Daily hack saloon for less than £2000

[mnaylor]

Hi All

I am on the hunt for a car that is going to cost less than £2000. I might go over this for an exceptional car. The car will be used as a daily hack to get me to work and back in the main, but would also be used to ferry about kids at times. My commute consists of M & A roads, mostly filled with average speed cameras and is 25 miles each way, I do this 4 days a week and thankfully work 1 day a week from home (wish it was more). So, it will probably do about 10k miles a year.

My requirements are:

- 4 door saloon
- Preferably auto but would consider a manual if the car was excellent
- Cruise control is a must
- Reliable
- No £500 a month tax bracket cars
- Petrol only
- Above 30mpg preferably (although I am not going to write off a great car for a saving of a few extra mpg)
- Centre arm rest

Reading my requirements back I guess it sounds like I am after a bit of a smoker barge but because it will be doing 10k miles a year I do need to bear in mind running costs.

The cars I am currently considering are things like Honda Accords (98-03) & (03-07) & the Toyota Avensis (03-09). I have also been keeping an eye on things like Toyota Camry’s and Honda Legends, but I think the running costs might be questionable. Other obvious entries include the Jaguar X-Type but a lot of the petrol’s seem to have the AWD system which commonly goes wrong and is £1500 to fix so not sure it is worth the risk. In theory an E46 3 series would also fit the bill. I have mentioned a lot of Japanese cars, that is because my car history is mostly Japanese, my summer/weekend toy is Japanese and so is my other halves run about, I have just always found them so reliable.

I am open to suggestions though, so please feel free to offer opinion and advice.

[blue_haddock]

9-5 Aero has got to be in with a shout!

[Cylon2007]

Mazda 6?

[KomodoWagon]

Skoda Superb? Two grand will get you into one of the first shape ones. There's a 2.8 V6...

[carboy2017]

Accord is a good car ( i have been using one for the last 1.5 years) however you wont get 30mpg in town running its 28-29 mpg but motorway is around 33-34 and long trips on m/ways I have got 37-38 mpg

[FlatToTheMat]

My money would go in a mk3 Mondeo 1.8/2.0 Petrol 2004+

Super reliable, they have a few common issues but parts are plentiful and cheap. They are a decent steer too and economical

Ghia X beings heated leather and cruise etc, they all have armrests but most are hatches (huge boot) the manuals are nice, no first hand experiance of the auto

[anonymous-user]

hard to look past a mondeo

[ninjag]

If looking at Accords I'd go for the 2.4 as the mpg difference is negligible but performance difference isn't. So long as it's pre 2006 the tax will be lower. EX is the trim to get if you want all the toys etc.

[johnwilliams77]

euphoricmess said:

hard to look past a mondeo

Quite easy!

[anonymous-user]

MG6 1.8 Turbo?

[anonymous-user]

blue_haddock said:

9-5 Aero has got to be in with a shout!

This. Or a 2.0 lpt Vector is still a nice old car. Mine came with 80k miles on the clock, has automatic wipers, climate control, cruise & xenon headlights. With a remap it makes 225hp and a big slug of mid range torque. All for about £1700.

This one ends soon
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAAB-9-5-AERO-4-door-sa...PwAAOSwX-pb6vX3

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 28th November 22:05

[SCEtoAUX]

mnaylor said:

Hi All

I am on the hunt for a car that is going to cost less than £2000. I might go over this for an exceptional car. The car will be used as a daily hack to get me to work and back in the main, but would also be used to ferry about kids at times. My commute consists of M & A roads, mostly filled with average speed cameras and is 25 miles each way, I do this 4 days a week and thankfully work 1 day a week from home (wish it was more). So, it will probably do about 10k miles a year.

My requirements are:

- 4 door saloon
- Preferably auto but would consider a manual if the car was excellent
- Cruise control is a must
- Reliable
- No £500 a month tax bracket cars
- Petrol only
- Above 30mpg preferably (although I am not going to write off a great car for a saving of a few extra mpg)
- Centre arm rest

Reading my requirements back I guess it sounds like I am after a bit of a smoker barge but because it will be doing 10k miles a year I do need to bear in mind running costs.

The cars I am currently considering are things like Honda Accords (98-03) & (03-07) & the Toyota Avensis (03-09). I have also been keeping an eye on things like Toyota Camry’s and Honda Legends, but I think the running costs might be questionable. Other obvious entries include the Jaguar X-Type but a lot of the petrol’s seem to have the AWD system which commonly goes wrong and is £1500 to fix so not sure it is worth the risk. In theory an E46 3 series would also fit the bill. I have mentioned a lot of Japanese cars, that is because my car history is mostly Japanese, my summer/weekend toy is Japanese and so is my other halves run about, I have just always found them so reliable.

I am open to suggestions though, so please feel free to offer opinion and advice.

Well now...10k miles at 30MPG plus some kid=ferrying is £2.5k per year on fuel and at 25 miles each way you are absolutely in the perfect zone for a Nissan Leaf. No VED, ticks every single box other than petrol, and at perhaps £7,500 for a four year old car you can expect no bills other than wear and tear. (You'll need to buy a car with an owned battery, not leased)

Yes, that's £5,500 over budget, but if we say the maintenance savings would roughly equal the electricity costs the thing would pay for itself after three years. You'll then have a car that has cost effectively nothing, will only be seven years old, still worth £2.5 to £3k perhaps and every month you drive it after that you'll be at least £100.00 in pocket.

Of course, electric vehicles aren't for everyone, but with your requirements and usage you might like to give one some serious thought, especially as you have access to another car for longer trips.

Finally nothing, and I do mean nothing, is easier to live with in stop/start traffic and motorway munching than an EV.

[ZX10R NIN]

Haggle hard & you can land a nice Titanium X

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Vectra Elite Auto the fuel suffers a bit but it's a lot of car for the money:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

If you can live with the fuel the the Mercedes C200/180 Avantgarde SE ticks every box apart from the fuel:

200

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

180

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Here's the thing if you're doing 10k per year I'd be looking for the Mercedes C220cdi as it hits everyone of your briefs & the drivetrain is pretty much bulletproof.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Or the Volvo D5 but not in auto form as that box has issues:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Jamescrs]

Before I read all the other comments my thoughts were Mondeo straight away, think you will have to be careful if you look at the 3 litre V6 though as I think some of the later ones may be in a very high tax bracket I used to own a Mk3 Ghia X V6 and it was a great car, I bought it for £1500 and the only issue I had in its ownership was a split breather hose I replaced for about £10 myself.

I do regret selling the car now actually as it was really very good.