What if you needed to cover shed loads of motorway miles??
Discussion
The challenge (July 2010):
1200 miles each week for 6 months - almost totally on motorway
Minimum 40mpg on cruise control at reasonable speed
In real comfort (imo hard base model seats in golfs, focus, etc are really uncomfortable).
Bigger cars are preferred to smaller ones - 5 series comes before Mk3 Golf in the list
Budget around £2000, as this will be purely a motorway miler and the fun cars will be kept as well.
Any advice/ experience on the recommendations would be much appreciated.
My starters for 10: E39 530d, Omega 2.5d CDX, A4/A6 1.9TDi, S60 D5
EDITED for the final outcome (and anyone searching threads for some useful info):
Shortly after the last post on this thread I got hold of a 2000 Volvo S80 2.4 Petrol for £1200. It had 110k miles on the clock, had good service history but a reasonably hard life. It was unbelievably comfortable for the miles I was doing, and did 27MPG average.
After 14,000 miles (4 months) without a penny spent on it my weekly mileage started to increase, and I decided to trade it in on a Diesel Volvo. S60 was a bit small in the back for the family. V70 not quite so comfortable, quiet, or luxurious on the road, so after many test drives and much deliberating, I ended up last week getting...
2006 Volvo S80 D5 (163) SE Lux Auto
Silver/ Sat Nav/ Winter Pack/ Graphite Pack with Chrome trim and wing mirrors/ Sports seats/ upgraded stereo option/ towbar
Full Volvo History, all at Taggarts Volvo dealership in Glasgow.
£6.5k of service receipts and no expense spared -I spoke to the dealer directly.
1 Owner - The car was owned by GE Capital and was used by a single company driver for the full 4 year lease (according to Taggarts).
110k miles - The SatNav last few destinations were basically Glasgow - London - Glasgow - London - Glasgow... which I expect is how it reached 110k in 4 years. Also easy to understand the exact service history and 'spend whatever it needs' approach.
3 Month Nationwide Warranty.
Advertised at £5995. I paid £4500 cash, plus my S80 trade-in (book value was only £800).
After 600 miles use the verdict is:
Super comfy, very quiet to travel in, brilliant stereo, and sat nav is better than expected.
The ride and handling are far far superior to the last S80 (especially on b roads).
Average MPG... 46
Job Done
1200 miles each week for 6 months - almost totally on motorway
Minimum 40mpg on cruise control at reasonable speed
In real comfort (imo hard base model seats in golfs, focus, etc are really uncomfortable).
Bigger cars are preferred to smaller ones - 5 series comes before Mk3 Golf in the list
Budget around £2000, as this will be purely a motorway miler and the fun cars will be kept as well.
Any advice/ experience on the recommendations would be much appreciated.
My starters for 10: E39 530d, Omega 2.5d CDX, A4/A6 1.9TDi, S60 D5
EDITED for the final outcome (and anyone searching threads for some useful info):
Shortly after the last post on this thread I got hold of a 2000 Volvo S80 2.4 Petrol for £1200. It had 110k miles on the clock, had good service history but a reasonably hard life. It was unbelievably comfortable for the miles I was doing, and did 27MPG average.
After 14,000 miles (4 months) without a penny spent on it my weekly mileage started to increase, and I decided to trade it in on a Diesel Volvo. S60 was a bit small in the back for the family. V70 not quite so comfortable, quiet, or luxurious on the road, so after many test drives and much deliberating, I ended up last week getting...
2006 Volvo S80 D5 (163) SE Lux Auto
Silver/ Sat Nav/ Winter Pack/ Graphite Pack with Chrome trim and wing mirrors/ Sports seats/ upgraded stereo option/ towbar
Full Volvo History, all at Taggarts Volvo dealership in Glasgow.
£6.5k of service receipts and no expense spared -I spoke to the dealer directly.
1 Owner - The car was owned by GE Capital and was used by a single company driver for the full 4 year lease (according to Taggarts).
110k miles - The SatNav last few destinations were basically Glasgow - London - Glasgow - London - Glasgow... which I expect is how it reached 110k in 4 years. Also easy to understand the exact service history and 'spend whatever it needs' approach.
3 Month Nationwide Warranty.
Advertised at £5995. I paid £4500 cash, plus my S80 trade-in (book value was only £800).
After 600 miles use the verdict is:
Super comfy, very quiet to travel in, brilliant stereo, and sat nav is better than expected.
The ride and handling are far far superior to the last S80 (especially on b roads).
Average MPG... 46
Job Done
Edited by kiwifraser on Monday 22 November 19:18
Agreed, although I'd take a punt at the auctions for not much more than that.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
Or a 525d with a few more miles than this one advertised at £2.8k with 80k miles on autotrader:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
Or a 525d with a few more miles than this one advertised at £2.8k with 80k miles on autotrader:
Edited by kiwifraser on Wednesday 12th May 08:30
N Dentressangle said:
Citroen C5 / Renault Laguna
V8mate said:
406 HDi.
Hmmm... French, French, and French. Reliable at 100k+ miles? I'd need convinced.As for the badge premium, it would be purely to get comfort and reliability. German Merc Taxi's with 330k miles on them is a good story.
kiwifraser said:
N Dentressangle said:
Citroen C5 / Renault Laguna
V8mate said:
406 HDi.
Hmmm... French, French, and French. Reliable at 100k+ miles? I'd need convinced.As for the badge premium, it would be purely to get comfort and reliability. German Merc Taxi's with 330k miles on them is a good story.
I run a C5 as my daily driver but wouldn't recommend a £2k one as the Citroen foibles will be kicking in at that age. Most people head for the 406 estates, which means that the saloons are awesome value.
Comfy, fuel efficient, reasonably nippy and will run forever.
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