Help Deciding On a used car in the 09 budget 11k

Westwood

Hey guys. Need help deciding on a used car in the 09 market budget of around 11k cash. (I know its not much but thats whats on the table) Its actually for my Girlfriend who currently owns a piece of crap 00 fiat punto (which you couldn’t trade in) on its last legs (might get scrappage) and she needs a decent motor to start the new year. so its been left to me (Mr know it all :rolleyes:) and ive been racking my brains and number crunching the last few days and its becoming very stressful :mad:

3 options I can see and that are Honda civic around 05 , a VW golf around 04-05 maybe from England and an Audi a3 around 03-04 possibly again from England all around the 1.6 petrol mark. Never owned a diesel nor did she but I see the vrt charges are around a grand less on those particular models. Any advantage of a 1.9td over a 1.6 petrol besides fuel costs? They’ll still have higher tax and insurance I assume?

we thought about a 50/50 option with the likes of Kia. pro_ceeds are like 22k here 12 upfront deposit and 12k in 2011 but for god sake you can get an 08 in the north cash for £10k so its crazy thinking of doing that. Opel are also doing similar offers but who wants an Astra for 22k?

Ive rang around a few other manufacturers and nobody else seems to be doing similar offers in the New Year. Would hate to buy and next thing they're giving them away for half price due to the industry collapse. as I heard in Belgium when you buy a 20k car they're giving you a 8k car for free which is pretty remarkable and might catch on over here if things stay the same.

She’s basically looking for power (around 1.6 and up) and comfort and something that’s gonna hold its value for a couple of years when she goes to trade it back in. and if we didn’t have to go to England over the xmas all the better, so id appreciate some advice and some good solid suggestions . Cheers beers

handbraker

all 3 are good cars, though your girlfriend would probably prefer the golf or A3, if i were you i would sit tight to Feb/March and see what happens with the dealers and trades coming through. lots of dealers thinking of exiting the market but waiting to see what new year brings. could be some great bargains to be had if business don't pic up

Westwood

Hey thanks for your post handbraker, Thats my thinking also is to hold off as long as possible. Only problem is this piece of ****ing bananas of a fiat punto is crawling sideways down the road with electrical, engine and suspension faults and what not and I can see it giving up the ghost pretty soon. Also its 1 months out of NCTand will cost €1,000 to rectify which would be retarded doing. Theirs also the possibility of the guards pulling her and seizing the car for no current NCT don’t want that to happen either leaving her with nothing. Decisions decisions :mad:

Notch000

no many car will hold there values the way things are going,
remember kids a cars for keeps now not just for christmas.

caze

I'd seriously consider something like this in your position from UK....

http://www.autoquake.com/vehicle/inspid=8475

with the strong euro at the moment this can be on Irish plates for approx €9100. Low miles and a decent spec, 3 door Focus Zetec, november 05 car. Spend the other 2 grand on a good holiday in the summer!!

Ferris

10k will buy an '03 318ci with leather from Merlin Auctions. It'll get good mpg and is very reliable and safe. Avoid dealer servicing with a good indy mechanic and you'd be onto a good thing. Its what my GF's gonna do when shes changing her car.

Anan1

Ferris wrote: »

10k will buy an '03 318ci with leather from Merlin Auctions. It'll get good mpg and is very reliable and safe. Avoid dealer servicing with a good indy mechanic and you'd be onto a good thing. Its what my GF's gonna do when shes changing her car.

I dunno, the Focus is newer, much safer, and cheaper both to buy and to service. The 318Ci's image would also bother some buyers, that's something the OP would have to check with his girlfriend.

Westwood

Cool replies. Thanks guys. With regards to the focus I didn’t really give them a second thought due to the fact the second hand market is a wash with them here. and considering you can get 08 models in the uk for like £7000 something doesn’t seem right :eek:

im not sure on specs or models in the focus range but is the zetec climate pack the best of the bunch? heres a nice 07 for very little money and these are two a penny it seems
http://autolocate.co.uk/usedcar/?VehicleType=CAR&VehicleID=4255&SubscriberID=84209&SearchParams=b5f1638Baj1aj1aj1j1j1j1j1j1j1j1aab4eE0ECe3D0E1010aa10b3CAR0j1110a0a0a0a0a0a0a1aj1j1&persist_SubscriberID=91019&persist_PostalTown=28

With regard to the 03 beamer im sure everyone would love one at one stage including me but it doesn’t seem practical for her what with higher running costs in comparison to a 1.6 for instance. And higher insurance and tax etc. which will only be a runner into work and the supermarket and home to cook my dinner :pac: But sure I'll say it to her and see what she thinks. Might be a good car to run into the ground in style, you could save a bit of face in the process. Thanks for the option

smash

Go to Merlin car auctions. as I posted earlier this week, a 06 5dr black Golf Sportline sold for €9,300 last Wednesday.

HootieMcBoobie

I bought a 2006 nissan primera T spec this week for just over 11k, it has some great features, leather interior, all electrics, heated seats, and the best thing for women drivers (and I'm a woman so no rebukes!) an LCD screen that shows the output from a camera just located above the registration on the back when you put it in reverse! I never saw one of those before..very cool. The LCD in normal mode is used for a number of functions like checking how much further before you'll run out of petrol.

I got a 1.6 engine, 40 on the clock and a years warranty so you might manage to bargain a bit better than I did and get one for 11k in the new year

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-and-driving/nissan

Darragh29

steve06 wrote: »

Go to Merlin car auctions. as I posted earlier this week, a 06 5dr black Golf Sportline sold for €9,300 last Wednesday.

Bring 11K down to an auction and you'll do extremely well... 11K cash is a lot right now, but wait til the end of January is my advice but stick your toe into the market now to see what's out there in the auctions...

run_Forrest_run

steve06 wrote: »

Go to Merlin car auctions. as I posted earlier this week, a 06 5dr black Golf Sportline sold for €9,300 last Wednesday.

Don't ya really need to know a bit about cars to really benefit from those auctions? I mean ya can't take them for a test drive, is this true?

E92

Anan1 wrote: »

I dunno, the Focus is newer, much safer, and cheaper both to buy and to service. The 318Ci's image would also bother some buyers, that's something the OP would have to check with his girlfriend.

Ferris is talking about the E46 though, which has 6 airbags and a 4 star NCAP safety rating(which was the maximum that could be achieved when the E46 was tested), not the E36:)!

It will of course be dearer to run, but it will be worth it:)!

That said the Focus is still an outstanding car, and there is nothing wrong with choosing one of these at all, with the very important proviso that it is a 1.6 and hope that piece of crap 1.4. Head and shoulders above its rivals in 1.6 guise though!

smash

I know someone that paid 13k for a 05 Golf comfortline a few weeks ago from a dealer.

I'd rather spend 9,300 on a 06 sportline and then bring it for a service and even if it was 10k all in - you're saving serious money!

I might as well throw in the focus since everyone seems to be obsessed with them - there's a lot of them going through the auctions.

Darragh29

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Don't ya really need to know a bit about cars to really benefit from those auctions? I mean ya can't take them for a test drive, is this true?

Ye can't test drive a car at an auction but you can call down in the daytime before the auction and check out the car, you can also get the reg before hand and do a finance check and all that, and you can also have a look under the bonnet when the car is running as it is being queued up for the auction, just before the bidding starts on that particular car.

I see lads down in Wilsons Auctions on the Naas Road buying for resale through a dealer and they'll have a quick look, bodywork repair is easy enough to cop, they'll have a quick check around the car and a look at the engine. You'd know whether your buying a decent car or not after a bit of time spent looking at the car and weighing it up.

Ferris

E92 wrote: »

Ferris is talking about the E46 though, which has 6 airbags and a 4 star NCAP safety rating(which was the maximum that could be achieved when the E46 was tested), not the E36:)!

It will of course be dearer to run, but it will be worth it:)!

I consider the metal content of a car over NCAP to be honest, worthwhile as NCAP is. Also the op mentioned residuals, which are crap on all cars but a BMW will hold better value than a Focus.

Also the 16v 2L engine is very economical in manual guise. 45+ mpg on a long run is achievable.

Certainly pick both a focus or a 3 series over a 1.6 A3.

Anan1

E92 wrote: »

Ferris is talking about the E46 though, which has 6 airbags and a 4 star NCAP safety rating(which was the maximum that could be achieved when the E46 was tested), not the E36:)!

It will of course be dearer to run, but it will be worth it:)!

Have a look at the euroncap test results for the E46, they're quite worrying. I was thinking of an E46 330d a couple of years ago, until I saw them. Check the 2004 on Focus while you're there - the difference is bigger than I thought it would be.

Westwood

Some interesting ideas cheers. Maybe the auctions might be a good place to spend a couple of days at over the xmas. ive been there years back where my sister bought a heap of scrap automatic Volvo. oh what a heap of scrap that was lol. I know you gotta bid with your eyes, and I suppose their isnt many dealers attending them much these days or if they are they're just bidding on their bread and butter stuff. so the little tinker has a chance of securing something half nice :pac:

Darragh29

Westwood wrote: »

Some interesting ideas cheers. Maybe the auctions might be a good place to spend a couple of days at over the xmas. ive been there years back where my sister bought a heap of scrap automatic Volvo. oh what a heap of scrap that was lol. I know you gotta bid with your eyes, and I suppose their isnt many dealers attending them much these days or if they are they're just bidding on their bread and butter stuff. so the little tinker has a chance of securing something half nice :pac:

Well what's making auctions so attractive now is the sheer number of repo cars available, the banks just want rid of them, many have no reserve price. These cars are typically not old or bangers, just owners could not afford to keep them to they are repo'd and then auctioned...

Do-more

I've been looking for a car for the wife the last few weeks, with 11 grand you could have something like this '08 Focus 1.8 Tdci on the road, just!

VRT is just €3165, you should of course get a discount for a cash sale which should pay for the flight and ferry to bring it home.

There's actually a poor enough selection on the trader at the moment, a few weeks back there was a great selection of '08 focus' with under 10K on the clock for around £7,500 mostly at Ford main dealers.

She'll have a nearly new car economical to run with the €150 a year road tax.

E92

If you're getting a Focus from the UK, then don't bother with the 1.8 TDCi - there is a 1.6 TDCi that is 9 mpg better on juice, and despite a little less power is a much nicer engine to drive as well.

Best of all the facelifted 1.6 TDCis are in band A for VRT so that means €104 on tax:)!

bazz26

E92 wrote: »

If you're getting a Focus from the UK, then don't bother with the 1.8 TDCi - there is a 1.6 TDCi that is 9 mpg better on juice, and despite a little less power is a much nicer engine to drive as well.

Best of all the facelifted 1.6 TDCis are in band A for VRT so that means €104 on tax:)!

Or better still if going for a UK 08 Focus go for the 2.0 TDCi with 136bhp.

Westwood

Ok ive finally decided that ill go for the 08 new facelift focus model from the uk thanks to you guys. prob gonna cost more but seem to be the best car for the buck in the category, new is new, and its actually quite attractive (so gf says :rolleyes:)
so theirs 4 engine types as mentioned and also the ECOnetic version of the 1.6 TDCi which uses an enhanced aero package and other mods to offer 65.6mpg on the combined cycle and CO2 of just 114g/km which seem pretty amazing. or as mentioned go for The 2.0-litre TDCi as tested manages an official fuel consumption figure of 51.3mpg and CO2 of 144g/km - reasonable figures considering the sprightly performance. or perhaps go the 1.6 straight petrol route and forget diesel totally. I really can’t decide as im the most indecisive person in the world when it comes to this stuff, so please tell me which one to buy lol

Anan1

The ECOnetic, if the price is right. Coming out of the Punto any of them is going to feel quick to your gf, so get the one that makes the most financial sense.

Westwood

Cheers Anan1, they seem pretty rare at the moment especially up north, and will probably be the top end of the price. I also read that ride isn’t as good due to skinny wheels and other differences also the mpg isn’t realistically better it seems. so think im gonna give that a miss but wondered on how noticeable a difference would 90ps and 109ps be in comparison to these models?

2004–present Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi 90, 90 PS (89 hp/66 kW) and 159 ft·lbf (215 N·m)
2004–present Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi 110, 109 PS (108 hp/80 kW) and 177 ft·lbf (240 N·m)