What car to buy?

[SamVX]

I'm hoping that some of you may be able to think of some interesting cars for me!
I'm about to start a graduate job soon - which is 100 mile commute each day.

I need something which is
1. Quick
2. Economical
3. Can take a mountain bike in the boot
4. Max budget £13k

I would prefer not to have an estate, but if someone can suggest a good one then I'd be interested!
The only car I can think of at the moment is a BMW 120d 177bhp and 60mpg, room for a bike in the boot too. Anything better for the money? I've been considering getting a Golf Gti for 11 grand, and spending the rest on the extra fuel - but I don't think that's a great idea!
Thanks

[ridds]

Get the BMW.

[va1o]

If you can pick up the 177bhp 120d for that money, then its definitely the best car for the job!

BMW make perhaps the best all rounders on the market. With the 120d your getting something thats cheap to run, reasonably practical, fun to drive and reasonable performance. True its not the most spacious in the rear and the ride is perhaps a bit firm, but I can't think of anything else with the same all round ability.

[SamVX]

I agree I do need a 6 pot, I love a good na engine (used to own a 2.2 vx220 in my placement year) but with the same driving style a 120d will get nearly double the mpg of a 130 or 330i, so at 2000 miles per month that will be around £60-£80, a lot of money for a bit of extra performance when I'm not crusing on the m-way each day!

[FreeLitres]

SamVX said:

I'm about to start a graduate job soon - which is 100 mile commute each day.

Good luck with that then!

One thing to think about - a newer car (~320d) will depreciate heavily if you are stacking on 30+k miles a year!!!! 100 miles a day soon adds up!

Edited by FreeLitres on Thursday 27th May 08:02

[stigmundfreud]

mondeo st220 estate. IF you are considering a GTi then economy isnt really your thing is it. 5k gets a very good example which will save you ooodles on the diesel.

we get 26mpg combined from a car that could swallow 3 bikes easily

[stigmundfreud]

[redacted]

[Matt UK]

Pick up a nice e39 530i for £5k or £6k.

Nice barge for cruising and big enough to git stuff in. The minimal depreciation will easily offset the additional fuel costs. 30+mpg is there for the taking is you want it.

[stigmundfreud]

yep it is sometimes false economy buying newer diesel over older petrol!

We took the line that at 5k we wont loes much over a few years vs a 15 grand diesel and when you actually calculate the savings on fuel and add in depreciation its a no brainer!

I've only put in 100ltr this trip average was 28.5 with a balanced mix of town + motorway, its a 5 speeder too so not as economical as the later 6 speed boxes

[insanojackson]

i know its an estate but an octavia vrs tdi would be a decent shout.

civic type r fn2 or ep3 both have big boots too.

[SamVX]

Cheers for the replies
I don't want to go too old, but I see you point about maybe considering an older petrol. However 120d still seems the best of all the options - although maybe get an 05 plate and forget about the extra 15bhp and 5mpg on the 07 plate efficient dynamic ones.
Surprised no-one has suggested renault sport megane 175 diesel? Any experience of these..?

[skodamanpat]

Octavia mk2 vRS 200bhp and a massive boot

[B.J.W]

SamVX said:

Cheers for the replies
I don't want to go too old, but I see you point about maybe considering an older petrol. However 120d still seems the best of all the options - although maybe get an 05 plate and forget about the extra 15bhp and 5mpg on the 07 plate efficient dynamic ones.
Surprised no-one has suggested renault sport megane 175 diesel? Any experience of these..?

How about

Alfa Romeo 159 1.9 JTDM - 13k will be you in a fully loaded 07 plate Lusso. A re-map will take you to just shy of 200 bhp, stacks of mid-range torque and you will return 55mpg at 70mph on a motorway run. Utterly gorgeous, forget the nonsense about unreliability (see the German JD power survey). I ran one for 16,000 miles - it was bullet proof and nothing went wrong. Mine was in Alfa Red with Tan Leather - lost count of the number of conversations I had with people telling me how nice the car was (no offence, but can't see that happening too much with the 1 series). One of the best cars I have owned. If you can settle for 40mpg (ish) then look at the 2.4 JTDM (re-map to 250 bhp) proper stealth mobile. Hugely under-rated in my opinion. Glad I let my heart rule my head.

[anonymous-user]

B.J.W said:

SamVX said:

Cheers for the replies
I don't want to go too old, but I see you point about maybe considering an older petrol. However 120d still seems the best of all the options - although maybe get an 05 plate and forget about the extra 15bhp and 5mpg on the 07 plate efficient dynamic ones.
Surprised no-one has suggested renault sport megane 175 diesel? Any experience of these..?

How about

Alfa Romeo 159 1.9 JTDM - 13k will be you in a fully loaded 07 plate Lusso. A re-map will take you to just shy of 200 bhp, stacks of mid-range torque and you will return 55mpg at 70mph on a motorway run. Utterly gorgeous, forget the nonsense about unreliability (see the German JD power survey). I ran one for 16,000 miles - it was bullet proof and nothing went wrong. Mine was in Alfa Red with Tan Leather - lost count of the number of conversations I had with people telling me how nice the car was (no offence, but can't see that happening too much with the 1 series). One of the best cars I have owned. If you can settle for 40mpg (ish) then look at the 2.4 JTDM (re-map to 250 bhp) proper stealth mobile. Hugely under-rated in my opinion. Glad I let my heart rule my head.

This!

[Brewsters]

I have a 123d - nice motor etc... kinda wished I'd looked at the Alfa now! great looking chariot and something very different. Yep - get the Alfa!

[jon_80]

B.J.W said:

One of the best cars I have owned. If you can settle for 40mpg (ish) then look at the 2.4 JTDM (re-map to 250 bhp) proper stealth mobile. Hugely under-rated in my opinion. Glad I let my heart rule my head.

250bhp from an early 00s 2.4 litre diesel? More power per litre than a 335d/535d ... surely that is on the borderline of over done. Isn't there quite a risk of reduced engine life, and how useable is the power? I would imagine you get a window of revs in the middle of the range where it works like a sledgehammer and then outside of that it falls away, or am I just a prejudiced petrol addict?

[S18DMW]

Seat Leon FR TDI. 170bhp so plenty of performance and 50mpg.

Job done.

[B.J.W]

jon_80 said:

B.J.W said:

One of the best cars I have owned. If you can settle for 40mpg (ish) then look at the 2.4 JTDM (re-map to 250 bhp) proper stealth mobile. Hugely under-rated in my opinion. Glad I let my heart rule my head.

250bhp from an early 00s 2.4 litre diesel? More power per litre than a 335d/535d ... surely that is on the borderline of over done. Isn't there quite a risk of reduced engine life, and how useable is the power? I would imagine you get a window of revs in the middle of the range where it works like a sledgehammer and then outside of that it falls away, or am I just a prejudiced petrol addict?

Fair point. 250 BHP is possible given that the 2.4's standard output is 203 BHP. Mine was a 1.9JTDM with 150 BHP standard. I could have pushed it to 200BHP +, but the advice I received was that the sweet spot was around the 195-197 BHP mark (at 200 you are of course putting the engine under more stress). Now we are not talking sports car performance here, but post map the Alfa was transformed. The lardy 159 is never going to be particularly quick off the line, but the mid range performance/torque was significantly improved over standard. At motorway speeds (where the OP is going to be spending most of his time) the increased power was readily available and easily a match for most of the commonly encountered (and larger engined) suspects. At 70mph I rarely took it out of 6th. In terms of rev range - I personally found the power band to be quite broad and certainly not the sledgehammer as intimated above. So no, I don't think you are prejudiced, just basing my original post was on direct experience and the advice I received from an Alfa specialist who has fettled a number of 159's. HTH - BJW

[jamieboy]

B.J.W said:

Fair point. 250 BHP is possible given that the 2.4's standard output is 203 BHP.

210bhp from late '07-onwards.

B.J.W said:

The lardy 159 is never going to be particularly quick off the line

Hmm - it's no featherweight, but just to add a bit of perspective: after the '08 facelift the 159 is pretty much bang in the middle of its class in terms of weight. Yet we never hear of the lardy 3-series, the lardy Laguna, the lardy Mondeo, lardy 407, etc. etc. etc.