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Small family cars have always been popular with Irish drivers.  They can serve the whole family while being cheap to buy, drive and insure. But how to find the best value for money?

The most popular buys

Irish leading motoring website (www.cbg.ie) team has recently conducted a survey on used cars’ prices analyzing the data available on its pages. It turned out, that the most popular vehicles from the small family segment are: Ford Focus, VW Golf and Opel Astra.

In fact Ford Focus has been Ireland’s best-selling car since 2001 and is appreciated for its quality, reliability, comfort and lively driver responsiveness. A 4-5 person family can benefit from its spacious boot and comfortable rear seats. Probably due to popularity and good PR, second-hand Focus is also more expensive than other used cars from the family segment.

The used cars’ prices

The Car Buyers Guide team has compared the prices of Focus, Golf and Astra 1.4 petrol models produced in 2006. Ford has proved to be the most expensive with the average price of €16,000. The biggest rival, VW Golf is not much cheaper – €15,500. Opel is the least pricey options and the average amount of money to be paid for a 1.4 3 year old model is only €12,000 even though it is as attractive as the other two in terms of technology and equipment.

Should it be Opel Astra?

To sum up, it seems that Opel Astra may be the best choice due to its attractive price. What needs consideration however, is the fact that Focus and Golf loose less of value with time, what may make a difference in several years when we decide to sell our used cars. It is also worth mentioning that the new version of Ford Focus will be available next year. As some satisfied users of the second generation models may like to upgrade, the prices may fall a bit due to higher supply.

To read the full version of  used car price guide article and check out a comprehensive list of quality used cars for sale, visit www.cbg.ie.