Cheap to buy and run commuter? Sub 2k - Page 1 - Car Buying

Original Poster

3,525 posts

271 months

Monday 11th September 2017

I'm toying with the idea of going frugal with my daily drive as my finances are under pressure. Affordability is what it's all about. Cheap to buy and cheap to run, but hopefully reliable. So for under £2k or preferably sub £1.5k I want something which can handle my 20 mile each way daily commute of mixed minor country roads, town and A road. Ideally in a low (ish) tax band and giving good mpg, I might want to chuck a bike in the back from time to time (rear seats folded).

Suggestions gratefully received, especially if backed up with ownership experience.

Edited by pstruck on Monday 11th September 22:07

MorganP104

2,605 posts

152 months

Monday 11th September 2017

This thread has Honda Jazz written all over it. wink

Bike will fit in the back (seats down, front wheel of the bike off).

Cheap, economical, will never break.

Challo

12,152 posts

177 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017

Ford Focus in hatchback or estate form.

Tucker1

104 posts

200 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017

Fiesta tdci. I've had a 2006 for 7 years as a runaround. Paid just £3k ebay back then as it had already done over 100k at 3yo. 60mpg, £30 tax and cheap insurance for me. Spent little on it over the years so it owes me nothing. Injector seals (biggest cost but done by a mate), a spring, tyres and pads all of which were cheap. Plenty of these from even sub 1k now. I expect a bike would go in wheel out and seats down. If you need bigger as another poster rightly stated a Focus tdci.

Edited by Tucker1 on Tuesday 12th September 12:25

Edited by Tucker1 on Tuesday 12th September 12:31

CX53

3,021 posts

132 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017

Toyota Corolla

ZX10R NIN

29,906 posts

147 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017

Original Poster

3,525 posts

271 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I must admit I have been thinking all along that whatever I get must be petrol, having moved away from diesel some time ago and vowed not to go back. However, maybe I should keep an open mind. Petrol cars in the lowest tax brackets are mostly tiny city cars like the Aygo. I've not tried one of these but I suspect it'll be too small. Diesel might at least allow me something a touch bigger and with a little more power for my commute which includes some fairly steep hills.

ZX10R NIN

29,906 posts

147 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017

slk 32

1,526 posts

215 months

Friday 15th September 2017

I would seriously consider a polo bluemotion..you can pick up an early 2008 from £1500.

Because it's a diesel no-one wants them. Plus points..

Cheap to run 75-80 mpg
Zero roadtax
14 inch wheels equals cheap tyres.. £60 for new michelins
Suprisingly fun to drive with a 1.4 turbo diesel ..loads of torque and will happily cruise at 95-100. I had a petrol polo when mine went in for a service..horrible gutless little thing

I would caveat this by saying i've just replaced the turbo on mine at 135k though! Otherwise it's been faultless.

chniba

34 posts

155 months

Sunday 12th November 2017

I was in the same situation 3 months ago.
I bought a 2004 Toyota Yaris 1.4 diesel and it's brilliant.
Cost me £1500 and I'm getting 70mpg easy.
Drives great too. Comfortable, quiet and just enough power. I wish I'd done it years ago.
I'm saving a small fortune in running costs.

Original Poster

3,525 posts

271 months

Monday 13th November 2017

Having made the decision to commit PH blasphemy and go as cheap as possible I sacrificed my right to membership and bought a cheap Aygo a few weeks ago.

It’s a 57 plate five door in black, cost me just over a grand, has plenty of miles on the clock and a few little scrapes here and there. It cleans up ok though (but I will probably rarely wash it) and the air-con works, so happy days. It’s obviously very small and slow, but actually I am growing to rather like it! It requires plenty of use of the long spindly gear stick and a load of revs to get it going, especially up hills, but it does my commute (what it was bought for) no slower than its predecessors.

I can hussle it along my twisty country route in a way that raises a smile and with the satisfying thought that it cost just £20 for a years tax, is using little fuel, costs £150 to insure and runs on tyres that can be had for about £35 each. The boot is a joke, but I don’t carry much around and as it’s only ever me I can put the back seats down if I need more space. The stereo was fairly ineffective, so that has been replaced with a semi-decent headunit, front speakers and a compact under-seat sub, so at least I can plug in my iPhone and have decent tunes on the daily to-and-fro. It rolls a fair bit in the bends, but it is narrow, so squeezing down my regular country lanes past oncoming traffic is a breeze.

Who knows how long I will keep it. Not much makes it beyond a year in my ownership, but for now it is doing exactly what it was bought for. We have another car for family transport, so for journeys requiring a little more speed, comfort, refinement, load carry ability, I can always take the other one.

ph9

221 posts

116 months

Monday 13th November 2017

Thanks for updating the thread!

I've been contemplating an Aygo or C1 to replace a Mk1 Yaris. I looked at a 2010 C1 with 31,000 miles, and aircon and alloy wheels, but it was £3600, and sold before I had a chance to test drive it.

Do you get the impression that your one will last a good few years, or has rust set in?

Is it noisy and flimsy feeling, or does it feel fairly refined if not being hammered?

I was half thinking about an LPG conversion (which would not doubt completely fill the boot), but even at 12,000 to 20,000 miles per year it would take a few years to recoup the installation cost.

blueveloce

937 posts

202 months

Monday 13th November 2017

We had a early Aygo as a runaround a few years ago and kept it until 100k miles and it is still going strong as it was bought by a old lady not to far from us.We then had a Ford Ka for a while but when that died of rust i bought my misses a 2017 Aygo which she loves..

Cheap to run and usually 60mpg and decent equipment being the top model which i hope will last us for many years...I enjoy flinging it around our local b roads and narrow lanes and its very comfy too.

Hope this is as good as our old one...

AJB88

14,995 posts

193 months

Monday 13th November 2017

j532 said:

Seat Ibiza FR 1.9 TDi.

Test drove one of these a while back and due to the low weight and torque it was quick off the mark. It was a good drive, for the money you can pick up a facelift returning very good mpg and are not expensive to insure/tax. Family owned a Passat from new with the same engine (130 PD) and did well over 150k trouble free miles.

Example:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Edited by j532 on Wednesday 13th September 10:10

Little 1.4TDI is even cheaper to run, I had this .

Original Poster

3,525 posts

271 months

Monday 13th November 2017

ph9 said:

Mine has 93k on the clock and is 10 years old, so I'm not expecting years and years and 10's of thousands of miles out of it before it dies or becomes uneconomical to keep running. I have seen no evidence of rust at all. It is a small city car, so is not necessarily built to handle heavy use and high miles. Having said that there seem to be plenty around in the classifieds with significantly higher mileage than mine, so I would expect it to keep going for a while yet.

It is a small and light car built for city driving and made to be cheap, so don't expect high quality materials and a super refined drive. It is a little noisy as I think there is little in the way of sound deadening, but mine has very few rattles. It's not so loud that I can't relax in it and hear the stereo without cranking it up to the max.

LordGrover

33,994 posts

234 months

Tuesday 14th November 2017

Handy thread; I'm looking for similar. Getting fed up paying sixty-odd quid a week for petrol for my 10 mile each way 'commute'.
Probably keep the Z4, but a sensible economical 'mini' is required.

Looking for more for comfort than 'performance' or handling. Definitely petrol. More than a shed but not cheap and tacky. £5000, maybe £6,000 budget.
Guessing a Fiesta would do me?

ph9

221 posts

116 months