Commuter car

[iggletiggle]

Morning all.

A long time since i've posted a whole lot but hey.. welcome back me..!

This has been done to death in various places but i'm going crazy trying to decide what to do..

I am soon to start requiring a commute once a week around 120miles on mainly motorways for work (down sunday night, back friday afternoon/evening).. I dont want to use the missus Cooper S for obvious reasons and although i could easily use my current commuting wagon (Seat Ibiza 1.4 S) i feel i could find something more comfortable and enjoyable to drive.

We've come to the conclusion the Mini mileage needs relaxing and so will use the Seat for the missus to commute and shop in, that way i can start playing with the mini a little bit, but i will need a new hack.

I want to spend no more than £3k at absolute most, the less the better.

Criteria are as follows.. looking for ideas above and beyond the normal that could cheer me up on the dull commute:

- Diesel (or petrol that will achieve 40 Plus MPG on the motorway)
- Comfy (not too worried if leather or cloth)
- space for large kit bag/suitcase
- mechanically reliable
- relatively long service intervals / reasonable cost servicing
- as nondescript as possible as will be left in a car park most of the week!

I welcome any help from the wealth of PH Knowledge

[surveyor]

May I introduce you to a Volvo S80.....

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

[IanCress]

Volvo S60 D5 would be my suggestion. Plenty around under £3k, comfy, spacious, anonymous and reasonably reliable (although go for the manual not auto).

edit: or as above, its bigger brother. I'm not sure what you get extra on the S80, other than more rear leg room.

[surveyor]

IanCress said:

Volvo S60 D5 would be my suggestion. Plenty around under £3k, comfy, spacious, anonymous and reasonably reliable (although go for the manual not auto).

edit: or as above, its bigger brother. I'm not sure what you get extra on the S80, other than more rear leg room.

Better value for money - they are normally cheaper.

[iggletiggle]

Am i right in saying that the D5 engines rarely manage plus 40 mpg?

I seem to remember (possibly incorrectly) that they aren't great on fuel..

[surveyor]

Manual will do over 40 easily. Auto you'll need to be more careful.

[IanCress]

Some people on the Volvo forums claim to have driven over 1000 miles on one tank, which works out at around 65mpg I think. If you're doing almost exlusively motorway driving then I see no reason why you can't get close to 50mpg.

[iggletiggle]

All good news.

Thanks for the help!

ETA - what is the general consensus on the Jaguar X Type 2.0D

Theres a 2.0d Manual Sport saloon in Silver with black leather at a local indy that looks in great nick, 90k on clock, 1 owner @ £2750? looks tidy but any user based opinion would be good.

Edited by iggletiggle on Friday 30th January 12:20

[Rammy76]

iggletiggle said:

All good news.

Thanks for the help!

ETA - what is the general consensus on the Jaguar X Type 2.0D

Theres a 2.0d Manual Sport saloon in Silver with black leather at a local indy that looks in great nick, 90k on clock, 1 owner @ £2750? looks tidy but any user based opinion would be good.

Edited by iggletiggle on Friday 30th January 12:20

When I was looking for a cheap motorway commuter I looked at several cars including the X Type and although it was ok to drive I found the Ford Diesel engine let it down.

I then drove a Volvo S60 D5 SE and bought that car! The D5 is very smooth for a diesel and the car seems made for motorway work. It's refined, has excellent seats and superb sound system as standard. I can easily achieve high 40's/50 mpg which goes up slightly in summer weather. It has also been extremely reliable in the 20000 miles I've done so far...

I also like the fact it's quite anonymous and can leave it anywhere.

[IanCress]

iggletiggle said:

All good news.

Thanks for the help!

ETA - what is the general consensus on the Jaguar X Type 2.0D

Theres a 2.0d Manual Sport saloon in Silver with black leather at a local indy that looks in great nick, 90k on clock, 1 owner @ £2750? looks tidy but any user based opinion would be good.

They're a good car and can crack 50mpg on a run. The problem is that the engine just isn't refined enough for a Jaguar. They also suffer from a number of issues, although they are well documented as it's the same engine as is in the Mondeo TDCi. The Sport is quite a low trim level, the SE or Sport Premium are better specced. I find heated seats are a must with level, and I think the Sport does without.

If I was choosing between the two, I think i'd go for the Volvo.

[Xaero]

I got a Volvo S60 for doing similar (occasional long distance journey). However I got the 2.0 turbo petrol. I get 20-25mpg in it, which is terrible compared to the diesels, however they sell for significantly less than the diesels (I paid £790 for mine at the end of last year with 10 months MoT), that leaves over a lot of money from a £3k budget for petrol.

[surveyor]

Xaero said:

I got a Volvo S60 for doing similar (occasional long distance journey). However I got the 2.0 turbo petrol. I get 20-25mpg in it, which is terrible compared to the diesels, however they sell for significantly less than the diesels (I paid £790 for mine at the end of last year with 10 months MoT), that leaves over a lot of money from a £3k budget for petrol.

That's abysmal. I had a 2.4 Turbo in an S80. On a long journey would get close to 35mpg. One journey where I had a long time between meetings so was driving like miss daisy I think I saw 38 MPG. Never manged to repeat it though.

[jep]

iggletiggle said:

Am i right in saying that the D5 engines rarely manage plus 40 mpg?

I seem to remember (possibly incorrectly) that they aren't great on fuel..

Father jep's '03 S80 D5 auto has (IIRC) averaged around 46mpg since he bought it with 18 miles on the clock nearly 12 years ago. It's just coming up to 200k and you get in it and it's immaculate. I'd imagine it is worth buttons, but to him it's difficult to find something as comfy without spending a lot more.

If you want to tootle up and down the motorway in comfort, you could do a lot worse than an older one of these. Great seats, lovely audio and pretty bulletproof...

[iggletiggle]

Cheers Guys.

There is an S60 D5 (although an auto) fairly local to me.. about 30 miles.. I've just given the garage a call and organised to pop in tomorrow and have a look around it and see whether i like it, although its slightly more expensive (£3.5k) its a one owner, 95k car in Gold with full leather and a whole host of toys and a full volvo stamped history (the garage said the previous owner had it serviced fully by volvo every 8k regardless!) Could be onto a winner there..

Thanks again for input!

[surveyor]

Do be careful with the auto-box. The 5 speed older model is keen on grenading at 120k or so.

An oil change is a wise thing.