Cheap commuter

[junglie]

Good morning,

I am looking for a cheap commuter to do a 45 mile daily commute that is predominantly motorway.

Some criteria:

- as cheap as possible but balance of capability vs value for money.
- 5 plus cylinders.
- reliability.
- must have excellent headlights.
- heated seats beneficial.

I know there is loads out there from an old CLK 320 through to a Hyundai Coupe to a Lexus GS300.

Is there anything that I perhaps have not thought of?

Thank you

[ZX10R NIN]

Lighting wise wise replacement LED bulbs takes care of that:

The Hyundai Coupe would be my pick:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012187...

CLK240

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011065...

S Type

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012177...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012157...

607

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009023...

2.7d 407 Coupe

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009254...

[Zetec-S]

Saab 9-3?

[culpz]

What's your budget?

[junglie]

I think £1500 or less.

Whilst I am happy to pay more, you get into the position of a £5000 car and then just a bit more to £6000 and so on!

[culpz]

Lexus IS200?

[SlickSwissToni]

CLK320 is a good choice, a lot of car for the money!

I picked up an 03 model for under a grand, with heated electric leather seats, cruise control, built in sat nav/cd changer/radio, heated fold in mirrors, parking sensors front and back, pillarless, looks very cool with all windows down (cabriolet).

It doesn't feel as quick as my SLK 320 but makes a very good daily car/cruiser.

[ZX10R NIN]

These are more budget friendly.

C Coupe 320

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011166...

CLK270cdi

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011095...

320

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010295...

240

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010144...

2.4 A6

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101047...

There's a few leftfield options:

Crossfire

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012297...

Signum 3.0cdti

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010255...

Brave Pill but if you want a wafter it'll be hard to beat:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007151...

[LordGrover]

ZX10R NIN said:

Brave Pill but if you want a wafter it'll be hard to beat:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007151...

[junglie]

Amazing but not sure I quite have the minerals for that game of roulette!

I have seen a 1998 GS300 which seems to have been loved and tomorrow going to look at a 2002 E430 estate which sounds good on paper but yet to see in the flesh!

[l354uge]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-LS400-1997-low-mi...

[junglie]

Honda Legend 3.5 has cropped up which interests me but it will be about £3000 so I am already pratting about with the fund limit!

[ZX10R NIN]

Not sure if you've bought anything yet but just remembered Honda made a 3.0i Accord & you can get one on budget.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010144...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101037...

[junglie]

That is a good shout.

By chance, and obviously not sticking to the original plan, a C350 estate in rare petrol estate has cropped up for about £4500 which looks good. I think it was post balancer shaft issues being a 2008?

I do like the idea of being at bottom thread of the smoker barges though with those Accords!

[ZX10R NIN]

If it's 2008 it could still suffer balancer shaft issues, as a rough rule of thumb 59 plate onwards seem to not suffer the issues but they were making revisions all the way through so the problem became less prevalent as time wore on.

There's another option a 3.0i 607 with it's double glazed windows rear blind & heated rear seats it could be a contender:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009023...

[SlowV6]

I had an Accord V6 for about 3 year. Very nice, relaxing car and really well made. But it was very thirsty. I would budget for no better than 25mpg average even allowing for motorway. If you are booting it, or stop-start around town then could be as low as 22mpg. They are also 20yrs old now so you have to be realistic about maintenance. For instance the exhaust needed replacing on mine and that was £600 for centre and twin back boxes from Honda OEM only. There are so few about. I wonder if a GS300 or even a 430 would be a better bet.

Interested to see what you get!

[junglie]

SlowV6 - thank you for the insight. An old Accord might be good but I would be irritated if a simple part cost as much as the car was worth?

I keep looking at something cheap, then adding a bit and so on and so forth.

Just looked at a S80 V8.........,

[ZX10R NIN]

You could have had an exhaust made for half of the cost.