Best car for commuting

[Guv10]

I have just got a new job where I'll be doing around 20000 miles a year. I've previously had a role where I had a company car.

The new role doesn't come with a car so have to get my own.

Budget is around 10k and ideally automatic and economical Wanted to stay away from something on finance to avoid a monthly payment if i can help it

Any thoughts?

[Mammasaid]

How many miles daily?

20k for 48 weeks of the year and 5 days a week is only 83 miles per day.

IF you can home charge, an EV is the most economical solution, there's plenty of choice at £10k.

[Bonefish Blues]

EV, agreed.

[hidetheelephants]

A Model 3 is easily in budget.

[WH16]

I'd go BMW i3.

Within budget, nicely built, genuinely interesting, great handling, small footprint and a future classic so shouldn't lose much value. Don't bother with the S or the Rex.

[megaphone]

Yes EV BUT what sort of trips will you do? Just commuting or regular longer trips? Can you charge at home and at work? Ideally you don't want to be using public charging regularly.

[megaphone]

WH16 said:

I'd go BMW i3.

Within budget, nicely built, genuinely interesting, great handling, small footprint and a future classic so shouldn't lose much value. Don't bother with the S or the Rex.

But older ones have a crap range. Future classic?

[CMTMB]

hidetheelephants said:

A Model 3 is easily in budget.

I don't know if I would say easily, Autotrader has 3 non-categorised examples listed up to £10k.

You'd probably want to up the budget to £12-13k, but it's certainly the best EV for that kind of money by a long way.

[phpe]

I had the same need in 2019/2020 for similar mileage before the COVID madness kicked in.

I bought myself a 6 year old but VGC 2.0 TDI Volkswagen CC at the time - full VWSH, 2 year extended warranty from a VW dealer, 60+mpg, comfortable with a few toys like adaptive suspension, leather seats etc and looked pretty anonymous in the car park when polished up and private plate on. Sold it in 2021 and got a good proportion of the original purchase back.

In the same position today, I d be looking for an older Tesla Model 3/BMW 3 Series/Passat of say 5-6 years old and running it as long as necessary.

[phpe]

Also bear in mind if it s a private (combustion) car used for business, you can claim 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p per mile for the remainder.

EV rates differ and you might find it hard to accommodate full price EV charging costs within the EV limits. Ability to home charge for an EV is very desirable.

Private EVs are 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p for the remainder.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-a...

Edited by phpe on Thursday 17th September 15:03

[megaphone]

phpe said:

Also bear in mind if it s a private (combustion) car used for business, you can claim 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p per mile for the remainder.

EV rates differ and you might find it hard to accommodate full price EV charging costs within the EV limits. Ability to home charge for an EV is very desirable.

Private EVs are 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p for the remainder.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-a...

Edited by phpe on Thursday 17th September 15:03

Note those amounts are tax relief, on business milage, not commuting, so not worth a huge amount to the OP.

[Frimley111R]

The Model 3 is hard to beat for cost and performance....assuming you can charge at home.

[phpe]

Agreed - in my case at the time, I’d agreed that my house was my home work location and therefore any business travel required at all would be fully reimbursed at the standard HMRC rates.

[WH16]

megaphone said:

WH16 said:

I'd go BMW i3.

Within budget, nicely built, genuinely interesting, great handling, small footprint and a future classic so shouldn't lose much value. Don't bother with the S or the Rex.

But older ones have a crap range. Future classic?

Given we are talking 83 miles per day for the OP, I comfortably managed double that in mine, even in winter.

And for sure it is a car I would like to tuck away somewhere safe for the future. It was a revolutionary design and showed what could be possible if manufacturers were a little braver in designing BEVs, rather than maintaining the ICE constraints unnecessarily as with the cars which followed it. The drive was brilliant and I don't know anyone who has owned one and not loved it. It could quite easily have a Lotus badge rather than BMW thanks to the balance, low grip and predictable handling. It was genuinely fun to drive and own. No other BEV (or BMW) interested me as much as the i3, and nothing on the market today is as interesting from a design point of view.

[martinbiz]

megaphone said:

phpe said:

Also bear in mind if it s a private (combustion) car used for business, you can claim 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p per mile for the remainder.

EV rates differ and you might find it hard to accommodate full price EV charging costs within the EV limits. Ability to home charge for an EV is very desirable.

Private EVs are 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p for the remainder.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-a...

Edited by phpe on Thursday 17th September 15:03

Note those amounts are tax relief, on business milage, not commuting, so not worth a huge amount to the OP.

Where does the OP say it's commuting?

[phpe]

Having had just a quick look on Autotrader for ideas, there's a lot of sensible, if uninspiring, candidates in the £10,000 range and age range up to 6-10 years old.

To name a few...

Skoda Superb & Octavia
VW Passat & Arteon and ID4
BMW 3 and 4 Series
Ford Focus & Mondeo
Vauxhall Insignia
Tesla Model 3
Toyota Corolla & Prius

You won't impress anyone with any of these cars, but that's not the point - any of these will just quietly go about their business.

For 20,000 miles a year (if the car will be used all year round in all conditions), I'd personally be prioritising comfort features like adaptive suspension, heated seats & windscreen for winter months, ease of repairs/maintenance at non-franchised dealers (as 20k miles a year will require 1 or 2 services a year) and the ability to run winter/all-season tyres in the winter months at a reasonable cost

[Guv10]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes it is for commuting.

Its 80 miles per day to the office and back then I'll potentially around to different sites. So 20k miles a year I think.

I dont have the function to charge at home or I'd have and EV

[Guv10]

phpe said:

Having had just a quick look on Autotrader for ideas, there's a lot of sensible, if uninspiring, candidates in the £10,000 range and age range up to 6-10 years old.

To name a few...

Skoda Superb & Octavia
VW Passat & Arteon and ID4
BMW 3 and 4 Series
Ford Focus & Mondeo
Vauxhall Insignia
Tesla Model 3
Toyota Corolla & Prius

You won't impress anyone with any of these cars, but that's not the point - any of these will just quietly go about their business.

For 20,000 miles a year (if the car will be used all year round in all conditions), I'd personally be prioritising comfort features like adaptive suspension, heated seats & windscreen for winter months, ease of repairs/maintenance at non-franchised dealers (as 20k miles a year will require 1 or 2 services a year) and the ability to run winter/all-season tyres in the winter months at a reasonable cost

Yeah i was leaning towards a focus. I've had one before and it was ok. I've been spoilt with an automatic now and I dont want to go back!

[paul_c123]

I'd be looking at something with the 2.0 TDI VW engine (not just VWs) or something with the 2.1 Merc diesel engine in it.

[NDA]

Guv10 said:

Thanks for all the replies. Yes it is for commuting.

Its 80 miles per day to the office and back then I'll potentially around to different sites. So 20k miles a year I think.

I dont have the function to charge at home or I'd have and EV

Is it worth having a commando socket or charger installed at home? I had an almost identical commute and bought an EV - which was about a tenth of the running costs of the petrol car it replaced. The £1,000 installation cost for the charger was very quickly recovered by the savings.

An EV seems almost designed for a dull commute and brilliant for frosty early morning starts.