Lowest running cost car for 20 mile commute, £2k budget.

[lee1993]

My commute is 8 miles of fast B roads followed by a 12 mile stretch of motorway, with occasional supermarket trip. (40~ miles a day.) For under £2000, what cars would you be looking at for the lowest total running costs?

[Drezza]

Probably something like a Corsa or Fiesta

[nuttywobbler]

Mk8 Civic 2.2 i-CDTi

[talksthetorque]

One that doesn't depreciate, break down and has all the consumables recently renewed.

Something Japanese, with a small petrol engine. You're only just over the crossover point really between diesel being more efficient than petrol.

Yaris/Micra/Swift etc.

[Roger Irrelevant]

I use our Yaris for something similar (when I'm actually at work), and I struggle to see how you could run anything else that can be picked up for £2k much cheaper. Get a 1.3 petrol with the sixth gear and you should see 50mpg easily, consumables are cheap and last ages and it doesn't go wrong.

[keo]

Aygo/107/c1 I don’t think you could get much cheaper to run (correct me if I am wrong) also pretty fun to drive

[SCEtoAUX]

Yep, Aygo.

I had one for 10 years, £30.00 tax, £50.00 for oil and a filter every year at my local indy. Insurance as cheap as you'll get.

Won't go wrong, cheap to fix if it does (which it won't). 60mpg easily achievable.

They do let in water when they get a bit old though, a bit of sealant round the rear lights should sort it.

[Thebaggers]

Probably a Jazz as that's unlikely to need parts.

Or buy something old comfy and disposable with a 1.9 PD non dpf engine in it for £500, our old polo does 65mpg and refuses to die, the cam belt is on its 12th year and is it still on the original clutch after 162k. I changed a bulb a few times since 2006 when it was 3 years old

[ZX10R NIN]

lee1993 said:

My commute is 8 miles of fast B roads followed by a 12 mile stretch of motorway, with occasional supermarket trip. (40~ miles a day.) For under £2000, what cars would you be looking at for the lowest total running costs?

The cheapest option is the car you currently have.

[Walter Sobchak]

Fiesta 1.4 TDCI would be a good shout.

[Heartworm]

1.5 diesel clio.

I easily get 55mpg on everyday driving and when I take it on the motorway on longer drives get 65mpg.

[ZX10R NIN]

Alfa Mito Veloce 120/140/155

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009214...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009254...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009294...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009284...

Mazdea2 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010054...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009304...

Mito Quadrifoglio

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009043...

Grande Punto T Jet

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010014...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008273...

Sporting 1.9d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008262...

Civic Type S GT

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007291...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Monday 5th October 22:24

[ChocolateFrog]

Probably something VAG with the 1.9 pump duse engine.

Will be more economical than the Aygo/C1/107 and a nicer place to sit too.

Volvo D5 cost me virtually nothing to maintain and run, did 55mpg and cost significantly less than 2k when I bought it about 5 years ago, awesome stereo and seats.

What's the absolute bottom of the market for Nissan Leafs? One of the ones that only does 40 miles on a charge.

[MrB.]

I’ve just bought myself another Volvo C30 (had a T5 a few years back) just as a cheap second car. I bought a 2008 2.0D SE Sport R-Design with impeccable history, under 100k miles and just had the belt and water pump done for a shade under £3k. You could pick up a 1.6/1.8 petrol, or 1.6 diesel for your budget, and you’d have cheap running costs, but a solid car with distinctive styling and nice spec.

Worth a look, and they hold their money too.

[Horsey McHorseface]

MK2 Yaris D4D. 55-60 mpg, £30 tax.

[bearman68]

I have a Yaris 1.4 d4d, which is pretty awesome, and I thought the cheapest thing you could possibly run.............. And then I splurged £700 on a E3 Volvo S60 D5, which does more to the gallon (how is this even possible?), and is much nicer on any sort of run. But the tax is expensive. and it's going to be more expensive to maintain than the Yaris, which is fantastically easy to service, and nothing ever goes wrong ever. I've seen 80 mpg on the Volvo, max I could get on the Yaris was 75.

[GreatGranny]

ChocolateFrog said:

What's the absolute bottom of the market for Nissan Leafs? One of the ones that only does 40 miles on a charge.

The early ones (24kwh) will do 70ish miles to a charge but cheapest on Atrader is £3k (and it's got body work damage)

OP, any small hatch with 1.4 engine or less will be cheap to run.

Japanese will be the most reliable generally.

[ScoobyChris]

keo said:

Aygo/107/c1 I don’t think you could get much cheaper to run (correct me if I am wrong) also pretty fun to drive

Yep this is where our money went (landed on 107) for this very reason. Kids will also be able to learn to drive on it (assuming it lasts 2 more years!) and keep them out of my car

Chris

Edited by ScoobyChris on Tuesday 6th October 09:42

[V6todayEVmanana]

Aygo is amazing for running costs, especially if you get one with £0 or £20 tax.

Sips fuel, cheap to service and maintain.

Fun to drive as engine makes an interesting noise and with good tyres it grips well.

Can be brought with A/C and bluetooth music streaming which is great for commuting.

Easy to park, can find spaces others cars had to avoid.

- Not much sound proofing so can be noisy on the motorway but as you'll be doing 12miles (10minutes) it shouldn't be a problem.
- Take a while to accelerate to motorway speeds but that's the trade off with cheap fuel costs I guess.

Had ours 7 years now, water leak sorted out by the warranty so expect most are fixed by now.
5 door is handy as boot is small so often put a shopping bag or 2 in the rear footwell.

In 7 years only fault we had to pay for was a welding back an exhaust bracket that snapped off the pipe.

[Saleen836]

For those posting about certain diesels and what mpg they get, you have to remember the OP's commute is minimal so as the weather is getting colder he will be well over halfway to his destination before the car is up to optimum running temps and returning a good mpg.