MPG USED CAR

[JASONLAX]

Just returned from 7 years in USA and I need to buy a car ! I have £5000-00 will be doing on average 2500 miles pcm. Looked at a Prius is that my only real option to keep fuel costs below £300-00 pcm ? Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Matt UK]

Looks like you need to hit 50mpg. I'd say spend half your £5k on a VAG 1.9 tdi and be happy with 40-45mpg.

[ModernAndy]

In short, no. You just need a car that will do in excess of circa 50mpg

[Snappy89]

JASONLAX said:

Just returned from 7 years in USA and I need to buy a car ! I have £5000-00 will be doing on average 2500 miles pcm. Looked at a Prius is that my only real option to keep fuel costs below £300-00 pcm ? Any advice greatly appreciated.

You could look at the some of the Euro econo diesel powered st-boxes that deliver around 50-60mpg if you're being sensible. You could probably pick up one under 5-6 years old for that kind of money.

[Galileo]

The fuel economy on a Prius is actually quite poor. As above, look for a 1.6-1.9 TDi for good economy. A 1.5DCi Renault will get you into the 60s mpg.

[AnotherClarkey]

Depends what size car you want and if you want an auto. Prius is a decent call if you need something of reasonable size and auto, otherwise a smaller, manual, diesel would do.

[Krikkit]

At 30k pa I'd be looking for a comfy chair, relaxing cabin and good ride quality if it were me.

Cue my generic response of a D5 Volvo S60 for the 3rd time this week.

[p1esk]

ModernAndy said:

In short, no. You just need a car that will do in excess of circa 50mpg

I have the very thing; a June 2000 Pug 406 HDi that can be relied upon to do 50+ mpg on any reasonable length journey if driven sensibly. With just over 181,000 on the clock it's running very nicely indeed; probably just run in.

With a bit of persuasion I think I could let it go for £5000 notes.

[JASONLAX]

Galileo said:

The fuel economy on a Prius is actually quite poor. As above, look for a 1.6-1.9 TDi for good economy. A 1.5DCi Renault will get you into the 60s mpg.

A 1.5 DCi Renault - what model are we looking at here ? Thanks

[james280779]

p1esk said:

I have the very thing; a June 2000 Pug 406 HDi that can be relied upon to do 50+ mpg on any reasonable length journey if driven sensibly. With just over 181,000 on the clock it's running very nicely indeed; probably just run in.

With a bit of persuasion I think I could let it go for £5000 notes.

I second this having just purchased a 406 2.1 td, will get approx 1800 km per tank of 60 litres of diesel.Not bad for a 16 year old rust bucket

[james280779]

Galileo said:

The fuel economy on a Prius is actually quite poor. As above, look for a 1.6-1.9 TDi for good economy. A 1.5DCi Renault will get you into the 60s mpg.

I had a prius as a police car for a while. that thing was shocking when being driving in a spirited fashion. My Pug 406 coupe v6 was actually more economical over a long distance.

[ModernAndy]

JASONLAX said:

A 1.5 DCi Renault - what model are we looking at here ? Thanks

Renault Clio. The mk2 facelift onwards. Not sure how the prices are on the used market but you're probably looking at an 05 or 06 car. They came in a variety of power levels with the most powerful being the 100hp which was only available in the mk2 facelift model from 04-05 iirc.

[Devil2575]

james280779 said:

Galileo said:

The fuel economy on a Prius is actually quite poor. As above, look for a 1.6-1.9 TDi for good economy. A 1.5DCi Renault will get you into the 60s mpg.

I had a prius as a police car for a while. that thing was shocking when being driving in a spirited fashion. My Pug 406 coupe v6 was actually more economical over a long distance.

The Prius is not uneconomical if you drive it as Toyota intended.

OP, there are plenty of Diesels that will get more tha 50 mpg on a run for your budget. I'm assuming that 2500 miles pcm is going to include a lot of motorway driving.

[daemon]

JASONLAX said:

Just returned from 7 years in USA and I need to buy a car ! I have £5000-00 will be doing on average 2500 miles pcm. Looked at a Prius is that my only real option to keep fuel costs below £300-00 pcm ? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Golf mk5 1.9 TDI or Passat 1.9TDI is the answer then.

[Spare tyre]

my 406 diesel was really good on long trips and fuel

got over 300 on the clock before i (foolishly) sold it

[Galileo]

JASONLAX said:

Galileo said:

The fuel economy on a Prius is actually quite poor. As above, look for a 1.6-1.9 TDi for good economy. A 1.5DCi Renault will get you into the 60s mpg.

A 1.5 DCi Renault - what model are we looking at here ? Thanks

Clio or Megane. The Megane 1.5Dci 105bhp is quoted at 70.6mpg Extra Urban. 62.8mpg average and 51.4mpg urban. The Clios are about the same. If you go for the 86bhp engine the figures go up but not as much as you'd think. £5000 will get you a nice one. Try Autotrader and the classifieds on PH. I check here for fuel economy figures; fuel-economy.co.uk Not sure how accurate they are.

[BGarside]

Second the VW 1.9TDI-powered cars. My remapped (to 175hp) Seat Leon gets an easy 52 (actual, not indicated) on the motorway and can be coaxed to 57 sticking to an indicated 70mph (actual 66).

B5 (2001-2005) VW Passat is quite a nice place to sit for long trips. Best engine is the 130hp AWX motor and the 5-speed manual 'box is supposedly more robust than the 6-speeder. Also take a look at the Mk 1 Skoda Octavia with the 1.9 diesel.

Prius is good if you're driving round town a lot since it works as an automatic and is quiet when stopped. Does not have much overtaking grunt at higher speeds though, although I've managed 57mpg (indicated) with fairly high speed cruising on the motorway.

[p1esk]

james280779 said:

p1esk said:

I have the very thing; a June 2000 Pug 406 HDi that can be relied upon to do 50+ mpg on any reasonable length journey if driven sensibly. With just over 181,000 on the clock it's running very nicely indeed; probably just run in.

With a bit of persuasion I think I could let it go for £5000 notes.

I second this having just purchased a 406 2.1 td, will get approx 1800 km per tank of 60 litres of diesel.Not bad for a 16 year old rust bucket

Eh? Approx. 1800 km x 0.621 / 60 x 4.546 = 80+ mpg. How are you achieving that?

I thought I was doing well but clearly I need to improve.