliable than that.

Petrol civic.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/toyota-corolla/21703790

2007 e12 corolla's are pretty cheap to buy and very reliable. I'd rather one over the 1st gen auris too. This particular one looks pretty clean and I'd imagine it's 170,000km on the clock as it isn't a uk import. Low owners on it too.

If you can at all bring a mechanic you trust with you to give any potential purchase the once over.

I'd stay well away from Astra petrols of that vintage, those petrol engines are not known for their reliability.

If you want something reliable then look at the Hyundai i30, Kia ProCeed/Ceed:

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/kia-ceed-pro-1-4-ex-3dr/21104406

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/kia-ceed-1-4-ex-05dr-nct-04-2020-tax-07-2019/21719815

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/hyundai-130-1-4-petrol/21584263