What car? - 50 mpg plus commuter
Discussion
In these days of soaring fuel prices, the monthly petrol spend in our household now stands at £600 + per month. My Mrs and I both have 30 mile each way commutes and drive cars which achieve mid 20's mpg - me a Volvo V70R plus a Porsche 968 (which actually does about 27mpg) and her a BMW 330ci.
Anyway, to cut a long story short I've sold the Volvo and now want a much more economical car for the daily commute. My wants are;
50+ mpg
Leather
Decent sound system
Capable of carrying a family of 4 plus luggage in reasonable comfort from long distances on occasion
Reliable / cheap to maintain
Budget - 2.5k
I'm thinking Volvo V40 diesel, but is there anything else that I should consider?
Anyway, to cut a long story short I've sold the Volvo and now want a much more economical car for the daily commute. My wants are;
50+ mpg
Leather
Decent sound system
Capable of carrying a family of 4 plus luggage in reasonable comfort from long distances on occasion
Reliable / cheap to maintain
Budget - 2.5k
I'm thinking Volvo V40 diesel, but is there anything else that I should consider?
Kevin VRs said:
eltax91 said:
Octavia TDi. Every single time. Love mine for this purpose.
This. Go for a L&K spec and you get the leather you want.Citroen Xsara 1.9TD, a re-trim and a barrel of veg oil in the shed?
tim2100 said:
Doesn't everybody have those requirements?
Whenever I talk to previous Petrolhead mates, they want cars that are diesel, cheap to run etc & do 1 million mpg.
Trouble is because so many people want that the price of those cars are now appreciating IMO.
Good Luck.
iv noticed this too, i bought a clio dci for 2k a year and a half ago. bought at73k now on 100k and id only lose a few 100 on it.Whenever I talk to previous Petrolhead mates, they want cars that are diesel, cheap to run etc & do 1 million mpg.
Trouble is because so many people want that the price of those cars are now appreciating IMO.
Good Luck.
va1o said:
For £2.5K, probably a Golf MK4 1.9 TDI 130 with lots of options fitted. Engine is pretty bullet proof.
This or a Bora, they tend to be found cheaper than a similar golf although it will never set the world on fire it would do what you need it to. Octavia would also be good.smn159 said:
In these days of soaring fuel prices, the monthly petrol spend in our household now stands at £600 + per month. My Mrs and I both have 30 mile each way commutes and drive cars which achieve mid 20's mpg - me a Volvo V70R plus a Porsche 968 (which actually does about 27mpg) and her a BMW 330ci.
Either your partner is re-enacting a combination of Grand Theft Auto, Bullit and Ronin on the way to work and back, or there's something seriously up with her 330ci! E46 I presume? That should be averaging 30mpg and pulling 35mpg down the motorway, only dipping into the 20s in crawling traffic.RobM77 said:
Either your partner is re-enacting a combination of Grand Theft Auto, Bullit and Ronin on the way to work and back, or there's something seriously up with her 330ci! E46 I presume? That should be averaging 30mpg and pulling 35mpg down the motorway, only dipping into the 20s in crawling traffic.
The OP didn't confirm what type of roads/speeds though did he?H100S said:
This or a Bora, they tend to be found cheaper than a similar golf although it will never set the world on fire it would do what you need it to. Octavia would also be good.
how long do these engines typically last? are parts (for when things do go wrong) any bit cheaper now? (as its not spanking new tech anymore)I think you might struggle with that budget.
Mondeo post 2002 2.0 Tdci 140 (150? cant remember) will do 40+ mpg even when driven quite hard, not sure you'd ever average 50 mpg with one though - they do drive quite well, comfy, a ghia might have leather seats. Will have to be big mileage to fit your price range.
What about an LPG car? 80p per litre v's 130p per litre, again budget might be the problem as LPG cars have a premium price.
Mondeo post 2002 2.0 Tdci 140 (150? cant remember) will do 40+ mpg even when driven quite hard, not sure you'd ever average 50 mpg with one though - they do drive quite well, comfy, a ghia might have leather seats. Will have to be big mileage to fit your price range.
What about an LPG car? 80p per litre v's 130p per litre, again budget might be the problem as LPG cars have a premium price.
RobM77 said:
Either your partner is re-enacting a combination of Grand Theft Auto, Bullit and Ronin on the way to work and back, or there's something seriously up with her 330ci! E46 I presume? That should be averaging 30mpg and pulling 35mpg down the motorway, only dipping into the 20s in crawling traffic.
Think those costs are about right £12 a day each commuting at 30mpg x 20 working days a month so £480 on commuting. Spend the other £120 at the weekends, can't see anything in those numbers that would suggest GTA type activity!RobM77 said:
smn159 said:
My Mrs
b]mid 20's mpg[/b] -
her a BMW 330ci.
Either your partner is re-enacting a combination of Grand Theft Auto, Bullit and Ronin on the way to work and back, or there's something seriously up with her 330ci! E46 I presume? That should be averaging 30mpg and pulling 35mpg down the motorway, only dipping into the 20s in crawling traffic.b]mid 20's mpg[/b] -
her a BMW 330ci.
iMac Hunt said:
This. My e46 m3 averages 26-27 MPG on my 35mile (each way) commute on mostly a-roads and 10miles of DCW. I don't nurse it either for MPG either.
Yeah you're right - on a straight run it does get those figures. Trouble is, the time that she travels means mostly stop start traffic. THe on board computer says 27mpg, so I'm assuming a bit less (the volvo reads 2mpg over)Some food for thought on here through - off to the classifieds!
ambuletz said:
how long do these engines typically last? are parts (for when things do go wrong) any bit cheaper now? (as its not spanking new tech anymore)
The engines go forever when they use the correct PD oil otherwise the camshafts wear. I have had a Passat 1.9 130bhp, it is a 2003 and so far has been faultless. Not even a bulb has gone on it in almost three years. It is not the most refined engine but then these dont suffer injection problems like common rail engines do(all manufacturers)Parts are plentiful and cheap from places like euro car parts and GSF etc. There is a very good reason why these get cabbed to death. Comfy, reliable, economical, practical, cheap to run, mechanicals last well and common enough that people know how to fix them.
Just bought this for a bit over £2k; 2002 with 100k on the clock. It has the leather edged sports seats rather than the full leather, but there seem to be plenty of leather interiors on eBay if I decide that I'm that bothered.
There's an issue with the central locking to sort out - the drivers door didn't lock at all. A bit of WD40 and carefully levering the sticky up door knob thing seems to have cured that, and I'll try a battery in the key fob next as that has also started working, but only intermittently.
Drove fine on the way home - has had four new tyres, new discs and pads all round and a service recently, so pretty chuffed with it so far
There's an issue with the central locking to sort out - the drivers door didn't lock at all. A bit of WD40 and carefully levering the sticky up door knob thing seems to have cured that, and I'll try a battery in the key fob next as that has also started working, but only intermittently.
Drove fine on the way home - has had four new tyres, new discs and pads all round and a service recently, so pretty chuffed with it so far
Forums | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff