Paddy Comyn
AS THE FACE of DoneDeal Cars and with 25 years’ experience in the industry, Paddy Comyn is ‘the’ car guy to everyone in his life and is now widening out that role to you, The Journal readers.
In his Car Clinic series, he will answer all your motoring questions and queries. Have one? Send it to with the subject line CAR CLINIC to motoring@thejournal.ie – we will publish all answers on Mondays on The Journal. (Your questions will be anonymised.) Please let Paddy know what your budget is if you’re asking about your next big purchase.
Here’s this week’s question:
I’m a dad of two and recently found out we are expecting twins. We were a one-car household until now (2014 Ford Focus), but are going to have to move up to a seven seater. We are looking for something reliable at about the €10,000 mark. Is there anything out there for us?
Well, congratulations on your new arrivals and that certainly does change the car landscape for you.
When you are searching on DoneDeal Cars best to select “Trusted Dealers” as you will get warranties, history check and Google Reviews by default then and that is what I did when I looked for you.
The first model that springs to mind for me is the Volkswagen Touran. You’ll get a 2015 Diesel for that money and it isn’t sexy but it’s a really good family wagon with solid build quality and the 1.6-litre diesel engine is capable of mega miles if it is minded properly.
There are also some really good, low-mileage petrol ones coming in from the Japanese market and I’ve test-driven a few and was blown away by just how good the condition was.
Some other options for the money would be a 2018 Citroen Grand C4 Picasso. We found one with 150,000km for under €10,000. These are functional family workhorses and will do a good job at transporting your new family in comfort.
They can be prone to the odd electrical mishap but check for a decent service history and don’t skip service intervals yourself and they should be fine.
If you don’t fancy the MPV shape (and honestly I wouldn’t blame you) – then you could go the route of a 7-seater SUV, but they are a compromise of style over function and don’t offer anything like the space of a proper, dedicated MPV.
Having said that, you could get into a Nissan X-Trail 7-seater easily enough. It would most likely be a 2015 and could have north of 200,000km but with all the right checks and balances could be a nice option for you if you want something that looks a little more upmarket.
A little curveball could be a BMW 2-Series Active Tourer, which didn’t sell in huge numbers but drives really well, has selver seats, and you could pick up a high-enough mileage 2015 model within you budget but repairs and parts can be pricey.
Paddy Comyn is the head of automotive content and communications with DoneDeal Cars. He has been involved in the Irish motor industry for more than 25 years.
Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with DoneDeal Ltd.