What car to travel 30k miles a year for 15k

[jonnylayze]

Ok: here we go. I've previously been in a company car scheme and I'm about to take the plunge back into owning my own car in which I will commute, travel for work, take the kids to school and the family on holiday 2-3 times a year.

I have a TVR squirrelled away for weekends so I'm not too bothered about ultimate performance or buying something which handles like a Porsche or a Ferrari. It needs to be comfortable - I have a problem with my leg/back which means it probably needs to be an auto too

I travel quite a bit for my job (some days I'll cover 400 miles) and although I don't have a regular commute last year I covered c.35k miles including private mileage. I get a car allowance and will get paid business mileage too but only at the basic HMRC rate so I want something relatively economical - probably a diesel delivering at least 40mpg

Ideally I'll buy something secondhand and keep it for 3 years/100k miles.

I have a nominal budget of £15k and so far I've been looking at the obvious candidates:

C.2010 BMW 520d E60 c. 40k miles, 50ish mpg £15k
C.2010 Mercedes E220. CDi blue efficiency c.40k miles, 50ish mpg £15k
C. 2012 Skoda Superb Estate 2.0TDi 170 DSG c.20k miles 45mpg £15k

Any good news/ bad news/ horror stories or alternative suggestions?

Eta I've tested an E60 and was underwhelmed. Conversely, the E220 drove like a limo but I've read mixed reviews in terms of reliability....

Edited by jonnylayze on Wednesday 19th March 20:11

[jof]

If comfort and some of the best seats out there is important, you probably want the best spec'sd Volvo you can find. Some of the diesel engines are quite good apparently.

[Pentoman]

F10 520d. E60 is too ancient for that much cash.
A5 with 4 doors.
A7 at that price yet?
CLS.

[wiliferus]

jof said:

If comfort and some of the best seats out there is important, you probably want the best spec'sd Volvo you can find. Some of the diesel engines are quite good apparently.

£15k will see you into a 2011/2 S60 Diesel. Avoid the 1.6 (obviously!). The D3 gives you 163 horses and probably ~50mpg, the more desirable D5 gives you just over 200bhp and probably 45mpg on a run. That's where my money would go - supremely comfortable, unstated, the D5 has more than adequate performance for a daily. The new looks are a bit marmite, I like it. Certainly worth considering OP.

[jonnylayze]

That's good feedback - thanks. I have a V50 2.0D manual which has had a few annoying faults and more fundamentally has nowhere to rest my left foot (possibly the root cause of my back/ leg problem. I will have a look at S60s.

I don't like the look of the CLS or the A5/A7. For me, a saloon should look like a saloon. In fact, I think a coupe should look like a saloon. What I really want is a Bristol with a 2.0 diesel giving 50mpg....

SAABs have great seats. Anyone have experience of the last of the new shape 9-5s (2010-2011) and what's parts supply like?

[Vee]

I've been using my brother in laws 57 reg Volvo S60 2.4D this week.
Never thought much of the car before but now realise where it's strengths lie. On the motorway it really is fabulously comfortable compared to both my E90 and F30. His has the st engine too and it is adequate it a little noisy.
A D5 would be great.

[PugwasHDJ80]

jonnylayze said:

That's good feedback - thanks. I have a V50 2.0D manual which has had a few annoying faults and more fundamentally has nowhere to rest my left foot (possibly the root cause of my back/ leg problem. I will have a look at S60s.

I don't like the look of the CLS or the A5/A7. For me, a saloon should look like a saloon. In fact, I think a coupe should look like a saloon. What I really want is a Bristol with a 2.0 diesel giving 50mpg....

SAABs have great seats. Anyone have experience of the last of the new shape 9-5s (2010-2011) and what's parts supply like?

Saab 9-3 seats are dreadful- I did about 30k miles per year in mine and changed only because of the seats

Interestingly I changes to anew shape 9-5 and love it, initially thought the seats would be too firm but they seem to suit me very well (and frankly I'm quite overweight so seats can be a problem). Parts supply generally fine apart from certain unique body parts- I dud a drivers mirror a few months ago and it took sox weeks to get a new one.

[Matt UK]

Not sure if you have age restrictions at your work, but if you are going to stick 100k miles on it, I'd be tempted to spend half your budget on a decent Passat or Mondeo estate.

[Axionknight]

A big fat Volvo S60 or V70 diesel, plenty of room and comfort as required - excellent seats, sound system and plenty of toys and generally good ergonomics, a nice place to spend time and reasonable running costs to boot.

[cerb4.5lee]

I would go with a 330d my other half used to do around 41k miles a year in ours & it was the complete all rounder & returned 43mpg in the process, I had a E61 520d & it was tripe well the engine was anyway so if you are considering a 5 series I would go with a 530d if it was me.

We ran both the 330d & 520d together at one stage & the 520d returned 45 mpg but had hardly any performance to speak of but the 330d returned 43mpg but felt really quick for a diesel & the difference in refinement noise & power is incredible as the 6 pot wipes the floor with the 4 pot.

If you hadn't guessed already you need to avoid the 4 pot diesel from BMW but maybe other manufacturers do a better job but I have only experienced the BMW version.

[jonnylayze]

Matt UK said:

Not sure if you have age restrictions at your work, but if you are going to stick 100k miles on it, I'd be tempted to spend half your budget on a decent Passat or Mondeo estate.

That's useful feedback. No age limit now and I work with someone who's about to click over the 200k mark in a 2006 Passat 2.0 TDI.

Having driven the 520d I agree absolutely with the comments about the Beemer 4 pot. Very disappointing and unsuited to the car IMO.

[Matt UK]

jonnylayze said:

Matt UK said:

Not sure if you have age restrictions at your work, but if you are going to stick 100k miles on it, I'd be tempted to spend half your budget on a decent Passat or Mondeo estate.

That's useful feedback. No age limit now and I work with someone who's about to click over the 200k mark in a 2006 Passat 2.0 TDI.

Having driven the 520d I agree absolutely with the comments about the Beemer 4 pot. Very disappointing and unsuited to the car IMO.

The only reason I say it is 10 years ago I opted out. Having run new company cars I used the allowance to fund a new (well, ex-demo) Audi A6 1.9 tdi. It underwhealmed me but I was stuck with it due to the kick in the nuts I would take if I tried to sell. I still sold if after 3 years and lost £12k. £4k a yr in depreciation alone for a boring diesel estate!

I'll never drop that much money into a daily again. Doing it cheaper but without moving into shed territory (which can upset the paymasters) allows me to not only fund a weekend Caterham but to indulge in slightly naughty petrol bills without fretting about an mpg figure.

As the daily drivers I now use are cheaper I don't get locked into any finance systems that restrict me and it allows me to chop and change easily if I fancy - it was fun one day in January to waft off in a Jaguar XJ only to hack home on the b-roads in a Mini Cooper S! Just because...

And I'll tell you, the newer cars have handed me some far larger bills than the older cars! A lot of which was doown to using stealers due to warranty/resale anxiety. On the older cars I'll DIY or use a trusted local guy.

Final benefit is that I'm simply just less precious as there is less cash tied up there. Whenever I left the Audi in a carpark I would check it on my return and be mortified when it picked up dings and dents. Whereas on a £5-£7k car, how much difference is this really going to make? Not enough to think twice about really.

Anyway, food for thought.

[Jay500]

I was in your position about 3 years ago and i bought a 2008 320d Touring auto. I've done 100k miles in the 3 years and its done 175k miles in total. I reckon on getting near to 45/50mpg overall and find the performance adequate (I too have a TVR in the garage). Very recently the turbo went and it cost me just over £2k to fix but apart from that its cost me no more than service and tyres.

[TTmonkey]

Jay500 said:

I was in your position about 3 years ago and i bought a 2008 320d Touring auto. I've done 100k miles in the 3 years and its done 175k miles in total. I reckon on getting near to 45/50mpg overall and find the performance adequate (I too have a TVR in the garage). Very recently the turbo went and it cost me just over £2k to fix but apart from that its cost me no more than service and tyres.

2k for a turbo? Did I ruin the whole engine?

[Jay500]

No but it pulled oil round most of the pipes etc that needed cleaning out, it also included a service at the same time.

[Colonial]

Citroen C6.

[jonnylayze]

Matt UK said:

The only reason I say it is 10 years ago I opted out. Having run new company cars I used the allowance to fund a new (well, ex-demo) Audi A6 1.9 tdi. It underwhealmed me but I was stuck with it due to the kick in the nuts I would take if I tried to sell. I still sold if after 3 years and lost £12k. £4k a yr in depreciation alone for a boring diesel estate!

I'll never drop that much money into a daily again. Doing it cheaper but without moving into shed territory (which can upset the paymasters) allows me to not only fund a weekend Caterham but to indulge in slightly naughty petrol bills without fretting about an mpg figure.

As the daily drivers I now use are cheaper I don't get locked into any finance systems that restrict me and it allows me to chop and change easily if I fancy - it was fun one day in January to waft off in a Jaguar XJ only to hack home on the b-roads in a Mini Cooper S! Just because...

And I'll tell you, the newer cars have handed me some far larger bills than the older cars! A lot of which was doown to using stealers due to warranty/resale anxiety. On the older cars I'll DIY or use a trusted local guy.

Final benefit is that I'm simply just less precious as there is less cash tied up there. Whenever I left the Audi in a carpark I would check it on my return and be mortified when it picked up dings and dents. Whereas on a £5-£7k car, how much difference is this really going to make? Not enough to think twice about really.

Anyway, food for thought.

I really like this approach and the idea of the XJ.

I also love the idea of a C6 but had been concerned by thirst and the potential for big repair bills. Any first-hand experience?

[VX Foxy]

cerb4.5lee said:

I would go with a 330d my other half used to do around 41k miles a year in ours & it was the complete all rounder & returned 43mpg in the process, I had a E61 520d & it was tripe well the engine was anyway so if you are considering a 5 series I would go with a 530d if it was me.

We ran both the 330d & 520d together at one stage & the 520d returned 45 mpg but had hardly any performance to speak of but the 330d returned 43mpg but felt really quick for a diesel & the difference in refinement noise & power is incredible as the 6 pot wipes the floor with the 4 pot.

If you hadn't guessed already you need to avoid the 4 pot diesel from BMW but maybe other manufacturers do a better job but I have only experienced the BMW version.

I get 40mpg from my 330d on a 6mile commute and 50 on a run without trying.

[Fox-]

cerb4.5lee said:

I would go with a 330d

The budget is a problem for a 330d though. It's only going to buy you an E90 and £15,000 seems like far too much money to be spending on a car that came out nearly 10 years ago.

[cerb4.5lee]

VX Foxy said:

cerb4.5lee said:

I would go with a 330d my other half used to do around 41k miles a year in ours & it was the complete all rounder & returned 43mpg in the process, I had a E61 520d & it was tripe well the engine was anyway so if you are considering a 5 series I would go with a 530d if it was me.

We ran both the 330d & 520d together at one stage & the 520d returned 45 mpg but had hardly any performance to speak of but the 330d returned 43mpg but felt really quick for a diesel & the difference in refinement noise & power is incredible as the 6 pot wipes the floor with the 4 pot.

If you hadn't guessed already you need to avoid the 4 pot diesel from BMW but maybe other manufacturers do a better job but I have only experienced the BMW version.

I get 40mpg from my 330d on a 6mile commute and 50 on a run without trying.

Yes it probably did return more than 43 mpg at times but I never reset the computer & it just always stayed around 43mpg...my mrs enjoys getting her foot down so even on longer runs it was never driven with economy in mind.