Car to commute - sub £2000

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

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Joined
25 Sep 2006
Posts
14,455
Hi guys,

I'm currently in the process of buying a house which is further away from work which will turn my 5 mile return commute in to a 50 mile return commute. The project contract I'm working on is due to end early/mid 2012 or may be extended and will probably eventually find work closer to where I move.

However I currently have a clio 182 and estimate it will cost me a tank of petrol per week to commute to work and also including any shopping or visits to friends that need to be done at the weekend. So the best part of £200+ per month on petrol.

I'm considering keeping the 182 for weekends as I do love it to bits and it's great however it's really not a great car to commute in. Could anybody recommend a decent car to commute in? Diesel would be the most obvious solution so I can get the most MPG.

I'll be 22 come this time so my insurance is still reasonably high however I will have 5 years NCB *touch wood*.

My main aim from this is to save as much money on petrol as possible. I'm aware of the other costs involved such as insurance, tax, mot's, consumables. I'd most likely have the 182 insured for weekend use only to drop the premium for it.

Does anybody else here do this?

My budget is ballpark £2000 including insurance. This can increase if necessary. I'm after reliability mostly and also a decent MPG. If it's road tax band could be low this would also be good. Also if it could not look like a complete shed that would be good!

I'm just trying to figure out if the cost of an extra car could save me money in the long run or to just stick with the 182 until the contract ends or sell it before I rack up too many miles on it. For the record I can average between 35-40mpg in the 182 on the motorway.

Thanks in advance,

BennyC

Edit: See post 3.
 
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Minstadave said:
Are you really going to save enough in fuel to justify buying/insuring/taxing and maintaining a 2k car?
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This is what I'm trying to find out. By being recommended some cars I can get an idea of the price. Or I could just end up trading in the 182 alltogether which is probably the better option. In which case I'd be looking for something with the same criteria as before but also something that's a little fun to drive for any 'spirited' ocassions. Budget would be nearer to £6000 in this instance.
 
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Not really worth keeping two cars in my opinion. Either stick with the 182 and suck up the extra fuel costs or trade it for something like a mondeo which is more suited to commuting.
 
35-40 mpg isn't that bad tbh, buying an extra car for commuting will work out far more expensive
 
See if you can find a 1.8 Volvo S40 LPG, 60MPG (equivalent) without the hassle of old diesel engines (diesel pumps & flywheels). They aren't a conversion, they were built by Volvo with LPG fitted as factory standard.

Obviously you really need to do the numbers to see if it's worth buying a different car and not just spending a bit more on petrol.
 
Considering the 182 is capable of 40mpg on a steady cruise I really don't think it's going to be worth buying another car for this. Unless You're prepared to sell up and buy a diesel, but then again you have potentially much higher running costs, with expensive turbos and injectors to consider etc.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll have a think about what I need to do. The 182 is great however with the change of circumstances for the meantime it will be a bit impractical. I can afford the petrol but would rather save that money if I could.

This commute may only be for 7/8 months anyway so I might be able to keep and still enjoy it :)
 
It won't benefit you financially to change, but your sanity may benefit from cruising to work in a barge rather than driving for an hour plus a day in a small car.
 
phase 1 306 1.9 dt..

purchase one of these.. 50+mpg, cheap to insure.. if you get a bosch one run it on veg.. reliable (just keep it serviced) and you can get one for £500..

hey presto job done.
 
Even if you half your fuel bill thats only £100 a month, which is 20months before you even start to save anything.
 
I'm keen to know why you feel its not very good to commute in? Mine was good on the M1 for my 40+ mile commute daily in the Summer.

It has nice comfy swade leather bucket type seats, auto climate, cruise control! And happily sat at 35-40 MPG!

Not really sure it will be worth trading or buying a second car for the sake of 8 months?
 
The money you would save in fuel would not be enough to run 2 cars. Remember 2x tax, 2x insurance, 2x MOT, 2x fuel etc etc
 
I did 70 miles a day in a Clio 172 for 10 months. A and B roads at 50mph, averaged 36mpg.

There is no financial point changing anything. Any other car is still going to cost you a lot in fuel.

Just keep the 182.
 
Simon said:
Even if you half your fuel bill thats only £100 a month, which is 20months before you even start to save anything.
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and that's before you factor in the Insurance, road tax and maintenance of both cars.

The 182 is pretty frugal for the type of car. I was able to achieve 35mpg on average and 40+ on a longer journey, not too bad. I now get around 50mpg from the Mondeo, but I sold the clio beforehand. It's saved me quite a bit, but wouldn't have made any sense keeping both cars. It would have taken years for it to work out cheaper with both than run the clio outright.
 
I really don't think it's worth doing, and I highly doubt you'd be saving any money doing this tbh.

In fact I've just done some rough calculations.

Let's say that your insurance renewal this year for the 182 is £900. Tax is £220 (rough guess from the top of my head), fuel of, say, £220 per month, so £2640, and being very kind here, service of £200. That equates to an annual running of £3660, not counting for anything to go wrong.

Suppose you buy a diesel barge with insurance for £2000, tax it for £200 and are putting in £150 fuel per month (£1800 per year). That's working out at £4000 just for the first year (including buying the car). Then what if something were to happen to the diesel, which is certainly possible.

My maths has never been strong, but if that's correct then it's costing you an extra £340 for the first year....
 
Yep, as Maccy said.

In the long term it would be a good idea, if you were doing this drive for many years to come.

However, as its only temporary, as a short term option it will cost you more and you will be left with a diesel barge longing for your 182 back.
 
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