What car? Town driving, nippy, economic, not too small £6k
What car? Town driving, nippy, economic, not too small £6k
Author
Discussion

yus

Original Poster:

60 posts

167 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Not sure if anything exists but

I'm wanting to upgrade my 1.6 2002 toyota corolla (first car) for something that's newer/nicer and better for driving around town. I do a 1.4 mile round trip sometimes twice a day. Hardly any motorway miles. Oh and I've been driving a year and have only done around 5000 miles

Wanting a car around the same size as I do transport a lot of big boxes, maybe a bit smaller but not aygo/smart forfour small.
Economy is very important but I understand that the car won't be as nippy if its really economical (unless there's something that is both?)
If possible a solid motorway drive too?

Budget is preferably around £4k-£5k but can stretch up to £6k if its a very nice car

Done a lot of searching and it seems as though a diesel won't be a good buy as most of my driving is mostly urban.

Edited by yus on Wednesday 5th February 01:05

anthonysjb

532 posts

166 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Mini Clubman

M3greg

220 posts

156 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Ford Fiesta

vrsmxtb

2,003 posts

186 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
  • Insert pretty much any small hatchback here*
Just get a petrol Yaris or a Micra, it'll do the job and be cheap as chips to run.

yus

Original Poster:

60 posts

167 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for all the replies
Damn, can't find the multiquote.

The clubman is kind of ideal but they're usually over £6k and I hate the look of it unfortunately.

The cars linked are not good enough on fuel

Might check out the Fiesta though

Wouldn't mind a Yaris, did some research yesterday and found the brilliant pistonhead car search, came up with the following list:

suzuki swift 1.3
mazda 2 sport 1.5
ibiza 1.2 tsi
yaris 1.33 tr
fabia 1.2 tsi

All get around 50mpg combined and seem pretty nippy. All under 13 seconds for 0-60 iirc. good brands also

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

221 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
So you do 2.8 miles a day? Fuel economy does not matter in the slightest!

Axionknight

8,505 posts

165 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Suzuki Swift 5 doors if needed. 1.5 petrol engine is reasonable on gas but if you can find a sport for that budget then it'll be even better, those are great fun.

inabox

297 posts

221 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Why are you bothered about economy when you only do 5000 miles a year? Should be the least of your priorities, surely?

HJMS123

988 posts

163 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
inabox said:
Why are you bothered about economy when you only do 5000 miles a year? Should be the least of your priorities, surely?
This ... I only do 5k a year so with my current siuation couldn't care about fuel

Cento186

32 posts

168 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Fiat Punto Sporting 1.4 6 speed. Plenty of go and comfortable on motorways, plus it's alot less than £6k smile

Riknos

4,701 posts

234 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
inabox said:
Why are you bothered about economy when you only do 5000 miles a year? Should be the least of your priorities, surely?
Bit of a stupid question really. You still HAVE to pay for fuel and car bills doing 5k a year, it's not free up until a certain point, you know?

I do roughly £6k a year. At 28mpg and super unleaded fuel, it's still £1400+ a year, might be chump change for some people, but it's not for me! compare a 20mpg car to a 50mpg and that's £900 difference a year, add in all the other running costs and it does have an impact on someone's life, even more so the longer they keep the car. So yes, even at 5k a year you still need to be bothered about economy, although yes it shouldn't be the priority. Plus, what happens if in the future the op does MORE miles due to situation?

I have to tell my wife I can only take her to work or pick her up, not both, as I can't afford to double my annual mileage and still keep the car wink

Crusoe

4,124 posts

261 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all

Censorious

15,169 posts

264 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
anthonysjb said:
Mini Clubman
It'll be a dog for £6k; that's if you can find one at all in that price bracket!

HustleRussell

26,535 posts

190 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Riknos said:
I do roughly £6k a year. At 28mpg and super unleaded fuel, it's still £1400+ a year
Why would the OP be putting super unleaded in a 12 year old 1.6 shopping car?

Secondly, practically no car will do 50mpg on 0.7 mile journeys- I can't imagine any of the cars that have been listed will.

You need to revisit your maths using more relaistic figures and ordinary unleaded before they'll make any sense.

Edited by HustleRussell on Wednesday 5th February 16:45

yus

Original Poster:

60 posts

167 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Looks like I'll have to get something that does 45mpg urban to see much of a difference in fuel costs. And it won't be nippy.

I get like 250-300 max miles out of ~£70 with this Corolla

I just don't want something boring or something that would take an age getting up to speed on the motorway

I currently don't do that many motorway miles but that will be increasing in the near future

Don't think anything exists that is ideal!

Will an older Diesel model without the new DPF filter thing be OK for a town car? Diesels do tend to get much better efficiency or will I not notice much difference with my type of journey?

rb5er

11,657 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
As per the other posters why would you care about economy at all if you do less than 3 miles a day????


HustleRussell

26,535 posts

190 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
yus said:
Looks like I'll have to get something that does 45mpg urban to see much of a difference in fuel costs. And it won't be nippy.

I get like 250-300 max miles out of ~£70 with this Corolla

I just don't want something boring or something that would take an age getting up to speed on the motorway

I currently don't do that many motorway miles but that will be increasing in the near future

Don't think anything exists that is ideal!

Will an older Diesel model without the new DPF filter thing be OK for a town car? Diesels do tend to get much better efficiency or will I not notice much difference with my type of journey?
For the second time, you won't get something that'll do 45mpg on a 0.7 mile journey. Not a diesel, not a small petrol, not even something tiny.

I have calculated that 250-300 miles from £70 equates to not much more than 21-25mpg from your Corrola.

At your current mileage, diesel is a false economy because over journeys that short the increase in MPG will barely offset the difference in cost of the fuel. That said, diesel will make more sense if you start doing more motorway miles in future.

alangla

6,742 posts

211 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
Without being funny, if you genuinely are only doing your 1.4 mile round trip & not much/anything else, why not walk or take a taxi if you've got a lot of stuff? It'll probably work out cheaper. TBH, the only thing you're going to get that will be reasonably economical over that length of journey will be an electric & they appear to be too expensive just now (cheapest Kangoo van I could find was £6,800+VAT, I guess you might be able to get an early iMiev type thing though)

rb5er

11,657 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th February 2014
quotequote all
yus said:
I get like 250-300 max miles out of ~£70 with this Corolla
Really?

I get 380 miles out of £80 in my 2.4 Turbo Volvo.

Anyway with such low mileage as previously stated several times you might as well get something fun and juicy as it will make no difference.