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Hi Joe,

They're both pretty similar to be honest, although at the moment the Corolla is only available as a four-door saloon and the Pulsar as a five-door hatch.

Both are solid, reliable, unremarkable workhorses. If you're looking for excitement, sexy styling or dynamism, you've come to the wrong place - but both major on space (the Pulsar in particular has massive space in the back seats), comfort and simplicity.

The Corolla's diesel engine lags a bit behind the Nissan's in terms of performance, but other than that, they're pretty closely matched and seeing as both will probably be endlessly reliable you can safely choose according to your taste.

New, Corolla prices start at €20,995 and Pulsar prices start at €19,995.

Relevant reviews:

Nissan Pulsar review

Toyota Corolla review

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Hi John,

Your Focus is probably going to be worth about €17,000 as a trade in, maybe a little less. New Focus prices start from €20,295.

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Hi Gary,

Go for the 1.6. It has plenty of poke (270Nm of torque) and can be coaxed up to near enough 60mpg if you're careful. There are some reliability issues (water pump and turbo among them), but if it comes with a full service history and you keep it looked after (and crucially keep giving it high quality oil at service time) then it should be fine.

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Hi Ian,

Cracking car, but yes, you do get a good bit of tyre noise, especially in the back. Take it for a good test drive on the nearest motorway or dual carriageway to see if it's too noisy for you.

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Hi Shirley,

I think you need to be looking at diesel with that kind of mileage. A €10k budget would slot you nicely into a 2009 Honda Civic 2.2 i-CDTi (don't worry about the size: it's cheap to tax). It's ood to drive, massively spacious, economical and reliable. 

There are also some Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDIs and Toyota Auris 1.4 D-4Ds around for this budget that are well worth looking at. 

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Hi Karen,

You've not mentioned the engine size, but assuming it's either the 1.8- or 2.2-litre TDCi diesel then the timing belt should be changed every 125,000 miles (just over 200,000km) or every 10 years.

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Hi Philip,

Not all marques and not all models use AdBlue as yet. AdBlue is a urea solution that can be injected into he exhausts of diesel cars to neutralise a significant proportion of their emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) - very much in the news at the moment of course. The rule of thumb is generally only that larger, more powerful engines need an AdBlue treatment system as many smaller engines don't need the assistance. Each manufacturer, and indeed each individual engine, will have its recommended AdBlue top-up times, and it will be directly related both to mileage and how much acceleration the car has been doing. You can top up the AdBlue tank yourself - a 1.5-litre refill should cost around €11-12.

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Hi Gary,

Volkswagen has confirmed that, following investigations, the EA288 engines, designed for EU5 and EU6 compliance, are not affected by the scandal surrounding the EA186 engines. In other words, the current Volkswagen diesel engines are fine and have been given a clean bill of health. If you've any lingering doubts over a car that you own, go to http://www.campaigncheck.ie and enter your reg number.

Read our full news story on this subject here

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Hi Joan,

It's a bit of a quandary to be honest. You'll get more for the Ibiza - probably around €7-8k as a trade in. But with the Toledo costing you money, your best bet might just be to keep the Ibiza and use that as your small car, chop the Toledo in for whatever you can get for it (€2k max and that's with a following wind).

Actually, better yet, why not avail of one of the scrappage schemes still being offered by some car makers? Opel, for instance, has a good one going - up to €4,500 - and you could then trade in your Toledo against a new Insignia; far more affordable than a BMW or Audi, and with a shiny new warranty to boot. Reliable and nice to drive too. Nissan also has a similar offer (potentially €4k against a nice new Qashqai perhaps?), or potentially €3k scrappage off a Hyundai ix35?

Lots of good options out there.

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Hi Lorraine,

It depends on the condition and history. If one has a full service history, has obviously been cared for and is in great condition - and the other isn't - go for the one in better nick. That overrides any question about diesel versus petrol. 

However, assuming the two cars are in similar condition and both have decent histories, petrol versus diesel comes down to mileage. If you're doing more than 15,000- to 20,000km per year, then you need to be thinking about diesel. Below that threshold petrol is the better option, unless of course that low mileage is all at high speed on the motorway.

Hope that helps