Economical fun commuter - Max £15k

[ciaranthemurph]

Change of house is changing my commute from a 3 mile walk to nearly 100 mile round trip (3 days a week) means that I now need to buy a car.

Commute is 15 miles of country lanes, 5 miles of city and the rest motorway. In summer there are more back lanes to take advantage of, but these would be more than likely untreated in winter at the time I will be heading to the office.

Previously I would have just bought and loved a cheap diesel beater, but our office is just inside the proposed ULEZ zone for Aberdeen, so would rather future proof any purchase.

Couple of requirements
5 doors to allow fitment of child seat.
Midsize car upwards (I'm 6'2"), to allow room for comfortable commute and room for wife and child on passenger side with rear face child seat installed behind passenger.

The cars I've come up with are:

Seat Leon FR (wife currently has an petrol version of this, and we've been very happy with it, but it is being traded in for a larger car for her).
Golf GT/GTD
Skoda Octavia VRS
Focus ST TDCi

Any pitfalls with any of the above, or have I missed something out? I know that the first three are all basically the same car.

Or I could spend it all on a nice 106 ph1 rallye, which would be perfect, but I suppose that I should put my sensible hat on.

[ingenieur]

BMW 3 series is a nice fun car. I had a nice E90 for a few years and did a lot of miles in it. Mines was 3.0 petrol with 6-speed gearbox and the fuel economy was pretty impressive for a car that gets to 60 in the 6-second window.

Obviously if you got the diesel it would be more fuel efficient than the petrol.

Something like this combined mpg 55 and under 6 seconds to 60: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202202152...

[stevemcs]

I'd rule the 3 vag products out if fun is the thing. The Focus would be the pick out of that shortlist. However i'd throw in

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234537962155?hash=item3...

Or even a Mini Clubman

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294981849608?hash=item4...

[Boringvolvodriver]

Fun and economical don’t always go together that easily

How about an Alfa Romeo Giuletta maybe?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203223...

[georgeyboy12345]

Seeing as you are a tall fella, and those baby seats can be somewhat chunky, why not opt for something the size up so you have a bit more room? These three diesels are ULEZ compliant, can achieve around 50 mpg on a run, and are AWD, so they can better handle the country lanes and back roads in winter, whist also not being dull to drive

BMW 335d xDrive
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204014...


BMW 420d GranCoupe xDrive
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204265...


Jaguar XE D180 AWD
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204204...

[ingenieur]

Op should appreciating the BMW vibes. They are a good driving car and usually better than the competition when it comes to fuel economy or performance.

[HelldogBE]

ingenieur said:

Op should appreciating the BMW vibes. They are a good driving car and usually better than the competition when it comes to fuel economy or performance.

When considering the 320D instead of the 6-cylinder variants one should also consider the Jag XE and Alfa Giulia.

Personally I'd go for a 330D without xDrive. Less complexity and consumption will be close a 320D with xDrive. You'd need winter tires anyway and xDrive doesn't help stopping... RWD with good winters is very manageable in light snow.

[ZX10R NIN]

Here's an alternate list:

Q70 Premium Tech:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204295...

Sport:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204305...

New Shape Insignia Elite Nav very good underrated cars that are well worthy of a test drive:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204084...

SRI VX Line

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111099...