A nice car to be in when stuck in traffic? 5k per year £5k

[AlphaRomeo]

Looking for a daily driver with Bluetooth (Spotify/Audible), Automatic, Parking Sensors (loved these on the Golf R). I'm 6'3" so something with a bit of legroom would be glorious! The car will spend most of its time in an urban commute. Budget is £5k.

My Golf R lease goes back in March. When I went for that deal, I had a lovely commute over country roads, 25 miles each way. We've moved house and now my commute is 7 miles each way in stop-start traffic (utterly miserable).

The Golf R is a great car to be sat in but it's frustrating knowing all that power is there. Another great feature that isn't getting used anymore is the active cruise control, very handy at times. It's a manual too and I think an auto might be better now.

I'll keep an eye on the lease threads to see if some thing cheap comes up but for now, I'm buying used.

[wemorgan]

Kia/Hyundai are usually well spec'd if that's what matters.

[AlphaRomeo]

Hadn't really considered those two. Will take a look at Kia (from memory, I don't think I could live with the looks of just about any Hyundai I've ever seen).

[FidoGoRetroGo]

Could a Leaf work for you? There's no better car in horrible traffic.

This 1st Gen one has the battery owned and I'm sure you'd find something similar from a private seller at £6k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Cost of electricity for 14 miles would be pennies. Should easily be good for 80k miles with no costs other than consumables, and after a few years you just chuck it away.

[DSLiverpool]

Leaf would never need de icing and has heated seats and a heated wheel add the Bose stereo with streaming - Perfect commuter.

[AlphaRomeo]

Great shout on the Leaf! Will have a look!

[FidoGoRetroGo]

1st gen cars only came in one spec, so no heated seats/wheel or Bose, but the standard audio is good, and you'll get Nav, Bluetooth, voice control, reversing camera and other nice things.

The range on 1st gen cars will only be 50-60 miles on a full charge, possibly a bit more on the slow drive you're referring to though.

Make sure that you're happy buying a car that to all intents and purposes can't be driven for more than 50 miles on any one day. If you're happy with that then the Leaf will be perfect for you.

[ZX10R NIN]

AlphaRomeo said:

Looking for a daily driver with Bluetooth (Spotify/Audible), Automatic, Parking Sensors (loved these on the Golf R). I'm 6'3" so something with a bit of legroom would be glorious! The car will spend most of its time in an urban commute. Budget is £5k.

My Golf R lease goes back in March. When I went for that deal, I had a lovely commute over country roads, 25 miles each way. We've moved house and now my commute is 7 miles each way in stop-start traffic (utterly miserable).

The Golf R is a great car to be sat in but it's frustrating knowing all that power is there. Another great feature that isn't getting used anymore is the active cruise control, very handy at times. It's a manual too and I think an auto might be better now.

I'll keep an eye on the lease threads to see if some thing cheap comes up but for now, I'm buying used.

I'd say this car fits the bill still AWD with enough change to fit the Pioneer SPH DA120 headunit so you can have Spotify Streaming etc

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[AlphaRomeo]

FidoGoRetroGo said:

1st gen cars only came in one spec, so no heated seats/wheel or Bose, but the standard audio is good, and you'll get Nav, Bluetooth, voice control, reversing camera and other nice things.

The range on 1st gen cars will only be 50-60 miles on a full charge, possibly a bit more on the slow drive you're referring to though.

Make sure that you're happy buying a car that to all intents and purposes can't be driven for more than 50 miles on any one day. If you're happy with that then the Leaf will be perfect for you.

Ah, okay. Will bear that in mind. I looked into electric charging points a few months back when I (naively) thought a Tesla was within my financial means and, with grants etc, you can basically have one installed for free (Scotland). I spent some time looking at Leafs (Leaves?) and drifted into i3s... That prompted me to look at annual fuel bills and it seems as though I'd be heading down the electric route only to save £1000 a year (over a 20 mpg car) and be saddled with limitations you mention.

It's hard one but I think I might be best looking at petrol cars with legroom, parking sensors and Bluetooth. There must be plenty that fit that bill....

[AlphaRomeo]

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say this car fits the bill still AWD with enough change to fit the Pioneer SPH DA120 headunit so you can have Spotify Streaming etc

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Now you're talking. I have no idea if that's good value (not looked at A3s yet) but my fuel calculations suggest that this may well be a good route to go down! The legroom will probably be great on that (the Golf R was). I'm going to end up with an Evo or something...

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far - plenty of food for thought.

[TameRacingDriver]

What about some form of petrol E90 3-series if you want a more conventional car. 5K isn't high miles and I'm sure you'd get everything you want in one of those for the price. I've had an E46 3-series and a Z4 and both were a nice place to be, I can only imagine the newer E90 being even more relaxing, if somewhat dull on a hoon but almost certainly still better than taking a Leaf on a hoon!

[ZX10R NIN]

AlphaRomeo said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say this car fits the bill still AWD with enough change to fit the Pioneer SPH DA120 headunit so you can have Spotify Streaming etc

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Now you're talking. I have no idea if that's good value (not looked at A3s yet) but my fuel calculations suggest that this may well be a good route to go down! The legroom will probably be great on that (the Golf R was). I'm going to end up with an Evo or something...

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far - plenty of food for thought.

It's on the money for what you'd pay for one don't forget you can haggle that price down a bit, also something to consider is that with this car being a 2005 model you'll be saving £200 every year road tax wise.

You can get lower mileage ones for a bit more outlay, people will say you could just buy a 2.0T Quattro model & map it (which you could) but the V6 is a nice creamy place to be (a back box releases a real nice note) as I said a change of headunit solves all possible connectivity issues.

2004 61k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Engine Note
https://youtu.be/oK3otBKIPqE

https://youtu.be/7lJFow6Uvxs


Another leftfield car is the C350 Coupe 272bhp Auto again you'd have to change the headunit but it's another option & also cheap to buy some have Panoramic roofs.

2007 C350 78k FSH
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[markirl]

Have a look at a GS450h, nice place to be stuck in traffic and great on juice for what they are.

[Johnny 89]

I think it's hard to beat an Alfa Romeo interior and I'm sure you can get all the toys you refer to?

[DSLiverpool]

markirl said:

Have a look at a GS450h, nice place to be stuck in traffic and great on juice for what they are.

That's got entertainment value I worked 6 miles away and tried to go as far as possible on the battery each day. From memory I think I got 1.3 miles max. It's a very very fast car from 50 - 70

[AlphaRomeo]

ZX10R NIN said:

It's on the money for what you'd pay for one don't forget you can haggle that price down a bit, also something to consider is that with this car being a 2005 model you'll be saving £200 every year road tax wise.

You can get lower mileage ones for a bit more outlay, people will say you could just buy a 2.0T Quattro model & map it (which you could) but the V6 is a nice creamy place to be (a back box releases a real nice note) as I said a change of headunit solves all possible connectivity issues.

2004 61k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Engine Note
https://youtu.be/oK3otBKIPqE

https://youtu.be/7lJFow6Uvxs


Another leftfield car is the C350 Coupe 272bhp Auto again you'd have to change the headunit but it's another option & also cheap to buy some have Panoramic roofs.

2007 C350 78k FSH
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Some fantastic suggestions here! Love that Audi ( the one you posted is only a few miles from me so might take a look). Great shout on the E350 (had no idea they did one of these).

I'm a tad confused about road tax. I thought it was anything over 225g/km so I'll need to modify my search criteria!

[AlphaRomeo]

markirl said:

Have a look at a GS450h, nice place to be stuck in traffic and great on juice for what they are.

Seem a bit thin on the ground up here.... same as automatic Alfas, sadly...

[ZX10R NIN]

AlphaRomeo said:

Some fantastic suggestions here! Love that Audi ( the one you posted is only a few miles from me so might take a look). Great shout on the E350 (had no idea they did one of these).

I'm a tad confused about road tax. I thought it was anything over 225g/km so I'll need to modify my search criteria!

The road tax is simple anything above 225g/km that's a 55 plate or older will be £295 06 onwards £500

[AlphaRomeo]

Thanks for clearing that up My searches are producing way more results now! I was including only cars below 225...

[AlphaRomeo]

markirl said:

Have a look at a GS450h, nice place to be stuck in traffic and great on juice for what they are.

Seem a bit thin on the ground up here.... same as automatic Alfas, sadly...