€15000 - What is a good medium sized diesel car.

How about Seat Toledo, not the most stylish of cars but should have same relability of Skoda, decent one here not too far from you....

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carid=634101

Or how about the new model focus 1.6TDCi, few 2005 ones on carzone within your budget.

Mondeo is indeed a fine car for crunching up that sort of mileage and should be plenty of examples finding their way onto secondhand lots at present as people trade in for new model.

It is hard to get a decent 2nd hand diesel with average miles in this country and then if your girlfriend is putting up 600 miles a week you need to consider future resale and maintenance costs.

Test drive a few differant cars and see which one she feels most comfortable in as that would be my deciding factor if spending a few hours each day on the road.

Pretty much any car will do that kind of mileage as long as it's been looked after so far, but with that mileage running costs start to become important. Fuel costs are easy enough to figure, but 30K miles a year means three services a year, a full set of tyres, major suspension work every year or so, and a lot more besides.

In my limited experience VAG (Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, etc.) cars are expensive to service and repair. The dealer's labour rates are at the top end for a non-prestige brand. Even non-franchise garages are expensive because VAG parts are expensive. Not a big deal if you're only doing 10k a year, but in your case....

She's going to be spending 3+ hours a day in a car, so get something comfortable. Small cars like a 206 are grand for pottering around town, but a bit of elbow and leg room is nice. The Astra is nice, but there's more room in a Focus.

One last thing, when you are getting the car worked on, don't be tempted to leave it in a Dublin garage while she's at work. You'll find the garages outside the pale are a lot cheaper and more eager to please.

Gary

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Duplicate post

Opel Signum Diesel

Based on the Vectra but bigger and better looking (not hard)...could be within your budget

ninty9er wrote: »

Merc C220

SWaab 9-3

Corolla D4-D

Volvo S60

Peugeot 407

All except the Corolla and maybe the Peugeot will cost an arm and a leg to keep on the road if you're doing the OP's kind of mileage. I drive a Volvo S80, which is a slightly longer and wider version of the S60, and it costs me an arm and a leg to run.

Actually why did you include a Corolla? The others are repmobiles (Peugeot) and "small executive" cars (MB, Saab & Volvo). The Corolla is in a totally different market segment.

JJJJNR wrote: »

All parts are expensive, are you saying Ford parts are not ?? How much is it for a ball barring kit for a Focus compared to an Octavia.

Ford parts are actually quite reasonable. Ball bearings can be bought from a ball bearing shop (for want of a better word), and are cheap anyway!

JJJJNR wrote: »

So pardon my ignorance but I presume its more than simple marbles we're talking about here.

Not much more to be honest. They are all standard sizes made by the same few manufacturers (SKF, FAG, etc)

TychoCaine wrote: »

Actually why did you include a Corolla? The others are repmobiles (Peugeot) and "small executive" cars (MB, Saab & Volvo). The Corolla is in a totally different market segment.

Well I thought about leaving out the S60 alright, but the Corolla cabin is just as big as the rest. The C-Class can be very cramped in the back if the driver is over 5' 11", The Saab is less roomy than the previous model Corolla, and also the OP mentioned the Corolla, but was looking for one in the price range. The only real difference is perceived and not real between those cars. Though given the choice I'd take the Merc