80 mile a day commuting car for £2-3k?
- Thread starter ChrisD.
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Stop looking at VW's and Audi's.
Get a Seat or a Skoda. It's a car for commuting ffs!!
You're going to rack up millions of miles on it, so whatever you get will be worth sod all in a couple of years anyway.
Get a Seat or a Skoda. It's a car for commuting ffs!!
You're going to rack up millions of miles on it, so whatever you get will be worth sod all in a couple of years anyway.
I bought my Bora for similar reasons as OP
Had a primary car and was travelling 300 miles a week for work [An FN2 btw], so convinced the other half we should get a diesel that I could use for work 3-4 days a week.
PD130 was the obvious choice and managed to pick mine up nearly 5 years ago with 23k miles on it [it had 5 previous owners bizarrely but upon checking the service book one was supplying dealer then next 3 were in same family - mother, son & daughter transfers]
Bought it from a large-ish franchise, so had the piece of mind of a decent warranty [which I didn't need at all btw]. Had car checked over by a VAG master tech and did a cambelt and water pump change for piece of mind. Other than a burnt out clutch after a 175 bhp remap [no DMF required] car has only needed 2 front wheel bearings, tyres and servicing. I also lowered it with Eibach springs to get rid of the tractor look and fitted a short shift
I honestly never regretted jumping out of the Type R and into the Bora, for a motorway car the Bora is fine with 130 but significantly more fun with the remap and with some common sense can still return the 60mpg previously stated. Circa £70 to fill tank and 600+ range
Interior on the Bora is still unmarked after 70k and is genuinely a nice place to be, comfy seats, multi cd player, dual zone climate blah blah. Of course I could have secured a cheaper alternative with the PD130 engine but as I was spending up to 2 hrs a day in it, I wanted some comforts and a bit of quality. Bang for buck best car I've owned, and struggling to find its replacement atm.
Had a primary car and was travelling 300 miles a week for work [An FN2 btw], so convinced the other half we should get a diesel that I could use for work 3-4 days a week.
PD130 was the obvious choice and managed to pick mine up nearly 5 years ago with 23k miles on it [it had 5 previous owners bizarrely but upon checking the service book one was supplying dealer then next 3 were in same family - mother, son & daughter transfers]
Bought it from a large-ish franchise, so had the piece of mind of a decent warranty [which I didn't need at all btw]. Had car checked over by a VAG master tech and did a cambelt and water pump change for piece of mind. Other than a burnt out clutch after a 175 bhp remap [no DMF required] car has only needed 2 front wheel bearings, tyres and servicing. I also lowered it with Eibach springs to get rid of the tractor look and fitted a short shift
I honestly never regretted jumping out of the Type R and into the Bora, for a motorway car the Bora is fine with 130 but significantly more fun with the remap and with some common sense can still return the 60mpg previously stated. Circa £70 to fill tank and 600+ range
Interior on the Bora is still unmarked after 70k and is genuinely a nice place to be, comfy seats, multi cd player, dual zone climate blah blah. Of course I could have secured a cheaper alternative with the PD130 engine but as I was spending up to 2 hrs a day in it, I wanted some comforts and a bit of quality. Bang for buck best car I've owned, and struggling to find its replacement atm.
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I was pondering something similar today for second cars; if I'm fitting up rated tyres, pads, discs and fluids for tracking the car then it massively increases the running costs compared to if I was just fitting OEM. Obviously this depends on different first/second cars and what you define as upgraded parts. I'd also have bucket seats which would be grating (and wearing) for both me and my passengers as I do not have the luxury of space to store spare seats/wheels and other miscellaneous items like
I ran some numbers for 15k a year and it started to look like a second car would be more slightly more expensive even if I set my sights on something utterly offensive like a 1L Nissan Micra.
But there's another non quantifiable factor of keeping the car 'nice' in a sense that I can drive it anywhere and leave it, not needing to worry from unwanted attention. There's also the risk of it being knocked or even written off at no fault of my own.
My Teg has been at the body shop for two months as the bumper is on back order. I ran some numbers I'm sailing close to the wind of it being written off. I doubt the EVO would suffer the same fate of being written off for such a freak accident but it defiantly effects me and others at the lower end of the market and I would never get anything close back to what I put into it,
I would, unfortunately have to drive around in a Nissan Micra but I'd be happy to if it ensure my pride and joy stayed as my pride and joy and allowed me to fit the parts I wanted for when I could fully utilise them.
Quick look around and EuroSpec want £220+VAT every 4500 miles, is that about right? If it was that bad on my Teg I know I'd be looking at a second car but our budgets and expectations are contrasting somewhat.
If you just want something ultra cheap then pick up a non turbo charged vag diesel. They're utterly hateful things but they're the reason diesels have a reputation for reliability. For slightly better performance then find a vag pd lump but stick to the 110ps models. The higher power models are still slow and even more unrefined and but have the advantage of breaking so you can buy something decent.
I'll add I really hate 4 cylinder diesels but at least the above tend to be reliable and are very cheap to run.
I'll add I really hate 4 cylinder diesels but at least the above tend to be reliable and are very cheap to run.
Caporegime
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Funny you should mention that. I am doing a similar thing myself. albeit I am using my old petrol car which I am keeping atm. Copy and pasted from the "how much per year costings" thread.
Nissan Primera GT. 10000 miles p.a
Consumables per year £200 (Oil, plugs, filters, coolant, brake fluid etc)
One off costs (Bits that need doing. Last year tyres, this year brake lines and cat) ~£300.
Tax £205.
Insurance £300.
Petrol (34MPG according to trip. It is my daily hack so is driven for mileage). £1796 @ £1.34
Total £2801
Toyota Celica GT-Four. 3000 miles p.a
Consumables per year £400 (Oil, plugs, filters, coolant, brake fluid etc)
One of costs £500 (So far I have replaced some rubbers and made some modifications.)
Tax £205
Insurance £600.
Petrol (22MPG ish) £885 @ £1.43
Total £2590
To run the Celica for the full 13000 miles would cost me £150 more than having the two cars plus adding miles and decreasing its value. If you could get a more economical car like LPG or a derv then it would be quite easy to save even more. I kept the Primera because it is already pretty good on petrol with a light foot and I have had it for 5 years so know it's history. The Primera is currently on a third party fire and theft multicar policy and as such doesn't have no claims discount so will get cheaper when I can build them up.
I have been having dirty thoughts though about replacing it for a derv. It's a bit left field but might interest you.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...page/3/radius/1500/postcode/pe217qe?logcode=p
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