A new comfy economical Auto

unkel

BrianD3 wrote: »

are you planning on trading in your Corolla? You say it's "new" is it a 08, and if so is it a pre or post July car?

It's January '07. See post #22

Esel

BrianD3 wrote: »

You say it's "new" is it a 08, and if so is it a pre or post July car?

As unkel pointed out, it's '07. But pre- or post-July '08 makes no difference, pre-July can opt for CO2-based road tax at next renewal.

BrianD3

Pre or post July makes a difference for VRT though. A new Corolla D4D is cheaper now than it was pre July. This affects the trade in value of a pre July car.

matsil

Yes, it will effect the trade, unfortunately - but I guess thats just tough really, coz there's nothing I can do about it.......

Lexus - slightly outside my budget I'm afraid...... not that there is a "budget" as such...... but even if I had one that would be well outside......

Cheers

Matt

matsil

Incidentally - does anyone know how much the run flat tyres cost on a BMW 3 series - the standards that come on the SE model - their either 16's or 17's..... not sure.

I'm imagining they'll cost a small firtune - got a price of €110 a piece for Bridgestones on my corolla (16's).

E92

I'd be going for the Ford.

Could anyone ring up Ford and point to the stupidity of them not bringing in a 134 bhp variant of the 2.0 TDCi, now that we no longer tax cars on engine size?

Tbh OP if comfort is more your thing you'd be best served by Volvo.

BMWs are about driving, not about comfort.

I agree with the thing about depreciation - you need something German if you want low depreciation. I would have said something Japanese but I'm not aware of any Jap diesel Auto.

The OP should be hoping to be a very good offer on his trade in - diesel Corollas are like gold dust at the moment and I'm led to believe that there's a 3 month waiting list for a new one(you'd think given that we were told 7 months in advance of the VRT changes that Toyota would have solved this problem ages ago but their loss is someone else's gain, namely Ford who have been outselling Toyota for the past month by quite a margin too) so that should help soften the blow that is first year depreciation in a car.

thebop

Think 318 tyres cost around 180

See thread below for a few nice speced 318iSE Models on Carzone at present

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055352529

Seweryn

matsil wrote: »

Yes, it will effect the trade, unfortunately - but I guess thats just tough really, coz there's nothing I can do about it.......

Lexus - slightly outside my budget I'm afraid...... not that there is a "budget" as such...... but even if I had one that would be well outside......

Why would you not buy a proper, comfortable and reliable car, like for example Mercedes-Benz made around early '90? I know, it would take a while to pick a good one, but then you are sorted with plenty of money left in your pocket. And no matter how fuel (un)efficient this car would be, you wouldn't spend as much on fuel and service (oils, etc.) than you would lose on value depreciation of the brand new car. That is just my point.

matsil

Thanks guys.

Yes, the volvo's are lovely. I have a D5 Volvo V50 on hire a few months back in the UK - I was a little disappointed with the unrefined nature of the engine to be honest, but I would be looking at the much lower poered 2 litre, which should be quieter etc.........

Ford - I was looking again at the spec - to be honest, I'd feel a bit shafted getting the mickey mouse version of the 2.0 turbo diesel...... kind of annoyed that as usual, the Irish consumer is getting stuffed.....

Older car - for a couple of reasons, I am reluctant to go down that route..... for one, I got burned on a used BMW a few years back..... well not so much burned, as very disappointed.... ltos of silly little things went wrong - it was back at the garage very month. I am the type that I like things to "work" as they are intended...... and I get very annoyed when they don't. I also like the "feel" of a "new" car - it sort f has a preciousness about it..... flakey I know, but I can't help the way they feel..... and then I am a bit of a technology buff.... and I am a bit of a victim to marketing to..... and I am VERY safety conscious and put alot of value on things with ABS and traction control, ESP, air bags etc....... and alot of the older Mercs etc. really don't do well on the safety stakes...... you'd be better off in a yaris than a late 90's C class merc...... they all combine to make me feel compelled to buy something new, or nearly new - in spite if it being insane in terms of the money you loose etc.

Cheers,

Matt

E92

matsil wrote: »

Yes, the volvo's are lovely. I have a D5 Volvo V50 on hire a few months back in the UK - I was a little disappointed with the unrefined nature of the engine to be honest, but I would be looking at the much lower poered 2 litre, which should be quieter etc.........

Oh dear - I know that it has been criticised for not being as good as 6 cylinder rivals but should be a much smoother engine than your standard 4 cylinder engine. There is no physical way possible unless somebody has managed to defy the laws of physics that a 4 pot can be as smooth as a 5 pot. If anything 5 cylinder engines are supposed to be nearly as good as straight 6 engines for refinement. OTOH being a diesel it can never have the smoothness of a comparable petrol.

matsil wrote: »

Ford - I was looking again at the spec - to be honest, I'd feel a bit shafted getting the mickey mouse version of the 2.0 turbo diesel...... kind of annoyed that as usual, the Irish consumer is getting stuffed.....

Yup, we get this all the time, being offered pint sized 1.6s in Avensis, Mondeo etc when in Britain the default engine in this category was the 1.8 but now the standard engine is a 2.0 diesel in that segment with around 130-150 bhp depending on the car. Though the Irish consumer clearly wants it as is evident by the amount of 1.6 Avensis that were sold and the fact that BMW brought in a 1.6 litre 3 series specially for us(which has thankfully been withdrawn because of the VRT changes).

Now with the new VRT rules we may hopefully end up choosing the same model as in the UK, certainly I'm not aware of any "Irish specials" when it comes to diesel engines thus far; it should be noted that the new Insignia's entry diesel model will be a 130 bhp 2.0 both here and in the UK(in the continent a less powerful 110 bhp 2.0 will also be offered but we'll be spared of it at least) so hopefully it will remain the case that they don't go importing special low powered models for us.

biggus

Try a test drive in a Prius, very high safety standards very little maintenence ,brake pads can last 100,000 miles very comfortable and relaxing to drive and low depreciation. check out priuschat.com to see what owners say. The only automatic i think in the lowest tax class.

matsil

E92 wrote: »

Oh dear - I know that it has been criticised for not being as good as 6 cylinder rivals but should be a much smoother engine than your standard 4 cylinder engine. There is no physical way possible unless somebody has managed to defy the laws of physics that a 4 pot can be as smooth as a 5 pot. If anything 5 cylinder engines are supposed to be nearly as good as straight 6 engines for refinement. OTOH being a diesel it can never have the smoothness of a comparable petrol.


Yup, we get this all the time, being offered pint sized 1.6s in Avensis, Mondeo etc when in Britain the default engine in this category was the 1.8 but now the standard engine is a 2.0 diesel in that segment with around 130-150 bhp depending on the car. Though the Irish consumer clearly wants it as is evident by the amount of 1.6 Avensis that were sold and the fact that BMW brought in a 1.6 litre 3 series specially for us(which has thankfully been withdrawn because of the VRT changes).

Now with the new VRT rules we may hopefully end up choosing the same model as in the UK, certainly I'm not aware of any "Irish specials" when it comes to diesel engines thus far; it should be noted that the new Insignia's entry diesel model will be a 130 bhp 2.0 both here and in the UK(in the continent a less powerful 110 bhp 2.0 will also be offered but we'll be spared of it at least) so hopefully it will remain the case that they don't go importing special low powered models for us.

Maybe the volvo I drove was just hammered or something - but getting into it for the first time, there was as big a difference between that and my D4D corolla as there is between the D4D and a standard 1.4 petrol!

I'd say with the new tax regime, I'd say the days of 1.6's in big saloons are numbered.

The idea that some engines are "de-tuned" simply to create a difference in horse power so they can charge you more for the higher powered one is commercially disgusting in my view - something which on principle I will not swallow - at least not "readily" swallow anyway. If they tune an engine up, to get mroe power out of it, and then charge you for that - its fair enough...... subaru WRX / STi for example....... but visa versa is sickening.

superjosh9

I drove a D5 in the new Volvo V70 - I thought it was very good and I was surprised how quiet it was, especially at idle. Maybe it has better noise insulation than the V50?

The only other diesel I've driven in recent times is the ubiquitous 1.9 VW TDI 130 in the Skoda Superb. It was like driving a tractor.

In terms of refinement, I suspect that the 2.0D in the Volvo would be more like the VW TDI than the D5, which as mentioned, is supposedly not far a 6.

Zube

I recall reading in CAR magazine that they found the D5 engine and Volvo's autobox were a bad match, they recommended getting the manual.

superjosh9

think they were just claiming that the autobox will sap power.

I drove an auto D5, it was fine. In the real world, any reduction in performance is not really that noticeable.