Car for €3k-any advice

chris85

Ok I am a student so only have 3000 euros to spend on getting a car. Was thinking bout getting one from the japanese makes, maybe mx3 or something like that. Shown below are what i need:

• Under 1.6L
• Under €3000
• Reliable
• Preferably Japanese

Any advice???

vengeance52

toyota starlet is a sound car and would fit the bill. otherwise go for a fiesta or polo if within budget, but try get one with power steering.

chris85

yeah looked at the starlet but reluctant with it.

vengeance52

well if ya want somethin a bit bigger, nissan sunny, or a corolla.

M450

I'm in the same situation... was lookin at a '00 Silver Polo in Green Isle motors, Clondalkin today for 3750. Should get them down a bit tho... It's fairly basic, no electrics or anything, 74k miles.

I've been really swayed by the Polo... nice and small and looks good. Can get a 1L too, so should really help with insurance! AFAIK it's a reasonably good/reliable car.

chris85

M450 wrote: »

I'm in the same situation... was lookin at a '00 Silver Polo in Green Isle motors, Clondalkin today for 3750. Should get them down a bit tho... It's fairly basic, no electrics or anything, 74k miles.

I've been really swayed by the Polo... nice and small and looks good. Can get a 1L too, so should really help with insurance! AFAIK it's a reasonably good/reliable car.

Yeah good cars but engine too small for me. Prefer a slightly bigger engine. My insurance is pretty good around the 1.4L size so looking around that size proabably.

MX3 is looking better compared to all these cars.

Would love a decent Toyota Cynos/Paseo (Had one before) but nothing great on carzone. Any knows of a decent one going let me know

vengeance52

polo is a great car, but id def get one with powersteering. easier parked.

JHMEG

Nissan Almera. Cheap and reliable, will have more goodies than a polo, and squillions to chose from.

coolbeans

Hey there.
Your best bet is definitely to go Japanese especially at your budget. I've a 1996 Honda civic myself with intergalactic mileage (1996) and it still goes like clockwork. My mother has a Mazda6 with 100,000 miles on it and the only thing that ever went wrong with it is the interior light bulb blew: once! I know that's out of your budget but I think you can see the point I'm making. Anyway what you need to do is the following.
1. Accept that many cars that cost around €3k in Ireland will in all likelihood not have a service history. Harsh but true.
2. Mileage or to be more succinct the accuracy of mileage is paramount. If that can be ascertained that can be a great bonus but again it can be a lottery. If you buy a car that's an English import this becomes less problematic as you can check the details of a car over the phone using the UK gov't endorsed HPI check . It costs £40 but it's worth it.
3. Go for a Mazda, Honda or Toyota. Make sure though that the object of your affections hasn't been modified though as this is often an indication of a fairly well worn car despite how funky it may look if it's been tarted up.
One of your priorities is reliability so you need to bear this in mind. Don't let your heart rule your head at this price level. If it's got hubcaps or original alloys and has a "granny smell" that's a good thing.
4. The dealers selling €3k are often dodgy, especially in Dublin. I wouldn't rule out looking at private sales as you can often find a gem and the sellers just wanna sell their cars to the highest bidder. In general they wouldn't know the first thing about clocking or any of that kind of thing and that's the kind of seller you wanna deal with.
NB: Many sellers pretend to be private but turn out to be semi legitimate dealers. There's an easy way to find out if they're bone fide or not. When you're making the initial phonecall ask about "the car for sale". Do not ask about a specific model! If they're a dodgy private dealer they'll ask "which car" which obviously means that they're pretending to be private. This is illegal and I wouldn't deal with a guy/girl like that unless I really knew my stuff.
5. The cars; I'd recommend a Corolla, a Civic or a Mazda 323. The latter tends to be cheaper than the other two but they're just as good as the other two and are often much better equipped. Look on carzone.ie and check 'em out.
Good luck.

coolbeans

Hey there.
Your best bet is definitely to go Japanese especially at your budget. I've a 1996 Honda civic myself with intergalactic mileage (1996) and it still goes like clockwork. My mother has a Mazda6 with 100,000 miles on it and the only thing that ever went wrong with it is the interior light bulb blew: once! I know that's out of your budget but I think you can see the point I'm making. Anyway what you need to do is the following.
1. Accept that many cars that cost around €3k in Ireland will in all likelihood not have a service history. Harsh but true.
2. Mileage or to be more succinct the accuracy of mileage is paramount. If that can be ascertained that can be a great bonus but again it can be a lottery. If you buy a car that's an English import this becomes less problematic as you can check the details of a car over the phone using the UK gov't endorsed HPI check . It costs £40 but it's worth it.
3. Go for a Mazda, Honda or Toyota. Make sure though that the object of your affections hasn't been modified though as this is often an indication of a fairly well worn car despite how funky it may look if it's been tarted up.
One of your priorities is reliability so you need to bear this in mind. Don't let your heart rule your head at this price level. If it's got hubcaps or original alloys and has a "granny smell" that's a good thing.
4. The dealers selling €3k are often dodgy, especially in Dublin. I wouldn't rule out looking at private sales as you can often find a gem and the sellers just wanna sell their cars to the highest bidder. In general they wouldn't know the first thing about clocking or any of that kind of thing and that's the kind of seller you wanna deal with.
NB: Many sellers pretend to be private but turn out to be semi legitimate dealers. There's an easy way to find out if they're bone fide or not. When you're making the initial phonecall ask about "the car for sale". Do not ask about a specific model! If they're a dodgy private dealer they'll ask "which car" which obviously means that they're pretending to be private. This is illegal and I wouldn't deal with a guy/girl like that unless I really knew my stuff.
5. The cars; I'd recommend a Corolla, a Civic or a Mazda 323. The latter tends to be cheaper than the other two but they're just as good as the other two and are often much better equipped. Look on carzone.ie and check 'em out.
Good luck.
PS: The insurance on a paseo or an MX3 will be sky high especially if you're under 25. Again harsh but true.

itarumaa

And of course, don´t buy Korean cars. Japanise is way to go.

bazz26

Mid to late 1990s Mazda 323F, ultra reliable, still stylish imo, insurance friendly compared to the MX-3, also more economical and spacious than a MX-3:

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=830087
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=640132

Caveat

coolbeans wrote: »

Hey there.
Your best bet is definitely to go Japanese especially at your budget. I've a 1996 Honda civic myself with intergalactic mileage (1996) and it still goes like clockwork. My mother has a Mazda6 with 100,000 miles on it and the only thing that ever went wrong with it is the interior light bulb blew: once! I know that's out of your budget but I think you can see the point I'm making. Anyway what you need to do is the following.
1. Accept that many cars that cost around €3k in Ireland will in all likelihood not have a service history. Harsh but true.
2. Mileage or to be more succinct the accuracy of mileage is paramount. If that can be ascertained that can be a great bonus but again it can be a lottery. If you buy a car that's an English import this becomes less problematic as you can check the details of a car over the phone using the UK gov't endorsed HPI check . It costs £40 but it's worth it.
3. Go for a Mazda, Honda or Toyota. Make sure though that the object of your affections hasn't been modified though as this is often an indication of a fairly well worn car despite how funky it may look if it's been tarted up.
One of your priorities is reliability so you need to bear this in mind. Don't let your heart rule your head at this price level. If it's got hubcaps or original alloys and has a "granny smell" that's a good thing.
4. The dealers selling €3k are often dodgy, especially in Dublin. I wouldn't rule out looking at private sales as you can often find a gem and the sellers just wanna sell their cars to the highest bidder. In general they wouldn't know the first thing about clocking or any of that kind of thing and that's the kind of seller you wanna deal with.
NB: Many sellers pretend to be private but turn out to be semi legitimate dealers. There's an easy way to find out if they're bone fide or not. When you're making the initial phonecall ask about "the car for sale". Do not ask about a specific model! If they're a dodgy private dealer they'll ask "which car" which obviously means that they're pretending to be private. This is illegal and I wouldn't deal with a guy/girl like that unless I really knew my stuff.
5. The cars; I'd recommend a Corolla, a Civic or a Mazda 323. The latter tends to be cheaper than the other two but they're just as good as the other two and are often much better equipped. Look on carzone.ie and check 'em out.
Good luck.
PS: The insurance on a paseo or an MX3 will be sky high especially if you're under 25. Again harsh but true.

Good post(s)

3ps

I would go for a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec. cheap to run/repair and the engine is great/nippy. Should be lots of choice too.

E92

A late 90's Fiesta is the best choice by a country mile, they're very simple mechanically speaking, which means when things do go wrong they're very cheap to fix, and are surprisingly comfortable and quiet too. The 1.3 engine is based on the Anglia's engine hence why I said it is so simple. The most popular LX model would have PAS, sunroof and a drivers airbag too, most cars of that size never had such things back in late 90s, and the Ghias even had aircon from 99 on:eek:!

cantdecide

chris85 wrote: »

Ok I am a student so only have 3000 euros to spend on getting a car. Was thinking bout getting one from the japanese makes, maybe mx3 or something like that. Shown below are what i need:

• Under 1.6L
• Under €3000
• Reliable
• Preferably Japanese

Any advice???

What kind of mileage are you doing? If you're doing any kind of mileage, forget about the hatches- they are uncomfortable, overpriced and lots of them don't have airbags or ABS

As posted- cars for this price range are a gamble but mazdas are such good value it defies belief sometimes.

Cars at €1500 are pretty much an identical gamble but tend just to be a little less desirable. If you REALLY can't afford to have an unreliable car and - how bout this http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=864850 not much of a looker but realistically, it's a good comfortable modern car with all the safety and toys you want, it doesn't have the compromise of hatchbacks and contrary to popular belief, it will only cost marginally more to run than a more modest car. Insurance is the same for you in most cars these days.

Hell, you can haggle it down further. If you got that car for €1300- you would have a budget of €1700 for repairs.

jus

<snip>

JHMEG

E92 wrote: »

The 1.3 engine is based on the Anglia's engine hence why I said it is so simple.

That's one of the most awful engines of modern times (which of course it's not). Pushrod and when it has a few miles on it what a racket. It makes diesels sound good. It really should have been killed off in the 50s.

An Almera is really the best balance of price, simplicity and reliability. Or a Carina E/early Avensis.

HungryJoey

I'm in the exact situation, while having around a 3K budget, I would like to stay as much below it as possible.

There is a 1.4 1999 Seat Ibiza for sale around my area ( seen an ad in tesco clip board ) would I be mad going for one of these as a first time car ? I havn't seen it yet, nor do I know the millage yet but presuming its not OTT would it be an alright buy for 1500 as advertised ?

Also looking at some 1.3 Colts for between 1500-3000, I'm sure being a Jap its reliable and I'm sure I'd be happy enough with one but it lacks a bit of something I recon Been driving my mothers 1.4 Leon I'm more of a european car man my self but I guess beggers can't be choosers. Any advice welcome

(Not meaning to hi-jack the thread)

EDIT: Looking at the 1.4L engine in the 1999 model ibiza, It looks like its an old 8v unit with 59Bhp. That's pretty poor, and I don't fancy the 1.0L bicycle engine Any thoughts? I may be wrong.

JHMEG

HungryJoey wrote: »

I'm in the exact situation, while having around a 3K budget, I would like to stay as much below it as possible.

Buying a car for 3k means an older car. Jap is really the only option if reliability is important.

The Colt is a fine car.

chris85

coolbeans wrote: »

Hey there.
Your best bet is definitely to go Japanese especially at your budget. I've a 1996 Honda civic myself with intergalactic mileage (1996) and it still goes like clockwork. My mother has a Mazda6 with 100,000 miles on it and the only thing that ever went wrong with it is the interior light bulb blew: once! I know that's out of your budget but I think you can see the point I'm making. Anyway what you need to do is the following.
1. Accept that many cars that cost around €3k in Ireland will in all likelihood not have a service history. Harsh but true.
2. Mileage or to be more succinct the accuracy of mileage is paramount. If that can be ascertained that can be a great bonus but again it can be a lottery. If you buy a car that's an English import this becomes less problematic as you can check the details of a car over the phone using the UK gov't endorsed HPI check . It costs £40 but it's worth it.
3. Go for a Mazda, Honda or Toyota. Make sure though that the object of your affections hasn't been modified though as this is often an indication of a fairly well worn car despite how funky it may look if it's been tarted up.
One of your priorities is reliability so you need to bear this in mind. Don't let your heart rule your head at this price level. If it's got hubcaps or original alloys and has a "granny smell" that's a good thing.
4. The dealers selling €3k are often dodgy, especially in Dublin. I wouldn't rule out looking at private sales as you can often find a gem and the sellers just wanna sell their cars to the highest bidder. In general they wouldn't know the first thing about clocking or any of that kind of thing and that's the kind of seller you wanna deal with.
NB: Many sellers pretend to be private but turn out to be semi legitimate dealers. There's an easy way to find out if they're bone fide or not. When you're making the initial phonecall ask about "the car for sale". Do not ask about a specific model! If they're a dodgy private dealer they'll ask "which car" which obviously means that they're pretending to be private. This is illegal and I wouldn't deal with a guy/girl like that unless I really knew my stuff.
5. The cars; I'd recommend a Corolla, a Civic or a Mazda 323. The latter tends to be cheaper than the other two but they're just as good as the other two and are often much better equipped. Look on carzone.ie and check 'em out.
Good luck.
PS: The insurance on a paseo or an MX3 will be sky high especially if you're under 25. Again harsh but true.

Great post coolbeans. saw an mx3 for 2300 and would prob get a few quid off that haggling. Gotta check it out, pics look good, engine is filthy but no apparent leaks just some dirt.

Diasagree bout the insurance for a paseo/mx3 being high. Owned a paseo before and insurance was quite low and was only 20. Expecting to pay 800-900 insurance on mx3 going by previous policies ive had.

I dont mind going for private sale and have an eye for dodgy dealers since buying a car last year. Can spot them a mile away. have a mate who has owned a good few jap cars (including mx3 which is great to drive) and he will be checking it out. he knows all them inside out.

Mazda 323 is nice but very boring. Have looked at many on carzone and nothing from any of the manufacturers is beating the mx3. Busy till the end of next week so will be trying to get out and look at some cars then.

My golden rule on buying a car this time is dont buy a Fiat Punto, Gf got one and its annoying me. Anyone who mentions one is going in the bad books