Downgrading - Advice needed!

ErinGoBrath

Hi all,

I'm currently driving a 00 Avensis 1.8L petrol saloon. At present I use the car once, maybe twice a week to go a short distance (under 5 miles per trip), the rest of the time it's sitting idle the lane behind the house.

It goes without saying that a smaller, more tax/emmission/fuel efficient car would be far more practical and less costly.

My question is which cars fall into this bracket? I'd like something reliable and not ugly to look at with a similar value to the Avensis.

Any suggestions? Help much appreciated! Thanks

EDIT: Removed Avensis value pending further research!

EPM

Like I said in another thread, no way is it worth €4k unfortunately. Maybe €2k if you're lucky as the 1.8 isn't very popular due to the (slightly) larger engine size. Us Irish love the smallest engine possible:D

But if you want something small and nippy a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec would be a wise buy. Best try sell the Avensis privately, as if you go to swap a dealer for a similarly valued car they will still want to make a few quid on the deal and I can see very few wanting to take in something that may be tough to sell.

Best of luck either way though

flanzer

You'd be going well to get €4000 for a 00 Avensis. Max €2000 in the current climate. Maybe a 02 Fiesta?

EDIT: Good man EPM, great minds think a like!

ErinGoBrath

Cheers for the advice! You just beat me to the edit!

Eoin

It goes without saying that a smaller, more tax/emmission/fuel efficient car would be far more practical and less costly.

It doesn't really go without saying, unless you can keep the cost of changing cars to an absolute minimum.

Edit - just to elaborate: I was doing the sums myself, as there is a chance my office might be moving locations.

My 25MPG car would cost up to €1500 or so more a year to run over a diesel car (1.6 to 2.0) - that includes tax as well. That sounds a lot, but the cost to change could easily take 2 years of those savings, plus my car is a known quantity having breezed through the NCT and received a full service.

I'm not saying that it's cheaper to run the bigger car, but just make sure you work out the figures before forking out for a car that you would consider a downgrade.

If you can find someone willing to do an upgrade to a larger car, then you might be able to get out of this with little or no cost.

colm_mcm

fuel efficency is hardly an issue if you do 6 miles a day.

peasant

ErinGoBrath wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm currently driving a 00 Avensis 1.8L petrol saloon. At present I use the car once, maybe twice a week to go a short distance (under 5 miles per trip), the rest of the time it's sitting idle the lane behind the house.

Sounds to me that it would be much cheaper to sell your car altogether. Get on your bike and take a taxi when the weather is against you (2000 € worth of old Avensis buys a lot of taxi rides and you have no fixed costs like tax/insurance)

bazz26

Unless the car is falling apart I would say keep it. The cost to change even to something smaller will tax and fill it for a year or two more.

benj

EPM wrote: »

Like I said in another thread, no way is it worth €4k unfortunately. Maybe €2k if you're lucky as the 1.8 isn't very popular due to the (slightly) larger engine size. Us Irish love the smallest engine possible:D

But if you want something small and nippy a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec would be a wise buy. Best try sell the Avensis privately, as if you go to swap a dealer for a similarly valued car they will still want to make a few quid on the deal and I can see very few wanting to take in something that may be tough to sell.

Best of luck either way though

totally agree ...1.25 zetec great little car

kuro_man

Tax on Avensis is €551 p.a. A pre-2008 1.25L Fiesta (probably the best option) cost €310 p.a. so saving are only €241 p.a. but Toyota is bigger and more flexible.
As your mileage is so low, fuel economy won't make any difference.

Keep the Toyota unless you hate it.

ErinGoBrath

Thanks for all the advice, some very interesting points both for and against changing the car.

Weighing up the pro's and con's of each I think I'm going to stick with it for now. Checked out the insurance premium on a 1.25 Zetec and there's not really a substancial difference in the amount, well not enough to justify changing!

Thanks again for the advice on this!

seachto7

sell the car, get a bike or scooter, then rent a car if you want to go on a road trip somewhere...