Associate
Hi everyone,
I've had my 05 MX-5 for 3 years now, but it has succumbed to the inevitable and now needs work on the sills. The local recommended body shop has quoted £400 per side but along with the other work the car needs doing (cavity and underseal, alignment, etc.) I am feeling like the bill is too high and it is time to get rid and find something new.
Each way my commute is between 13 and 14 miles and can either be all B-roads or Motorway (6 miles) and then a mix of A and B-roads. Based on that I've got the following requirements:
I've been up to AvailableCar at Donnington to try out as many options as possible, but I left feeling underwhelmed by the vast majority of cars. Many (including a lot of "premium" brands) had plastics that felt flimsy and liable to break, which is a bit shocking when coming from an MX-5...
The cars I felt comfortable in were the following:
The majority of the above cars are out of my budget and ultimately I'm struggling for ideas on where to look; so, OcUK, what can you come up with?
I've had my 05 MX-5 for 3 years now, but it has succumbed to the inevitable and now needs work on the sills. The local recommended body shop has quoted £400 per side but along with the other work the car needs doing (cavity and underseal, alignment, etc.) I am feeling like the bill is too high and it is time to get rid and find something new.
Each way my commute is between 13 and 14 miles and can either be all B-roads or Motorway (6 miles) and then a mix of A and B-roads. Based on that I've got the following requirements:
- <= £9000 (including trade-in)
- Petrol
- Manual
- > 30 MPG
- < 60k miles
- 08 or later reg
- Suit B-road and Motorway driving
- > 2 seats
- < the current £260 for VED
- Not another MX-5
- Not a Mondeo
I've been up to AvailableCar at Donnington to try out as many options as possible, but I left feeling underwhelmed by the vast majority of cars. Many (including a lot of "premium" brands) had plastics that felt flimsy and liable to break, which is a bit shocking when coming from an MX-5...
The cars I felt comfortable in were the following:
- Volvo C30 R-Design
- Volvo S40 R-Design
- Ford Focus (New model)
- Kia ProCee'd (Old model)
- Audi S3
- Audi A3 S-Line
- BMW 320i coupe
- Skoda Octavia vRS
- Ford Focus (New model)
The majority of the above cars are out of my budget and ultimately I'm struggling for ideas on where to look; so, OcUK, what can you come up with?
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