Need a commute car... What do you recommend?

[ToMeToYou]

Bagged a job recently where i'll need to drive 54 miles roundtrip on the motorway.

Currently got a cayenne which only gets around 35MPG

Is there anything I could buy thats around 80MPG? it mustn't be a micro machine vehicle. Got to be a bit manly LOL

Looked into the skoda octavia greenline 1.6 but, it seems the EGR's go on them and cost 4 figures to sort out.

[S54B32]

Audi A2, if you must

[anonymous-user]

That's only 270 miles a week, is buying another car purely for better fuel economy going to save you much in the long run?

[RizzoTheRat]

Nissan Leaf?

[thatdude]

Joey Deacon said:

That's only 270 miles a week, is buying another car purely for better fuel economy going to save you much in the long run?

Good point, the initial outlay of a second car could fuel the Cayenne for a couple of years or more. Not to mention the extra costs (insurance, tax, servicing).

(also, OP, I'm interested in the comment of "being manly" - what do you rule out as a "non-manly" car? Depending on the sort of driving I'd happily plum for a small Aygo or yaris or something)

[Fastdruid]

Anything that will do 80mpg will be utterly hateful.

To be utterly honest I did years doing a daily 54mi trip in a car that averaged 34mpg. I'm not really sure I see the issue with 35mpg!

[TarquinMX5]

Troll?

Porsche is good for the image though, pity can't afford to drive it

[anonymous-user]

My mini one d, the BMW triple engined one will get over 60mpg without trying and 70 plus if you concentrate whilst being well made (so far!!) and an absolute hoot to drive on back roads. Manly? Pah. Who cares.

[ToMeToYou]

Joey Deacon said:

That's only 270 miles a week, is buying another car purely for better fuel economy going to save you much in the long run?

Cayenne would cost 1800 a year I think in fuel.

A more fuel efficient vehicle would be about 950 quid. Quite a huge difference.

[ToMeToYou]

biggbn said:

My mini one d, the BMW triple engined one will get over 60mpg without trying and 70 plus if you concentrate whilst being well made (so far!!) and an absolute hoot to drive on back roads. Manly? Pah. Who cares.

Showing as 47mpg. Which means it must do less.

[anonymous-user]

Joey Deacon said:

That's only 270 miles a week, is buying another car purely for better fuel economy going to save you much in the long run?

It’s a tank of fuel a week isn’t it, there is no logic that says the hassle of buying, taxing, insuring and servicing another car will be cheaper than just using the Cayenne.

[ToMeToYou]

thatdude said:

Good point, the initial outlay of a second car could fuel the Cayenne for a couple of years or more. Not to mention the extra costs (insurance, tax, servicing).

(also, OP, I'm interested in the comment of "being manly" - what do you rule out as a "non-manly" car? Depending on the sort of driving I'd happily plum for a small Aygo or yaris or something)

I'm a part time trader, so I don't need any additional insurance. Some vehicles have zero tax or £20, £30 so not a big deal.

Non manly car = aygo, yaris 🤣

[SidewaysSi]

Moped would save you loads. I did it for 10 years.

[ToMeToYou]

pablo said:

It’s a tank of fuel a week isn’t it, there is no logic that says the hassle of buying, taxing, insuring and servicing another car will be cheaper than just using the Cayenne.

Really? 21" tyres cost more than 15/16/17"
Servicing the cayenne also costs more than a smaller car. Although I service them myself, requires a lot of oil. Air suspension could pack up, costing me a fortune. There's no comparison.

I'd be selling the cayenne BTW.

[Fastdruid]

SidewaysSi said:

Moped would save you loads. I did it for 10 years.

I preferred a proper bike personally...Although I rarely got better than 35mpg, probably because of the shift times I was doing at the time meant I was always on maximum attack on the back lanes

Anyway, a moped is too slow for the motorway, a big scoot like a burgman would be more like it but unless the traffic regularly snarls up enough to be filtering (or going into a town at the end where you are) you're not going to save any time over the car (and actually take more time due to getting changed either end).

The main reason I stopped commuting by bike (outside of nice days) was because my hours changed and I started doing 9:30-18:00, this was enough to miss the majority of the traffic and the bike wasn't quicker enough to overcome the kitting up/dekitting time.

[DrFeelAverage]

According to this https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/topten/top-10-most-ec...

The F30 320d EfficientDynamics are very good on fuel. No idea if they have problems though (I would imagine so being a modern diesel).

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Vauxhall Ampera looks interesting if you prefer a plug-in range extender. Battery replacement can be dear though. https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/vauxhall/ampe...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Alternatively, an old VAG 1.9 PD remapped for economy are very good too, and should be reliable. https://youtu.be/5oPShT1DFSI

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[300bhp/ton]

ToMeToYou said:

Bagged a job recently where i'll need to drive 54 miles roundtrip on the motorway.

Currently got a cayenne which only gets around 35MPG

Is there anything I could buy thats around 80MPG? it mustn't be a micro machine vehicle. Got to be a bit manly LOL

Looked into the skoda octavia greenline 1.6 but, it seems the EGR's go on them and cost 4 figures to sort out.

54 miles is not that far tbh. Have done a lot further for many many years.

I'd also suggest 35mpg is pretty reasonable too. And 80mpg true MEAN average, somewhat rather optimistic.

All in all, I'm willing to bet, the cost buying another car and the costs of running it (insurance, tax, maintenance, etc etc) will not easily be offset.


Assuming you will be commuting 260 days a year (meaning 5 days/week minus holidays). This works out at approx 14,000 miles a year.

This works out to be approx £126/month with current prices.

A diesel doing 60mpg, which is probably still fairly optimistic would be about £74/month. However if you factor in the other costs as well as purchase price. I wouldn't think you'd be fairly comfortably into negative numbers.

[Sycamore]

ToMeToYou said:

Joey Deacon said:

That's only 270 miles a week, is buying another car purely for better fuel economy going to save you much in the long run?

Cayenne would cost 1800 a year I think in fuel.

A more fuel efficient vehicle would be about 950 quid. Quite a huge difference.

For the sake of £850 a year I think I'd stick with the Porsche rather than be in a bread loaf on wheels as any car that gets 80mpg will be.

If you were getting sub-20mpg I could understand, but 35mpg, especially considering the car, is nothing to be sniffed at

[300bhp/ton]

ToMeToYou said:

Cayenne would cost 1800 a year I think in fuel.

A more fuel efficient vehicle would be about 950 quid. Quite a huge difference.

Most cars will still need taxing however. Plus maintenance. Plus purchase cost.

The numbers just don't stack up in any meaningful way.

Even if you are correct and you wouldn't incur any additional insurance costs (do you have business use not as a motor trader declared, it can be pricey on a trade policy).

£500/year for tyres and maintenance. And let's assume you are incorrect in being about to double your mpg. Even ignoring purchase price you might only be £200/year better off.

Which is only £16/month cheaper!

[Slackman99]

Would think a 1.6 i-dtec Civic is going to be fairly high up the tree for mpg for a diesel.

Certainly on my list as I'm looking for something very economical for motorway commute