What car! £10k diesel commuter..........
Discussion
After the death of my not so reliable Mondeo TDDi, I am on the lookout for a new commuter car.
I do 80 miles a day to work and back through Fenland country roads (Peterborough to near Ely if anyone wants to know!), averaging roughly 45-60mph all the way.
I have a budget of £10k max, to spend less would be a bonus, and i would like a nice high MPG as my TDDi regularly got 45-50MPG but also a reasonable bit of go for when I have to overtake the farm traffic / trucks etc on these roads. Also relaibility is very high on my wish list.
For 90% of the time there is only me in the car and the rest of the time its just me and the OH so i dont need 4 door or 4 seat so a 2 seater will do.
for reference I have been looking at:
BMW 118d - they claim up to 70 mpg for this engine, is that a reasonable expectation? I quite like the looks (especially in 3 door) and the interior is decent enoough (after the TDDi anything is......)
Audi A3 TDi - they seem ok, bit dull really and they seem high miles or low spec for this price. Good MPG
Golf TDi - Same as above, they are dull to look at and to me seem dated now, even the newer ones.
So over to you, any suggestions welcome!
I do 80 miles a day to work and back through Fenland country roads (Peterborough to near Ely if anyone wants to know!), averaging roughly 45-60mph all the way.
I have a budget of £10k max, to spend less would be a bonus, and i would like a nice high MPG as my TDDi regularly got 45-50MPG but also a reasonable bit of go for when I have to overtake the farm traffic / trucks etc on these roads. Also relaibility is very high on my wish list.
For 90% of the time there is only me in the car and the rest of the time its just me and the OH so i dont need 4 door or 4 seat so a 2 seater will do.
for reference I have been looking at:
BMW 118d - they claim up to 70 mpg for this engine, is that a reasonable expectation? I quite like the looks (especially in 3 door) and the interior is decent enoough (after the TDDi anything is......)
Audi A3 TDi - they seem ok, bit dull really and they seem high miles or low spec for this price. Good MPG
Golf TDi - Same as above, they are dull to look at and to me seem dated now, even the newer ones.
So over to you, any suggestions welcome!
I appreciate it is a bit of a yawn question but before i bought anything i wanted to see if I had missed anything! 
I appreciate £10k seems alot to throw at a commuter car, but i bought a 'cheap and cheerful' Mondeo TDDi to keep my commute costs down and it ended up being a bit of an unreliable nightmare which consistantly cost me to put right, I was hoping by getting something a little newer i could avoid most of these issues. Also I would like to buy something i can keep for a few years rather than changing every 18 months.
I would like it to be comfortable as it means usually 40-80 mins per journey in the car depending on the traffic and MPG is really quite important as I am currently saving for a wedding so could do with a low fuel budget (I appreciate spending £10k may cause confusion if money saving is an issue............)
I suggested i would only need 2 seats and then suggested the hatchbacks purely because they are the ones I could think of, I didnt want people to assume i needed 4 seats if there was a viable 2 seat option!
I have looked into the Elise type car as I have owned two Elises and used them both as daily drivers, I just came to the conclusion I would prefer something a little more comfortable and with better visability (i.e. height) for overtaking etc. (saying that someone on SELOC was putting a VAG TDi engine into an Elise a year or two back - that would be my perfect car if i could bag it for £10k!! wonder what happened to that............)
As for the converted luxury barge I too would prefer to drive a nice V8 to work but i have had experiences with LPG converted cars and they have never been fully reliable, so i am a little hesitant to go down that route.
Thank you both for you replies tho and as for the other cars you suggested I have no experience of so I will look into them now, I like the idea of a lighter petrol car but need to know I can achieve the MPG.
Im open for more ideas tho PH, keep em coming.......... cheers.
I appreciate £10k seems alot to throw at a commuter car, but i bought a 'cheap and cheerful' Mondeo TDDi to keep my commute costs down and it ended up being a bit of an unreliable nightmare which consistantly cost me to put right, I was hoping by getting something a little newer i could avoid most of these issues. Also I would like to buy something i can keep for a few years rather than changing every 18 months.
I would like it to be comfortable as it means usually 40-80 mins per journey in the car depending on the traffic and MPG is really quite important as I am currently saving for a wedding so could do with a low fuel budget (I appreciate spending £10k may cause confusion if money saving is an issue............)
I suggested i would only need 2 seats and then suggested the hatchbacks purely because they are the ones I could think of, I didnt want people to assume i needed 4 seats if there was a viable 2 seat option!
I have looked into the Elise type car as I have owned two Elises and used them both as daily drivers, I just came to the conclusion I would prefer something a little more comfortable and with better visability (i.e. height) for overtaking etc. (saying that someone on SELOC was putting a VAG TDi engine into an Elise a year or two back - that would be my perfect car if i could bag it for £10k!! wonder what happened to that............)
As for the converted luxury barge I too would prefer to drive a nice V8 to work but i have had experiences with LPG converted cars and they have never been fully reliable, so i am a little hesitant to go down that route.
Thank you both for you replies tho and as for the other cars you suggested I have no experience of so I will look into them now, I like the idea of a lighter petrol car but need to know I can achieve the MPG.
Im open for more ideas tho PH, keep em coming.......... cheers.
Edited by yozzer on Thursday 8th September 09:26
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