£4000 budget - Seeking advice from the pros!

[Merkleman]

Hi guys, I'm currently looking for a new car and I'm having trouble choosing. Well, I can choose a car, but I thought I'd run it past the experienced guys first!

Budget - £4000

What I'd like:

- Saloon
- Diesel
- Leather interior
- Over 35 MPG
- Automatic

So far, I've been torn between these, but feel free to recommend others:

- Jaguar X-Type 2.0
- BMW 320
- Volkswagen Passat
- Saab 9-3 Turbo

To be honest, I'm more drawn towards the Saab because it seems unique and different to the others, plus it has 150 bhp and I've heard they can shift pretty quickly.

I'd LOVE something that had a 'Sports Mode' button. I remember when my uncle pressed the sports mode button on his old BMW when I was younger and I've never felt a car move so quickly in my life. So if you can recommend a car with a sports mode, that would be nice!

What draws me to the Jag is the comfort.. I've only sat in a Jag once, and it was the nicest car I've ever been in. It was smooth, quiet and unbelievably comfy.

Hopefully you get an idea of what I'm after. I'm not really good with cars so hopefully you guys can find me something ideal.

Cheers!

[thelawnet]

What's your budget for repairs and servicing? How many miles are you doing per year? What kind of journeys are you doing?

[Merkleman]

thelawnet said:

What's your budget for repairs and servicing? How many miles are you doing per year? What kind of journeys are you doing?

Well, I wouldn't really like to spend more than £750 per year on repairs. I'd say I'll be doing around 7500 miles per year. I'll be driving on the motorway once every week or two which will be 90 miles there and back. So I don't think I'll do more than 150 miles per week at all, mainly just driving to work and occasional visits to town.

[Defcon5]

Diesel is not the answer here I don't think

[Merkleman]

Defcon5 said:

Diesel is not the answer here I don't think

Why? I thought diesel lasted longer, gave more power and gave more MPG? Sorry I'm a noob lol.

[steve954]

Modern diesels suffer from a lot of faults if they are not used enough a clogged up egr valve is one! Especially on the x type, for 7500 miles a petrol would be more cost efficient than a diesel.

[Loudy McFatass]

7500 miles per year!? You definitely don't "need" a diesel.

Have you crunched the number to see what it saves you over the equivalent petrol models (mpg wise)?

[Merkleman]

Loudy McFatass said:

7500 miles per year!? You definitely don't "need" a diesel.

Have you crunched the number to see what it saves you over the equivalent petrol models (mpg wise)?

I haven't. But, isn't diesel more reliable?

[T0MMY]

More MPG, yes, but not more power, like for like.

[jebus]

No diesels are far from more reliable than petrols, in your level of mileage, stick them on the motorway for 30k a year then they make more sense, but for 7500 a year go V8!

[Merkleman]

Really? I thought diesel was more powerful too. I'll try to be basic.. Here is what I'm looking for..

Something big, something that can shift and push me back in my seat if I want it to (preferably sports mode), something nice looking, something comfy.

I'm really a car noob guys.

What about a 2005 Subaru Impreza? On autotrader, the specs look nice.. 221 BHP and 0-62 in 5.6 seconds. I bet that thing flies lol! Help me out guys!

[T0MMY]

Don't take this the wrong way but I'm starting to doubt this was a serious question.

[steve954]

Why stray from a car you want from the above list? How about this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191405066603

[Merkleman]

T0MMY said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I'm starting to doubt this was a serious question.

Course I'm serious, I just don't know a lot about cars.

[MintSprint]

Merkleman said:

I'd LOVE something that had a 'Sports Mode' button. I remember when my uncle pressed the sports mode button on his old BMW when I was younger and I've never felt a car move so quickly in my life. So if you can recommend a car with a sports mode, that would be nice!

As the owner of a diesel Saab auto (albeit a 9-5 estate rather than a 9-3 saloon), I have to say that you're going to be underwhelmed with the effect of the 'sport' button.

It tells the gearbox to hold lower gears a bit longer (to higher revs), before changing up.

It doesn't ignite an afterburner or an Atlas booster rocket.

Sorry to disappoint you..

[MintSprint]

T0MMY said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I'm starting to doubt this was a serious question.

I'm starting to doubt that our hero has passed his test yet.

Are the schools on holiday again?

[Merkleman]

MintSprint said:

As the owner of a diesel Saab auto (albeit a 9-5 estate rather than a 9-3 saloon), I have to say that you're going to be underwhelmed with the effect of the 'sport' button.

It tells the gearbox to hold lower gears a bit longer (to higher revs), before changing up.

It doesn't ignite an afterburner or an Atlas booster rocket.

Sorry to disappoint you..

Well that is pretty disappointing.

I'm not really familiar with the sports mode as I've only seen it in action once, and that was in my uncles old BMW, and I've never felt a car go so fast in my life. If I could get something that's capable of doing similar to that.. I'll be happy!

How do you know if a car has sports mode by browsing online? It never says.

Can somebody list a few cars that have a good sports mode option? Is it more common on automatic cars? Or is it 8nly available on automatic cars?

[Merkleman]

No idea why I'm being accused of trolling, I'll guess it's because I'm a new driver and I'm inexperienced with cars.

We all start somewhere so that's something to remember. I came in and asked nicely, but thanks to the people who posted constructive advice.

[T0MMY]

I wouldn't obsess about getting a car with a "sport" button. They can be extremely dangerous if you hit them accidentally. I was in my 1.7 diesel Astra recently and reached down to switch the radio to "In Our Time" with Melvyn Bragg. Stupidly I managed to hit the "sports" button by mistake and the car immediately lurched forward, piling me into the back of a bus at over 150mph. I was extremely lucky to survive as fortunately I had time to hit the "crash survival" button prior to impact.

[thelawnet]

You want petrol. At 30mpg, £5.50/gallon, you are looking at £1500/year. Diesel might save £400 off that, but then you have a bigger risk of expensive failure.