Zzzzzzz, commuter hatcback advice please!
Discussion
Right, now the BMW has gone I need something new / nearly-new for work duties.
Smaller and cheaper is better as 95% of the time there is only me in it. Handling will to a back seat to comfort on this one. Petrol preferred to diesel as well.
Contenders:
Ford Focus - quite cheap and good offers of the old shape, but drove one and it wasn't that refined at mway speeds.
Honda Civic - seem to be a bit more expensive, but I like the 1.8 petrol engine on paper and the kit list seems generous.
VW Golf - a good all-rounder but the petrol engine is the TSI jobbie and I'd rather avoid chrager/turbo engines as there is less to go wrong.
BMW 1 series - bit small in the back for when I occasionally take people out in it.
Astra - I had a company Vectra lemon in the late 90's and it sort of put me off Vauxhall for good.
Civic is winning I guess - thoughts?
Smaller and cheaper is better as 95% of the time there is only me in it. Handling will to a back seat to comfort on this one. Petrol preferred to diesel as well.
Contenders:
Ford Focus - quite cheap and good offers of the old shape, but drove one and it wasn't that refined at mway speeds.
Honda Civic - seem to be a bit more expensive, but I like the 1.8 petrol engine on paper and the kit list seems generous.
VW Golf - a good all-rounder but the petrol engine is the TSI jobbie and I'd rather avoid chrager/turbo engines as there is less to go wrong.
BMW 1 series - bit small in the back for when I occasionally take people out in it.
Astra - I had a company Vectra lemon in the late 90's and it sort of put me off Vauxhall for good.
Civic is winning I guess - thoughts?
not quite sure what the engine range is at present but the toyota auriolla has to be worth a llok. more so for diseasel but if they still do one with the elise engine in that'd be okay (if not that quick).
for that size of car i'd buy a kia cee'd but i suspect there's an element of using this for work/image/etc etc so probably won;t get a look in.
for that size of car i'd buy a kia cee'd but i suspect there's an element of using this for work/image/etc etc so probably won;t get a look in.
Matt UK said:
briSk said:
for that size of car i'd buy a kia cee'd but i suspect there's an element of using this for work/image/etc etc so probably won;t get a look in.
Image doesn't bother me if the car is good for the money. I'll add it to the research. Thanks.I think the Focus is pretty refined for what it is, and if you get one of the special editions with leather seats they are stupendously comfortable. The only downside is it's not quite as frugal as you might expect. I'm a bit dissapointed by 35 mpg on the motorway (and less around town) from a smallish car with only 1.6-litres. In all other respects it's hard to fault as a daily hack. It's been faultlessly reliable in the face of two and a bit years of merciless abuse and the trim/finish is standing up well too. Plus, it's not bad to drive down a twisty road (as a cooking hatchbacks go).
Chris71 said:
I think the Focus is pretty refined for what it is, and if you get one of the special editions with leather seats they are stupendously comfortable. The only downside is it's not quite as frugal as you might expect. I'm a bit dissapointed by 35 mpg on the motorway (and less around town) from a smallish car with only 1.6-litres. In all other respects it's hard to fault as a daily hack. It's been faultlessly reliable in the face of two and a bit years of merciless abuse and the trim/finish is standing up well too. Plus, it's not bad to drive down a twisty road (as a cooking hatchbacks go).
I drove a 1.6 Titanium yesterday - new they can be had for £12.5k which is great value. Up to 60mph it felt very nice, but beyond that it started to get a bit strained and at 'normal mway speeds' it felt as though I was thrashing the tits of it with the rpms at 4k. And yes, the mpg seemed poor. At those speeds it was getting low 30's as it was working so hard. My old BMW 530i could get not much less than that at 80mph and hadn't even got into it's stride yet.
But then moving from a German exec with a large-ish engine, to a hack with a smaller engine is going to show and i need to recalibrate a bit I think.
briSk said:
Matt UK said:
briSk said:
for that size of car i'd buy a kia cee'd but i suspect there's an element of using this for work/image/etc etc so probably won;t get a look in.
Image doesn't bother me if the car is good for the money. I'll add it to the research. Thanks.
t.All i can say is not to spend 15k on a commuter focus, astra or anything.
Id look at a toyota auris 2.2d, or a Honda civic 2.2d. Both going to be v.nippy (auris has 180bhp in T180 or SR180 guise), plus both should be bulletproof and nice versions can be picked up for 7-10k. Leaving you with 5-8k in the bank or for a weekend motor!
Id look at a toyota auris 2.2d, or a Honda civic 2.2d. Both going to be v.nippy (auris has 180bhp in T180 or SR180 guise), plus both should be bulletproof and nice versions can be picked up for 7-10k. Leaving you with 5-8k in the bank or for a weekend motor!
Matt UK said:
About £15k is all I want to put into it if I'm honest. Less if I can get away with it. But more if I have to.
I've seen a 10-plate Civic 1.8 ES-T for £14k, but I'm sure there's some room in that price.
Just curious but why new? Also how many miles are you doing?I've seen a 10-plate Civic 1.8 ES-T for £14k, but I'm sure there's some room in that price.
That aside I personally quite like the look of the Toyota iQ, smart ForTwo, Fiat 500 and even the 1.4T Fiat Punto.
However I think I'd also be looking at MX-5's for this money.
£16k would get a brand new one on drivethedeal.com, great value for money300bhp/ton said:
Just curious but why new? Also how many miles are you doing?
That aside I personally quite like the look of the Toyota iQ, smart ForTwo, Fiat 500 and even the 1.4T Fiat Punto.
However I think I'd also be looking at MX-5's for this money.
Sorry, I should have given more detail.That aside I personally quite like the look of the Toyota iQ, smart ForTwo, Fiat 500 and even the 1.4T Fiat Punto.
However I think I'd also be looking at MX-5's for this money.
Co rules: it needs to be less than one year old at purchase and max of 5 before being swapped.
Also, even though the missus has a Lexus RX, I still want the back seats for the kids.
Matt UK said:
I drove a 1.6 Titanium yesterday - new they can be had for £12.5k which is great value.
Up to 60mph it felt very nice, but beyond that it started to get a bit strained and at 'normal mway speeds' it felt as though I was thrashing the tits of it with the rpms at 4k. And yes, the mpg seemed poor. At those speeds it was getting low 30's as it was working so hard. My old BMW 530i could get not much less than that at 80mph and hadn't even got into it's stride yet.
But then moving from a German exec with a large-ish engine, to a hack with a smaller engine is going to show and i need to recalibrate a bit I think.
I've heard the mk2s are worse in that respect than the mk1s? Mine's certainly not noticeably bad, even if it's not spectacular. Both wind and engine noise are practically inaudible over the stereo at a normal volume doing 80 or so mph.Up to 60mph it felt very nice, but beyond that it started to get a bit strained and at 'normal mway speeds' it felt as though I was thrashing the tits of it with the rpms at 4k. And yes, the mpg seemed poor. At those speeds it was getting low 30's as it was working so hard. My old BMW 530i could get not much less than that at 80mph and hadn't even got into it's stride yet.
But then moving from a German exec with a large-ish engine, to a hack with a smaller engine is going to show and i need to recalibrate a bit I think.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff