5k budget - all town driving?

ScoobyDoo69

ScoobyDoo69

ScoobyDoo69

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Howdy,

A friend is looking for something suitable for taking his kids to school, driving back and forth to meetings, going to the gym etc. Basically something that will drive around town in reasonable comfort, and that is good on fuel.

I wouldn't say it had to be diesel, but I think it is a preferred option, as he does a lot of back and forthing around town throughout the day, so I imagine anything petrol would likely suffer badly fuel economy wise?

For reference, his previous car was a fairly old 520i, and he's been looking at things like Golfs etc.

Suggestions?

Thanks
 
Short trips around town is the worst place for a diesel.

With mostly town miles to cover the fuel cost is almost an irrelevance.
 
As fox says my 2.7 clk diesel auto that i'm using is doing circa 20mpg through traffic...ok it's a bigger than usual diesel but i doubt a 1.9/2.0 diesel will fair much better.
 
Why so? I literally only do short trips around town in my old Pug-a-lug and it does 42mpg+ all the time, which I would consider not bad.

Or are we talking modern diesels and their reliability is why it's the worst place?
 
Best to stick to a small petrol engined car like a Golf, but not a Golf.

Simply because they are terrible value for money and your friend is clearly set on a £5k budget.

Clicky or a Focus.
 
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Weight is your enemy round town, as is an autobox in many cases. Doing a lot of my driving in London, I can also say that a narrow car with good all-round visibility is a distinct advantage. I often find myself frustratedly stuck in tight spots in her Pug that I know I could drive through without thinking about in my Anglia, which is very narrow by today's standards.
 
The main reason for not getting a diesel to do round town trips all the time is the all too common DPF i'd have thought. It WILL fail, and it WILL cost a chunk to fix when it goes. Diesel's were meant for motorway miles, not round town at 5-10mph.

Chances are they'll get not far off a petrol's economy doing such trips.
 
Liquidfox said:
Chances are they'll get not far off a petrol's economy doing such trips.
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Yeh lok at mine! Hit 18.8 the other day but that ws 1.5 hours to do 8 miles! FAIL!

But i have no choice as my left left is in an aircast so can't operate the clutch! And public transport is just not viable!
 
Firestar_3x said:
Can you even get a car with a DPF for 5k?
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Easily these days unfortunately. Well, certainly at the top end of the budget, although perhaps not with a small car, I guess you'd need a larger (and thus higher depreciating) vehicle so you end up with something newer for the cash.
 
Jonny69 said:
Weight is your enemy round town, as is an autobox in many cases. Doing a lot of my driving in London, I can also say that a narrow car with good all-round visibility is a distinct advantage. I often find myself frustratedly stuck in tight spots in her Pug that I know I could drive through without thinking about in my Anglia, which is very narrow by today's standards.
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I'm not sure I'd ever want to drive a manual car in traffic again. Economy be damned, an automatic car is THE place to be in traffic.
 
paradigm said:
Easily these days unfortunately. Well, certainly at the top end of the budget, although perhaps not with a small car, I guess you'd need a larger (and thus higher depreciating) vehicle so you end up with something newer for the cash.
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Well that's another comical nail in the cheap to run diesel coffin.
 
If you are spending a lot of time in slow traffic around town the last thing you want is the tedious drone of the van engine reminding you that it's about to lunch one or all of its ancillary components at any moment whilst delivering you the square root of sod all in fuel savings.

I sort of like my sisters Mazda3 in town. It's only a 1.6 but sitting at the lights and you cannot hear a THING. It's blissful. I often think I've stalled it. Thats how town driving should be.

mjt has a point though. Lovely big automatic barge. Super comfy, no gear changing, no clattery noise.
 
i would say focus or Mondeo.

The Mrs owns a 06 plate focus, nice car to drive and plenty of space. we use my 525D for longer trips.

you gotta do serious motorway miles to get your money back on diesel.

short trips would kill your particulate filter
 
Relentless81 said:
My parents Mazda 3 1.6 is the same, very quite and smooth for a 1.6 jap hatch back shopping trolly and thats exactly what they use it for, nipping about town
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It's awful on fuel mind, though you can hardly rack up 100 miles a day popping into town so thats not really a big deal.
 
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