Expert answer

Hi Tanya,

Without knowing your budget just yet, it is a little difficult to guess, but a car that is a top buy for a family, with a great boot is something like a Skoda Octavia. One like this has low mileage, a frugal diesel engine and will be perfect for a lot of mileage. It is solid and has a great sized boot too.

The Nissan Qashqai has been a massive seller in Ireland of late, with good reason too, as it is very good value, has a brilliant safety record, looks great and is perfect for a family. Here is a fully loaded 1.5-litre diesel for €20,950 with low mileage. 

You could have the choice of a number of family hatchbacks too, such as a Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Auris or perhaps even a small MPV.

Come back to us with more details and we will try and help you further. Just add your comment to the comment box below.

Expert answer

Hello Helen

Thank you for your enquiry. In this instance, we are going to look on the website beepbeep.ie, because that is the official classified website of SIMI, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry. Because we are looking at something on a budget we want to get something with as much history on it and as much security as possible for you. On that site, all cars come with a history check and they are also covered by the consumer protection act. 

A couple of things are important here. One is that your car is cheap and the second is that it will be reliable and I suppose, attractive would be good too?

You could never accuse it of being sexy, but this Nissan Micra on sale at a dealership in Drogheda has done 80,000 miles and has had only two owners. It will cost you just €1,550 and will be cheap to run, insure and service:

http://tinyurl.com/3y9m5fh

This Toyota Yaris from 1999 has done 130,000 miles and while that might sound like a lot, this little car is well able for it and this could be a decent little buy that won't cause you too much heartache:

http://tinyurl.com/3ydjl87

How about this? A 1995 Opel Corsa, which has only done 18,466 miles and has an NCT until early next year. That will cost you just €1,250:

http://tinyurl.com/3a59low

However, what I really think would be a great first car for you would be the Ford Ka, which is a great little runabout and still looks funky. This 1999 model has only covered 52,000 miles and has an NCT until 01/11. It is advertised at €1,850 but I reckon you could get it as a straight deal for a little less:

http://tinyurl.com/378vt9h

Let us know if any of these don't float your boat and we will put on our thinking caps again!

Expert answer

Hi Emer

As you know Toyota don't offer the Rav4 with seven seats in Ireland (but they do in the USA) so that is off the list.

We have spoken since and I now know you have a 2005 Toyota Rav4, petrol with 40,000 km on the clock, which is very low mileage. I would hope you would get about €6,500 - €7,000 for your Rav (perhaps even a bit more) as a trade-in against a new model and with the €15,000 on top of that to play with you have quite a few options.

The most obvious option for me, is the Nissan Qashqai+2. The Qashqai has been immensely popular and the +2 model adds extra seats to make it a seven seater. That only came on the market in 2009, so it might just not make your budget, but then again this depends on what you are offered for your Rav4. The cheapest of these is likely to cost around €25,000, so this might not be an option.

Never fear though, there are other good options. The Chevrolet Captiva was a lesser-known SUV that sold in small numbers but really was quite good and crucially, for you, came with seven seats. You should expect to pay about €17,000 for a 2007 one and you might even sneak into a 2008 for about €23,000.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Chevrolet/Captiva/LT-VCDI-/201019198001210/advert?channel=CARS

Another good option would be the Mitsubishi Outlander. You could have a 7-seater one of those, with a 2.0-litre 140hp diesel engine and a 2007 one would cost you about €19,000, and a 2008 one would cost about €23,000.

This could be quite a nice solution actually

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Mitsubishi/Outlander/2.0-DI-D/201013197400203/advert?channel=CARS

The other thing you could do, is totally lord it up and get a Land Rover Discovery which has one of the most generous rear row of seats around. This 2006 model is under €20,000. Yes it will cost you an arm and a leg to run and service, but at least we are giving you your options.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/3-TDV6-S/201015197653184/advert?channel=CARS

I do hate to use the 'S' word, but if you did think of something more sensible, then you couldn't really pass the Ford S-Max. Of the MPVs of that type, this is the best of them and it looks good too. Here is a 2007 diesel with low mileage for €19,300, leaving you plenty of change.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Ford/S-Max/1.8TDCI-/200928194542104/advert?channel=CARS

Anyway, I hope some of this helps, but feel free to come back to us with your thoughts.

Expert answer

Hi Pat

The Nissan Tiida could probably be best described as an experiment that didn't really work in Ireland. Once Nissan had stopped production of the Almera, a car that was very popular in Ireland, Nissan were left with something of a gap in their product range. Rather than leaving this empty they took on the Tiida, which was a car that was sold in markets such as the Middle East, and as the Nissan Versa in the United States and in any market it was sold it was a budget buy.
There is nothing wrong with the Tiida, but it just isn't the most exciting car to drive or probably own and for that reason it has received a pretty lukewarm reception in Ireland.

There is €4,000 off the Tiida at the moment (including government allowance), so that means you would get the Tiida Diesel for €16,480. If you just want a car for getting from A to B then this will do the job perfectly fine.

However, the reason Nissan haven't been overly worried by the Tiida is that they have been selling shedloads of their Qashqai and that is a really excellent vehicle. It sits quite high up, is quite cheap to run and will be reliable. There is a new 2010 model too and there is a €4,000 scrappage offer on that too at the moment.

The Qashqai 1.5d XE costs €23,995 and with €4,000 off that you would be just about under budget and this would be an infinitely better buy than the Tiida, albeit a fair bit more expensive that the Tiida.

You can read our review of the new Qashqai here

http://www.completecar.ie/testdrives/article/Nissan/Qashqai/Qashqai/231/53

And details on the new Qashqai can be found at this part of the Nissan site

http://www.nissan.ie/new_vehicles/pricing.aspx?CarID=137

There are lots of other cars to consider with your budget

You could have a Hyundai i30, which is an excellent 5-door hatchback from €15,995 under the scheme.

The Ford Focus 1.6 Diesel would be well under your budget, or you could try the new Renault Fluence, if you fancied a saloon. Here is a review I did on it for The Irish Times recently http://tiny.cc/30ag3

I am not sure if any of these will float your boat, but please feel free to come back to us for more advice.

Out of this lot, I'd have the Qashqai though.

Expert answer

Hi there, 

The Nissan Note is a model that has been out for quite a long time and we don't have a new report done on it just yet, but is there anything you would like to know about it specifically?

Expert answer

Hi Alfie 

You will need something tough for towing and reliable too. A 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara 1.9-litre diesel would do a good job at towing and is nicely put together. We found one in the classifieds for €11,500 here: http://www.carzone.ie/search/Suzuki/Grand-Vitara/201016197685753/advert?channel=CARS

Or perhaps a Nissan X-Trail? This one here, a 2005 2.2-litre model would cost you less than €11,000: http://www.carzone.ie/search/Nissan/X-Trail/2.2-DCI/200840190271505/advert?channel=CARS

You could also go for a Hyundai Tucson. This 2006 4wd diesel model is less than €12,000. This would also be a fine choice: http://www.carzone.ie/search/Hyundai/Tucson/4WD-S%23R-/201017197807527/advert?channel=CARS

Expert answer

Hi Marie/Constantine,

Neither of the two vehicles you mention is currently on sale in Ireland. Saying that, I have driven the Patrol and it's a huge, rugged 4x4 that may well be suited to life in your part of the world. I'm not sure how often you plan to go sand dune driving, but either of those would cope well with that, along with having plenty of space for your growing family.

Here in Ireland large petrol 4x4s are not very popular, whereas I guess it's quite different in Dubai.

Other vehicles to consider are the excellent Volvo XC90, or, if you want to stick with BMW, the new X5. Both come with a good range of petrol and diesel engine too.

Let us know how you get on.

Expert answer

Hi Julia. Well firstly, congratulations on your new arrivals. With two new babies in your family your car needs will have definitely changed. A friend of mine recently was in the same situation as you and asked me the very same question. They couldn't really cope with a standard five-seater car anymore but by the same token, dreaded the thoughts of getting into an MPV. They felt that by buying one that they had given up on driving something 'exciting and cool' and you can understand that. Even the most modern MPVs can be a little van-like. So, we would steer you in the direction of the Nissan Qashqai+2, which is the 7-seater version of the Qashqai. A 1.5-litre diesel version with 2-wheel drive will cost you €30,450, or if you prefer you could get into a good used version for about €25,000 (2009).

This car will be cheap to run, with low road tax of €156 per year and evidence suggests they are reliable and holding their value too. Please come back to us if you need any more help, but we think this is the right choice for your needs.

Expert answer

When you are starting off you need something that is as reliable as possible and won't cost you too much to tax, run or repair. Usually, the advice would be to make it Japanese because when you are spending a small amount of money you want the most reliable car possible and the Japanese car manufacturers have been making cheap, small runabouts better than anyone else for decades. Something like a Toyota Starlet or Nissan Micra won't be glamorous, but will usually start first time and they are pretty easy to get parts for.

I can understand why you would want the Ka, as it looks funky and its styling has aged really well. If you are going to look at a Ka, there are a few things we would urge you to pay attention to. Firstly, check if this car has power steering because early models didn't have it as standard and one without power steering could be a headache (or rather arm-ache) to park. Rust can also be a problem too so check for this on the door sills and rear wings and on the tailgate. Check the suspension is ok too as this is a costly enough repair to put right. 

Obviously as you are spending quite a small amount of money you can't expect it to be perfect but check these things and that the engine is running reasonably smoothly and this should be quite a nice little car. 

Expert answer

Hi Paul.

It's true, Lada's owners, which include the Renault-Nissan alliance, have said that it makes sense to bring the brand back to this side of Europe. If that happens it's also likely that the cars will be made in right-hand drive for the UK and Ireland.

I agree it'll take some marketing genius to turn around the image side of things, but bear in mind that Skoda was once seen as no better than a Lada - and look at it now.

The reasoning behind all this is apparently to beat the Chinese car makers to it. Renault-Nissan will be represented at the super-cheap end of the market by Dacia and Lada before the likely arrival of a handful of Chinese manufacturers.

Whether they'll be successful in Ireland or not remains to be seen. You reckon that the budget end is already pretty busy? Maybe there's room for new cars at an even lower price.