Reliable car up to 10 000 EUR

romek95

Hi there,
Recently started to look for my first car here in Ireland. The car I am looking for will be mainly used for commuting to work, approx. 40km daily and around 100km on the weekends for a trip, shopping etc kind of driving. Those KM will be made on mixed roads, at least half of them on M50 (motorway driving). As calculated, there will be around 16 000 KM done every year.
My budget is up to 10 000 EUR.
Also, due do my age I am still considered young driver and need to pay huge premiums on insurance. That is excluding cars with huge engines.

So far, I considered the following cars:
- Skoda Fabia 1.0 - can find 151-161 cars with low mileage (30-60k KM)
- Skoda Rapid 1.2 - pretty nice car, "cheap octavia" with low/medium mileage (60k, no more than 100k)
- Opel Astra 1.3 - 131 with low/medium mileage (60k, no more than 100k KM)
- Opel Insignia 2.0 Ecoflex - this is a surprise for me, one of the cheapest quotes for insurance. Has to be 2.0 Ecoflex diesel, but the problem is high mileage with those cars in that budget (starting at 100k-160k KM).

The car has to be reliable and if something happens, the cost of repairs have to be relatively low. I am looking to keep that car for at least 5 years and in this time make approx. 80-100k KM.

I don't mind spending 200-300 EUR once a year to get the car properly serviced (all filters, oils etc).

Also, I am looking to buy a car from a used car dealer to get at least 2 year warranty on it. Do you have any experience with those warranties given by dealers?

Could you please advise on this as I couldn't find any answers for that question anywhere & please feel free to throw your ideas how to solve the problem I have at the moment.
Usually people are not comparing 1.0l petrol Fabia to 2.0l diesel Insignia.

Last question, would you invest 10k in a car that has 150-180k KM on the clock such as Opel Insignia/Skoda Octavia? Lets say car was properly serviced as advised by a car dealership.

Many thanks for your help!

bear1

I wouldn't go near the insignia.
Serious engine issues with them.
Would you consider a hybrid? If you stopped your criteria you could probably get a good deal on a Lexus but around the 2006/7 mark

seannash

Hyundai i20,
I imported one from the UK a few months ago. 151 reg, 28k on the clock. Very high spec. All told it cost 11k

Lower specs sound be cheaper and get you under the 10k mark

bear1

Would you manage a polo or golf tsi for that budget?

bazz26

What about a Toyota Prius hybrid, probably the most reliable car out there for that money.

0lddog

Good chance you could pickup a Nissan Leaf, maybe a year or two older than you are thinking. V. reliable. Would save over 1k per year on fuel. If you use tolls then there would be further saving there. The guys over on the EV forum will fill you in.

Good Luck

Shefwedfan

With your mileage requirement I would look at electric. You could get low mileage Leaf or Zoe for that type of money.

Tax is cheap, fuel is cheap. Insurance is cheaper than a petrol/diesel equivalent. The public charging system is still free is not really reliable. If you have a house with driveway you can install a home charge point, a grant of 600 euro will help with installation. If you are savy you should get the point installed for that or very close to it.....

Could be worth a look at......

Service costs are low. Less moving parts to standard car so less to go wrong. No oil changes etc. My recent service was software updates :-)

Going from previous threads, buy 5 00 Almeras, 3 Corollas and 2 Yaris. At least two of them will outlive us all.

Shefwedfan

If buying second hand, most dealers will give 3 or 6 months warranty. This is for gearbox/clutch etc.....

Unless you are buying from a main dealer, they might offer more. I got A6 with a 1 year warranty but bought from Audi. If it is high mileage then you wont be able to buy from main dealer. So the smaller dealers will only want to offer 3 months.

romek95

Many thanks for all those replies. From my position, I am not looking for an electric car so I would rather stick with "normal" cars.

i20 & Polo - I am considering them at the moment.

Any more suggestions? What about Fabia & Rapid? Heard many good opinions about Skoda.

Thank you!

bear1

Do anything for You?

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/vauxhall-insignia-petrol-1-4-immaculate-condition/19098287

Shefwedfan

Skoda is a cut down VW....if going that direction I would prefer the Seats to be honest to a skoda.....closer to the original

With your mileage requirements I wouldn’t touch a diesel....petrol/hybrid/phev/Electric are best options

No idea why you think Electric is not a normal car? It’s just a car with electric engine, nothing else is different

Electric cars at the moment are holding value better than any other car....in fact I got Leaf for family member last year and if I sold now I could make 2k on price I bought for last year