New commuting car.

[Wango]

Recently got a new job and my mileage will be increasing massively from about 20 miles a day commute to 90+ miles a day.

I have two trains of thought buy a year old Hyundai/Kia and stay safe with the warranty.

Or buy an old shed a run it in to the ground for a year and repeat.

Any ideas or comments?

[AllyBassman]

Both of your options are sound ideas.

I guess it boils down to whether you want a newish car or not.

[MorganP104]

If I were doing 90+ miles per day, my criteria list would look something like this:

1) Large, comfortable, with an automatic gearbox.
2) Something that has done most (if not all) of its depreciation, as doing big miles kills a car's value.
3) Long MoT

In other words, I'd be going down the shed route.

If you buy a nearly new Hyundai and bung a load of miles on it, you'll lose an eye-watering amount in depreciation, and will be crying into your cornflakes, come sale time.

[GreatGranny]

I have a slightly longer commute (120 per day) and have had the following:

1999 reg E36 318is - bought for £1400 ran for 35k miles & 18 months with no issues, sold for £400
59 reg S40 1.6d DRIVe - bought for £6500 ran for 80k miles and 3 years, DPF issues sold for £3k
Now running a shed (206 1.4) which is really my daughters learning car so will go shed again in a few months.
206 has been 100% reliable but not the most refined car for spending 3 hours in.

Going for E46 318 coupe or estate I think for around a grand.

[a]

2000 miles a month... Fuel consumption becomes a big factor in running costs. The difference between a car that does 40mpg on the motorway (shed) and 60mpg (new diesel) is about £100pm.

You could lease a new high-spec Infiniti Q30 (superbly comfortable front seats/driving position for a long journey): https://www.nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk/Infin...
£311pm amortised for a 3+23 (2 year) 50,000 mile lease.

But you'd be saving £100pm in fuel so that takes it down to £211pm.

For a shed, let's say approximate monthly cost of £50 for MOT/tax/repairs/breakdown cover and there will be some depreciation cost there as well with that mileage, maybe £20pm.

And let's say one "proper" £500 breakdown in two years - another £20pm.

Ends up at approx a £2,880 "premium" over the two years to drive a brand new (and quite nice, IMO) car. No need to worry about breakdowns thanks to inclusive warranty/courtesy car and breakdown cover. Lots of gadgets to keep you comfortable on your long drive like bluetooth, heated leather seats, climate control (how many sheds have working air con?), LED headlights will be nice when driving home in winter, etc.

When I had a 110 mile (round trip) commute, I went down the shed diesel route to try and benefit from cheap running costs and no depreciation... But when it broke down (often) I would lose time off work which was very expensive and inconvenient, so I'd end up spending a fortune trying to get the car repaired ASAP... I would have saved a lot of money and hassle if I'd leased instead.

[Ursicles]

Id go get an old ford mondeo.

cheap to buy and run, and comfy for 90miles a day.

[CX53]

I've just acquired a mk4 mondeo 2.0 TDCi, very impressed with it. Was intended on just being a work & back car but we've been using it at weekends too. A very good all rounder and commuter!

[DoubleD]

I would go for something thats comfortable and with a decent stereo.