Sorry...sensible what car thread

[tenohfive]

My better half is soon to be shopping for a new car and I'm looking for inspiration. Budget of around £10K, and would prefer to buy new (unless her requirements can't be sensibly met without going for a used car.) Willing to be flexible on that point provided car in question will last 5 years with no problems. Feel free to tell me I'm being unrealistic - I just don't know what I'm looking for at this point.

Okay...for starters, probably looking at a hatch - we don't need two saloons. Will be doing 15,000 miles a year roughly and most of that on a motorway commute so something reasonably economical buy pokey enough to get up a short uphill sliproad without labouring would be ideal. Quite happy with either petrol or diesel, so long as overall running costs over 5 years (taking into account depreciation/resale value) is pretty similar. Insurance shouldn't be much of an issue. Would want basic toys (aircon/electric mirrors/windows and cruise control) but anything else is a bonus.

That's the main part of what she's looking for. That said she enjoys her driving and isn't shy with her right foot when she sees a chance to make some progress on the country lanes nearby. Is this achievable? If so, what should we be looking at? And if not where should I be looking?

I've started doing some digging but I feel a bit over my head. Help please?

[Kevin VRs]

If you want those 'basic' extras you will need to look second-hand I think. Cruise control is usually only fitted to higher end spec cars, certainly in small cars you will be lucky to find it.

[chrisispringles]

If you want a decently specced car for under ten grand you really should be looking secong hand. A brand new, well specced car for under ten grand is going to be quite low rent and nasty and getting a decent diesel for that sort of money is nigh on impossible. A quick browse through the classifieds turned up these:

06 plate VW golf GT TDi:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1781606.htm

54 plate BMW 120d:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1869028.htm

06 plate Skoda Fabia vRS TDi:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1863972.htm

[tenohfive]

Seem like sensible suggestions.

A new french cars as unreliable as their predecessors?

[sparkybean]

A vote for a newish golf TDI. Get the 2.0, its economical, has decent power, reliable, and within budget.

[tenohfive]

sparkybean said:

A vote for a newish golf TDI. Get the 2.0, its economical, has decent power, reliable, and within budget.

How well do they handle - are they happy being chucked about a bit? I've got a Bora TDI so I can vouch for the other stuff myself.

ETA:

I keep looking at things that I'd quite like to drive and coming to the Fabia VRS...I think she could probably be persuaded, though are running costs likely to be much higher when driven sensibly?

Edited by tenohfive on Saturday 24th July 12:00

[va1o]

Golf 2.0 TDI sounds like a good call, but you certainly won't get a new one for £10k, maybe an 07 at best. Leon or Octavia with same engine probably worth considering too as you get more for your money. All 3 use the Pq35 chassis so drive and handle well, definitely better than a Bora or Fabia.

Alternatively if you want something as new as possible how about the latest Fiesta? £10k should get you into a 2010 1.4 Zetec. Handles very well and with 100bhp/ tonne it's not as slow as you might think. Although it's a petrol, fuel econ should be similar to the older golf tdi.

[va1o]

Oh and if you want something brand new a Fiat 500 1.4 might be worth a look, only new £10k vehicle I can think of that offers a good performance, handling and economy combination. Also hold onto value very well.

[tenohfive]

I was looking at Ford's on the website but even the basic ones seemed to be about £11k.

I've had a chat with her and the new car option isn't too much of an issue, she's happy to go second hand if its still new-ish, low miles and reliable - basically she wants something that is unlikely to break down in the time she has it.

va1o said:

Oh and if you want something brand new a Fiat 500 1.4 might be worth a look, only new £10k vehicle I can think of that offers a good performance, handling and economy combination. Also hold onto value very well.

She wants a 500 and I've been trying to tempt her away as you don't seem to get much for your money and I think she'd probably benefit from a little more grunt (even if that means a derv) on the motorway.

Edited by tenohfive on Saturday 24th July 12:26

[HellDiver]

My OH got a brand new i30 1.4 Comfort for £10,000 on the nose. £13k list, but doing their swappage scheme, they gave £3k off when we gave them her totally rotten '01 Almera.

It's 108hp, and the little cam chain driven engine is very keen. She's getting 42mpg out of it, mostly town driving, and it has just over 600 miles on the clock. I'm expecting 45mpg once it loosens up a bit more. Nice little car to drive, handles reasonably on 15" rims (185-65-15 Hankook fuel-savers so not a huge amount of grip), brakes very well (discs all round), has aircon, iPod/MP3 stereo, 4 electric windows, alarm, fog lights, etc, etc. Interior build quality is fine, better than my Mondeo, and I've found no build quality issues externally. They even put a good thick dose of black wax underseal on top of the normal PVC underseal, something Nissan forgot about on the Almera.

[tenohfive]

Bump for some new advice.

After some more digging I arranged a test drive of a 57 plate 1.4 Fabia the other day. For the money (£6500) it was well specced - cruise, climate, electrics etc and both SWMBO and I were impressed with the interior. A little bland but a big step up from her current car. We took it for a test drive and whilst the missus thought it was fine, I'm not convinced that a 1.4 petrol is quite powerful enough. Fine for town driving but I could see it really struggling on a short motorway slip road. Realistically it wouldn't be the end of the world but I think it would annoy her when she's trying to get past the idiots who panic and stop at the end of the slip road, and she'll be looking at a regular motorway commute in the near future.

I was wondering if the 1.4 TDI version would be worth a test drive. I gather it's pretty noisy but is it likely to pull better in that 30-70mph range? Or do we start looking at a different car, and if so - what?

Edited by tenohfive on Sunday 31st October 15:34

[TVR Sagaris]

tenohfive said:

Fine for town driving but I could see it really struggling on a short motorway slip road.

Edited by tenohfive on Sunday 31st October 15:34

Can't really help you for suggestions, but this point comes up all the time (or a similar point about overtaking) and I don't understand it.

I drive a car with about 40 bhp and never have any problems getting onto motorways or overtaking. Why would a 1.4 "struggle"?

[vit4]

tenohfive said:

Bump for some new advice.

After some more digging I arranged a test drive of a 57 plate 1.4 Fabia the other day. For the money (£6500) it was well specced - cruise, climate, electrics etc and both SWMBO and I were impressed with the interior. A little bland but a big step up from her current car. We took it for a test drive and whilst the missus thought it was fine, I'm not convinced that a 1.4 petrol is quite powerful enough. Fine for town driving but I could see it really struggling on a short motorway slip road. Realistically it wouldn't be the end of the world but I think it would annoy her when she's trying to get past the idiots who panic and stop at the end of the slip road, and she'll be looking at a regular motorway commute in the near future.

I was wondering if the 1.4 TDI version would be worth a test drive. I gather it's pretty noisy but is it likely to pull better in that 30-70mph range? Or do we start looking at a different car, and if so - what?

Edited by tenohfive on Sunday 31st October 15:34

57 plate as in 1st generation or early 2nd generation?

My dad has a 1.9 tdi 1st gen which has more than enough shove, and still returns well over 60-70 mpg on a steady motorway drive. Elegance trim too, so has aircon, cruise control, electric everything, heated seats etc. Would definitely recommend it It feels surprisingly 'chuckable' for what it is as well, although that might just be in comparison to what I'm used to

[tenohfive]

TVR Sagaris said:

tenohfive said:

Fine for town driving but I could see it really struggling on a short motorway slip road.

Edited by tenohfive on Sunday 31st October 15:34

Can't really help you for suggestions, but this point comes up all the time (or a similar point about overtaking) and I don't understand it.

I drive a car with about 40 bhp and never have any problems getting onto motorways or overtaking. Why would a 1.4 "struggle"?

With a straight run no 1.4 should struggle. Hell, a 1.1 can manage it with a long enough run up.
The trouble starts when the car in front (almost always a 1.4 or bigger) doesn't realise, gets scared, slows down. Then you're faced with the choice of rag it and try and squeeze into a gap or slow down and sit behind them. The more grunt you've got the more viable the former becomes.

My car (1.9 TDI Bora) is comfortable doing the former, whilst being a million miles away from being called a fast car. The 1.4 Fabia however I think would struggle to do the same.

I'll have a look at how much the 1.9 TDI Fabia is, may well be worth a look.

And VIT, to answer your question I think it was early second gen.

Edited by tenohfive on Sunday 31st October 16:03