Expert answer

Hi Jane,

First things first. The petrol versus diesel debate. Everyone is very caught up on diesel cars right now and that makes a lot of sense when you are buying new because they have lower road tax, but since small cars tend not to use a lot of fuel, the road tax should be quite low anyway. The mileage you are likely to do might warrant a diesel, but the diesel small cars tend to be a lot more expensive, so in this case I would say that a petrol model would do you fine and still won't cost the earth to run.

The VW Polo is an excellent choice because it is really nicely built and holds its value well too. I did a search for ones with the lowest mileage within your budget from main SIMI dealers (so there is more security and better history checks on the car). A 2007 Volkswagen Polo with just 15,000km on the clock is within your budget and would be a really nice buy. It would be dead cheap to run too. 

This 2008 Ford Fiesta is really nice too; with 11,000km on the clock so it is practically brand new. This is a five-door model so it might be a little more practical. It is at the upper end of your budget but you wouldn't pay the advertised price. 

One I would love you to consider though is the Suzuki Swift. It is a smashing little car. It is really reliable, cute, nicely built and fun to drive. It's a 2008 model with low mileage for less than €9,000. 

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Renault Clio (it was my wife's first car and it was great) and you could find another one with ridiculously low mileage for less than €9,000 too. Here is one I liked the look of.

You wouldn't really go wrong with any of these. Personally, I'd be really tempted by that low-mileage Polo as a long term investment because you will always get a good bit of your money back. 

I hope all that helps

Expert answer

Hi William,

The first thing I would say is, do you really need a diesel? The diesel version of small cars tend to cost more and if you aren't really doing excessive mileage then you might not reap the benefits of owning one. For example a diesel Ford Fiesta costs €1,000 more than a petrol model and the annual road tax on the petrol model is only €156 - just €52 more per year than the diesel option. Often, in a small car, a petrol engine is really the best option.

The first car that you mention, the Fiesta, has been one of the real stars of the scrappage scheme and one of the best-selling cars in 2010 and for us, it is still the best supermini in the class. It is well built, drives really well and has pretty styling. The offers on the Fiesta for scrappage are very tempting and you can shop around to get the best deal, but you will find that there are greater discounts on the petrol models.

A car we rate here at CompleteCar.ie is the Volkswagen Polo and the 1.2-litre TDI BlueMotion model in particular is excellent offering outstanding fuel economy and ultra-low emissions. The Polo is the sort of car that you would like holding on to for four to five years as they age well.

There are obviously some incredible offers in the Renault range, as the company is offering by far the most generous discounts when it comes to new cars. You could have a petrol Clio from €8,990 under scrappage. There is a diesel version available too and with all the discounting this would come out as one of the cheapest five-door diesel superminis around.

I think if you are intent on diesel then perhaps you should look in value terms at a slightly larger car. I would be very tempted by a Hyundai i30 1.6-litre diesel. You can have one of these, which has five doors, is going to be very reliable and will cost you from €14,995 under scrappage, which is really excellent value.

However a car that has really impressed us of late is the new Nissan Juke. Here you are getting lots of car for the money. The diesel Juke starts at €20,195 (full price list here) and this car would qualify for scrappage as it has Band B emissions. 

That's a few for you to consider but do come back to us if you have more questions!

Expert answer

Hi Richard,

Firstly the car needs to be safe; it needs to be good value; and it needs to be reliable. We tend to encourage buying from SIMI dealers because you do have a little more comeback and the cars tend to be a little better, so having a look on the beepbeep.ie website we found a few options. 

The first model we have chosen is the Toyota Yaris, which will be ultra reliable and painless to run. There is one in Ardee that is within budget (you should get it for less if you haggle) and while this 2003 model has done 89,000 miles it will be capable of a whole lot more. 

I really like the Ford Fiesta and the model that was around in 2003 onwards is a great little car. This Fiesta is right on budget. 

The Renault Clio from 2004 was a lovely wee car and this one here has just 46,000 miles on the clock. I think they really suit young women, as they are rather chic. 

I guess the sensible choice here would be the Yaris, but I would probably have the Clio. 

Hope that helps

Expert answer

Hi Fergal,

An all-new Focus should be here early in 2011. More information was released this week (click here for the news story). The updated Mondeo will be on sale in Ireland before the end of 2010 (click here for our news story). I'm afraid we don't as yet know anything about a new Fiesta.

Prices are never released very far ahead of a car's launch unfortunately, but you can expect them to be in the same ballpark as the outgoing models'.

Hope that helps

Expert answer

Hello Pat,

As a trade-in it would probably be accurate enough to assume that your Volvo would be worth about €2,000, although you might get a little more if you sold it privately.

When you say the Skoda Combi I am assuming that you mean the Fabia Combi, which is Skoda's small estate model. It is indeed a nice little car, but perhaps something of an odd-ball and it might not be the best car to choose if you are focusing on resale value. 

There is really only one car that stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to residual value in the small car segment and that is the Volkswagen Polo. If you look back at the classifieds you will notice that these command a used price significantly higher than any other car in the class, so if you are buying with a view to the car being worth something in five years, this is where you should be putting your money.

It isn't necessarily the best car in the segment though - for us the Fiesta would claim that particular title. There is no doubt that if your budget is restricted then you won't get a Polo with tons of equipment thrown in and it might be shorter on power than some of its rivals, but I'd go for a 70hp 1.2 Comfortline Polo in a safe colour (silver, black or red) and you will get decent money for this car in five years time.

I hope this helps

Expert answer

Hi there,

There are very few small diesel cars available under the scrappage scheme that match your budget, but there are quite a few small petrol models that run the diesels close in terms of fuel economy. 

You could have the Fiat 500 for €9,995 under the scheme, which although it is petrol, is Band A, with just €102 per year road tax. 

You could have a Fiat Grande Punto, a much larger car, for €9,995 or, if you really wanted a diesel one you could have that for €12,495.

The Ford Ka, a similar car to the 500, would cost just €7,995 under the scheme, with the even better Fiesta costing €11,700, but again these are petrol models. 

Similarly, the Renault Clio is a smashing little car and a petrol one will cost you just €8,990 under the scheme, but a diesel one will cost you €12,200. 

The Hyundai i10, a five-door model, is also worth a look. The 1.2-litre, 78bhp petrol i10 is a good little car and comes with a choice of manual or automatic transmissions. Hyundai will add a further €2,000 to the Government's €1,500 discount, so the i10 effectively starts at €8,495. 

Our advice is that you forget about a diesel under scrappage unless you are prepared to up your budget. 

Out of that lot, I'd take a strong look at the Fiesta, or if you must stick to €10,000, perhaps the Ford Ka or the Fiat 500.

Expert answer

Hi Alison.

As your car is ten years old this year scrappage seems like the right solution and there are some amazing discounts on offer in addition to the Government's current incentive. The cars you mention are three of the best superminis on the market and because you use the car for quite a lengthy commute a diesel could be the best solution for you.

All three of these cars have diesel options. Opel's Corsa comes with a 1.3-litre 75bhp diesel with emissions now down from 119- to 114g/km. Prices for this start at €15,905 for the three-door version.

The Mazda2 is another very good option. With a 1.4-litre 68bhp diesel, emissions are just 114g/km so again you pay road tax of just €104 per year. The Mazda2 diesel starts from €15,930.

The Fiesta also has a 68bhp 1.4-litre diesel engine and emissions of 110g/km and this starts at €16,645.

All three of these cars qualify for the Government Scrappage Scheme, so would get a discount of €1,500. Much of the additional discounting available on any of these models is on the petrol models however, as dealers try and clear stocks of slow-selling petrol versions.

Of all these three cars the Mazda and the Fiesta are better cars so it would be down to these two in our opinions. We like the Mazda2 a lot, but we'd still say buy the Fiesta based on its looks and the way it drives. The Fiesta has been the outstanding small car over the last few years so if budget allows it is the car we would chose.