CompleteCar
Ask Us Anything

Send us your motoring question in the form below







Read our privacy policy here
(We don't do stuff we shouldn't with your details)

Should I consider the Peugeot 206 as a first car?

I currently have an option to buy a three-door 1.1-litre Peugeot 206 for €1,100. The car has 79,000km, from 2002, NCT until March and no tax. It looks in good condition outside from just a few pictures. Do you think this is good value? Similarly there is a five-door version with 94,000km, NCT until May from year 2000. It will be my first time buying a car and I don't have much experience with cars really so is there anything I should be particularly worried about/need to check?

John Finnerty (Dublin)

Jan 2015 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


Should I worry about buying a high-performance press car?

Am looking at buying a used performance car; the one thing though that is slightly bothering me is the fact that it was a press car for the launch of the car at the start of 2014. Should I be concerned that it was driven hard and also what would the story be with the warranty etc? Would I be the first owner on the car as well?

Simon MacMahon (Dublin)

Jan 2015 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


Can you recommend a sturdy safe small car?

Can you recommend a sturdy safe small car? I'm driving a Nissan Micra and would like to upgrade to a stronger but not much bigger car.

Bridget Whelan (Wexford)

Jan 2015 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


Will a Skoda Superb suit my needs?

I want to buy a diesel car for a round trip daily commute of 160km, which is mainly motorway. As I have neck/back problems I want to pick up a comfortable and somewhat luxurious car. I was thinking the Skoda Superb Elegance Greenline 2 (2011), as I have a budget after haggling of about €16.5k. Do you think this is a good choice or do you have an alternative to this? And what is your opinion on private vs dealer sale of the type of car I'm going for?

Alice Gervin Dwyer (Dun Laoghaire)

Jan 2015 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


Would a high-mileage, private Octavia be ok?

Hello there, would a Skoda Octavia (1.4/1.6 petrol 2005-2007) be worth buying? Especially with a higher mileage of 150,000km and more? And would it be risky buying from a private seller? Dealers are dear...

Thank you very much for your answer

Rasti

Rasti Jevcak (Ennis)

Jan 2015 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


It's going to cost a fortune to repair my car - what to do?

How's this for an early Xmas present? I've just picked up my 2008 Ford Mondeo 1.8 TDCi from my dealer where it was in for its annual service. As usual they were giving me a report on how the service went and unfortunately they had to advise me that I'm going to need a lot of work done to my car, which I wasn't expecting.

Because of rust, repairs have to be made to the fuel tank, exhaust system (including a new catalytic convertor), the timing belt and a few other bits and pieces. All in all it's going to cost me over €3k. I've been with this dealer for a while and any work on the car was always done through them, so I trust them when they say the work is urgent. As the car has 193,000km on the clock I was expecting the timing belt to need replacing in the near future, but the other repairs have floored me. The car has always been dealer serviced. I had been planning on changing the car later this year, but now I'm not sure what to do. I could repair the car, but that will push back my plans to change the car and I'm taking the risk that nothing else would go wrong, while my car would continue to lose value.

Alternatively I could bring forward my plans to change, and hope the €3k in repairs that would have to be discounted against the trade in value by the dealer would still leave me in a position to do a deal. Any advice you could give would be appreciated.

Just to give you a good laugh, the weekend before I got the car serviced, my wife had ordered a new MINI Countryman to replace her Ford C-Max. We can't back out of that deal now. Had I gotten the service a week earlier, we could at least have postponed changing her car to replace mine! Timing is everything, I suppose...

Martin Moroney (Dublin)

Dec 2014 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


Fuel-stretching killed my BMW - what will I do?

Hi, we have a 2005 BMW 116i that ground to halt last week and turns out to be its dodgy petrol that caused the problem (i.e. petrol stretching ). We have been quoted anywhere from €1,500 to €4,000 to fit a new engine. At this stage would we be better to try and sell it as is or try and get it fixed as it has been a very problematic car.

Also thinking of buying a2006 Hyundai Coupé: what do you think?

Ruairi Mc Carthy (Mullagh Co Cavan)

Dec 2014 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


What SUV to go for with up to €18,000 to spend?

What you think about the 2010 BMW X1? First baby on the way and looking for a crossover/SUV between €15,000 and €18,000.

Gavin Kane (Meath )

Dec 2014 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


What €12,000 estate should I go for?

I am thinking of buying an estate car as I need the extra space. Seems to be a lot of Astras out there, but want to get something fairly good with a budget of €12k-ish. Recommend anything in particular?

Jonny Jackson (Tallaght)

Dec 2014 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


Ford Mondeo or Volkswagen Passat?

Hoping to buy a 2.0-litre diesel estate and need to decide between 2010 Passat (high spec) and 2011 Mondeo (lower spec). Similar mileage and price. I spend a lot of time on the road.

Any suggestions?

Diarmuid Crowley (Limerick)

Dec 2014 Filed under: choosing used car

Read our answer...


5,277 Irish motoring queries answered to date

On CompleteCar.ie there is no such thing as a silly question. No matter how small or complicated an issue seems, we'll do our best to help. Our experts will quickly answer your queries in a friendly and jargon-free manner.

Please remember that we offer advice, not gospel. We cannot be held responsible for recalls, a second hand car's history, 'acts of God', changes in car pricing or Government policy. We are here to help and offer independent, impartial and free advice. What you do with it is entirely up to you.

By submitting a question you are agreeing to this statement. Thank you.

CompleteCar.ie aims to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), implemented on 25 May, 2018. At no stage shall we contact you without your express permission (by entering your email address, you are consenting for us to send you emails relating directly to your question).

Your data will never be shared with a third party and it is kept in a secure database on our servers, with limited personnel access.

You have the right to have your data deleted at any time and also to get a copy of your data on file. For any related queries, please send us a message using the form on the Who we are page.

-->