Is a 2007 Fiat Croma a good buy?
My partner and I have arrived back in Ireland. She will be based here for at least the next 12 months and needs a car that can carry four people in comfort over most of the island fairly regularly. It must also be something of a load-carrier as she will need to move items of bulk rather than weight fairly regularly. A local dealer in Kilkenny has an '07 Fiat Croma 1.8-litre manual at a good price and just 25,000km. It's big enough, safe enough and powerful enough, but we know nothing about this model.
Is it a good buy?
Henry Gibson (Oyster Cove, NY And Callan,, KK.)Jun 2010 Filed under: choosing used car
Expert answer
Hi Henry,
It's not often we get asked about the second-generation Fiat Croma. It didn't sell all that well as buyers didn't really know whether it was an MPV or an estate. However, it sounds like it could be an ideal candidate for your partner's needs.
The Croma majors on space, practicality, comfort, safety and equipment. The version you found has very few kilometres on the clock, which is always a bonus. Make sure you check that every switch and control is working though, as Croma owners have reported niggling electrical faults.
Our other piece of advice, if you like the Croma, is to look for a diesel version. The MultiJet diesel engines are strong and economical so would be better than the 1.8-litre petrol version over long distances. That said, the petrol engine is quieter.
Hope that helps.
Will I buy a Grand Mégane or a Peugeot 308 SW under the scrappage?
What do you think of the new Grand Mégane and Peugeot 308 SW? I am thinking of purchasing in a scrappage deal but do not know much about these cars.
Breda Quaid (Kill)May 2010 Filed under: choosing new car
Expert answer
Hello Breda,
I have driven both of these cars and they are both good value and will be cheap to run too. The offers on the Renault Mégane at the moment under the scrappage scheme are pretty hard to resist.
An 86hp diesel version will cost you from €14,800 and that is seriously good value. You can get better equipped variants for a little more and the higher powered version is €18,400. I enjoyed my week in the TOMTOM edition and it came with a very clever multimedia centre.
You can find the prices and details here:
http://renault.ie/cars/grandmegane/prices.html
The Mégane never really stood out against its rivals until the scrappage scheme, but now it is the second-biggest selling model under the scheme. Price is the key here. It is a decent sized estate car for the price of a supermini. Renaults are way better built than they were before, so you can probably expect few problems if any.
To drive it is comfortable, very easy to live with and the fuel economy is super.
The other French car you have in mind is the Peugeot 308 SW. This starts at €25,475 (for the diesel) and comes with a more powerful 110hp diesel engine. Obviously this is quite a major price difference. Under the scrappage scheme however you get €4,000 off this so it will end up at €21,475. This is good value for what is a high quality car and it is much better than the 307 SW that is replaces.
Here are the details of the Peugeot scrappage offers:
http://www.peugeot.ie/contentv3/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&pageID=18547&parentID=18457
There is a €6,675 difference between the two cars as it stands under the scrappage scheme and equipment levels are likely to be very similar. Under normal circumstances, if the prices were similar, I would say go for the Peugeot, but I'd say out of these two you are getting so much for your money with the Renault, then perhaps go for that.
Any automatic diesels in Ireland?
I've recently moved back to Ireland from Central Europe and can't believe the Irish motor trade's attitude to automatic cars. I've heard various salesmen say stuff like "they give trouble", "fuel consumption is very high" and "sure why would you want one of those?"
I had a deal almost done on a Toyota Avensis diesel until I asked for it with an automatic gearbox. 'Not available in Ireland' I was told. My questions are as follows:
What automatic diesels are available in Ireland? What would you recommend for a family of four? Can automatics be in a different tax band from their manual brothers?
Stuart Foley (Malahide)Apr 2010 Filed under: automatic
Expert answer
Firstly, there are probably more diesel automatic cars in Ireland than you might think, but they tend to be executive models rather than mainstream family cars because it seems that there still isn't a huge demand for them.
Toyota does in fact sell an automatic version of its Avensis. It is a 2.2-litre 150bhp diesel and that costs €35,530. Since you mentioned the Toyota Avensis we must assume that you are after a family saloon or hatchback so for a start you could have a Ford Mondeo 2.0-litre TDCi Style Auto for €32,225 - that comes as a saloon, hatchback or estate.
For you a few quid more you can have the run out version of the Jaguar X-Type 2.2 Diesel Auto for €32,995 or you could have the Mercedes-Benz B180 CDi Auto from €33,640.
There are loads of versions of the excellent Opel Insignia available with a choice of 130- or 160bhp diesel engines in saloon, hatchback or estate body styles. There are 24 different Insignia diesels available in total. Prices start at €30,380. You can have a Renault Laguna 2.0-litre dCi 150 TomTom Edition for €36,890.
A Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI with the excellent DSG gearbox will cost you from €35,960 and Skoda will sell you something with DSG for even less. How about an Octavia RS 2.0-litre diesel with 170bhp and DSG for €31,195? For us, that last car is the top choice. However you could stick with Skoda and go much bigger and that would be the Superb. You can have that with DSG and 170bhp for €31,195.
There is a fuel economy penalty in some cases and that is because the traditional automatic transmission has a torque converter. Automatic cars are generally a little heavier too, to the detriment of economy. Saying that, the latest generation of dual-clutch automatics and some of the newest conventional autos have massively improved.
Fuel economy and CO2 emissions are directly linked, so often the manual version of a car can be in a lower tax band than their automatic siblings, but this is starting to change as mentioned above.