Motorway mile-muncher for £6K

[p4cks]

Budget: £6,000
Annual mileage: 20,000 (90% will be motorway)
Must have: Adaptive cruise, automatic gearbox, DAB preferable, 60+mpg
Other: must be good on fuel, maybe a diesel?

Open to anything really, so any help would be appreciated.

[Whataguy]

Volvo V40 D2 diesel should meet all these requirements.

I ran a D3 for a year and it met all your requirements apart from mpg, where I got 50mpg but mine was polestar chipped to 180hp.

[blueovercream]

I’m currently running a 2015 2.0l diesel Ford Mondeo. Other than being a manual it does exactly what you’re looking for, and it’s got heated seats, heated windscreen etc. Plenty of autos around. £30 road tax is a nice bonus too.

[sunnyb13]

Probably need to up your budget a bit to get a good example

[GolfDragon]

Automatic Golf Mk7

Adaptive cruise, DAB, economical (2.0TDi or 1.6TDi), although you might be in the lower end of the market at that price range.

[ZX10R NIN]

p4cks said:

Budget: £6,000
Annual mileage: 20,000 (90% will be motorway)
Must have: Adaptive cruise, automatic gearbox, DAB preferable, 60+mpg
Other: must be good on fuel, maybe a diesel?

Open to anything really, so any help would be appreciated.

You're going to struggle getting adaptive cruise on a 6k budget, also if you want Android Auto/Carplay/DAB etc I'd plan on fitting an after market unit in whatever you buy.

With you doing 20k a year you'll also want something with lowish miles for the age as well as low NVH, you won't see 60mpg with anything with a decent amount of (150+bhp 300lbft) go which makes the drive more relaxing too.

CLS350cdi You'll get mid 40's on a run add a remap & you'll be in the 50's:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304266...

E220cdi Avantgarde will see you in the mid 50's:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304286...

[Canon_Fodder]

p4cks said:

Must have: ..., 60+mpg

Other: must be good on fuel

[NordicCrankShaft]

ZX10R NIN said:

p4cks said:

Budget: £6,000
Annual mileage: 20,000 (90% will be motorway)
Must have: Adaptive cruise, automatic gearbox, DAB preferable, 60+mpg
Other: must be good on fuel, maybe a diesel?

Open to anything really, so any help would be appreciated.

You're going to struggle getting adaptive cruise on a 6k budget, also if you want Android Auto/Carplay/DAB etc I'd plan on fitting an after market unit in whatever you buy.

With you doing 20k a year you'll also want something with lowish miles for the age as well as low NVH, you won't see 60mpg with anything with a decent amount of (150+bhp 300lbft) go which makes the drive more relaxing too.

CLS350cdi You'll get mid 40's on a run add a remap & you'll be in the 50's:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304266...

E220cdi Avantgarde will see you in the mid 50's:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304286...

Absolutely no chance you'll see that from the CLS. I've just last week binned off a CLS 320CDI, doing 300 motorway miles a week I struggled to get much more than 35mpg and that was cruising at 65/70.

[Whataguy]

GolfDragon said:

Automatic Golf Mk7

Adaptive cruise, DAB, economical (2.0TDi or 1.6TDi), although you might be in the lower end of the market at that price range.

If you can get one in budget, this is a good recommendation.

I went from the V40 to a Mk7.5 Golf now and find the Golf to be better. There's also a Mk7 owners group on Facebook with 20k members who are really helpful for any issues.

My mileage is 20-25k/year, nearly all motorway and I use adaptive cruise every day.

[Bannock]

Laguna 2.0 dci auto:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210070...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304266...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211061...

Comfy comfy comfy, used to get 70mpg out of mine on the motorway. Miss it.

[OutInTheShed]

Bannock said:

Laguna 2.0 dci auto:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210070...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304266...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211061...

Comfy comfy comfy, used to get 70mpg out of mine on the motorway. Miss it.

What kind of 'whole tank' mpg did you get?
The combined cycle mpg and tax/co2 rating don't look encouraging?

The manuals are a lot more economical?
Surely if the OP is doing mostly motorway miles, changing gear isn't that onerous?

Anyway, OP aside, what are they like on the motorway? I'm looking for something that's quiet and unfussy at 'around the 70 limit' so it's not an unpleasant box to be in for a 300 mile day.

[Bannock]

OutInTheShed said:

Bannock said:

Laguna 2.0 dci auto:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210070...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304266...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211061...

Comfy comfy comfy, used to get 70mpg out of mine on the motorway. Miss it.

What kind of 'whole tank' mpg did you get?
The combined cycle mpg and tax/co2 rating don't look encouraging?

The manuals are a lot more economical?
Surely if the OP is doing mostly motorway miles, changing gear isn't that onerous?

Anyway, OP aside, what are they like on the motorway? I'm looking for something that's quiet and unfussy at 'around the 70 limit' so it's not an unpleasant box to be in for a 300 mile day.

Quiet and relaxed on the motorway, very good seats. Like I said, I miss mine. I preferred being in it on long drives over a Volvo XC70 I used to wang up and down motorways occasionally, felt roomier, quieter and smoother overall.

My MPG info is just what I used to see on the dash readout sometimes. Was very economical, 700-800 mile tanks IIRC. Long time back though, so can't recall any more than that.

Wouldn't hesitate to get another one if I need to do long commutes again.

[OutInTheShed]

Bannock said:

Quiet and relaxed on the motorway, very good seats. Like I said, I miss mine. I preferred being in it on long drives over a Volvo XC70 I used to wang up and down motorways occasionally, felt roomier, quieter and smoother overall.

My MPG info is just what I used to see on the dash readout sometimes. Was very economical, 700-800 mile tanks IIRC. Long time back though, so can't recall any more than that.

Wouldn't hesitate to get another one if I need to do long commutes again.

Thanks.

[ZX10R NIN]

NordicCrankShaft said:

Absolutely no chance you'll see that from the CLS. I've just last week binned off a CLS 320CDI, doing 300 motorway miles a week I struggled to get much more than 35mpg and that was cruising at 65/70.

I have seen those figures tank to tank, my CLK320cdi regularly averaged 45+mpg & I wasn't doing any eco runs either.

[WarnieV6GT]

My E220 CDI w212 facelift regularly gets into the mid to high 60's on the motorway. I do 35k a year and stick to mercedes if I can. Boring but well built and a really nice place to be. Also standard sound system on the facelift is very good, which is important for me.

[C G]

Prius might do it, although no adaptive cruise.

[Whataguy]

C G said:

Prius might do it, although no adaptive cruise.

I ran an Auris hybrid, which is just the Prius underneath.

Sadly, motorway miles isn't good for hybrid MPG.

At a real 70mph (77mph on the speedo, as I found my Toyotas always overread by 10% which couldn't be adjusted) I struggled to hit even 50 MPG in the Auris.

In winter it was below 45 MPG as well. My Petrol automatic Golf averages 45 MPG on the motorway, so hybrid isn't much better.

[p4cks]

Thanks chaps, some good suggestions here. I've got a hybrid already (Golf GTE) and it's not great on the motorway, hence the need for a diesel

[p4cks]

These any good?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303245...

[ZX10R NIN]

p4cks said:

These any good?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303245...

They're okay but I'd say one of these is a better option:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202305067...