Small-medium size car for sub £4500 - Mk6 Golf?

[Jabra1871]

Hi all

I'm looking at buying fuel efficient small-medium size car for sub £4500.

I'll mainly be doing 2 hour motorway drives and probably around 15k miles per year.

My main criteria are low running costs, safety and reliability.

At the moment my search has honed in on the Mk6 Golf 1.6 TDI (ideally the bluemotion version) and I've found a few with between 60,000-80,000 miles in my price range.

I was wondering if this is a sensible option or if there are known issues with this model or if there are any better alternatives I may have over looked?

Many thanks.

[HorneyMX5]

I'd be looking at a Honda civic for that kind of use case. More reliable and cheaper to maintain.

[Jabra1871]

I had a look at civics but the MPG stated seemed considerably lower than the golf - unless I was looking at the wrong engine.

[Bumblebee7]

As an owner of an FN2 Civic (the UFO one) I can tell you that the diesel is both very efficient (50mpg mixed is achievable, mid-50's on a run is easy and about 40mpg in town) and also they are now so cheap! Mine is worth around £1500 now, which is a 1/3 of the price of an equivalent golf. The honda is far more spacious and overall I like it. I had a mk7 golf and I liked that as well, the golf definitely has better suspension. The civic can be a bit crashy, especially at the rear when loaded. I've had mine nearly 6 years and total maintenance has been consumables and a handful of relays (A/C, wing mirror motors) otherwise it's been perfect. Beware the chocolate clutches on the diesel, either see if it's been replaced or factor in to purchase price.

As another VAG option it's worth considering a Skoda, either a fabia or maybe a rapid?