I need a new, small, cheap , very fuel efficient car- Help

[deanogtv]

To make a new job work for me I'm going to need to buy into there 'daily user' car scheme, I'll basically get a car of my choice to drive on a daily basis. However the better car the high I'd pay per month, I think I get around £200 and some of the guys here have Pug 208, Nissan Duke, Skoda Fabia ect your guessing the trend here small/ cheapish new cars and there £200 allowance covers this and they don't have to pay any extra on top. So to sum it up i need to choose a motor that is as fuel efficient as possible for my 100 mile a day commute, with 70% of that on the M11 doing 60mph. It need to be very efficient as I'm paying for the fuel.
Its only me travelling to work so it doesn't have to be a big car.

I'm thinking Toyota iQ or Alfa Mito

Any other

[Krikkit]

100 miles a day in a MiTo or iQ? I'd rather stab myself to death.

Seriously, spend some money and get a bigger, more capable car with a diesel and extremely comfy seats. You'll be in it for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week don't forget. At £200 PCM why don't you finance something larger used as private transport so you don't have to buy into their scheme? (Which obviously isn't designed to suit your huge commute...)

[Dr Interceptor]

With a mileage like that, make sure you look at the service intervals... you'll be clocking up 1000 miles every two weeks (assuming a 5 day working week), so a car with a 9000 mile interval will make a difference over a car with a 15000 mile interval. Less servicing = less cost.

I've got a 1.6 diesel Fiesta - very economical, if you sit at 60mph it will be getting high 60's mpg. It's also quite comfy, I've done long 10 hour trips in it with no issues, and I'm 6ft5. It's the Titanium spec too, so gets a decent Sony stereo, cruise control, auto aircon, voice control for stereo etc and good iPod/phone connectivity.

Based on your mileage, for comfort I wouldn't want to go smaller than the Fiesta...

[anonymous-user]

I do 25k p/a in a Juke diesel and it's actually very comfortable on the motorway, easily returning 50mpg+ at a 70mph cruise. Not really any fun to drive, but with 18k service intervals and 30k miles (so far) out of the front tyres it's cheap to keep on the road. In standard form it's a bit gutless but a quick remap and it's perfectly fine without hurting the fuel economy. If you can live with the looks it's better on the motorway than any supermini I've tried - although to be fair I've never tried the new Fiesta and I hear it's surprisingly good on the motorway.

[deanogtv]

as the title stated to make the new job work I need a small car which is great on fuel. I would love to opt for an A4 or 3 Series but due to the drop in pay I'll need the 'benifits' package to work as hard as it can for me. I'll be looking at a £4k wage drop so I'm looking to recoup a large chunk of this in fuel costs and running cars. At present I use my own car which costs me £100 diesel a week, add to that insurance, tax, mot, tryes, parts I'm hoping the company car will help bring this down so I recoup the £4k in wage drop

[the stigs dad]

Get a motorbike. I'd rather walk than drive a gutless econobox.

[jay140285]

I have just done a similar thing, I was commuting 500mile a week to work and back. Only 3days a week but longer commute than you.

Anyway the RX8 was costing me around £480 a month in fuel, plus insurance, regular oil changes, tyres etc.

I can have an insignia / passat through work which will cost me £65 a month in BIK and only use minimal fuel as it will be around 3x more efficient with no other running costs. Ok not as exciting to drive but huge saving each month and brand new car.

[GreatGranny]

So is that allowance taxed and it goes towards buying a car?

So for example you can get a £10k loan over 4 years and the £200 will go towards paying off the loan.

Does it have to be new?

If not as above, new shape Fezza diesel in decent spec.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

[Coldfuse]

the stigs dad said:

Get a motorbike. I'd rather walk than drive a gutless econobox.

Really?! Would you?... i'd be happy driving in something cheap and cheerful for 100 miles than walking 100miles...

I had a rental ford fiesta last year for a few days and drove it to Glasgow and back to Aberdeen a few times and it did it on one tank of fuel. Admittedly i did not do much with it between the motorway haul.

[wiliferus]

What about the VW blue motion range? The current Polo is very similar in dimensions to a Mk3 Golf, it's not the worst looking car in the world, and at 60mph you should easily see 60mpg+.

ETA - I just skim read the Autocar review and with normal driving they got it to return 78mpg, so for you you'd be looking at a gallon and a half a day, or about a tenner. I reckon you'll struggle to find a better package for your needs.
I'm not biased btw, I don't own one, and don't intend to!

Edited by wiliferus on Tuesday 6th November 13:35

[deanogtv]

jay140285 said:

I have just done a similar thing, I was commuting 500mile a week to work and back. Only 3days a week but longer commute than you.

Anyway the RX8 was costing me around £480 a month in fuel, plus insurance, regular oil changes, tyres etc.

I can have an insignia / passat through work which will cost me £65 a month in BIK and only use minimal fuel as it will be around 3x more efficient with no other running costs. Ok not as exciting to drive but huge saving each month and brand new car.

Exactly my piont, I recon all in all I'm shelling out £500 a month right now, with a decent little motor I recon I can cut this by half justifing my £4k wage drop

[telecat]

Juke Digi-T? Fuel efficient Petrol Turbo with 180bhp for when you need a "blow-out". Personally they are a bit small for me and I am not that tall.