What car for a newly returned couple?

Hi Shane,

I saw your column in the motoring section of the Sunday Independent and I was hoping that you could give me advice on buying a used car. My partner and I have just moved back to Ireland after a stint in Asia and neither of us has ever owned a car so we're pretty inexperienced drivers.

We were wondering what make/model/year you would recommend for a used car. Ideally a five-door, manual car that doesn't stall too easily and with decent boot size (we have a baby). Our budget is around €5,000 (max. €10,000) .

Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.

Caroline

Caroline Albos (Dublin)

Apr 2011 Filed under: choosing used car

---

Expert answer

Hi Caroline,

Paddy here. Given your budget, I would say that you need something that is going to be easy to live with, cheap to run and reliable. 

The Suzuki Swift is a really easy car to own. It is reliable, spacious, cheap to run (tax, fuel, insurance) and good value too. This one I have picked out because it has really low miles (10,000km) and is about half way up your budget: Suzuki Swift

Another decent buy would be a Ford Focus 1.4 - which is a really good larger family hatchback with a big boot. This one we found has just 34,000km on the clock, comes from a good dealership and the price is good: Ford Focus

At the upper end of your budget would be a Volkswagen Golf. They are really good investments because they hold their value well. This one again has really low mileage: Volkswagen Golf

I hope some of these are of interest. I think the Swift would be a super choice for you guys though. 

Come back to us if you need more advice though.

Complete Car Adviser