£5k car for 180 miles daily.
Discussion
I've been following threads for a while now but need more inspiration. A neccesary domestic move puts me 90 miles from the office and I don't want to stay overnight except when absolutely necessary. What do PH suggest for a 180 mile daily commute? Half of the journey is single A road and half motorway. Budget up to £5k (ish) to leave some spare for any unexpected repairs. This is likely to be a long term situation.
A few years ago I'd probably have been looking for a pug 406 or Passat, at the moment I'm thinking V70 or accord - I'd prefer an estate car.
A few years ago I'd probably have been looking for a pug 406 or Passat, at the moment I'm thinking V70 or accord - I'd prefer an estate car.
In a similar situation. A friend who does house clearances offered me a 11 year old Pug 307 1.6 petrol with 16K on the clock - genuine, as new, the elderly owner from new died, having used it only once or twice a week. It cost me £1400. Job done, not much to lose no matter what happens to it's value. If you are going to clap out a car, do it with a cheap one
Octavia L&K spec, with the earlier PD130. Available as estate but from my experience the hatch has massive amounts of loads space. (I've had two)
The L&K spec gives loads if tasty equipment, the engine is legendarily reliably and being the skoda it's much more compliant ride wise than the vw or audi
The L&K spec gives loads if tasty equipment, the engine is legendarily reliably and being the skoda it's much more compliant ride wise than the vw or audi
2009/10 Seat Exeo with decent spec could be haggled into budget.
Depends if you are worried about MPG, which at 900 miles a week I assume you are, plenty of nice barges about for less than that but they will be a push to get 30 to the gallon, a 730d could be a happy medium between economy and not getting cramp on the drive.
Alternatively for the cheapest transport possible and a hefty wedge of change - 106/Saxo 1.5D and 4.5k spare for something more interesting.
Have you contemplated a motorcycle - Something like a BMW F650GS or other single cylinder adventure bike would return 60+ MPG and can be had well within budget.
Depends if you are worried about MPG, which at 900 miles a week I assume you are, plenty of nice barges about for less than that but they will be a push to get 30 to the gallon, a 730d could be a happy medium between economy and not getting cramp on the drive.
Alternatively for the cheapest transport possible and a hefty wedge of change - 106/Saxo 1.5D and 4.5k spare for something more interesting.
Have you contemplated a motorcycle - Something like a BMW F650GS or other single cylinder adventure bike would return 60+ MPG and can be had well within budget.
Krikkit said:
Interesting idea, but that would mean a visit to the petrol station every day/other day, no?
And there you have the only problem with commuting on a bike (excluding weather and a few select car users), the F650 will get around 210-220 miles to a tank, I believe so yes, you would be filling up frequently. The answer is 2 or 3 20L Jerry cans ( http://www.screwfix.com/p/steel-jerry-can-olive-gr... ) in the garage that you can fill up with before you leave. That or look around for a bike with a touring tank already installed.Martin4x4 said:
Take a good look at LPG, I do a similar commute and swapping from petrol to LPG dual fuel reduced by weekly fuel bill from £120 on petrol to £70. That £200 a month saving more than pays for my second car, an off roading prepared Discovery.
This is the other shout. I moved from PD130 Octavia's (as mentioned above) to a 2.4 accord last year, primarily because my employer changed their ppm rules and it made it viable to do so. I run 35k a year for work. Advantages of LPG:
Price (approx 14ppm for the accord)
You still get a petrol powered motor, so performance, driving experience and reliability with no dpf, turbo, etc
Maintenance is a £4 filter once a year and some flashlube
Negatives:
Range, range and range. In order to not lose boot space in my accord I had a donut tank, this leaves me with 300 miles on a tank, not ideal at 200 miles a day!
Availability. If you are on a regular commute and there are stations both ends and perhaps one in the middle that'll be fine. In reality I end up on petrol occasionally until the next lpg station as I'm all over the country so relying on phone apps to find gas
On balance, as long as you can love with filling up every other day it's the best of both worlds. Petrol engine car with diesel fuel costs.
I'm a staunch Jap man, and do 35000 miles a year in a 15 year old Petrol Avensis.
Petrol because, at the Bargain Basement end of the market, there's generally less to go wrong on a NA Petrol.
However, your budget is bigger than mine. If I had 5k I'd be looking at an Avensis 2.0D Estate of about 2006 vintage (facelift) or a MK4 Mondeo. The Mondeo is so well known that any old fool (including yourself) can fix it! The Avensis is, IMHO, slightly nicer place to be.
Both are common sights on Taxi Ranks up and down the country. They can't all be wrong, right?
Petrol because, at the Bargain Basement end of the market, there's generally less to go wrong on a NA Petrol.
However, your budget is bigger than mine. If I had 5k I'd be looking at an Avensis 2.0D Estate of about 2006 vintage (facelift) or a MK4 Mondeo. The Mondeo is so well known that any old fool (including yourself) can fix it! The Avensis is, IMHO, slightly nicer place to be.
Both are common sights on Taxi Ranks up and down the country. They can't all be wrong, right?
radiodanno said:
I'm a staunch Jap man, and do 35000 miles a year in a 15 year old Petrol Avensis.
Petrol because, at the Bargain Basement end of the market, there's generally less to go wrong on a NA Petrol.
However, your budget is bigger than mine. If I had 5k I'd be looking at an Avensis 2.0D Estate of about 2006 vintage (facelift) or a MK4 Mondeo. The Mondeo is so well known that any old fool (including yourself) can fix it! The Avensis is, IMHO, slightly nicer place to be.
Both are common sights on Taxi Ranks up and down the country. They can't all be wrong, right?
The only caveat I would add is that I've not heard good things about the 2.2 Diesel engine in the avensis (and Lexus IS220). Apparently it suffers from DMF issues.Petrol because, at the Bargain Basement end of the market, there's generally less to go wrong on a NA Petrol.
However, your budget is bigger than mine. If I had 5k I'd be looking at an Avensis 2.0D Estate of about 2006 vintage (facelift) or a MK4 Mondeo. The Mondeo is so well known that any old fool (including yourself) can fix it! The Avensis is, IMHO, slightly nicer place to be.
Both are common sights on Taxi Ranks up and down the country. They can't all be wrong, right?
The 2l petrol should be fairly unstressed and AIUI doesn't suffer the thirst from oil that the 1.6/1.8 VVTi engines used to.
Pal of mine had a 1.8 petrol Avensis estate which he loaned me while he was sorting out the MOT on my old Punto. I handed it back with the fuel computer showing 46 Mpg. He was as surprised as I was.
The only problem I had with it was that it's so far away from being a petrolheads car that I felt like my life was draining away with every mile.
The only problem I had with it was that it's so far away from being a petrolheads car that I felt like my life was draining away with every mile.
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