Expert answer

Hi Jacqueline,

There are a lot of questions there. Let's go through them. The Hyundai i10 is indeed better than the new Nissan Micra, but the latter comes with lots of equipment as standard and you will probably get the best price for your own Micra from a Nissan dealer. Hyundais are reliable - very reliable in fact. The i20 would definitely offer more space than the i10 though it costs €2,000 more.

I think you should try a Mazda2, which is a car we really rate here on CompleteCar.ie. Otherwise, the Hyundai i20 could make an ideal purchase.

I hope this helps and let us know how you get on.

Expert answer

Hi Siobhan

Really it boils down to price. The chances are you will have to pay around €10,000 for a low mileage petrol model and perhaps €1,000 more for the diesel. Since your mileage is low  you won't save a lot more immediately, but perhaps in 2-3 years time when you trade in again you might be in better luck with a diesel car. To be honest, I would say buy whichever one has the lowest mileage from a main dealer, regardless of which fuel it uses. 

Expert answer

Hi Paul,

We spoke to Volkswagen Ireland about this and this is what it had to say:

"Direct lenders (banks) and credit unions are supplying money (if at all) at around 9 percent - 10 percent.  Volkswagen are offering 5.9% so significantly under standard rates and hardly a rip-off. SEAT and Skoda for tactical reasons have decided to offer exceptional rates on certain model lines to push sales even harder and you can see that Volkswagen have also done that for Polo.  The rate is a decision by each Brand and used as tactical tool where appropriate."

I hope this helps!

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 Katie,

The Volkswagen Group is offering a PCP scheme in Ireland at the moment. It trialled the scheme last year with the Volkswagen Polo, but a number of offers across the range will be in place soon. Audi also has an offer on several of its cars, such as the A1. 

Hope that's of some help.

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 Chris.

The price sounds about right for both cars at that mileage. You would pay quite a bit less if you got something with higher mileage. But that aside I would normally say that you should go for the Polo because it feels a little more substantial and might have a bit more street credibility for your daughter. However, with the Yaris you are still getting the current model, while there is a newer version of the Polo so for the time being it will hold its value a little better I'd expect. 

Obviously, safety will be an important consideration, and the Yaris scored higher in the Euro NCAP safety tests, achieving five stars compared to the Polo's four, so perhaps a reason to choose the Yaris. 

Toyota Yaris NCAP result

Volkswagen Polo NCAP result

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

Volkswagen aren't saying much at the moment, but you can take it as a given that the new model will feature the 1.4-litre TSi and I reckon (and this just a guess) that it will be the same one that is in the Passat at the moment. This is a reasonably new engine and I think it will be carried over to the replacement. The 122hp unit replaced the 1.6-litre petrol and for the first while I would see this engine being carried over.

As you can see from what they have done in the Polo, with the 105hp unit available, there is increasing popularlity and relevance for these smaller turbocharged engines and they definitely have a future. They offer a great way of keeping emissions down but at the same time returning pretty potent performance.

Everyone is being conditioned to buy diesel cars at the moment, but this new raft of small petrol turbocharged engines will offer a great alternative.