Max £2.5k replacement daily.

[jack_smartie]

I have for the past 18 months been using a 2003 5dr Honda Civic 1.7 cdti to complete a 60 mile daily round trip. between South Somerset and Exeter. The route is probably 80% single or duel at 50-80mph and then the last (or first on the way home) bit is in town.

The Honda has just been written off with a valuation of £800, I can bump the budget up to a max £2.5k.

I've been driving diesels for the past 8 years, a focus 1.8tdci, leon PD130 and finally the 1.7cdti. The cdti is by far the most unrefined with terrible turbo lag and I've been looking to change for a while but it just never broke down and only had 95k on it.

So enough of the waffle. I'm now looking for a new daily, it needs to have 5 doors, either estate or hatch. Not really interested in a 4 door. I keep finding myself going around in circle with regards to petrol vs diesel. The only possible petrols that I can come up with are either the 1.8vtec civic or the 1.6 focus. For the diesels there are obviously loads of choice but in this price range reliability becomes questionable and expensive DMFs!

I have been quite used to a minimum of low 40s mpg for a while so don't really want to go below that.

Any suggestions would be greatly received.

Thanks.

[ZX10R NIN]

If you can stretch your budget then I'd recommend the C220 Estate in Sport Edition trim & it being auto will make your journey a ore relaxing one:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

If you can live with the looks then the 407SW is a good reliable option:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[PurpleTurtle]

A 13yo Peugeot estate!? Would take a braver man than me - lots of comments about dodgy electrics on those AT reviews.

[Roon205]

You can have my pd130 daily bora for 2500 😂

Anything VAG with a PD in as you probably well know would be a solid choice and for 2500 a nice example could be had. Although let’s be honest their bloody dull now.

Another choice could be a Alfa with the 1.9 diesel in it. Solid diesel and the Alfa’s are really not as dodgy as their made out to be. Plenty of high spec great examples for that budget.

[imck]

The First Gen of Kia Ceed Diesel seem to be reliable.
I had a 115 BHP 2008 Hatch for a similar commute.
Sold on to a Colleague and now has 160K Miles. A Wheel Bearing and a Drop Link the only failures. Both within 7 Year Warranty.

No DPF (I think 2010 on has one), No DMF, decent Boot and not a bad drive for a Commuter Box !
Likely to have been Serviced regularly for the first 6 Years.

No experience but I guess the same would apply to the Hyundai i30.

[Mr Tidy]

If my commute was 60 miles a day I'd definitely be looking for a diesel.


Kia Cee'd sounds like a good shout - I had a few Hyundai i30s as rental cars some years back and thought they drove really well. I definitely preferred them to a Focus!

[ChevronB19]

Skoda Octavia diesel estate. I used to regularly get 65 mpg in mine, which was an 2000 model year with 170k on the clock!