Two car family on a budget?

Two car family on a budget?

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pstruck

Original Poster:

3,518 posts

248 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
Right, this is a bit un-PH, but I'm on a cost cutting mission and motoring is a big part of the household expenditure, so I'd like to reduce costs.

Without going into too much detail we are a one income household, with a need for two vehicles - one family car and one daily commuter. The family car is used during the week by the wife for ferrying our toddler about (and later in the year baby nr two), weekend outings and holidays, probably no more than 8k miles per year. The commuter car covers my daily trip to work on rural A and B roads and a little urban driving amounting to approximately 12k miles per year.

Right now I'm fairly fed up with forking out loads of cash on fuel, tyres, maintenance, tax and insurance, etc. I don't want to consider going down the one car route, as where we live in not particularly well served by public transport.

What would be your strategy (not necessarily specific choice of vehicles) in this situation? Half decent estate for the family and old banger for the commute, or perhaps a 'costs peanuts to run'' super-mini for the commute? Obviously I don't want to skimp on safety etc for either, more especially the family transport. My concern with running a banger would be the cost of maintenance/ongoing repairs.

I'm not going to say what we currently have and I want any contributers to assume we are starting from scratch with a hypothetical budget of £8-10k to buy the two cars.


Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
Volvo with a petrol engine for the family wagon, something older and diesel for you (pre DPF), should easily get a couple of nice examples for <£5k.

Saabs are particularly bargainous at the moment.

ZX10R NIN

27,490 posts

124 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
Here's a C270 cdi Family car No DPF Filter:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Here's the Estate Version:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

& here's the commuter car I used to average 39mpg on my commute with mine £225.00 per Year V.E.D No DPF

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

You'd be servicing them once a year they are strong engines very reliable I sold mine with 163k & only replaced it with a 320cdi.
Chain Driven So no Cambelt Issues both Autos so no £600-£1000 replacement clutch issues either

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Wednesday 4th March 00:34

Matt UK

17,649 posts

199 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
I'd spend £7k on a decent small MPV for the family car.

Leaves you £3k for whatever. MX5 is fun and cheap to run?

C.A.R.

3,967 posts

187 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
I work full time and earn 28k per annum, partner works part-time and earns around 7k in total.

I run a proper shed, a 2001 306 Hdi doing probably 15,000 miles a year. Family car is currently a Picanto 1.1, which is way too small (her first car). We are looking to sell the Kia and getting a Nissan Note in the near future.

I save a lot on motoring costs by carrying out servicing and most repairs / preventative maintenance myself on the driveway. This means my annual running costs are very low on the commuter car/shed. I realise this isn't an option for everyone, but it definitely works for me. There is something wonderful about running a very cheap car, you can leave it anywhere without a care for scratches / dings, people give you w wide birth on the road for fear of their own pride and joy etc.

It's certainly worth considering imo. How cheap would you be prepared to go?

eltax91

9,842 posts

205 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
Wife has a qashqai for her commute and it's the family bus at weekends. It's a 2.0 petrol and early ones are around the £6k mark now. It's is great. Throw anything at it and it just soldiers on. She's bumped it 3 times, the nipper does his best to destroy the interior and it's got all manor of crap thrown in and around it. When I can be arsed to clean it, it comes up like new. It's done over 100k now and has cost us very little in our 2 years with it.

My daily (35k miles a year) is a 2.4 petrol honda accord. Again, bullet proof reliability, stacked with toys and comfortable too. Mines a late face lift from the 03-08 model, but you can get earlier ones under the 3-4k you'll have left. It's on 97k and feel more like 9.7!!

Perfect cheap but reliable motoring. Both are petrol so no dpf etc and both are chain driven so no cambelts to worry about. It's a perfect pairing, even the wife will drive both so she can take mine of I decide I want to get some maintenance done on the QQ

pstruck

Original Poster:

3,518 posts

248 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for the repies so far. I'm in a bit of a grump and having just been hit by fairly large maintenance/repair bills for both cars, one of which is a "bullet proof" 2.4 Accord mentioned above. It seems even one of those has the ability to throw up a big bill from time to time.

I used to spend a large proportion of my income on satisfying my motoring needs, but as life priorities have changed I have no desire to spend anywhere near as much. In fact I want it to be as little as possible, but without compromising on safety, etc.

The Moose

22,821 posts

208 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
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I think the more important budget is what you've got to spend on an ongoing basis. It's all well and good saying that today, I have £10k to spend on 2 cars, however what's your monthly maintenance/insurance/etc budget?

Rickyy

6,618 posts

218 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Cheap petrol Focus estate for family duties and a cheap lease deal on a Citroen C1 type car for the commute.

Xaero

4,060 posts

214 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Depending on your financial goals over the next 2 years, I'd probably scale down a bit if I was you. The maintenance/repair/tax/insurance/tyres etc are going to come whatever pair of cars you choose to go with. £8k is a nice budget to play with for 2 cars, you don't need to go that high if you want to leave a spare £1k contingency fund in a high interest current account to take these situations on should they arrive.

What are the current 2 cars too? How big do you need? I guess even the commuter would best have 4 seats at least so it works as a back up family wagon should that be in for an MoT or something.

Just some general ideas for the family wagon - Mondeo, S60, V70, Auris, Prius (yes really), 9-5, Leon, C5, Civic, Kia thing, 320. It doesn't have to be exciting especially if your wife is not a car enthusiast. You can pick reasonable examples of these cars up for £2k or so, leaving a bit spare to fix issues.

Edited by Xaero on Thursday 5th March 07:38

Matt UK

17,649 posts

199 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Also, don't forget that you can travel safety and have some fun in cars costing £2k each.

SlowV6

624 posts

138 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Loads of possible combinations here and you could do it for £5k let alone £10k. As stated Saabs are mega bargains (I have a Noob stage1 Aero saloon which is super comfy, with all the toys and 270BHP, which cost me SOTW budget). So..

9-5 estate for family car (doesn't have to be an Aero - they are quite hard riding around town)
Something with a PD130 in it for your commuter.
or
if you want to avoid turbo's and depending how "low" you want to go on your commuter
Honda FRV 2.0 petrol or later 1.8petrol for family car.
Primera P11 or similar late 90s/early 00s chain cam jap for commute (GT model if you can find one :-) )

Keep it petrol NA and Japanese and you can't go far wrong IMHO.

If cutting costs is key then keep half your money in the bank.

Out of interest what failed on your 2.4 Accord. I would consider keeping that btw.

pstruck

Original Poster:

3,518 posts

248 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
SlowV6 said:
Out of interest what failed on your 2.4 Accord. I would consider keeping that btw.
Rear brakes. Ceased callipers, knackered ABS sensor. It wasn't huge bill, but enough to make me wince, especially after a similar bill on the wife's car not so long ago. Now I have another light on the dash which is likely to cost a fair bit to sort also.

The £8k budget is only hypothetical, based on the value of the two cars I have now plus a bit which I would happily add if necessary. Of course I would be happy with lower purchase cost. But for me it's not so much the purchase cost, it's the ongoing running costs which I'd like to see reduced. I guess I've just lost the love of motoring and therefore struggle to shrug off/forgive the costs. I'd love to runs something which cost me sweet FA in tax and insurance and runs of thimble full of fuel per week. I know, hand in my PH membership at the door......

There are some interesting suggestions here, but I can't help but feel that many would leave me no better off. Old Saabs for instance are indeed cheap to buy, but they are also quite good at the occasional 'big bill'. I know anything I buy will cost a certain amount in maintenance and avoiding regular servicing can lead to expensive failures.



BoRED S2upid

19,641 posts

239 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Volvo v50 for the family duties should go forever and not a bad place to be. And some kind of SEAT Leon TDi? For the hatchback SEAT are cheap as chips to maintain £60 for disks and pads all round and are basically a Golf so you get VAG reliability. Your budget should get you decent examples of both of these.

Dave200

3,578 posts

219 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Rickyy said:
Cheap petrol Focus estate for family duties and a cheap lease deal on a Citroen C1 type car for the commute.
This would be along the lines of my suggestion.

Alternatively, consider leasing two cars at the £100-150/mth level (your £10k would get you around three years' motoring), and not worrying at all about repair bills.

friggs

41 posts

139 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Two car family but 2 incomes - although she is under 10k miles pa

I have a Vectra - 06 1.9 cdti cost shy of £3k 2 years ago currently on 89k

Just traded the wifes focus in for an astra 2.0cdti, costing us £9k but years warranty etc etc

I'd aim for something similar, mine is the bigger car and we use it when needed, long trips etc, hers is the newer and safer car which the daughter is in more, her's is maintained by a pro, mine is done by myself (fitting new suspension this weekend, so much fun) things like brakes etc are expert only.

Our idea is she keeps the nice car and I run around in something 5k<, when hers is slightly older ready to be replaced I will take it and trade my car in, getting her something nice, ideally she keeps the car for 4 years then I do the same for 4 years, based on her having a 2 year old car, the car is 10 year old when we get rid.

Fattyfat

3,301 posts

195 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Unless you have to get rid of your current cars to release the money you have in them, probably the cheapest option is to stick with what you have. Ok, you've just had a bill but you know what you have and the repair should leave the cars good for a while yet.

Hypothetically, on a budget of 8K, loads of choice. The Saab 9-5 is getting alot of PH love right now but realistically any of the petrol models are 25-30mpg at best and many are now in the period of needing parts/higher mileage. I had 2 shed spec 9-5s and they were bloody good but with both having around 100K on them they did need the usual attention to keep them right.

If saving money and having little or no hassle is a goal, give the MK1 Yaris a look. Absolutely non PH and about as inspiring as a dishwasher but they just work. I've just reclaimed ours as my daily commuter and over 5 years of ownership total cost per mile including everything is sub 10 pence.

Would selling both, sticking the money in the bank and looking at lease deals be any better OP?

braddo

10,399 posts

187 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Since you want to keep running costs low, I'd say you want to get relatively new stuff and I don't see the need for diesel. For you, I'd be looking at a used Aygo for let's say £3k. Or, if that doesn't float your boat, a Mk3 MR2.

For the family car, go for the newest Kia you can get so that it still has a couple of years' warranty left (assuming they were doing 7 year warranties in 2010?).

for example, a 2011 C'eed estate:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/k...




CallorFold

831 posts

132 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
Matt UK said:
I'd spend £7k on a decent small MPV for the family car.

Leaves you £3k for whatever. MX5 is fun and cheap to run?
This sounds fairly sensible, although I'd maybe aim closer to maybe 6K and 4K, or even 5K and 5K since you'll be doing more miles in your daily commuter car.

andy-xr

13,204 posts

203 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
£3k's worth of Kia Carens + £3ks worth of Focus, both diesel would be where I'd put money. Actually, I'd probably try and do both for under £5k if I could