Recommend a petrol car max €18k budget

adocholiday

I'm looking to do a major upgrade from my 02 M-sport BMW 318ci. The car has served me well for 3 years and there's only 118k miles on it but the timing chain is rattling and there's an oil leak that needs fixing, both of which will cost €1200 to put right and the car is only worth 2k.

The problem I'm having is that I do small mileage - in the last 12 months I've done 7k miles. I do a number of pretty short journeys midweek and the only long drives I do is a spin down the country once every 2 or 3 weeks so I think a diesel would be a poor choice.

Can anyone recommend a good petrol option for up to €18k? I'd be hoping to hold onto it for a few years so don't mind spending cash now on a good reliable car. Preferably something comfortable, reasonable to maintain, and I prefer a bigger car so a coupé or saloon would be the preference. Smallest car I would consider is a Ford Focus.

Many thanks

bazz26

Audi A5:
http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Audi/A5/2.0TFSI-180/6250654876622876415/
http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Audi/A5/2.0-TFSi/6874155682299653475/

The Guvnor

A5 is a good shout.

Also I really do agree with you re: a Petrol not a diesel.

On my travels I find in a lot of cases a Petrol equivalent is usually lower mileage, better spec and better value!

How new do you have to be on the car and would an import be ok?

Lots of choice with your budget.

grogi

Giulietta Turbo Benzina 170PS... Hard to get one here, you'd have to make a trip...

http://www.carshop.co.uk/used-car/ALFA%20ROMEO/GIULIETTA/FH13CYS

Carpentry

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/audi-a5-2-0-tfsi-multitronic/12613078

adocholiday

Thanks for the input all. That last one is a nice car but €16,500 is a bit more than I'd be willing to spend on a 7/8 year old car. The problem I'm seeing at the moment really is the lack of good choice outside of the Audi/BMW range.

Cars like a Ford Mondeo, Mazda 6, VW Passat CC would be more my preference, but there's 1 petrol model for every hundred diesels and it's quite difficult to find good ones at that. I went to see a 2014 Mondeo last week and it looked like it was days from completely falling apart.

The A5 is a really lovely car and so are the 3 or 5 series BMWs; but the problem with those is, and this is speaking from experience, when things go wrong with them it costs a small fortune to fix. And I'm no stranger to turning my hand to jobs like brake pads/disks, various suspension components etc.

Is my only real option at this stage to start looking up north or across the water? Or would it be worth just buying a diesel at this stage?

tossy

At an 18k budget with that kind of mileage i'd be buying something fun/different/sporty/fast and RWd or 4WD

NIMAN

Why not just put in limits on one of the used car websites and see whats available within your range?

Here is CarsIreland, petrol, between 15k - 20k
http://www.carsireland.ie/search-results.php?min_price=15000&max_price=20000&fuel_type_id=1&per_page=50

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search
You'll need to Modify that search yourself to add PETROL and your PRICE LIMITS, they aren't stored when you copy the link,

and Carzone, petrol, between 17k - 17999
http://www.carzone.ie/search/result/cars/min-price/17000/max-price/17999/fuel-type/petrol

The Guvnor

I'd be looking at the options across the water tbh.

Ryath

You probably are best looking across the water alright. I'm in same boat but looking for a petrol estate. Even across the water the choice is limited in bigger petrol cars and a lot of what you can find are under powered 1.2tsi and the like.

Most common D segment petrol car I'd say is the Mondeo 1.6 157 bhp ecoboost. A 2012/13 Titanium or Titanium X would be under budget. Don't what the engine is like though, specs on paper look good but would concerned with the longevity of it. Would love a 2L eccoboost but the high CO2 just pushes the tax to high.

VAG 1.8 and 2.0 TSI have much lower CO2 ratings but seem very rare.

Really like the look of the Mazda 6 Sport Nav 2L petrol 163bhp and in the €280 tax band, Seriously well speced xenons leather etc. Come in Saloon too not too many of them around either though. Little over my budget but might be just in yours. If I go any higher I think I may as well go for a low % PCP on a new car.

http://beta.parkers.co.uk/mazda/6/estate/20-sport-nav-5d/for-sale/usedcfs-450754542848692/
http://beta.parkers.co.uk/mazda/6/for-sale/?_qs=TigoUmFuZ2VNb2RlbFdpdGhZZWFycywnNiAoMTMgb24pJyksKERlcml2YXRpdmVOYW1lLCcyLjAgU3BvcnQgTmF2IDRkJyksKEZ1ZWxUeXBlLCdQZXRyb2wnKSlSTihFbmdpbmVTaXplR3JvdXAsMi4wLDEwMDAwLjAp