New car dilemma - what should I get?

Hawk Tuah

Hawk Tuah

Hawk Tuah

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,277
Location
Sandwich, Kent
A number of years ago, I decided to live near to my friends and family, instead of near to where I work. It means I have a daily 100 miles commute, which for the past few years I've been very cheaply doing in one of the most fun, cost effective and efficient cars. It literally halved my outgoings.

In a couple of months all going well, my wife will deliver our second child. This will mean that by the end of this year, I can no longer drive a two seater, as I will need to be able to drop two children off in the morning, on my way to work instead of just one. So, I will need to change car.

This puts me in dilemma. Any car I drive, will get hammered by mileage and will suffer horrific depreciation. However, I spend 3 hours a day sitting in it. Whilst I could afford a lot more, I'd rather not spend more than £5k, knowing that after a few years, it will likely be heading to the scrapheap. To be honest, I'd rather build an extension and conservatory.

So, I'm not town between the wallet inducing need for practicality, and my unwillingness to grow up. I know most people on here looking for 'spec me a car' ends up comparing a group of cars that are all distinctly similar in type - and then deciding on one of them. However my appears are much broader. For example, the four cars currently top of my list are..

Alpha Romeo GT jdtm
Renault Megane Estate dci
Audi A2 tdi
Skoda Fabia vrs

Other than being diesel, you'd be hard to group them all. Other than all being the most efficient at what they are (a coupe, a family car, a micro car, a hot hatch).

My sensible side is pulling me towards the Megane. I'm amazed at how cheap these are, and I like the look of them - as far as family cars go. I've been looking at 2010 cars for £5k! All the others are a heck of a lot older.

Part of me has always wanted the curve ball approach (hence my current driveway lineup). So basically, are there any cars our there I may not have thought about for around the £5k mark - thats not you're run of the mill mundano - that will be incredibly efficient and cheap to run and has 4 seats?

PS - I thnk my ideal car would be a rear wheel drive DC5 - with the 1.5 dci renault lump in it. :p
 
All 4 of the cars on that list look fairly terrible to me as choices for a 100 mile a day commute.

An out of warranty Renault diesel will just spend any fuel savings on constant repairs I would imagine.
 
I'm in a very similar position myself - I do roughly a 120-140 mile a day commute depending on which route I take (Portsmouth to Bracknell) and need a decent sized car as baby number 2 is on the way for me also. I'm also looking at spending around that amount for the same reasons - don't really want to spend loads on getting a brand new car when I'm doing 40k+ miles a year yet on the other hand I don't want a shed that's likely to be in the garage every 5 minutes.

Just posting because I'm interested to see what people suggest here :)
 
I ran a 2010 Megane Coupe with the 1.5DCi engine from new to 35 000 miles in 2.5 years mainly going from Cambridge to Heathrow/Reading with the occasional trip to Birmingham/Newcastle.

Seats were fine for 200 mile, 5 hour return commutes to Reading and back in a day but by the end of that I wouldn't have fancied doing more though that may have had more to do with the stop/start nature of the journey as I did Edinburgh to Cambridge in one go and felt fine at the end of it. Handling isn't what you call pin sharp but did have a nice ride thanks to typically French suspension.

Averaged 55mpg without trying and often saw 63-65mpg on a long run. Make sure you get the 106bhp model, I tried the 86bhp and it was too underpowered, the 106bhp was no rocket ship but it never had trouble keeping up with traffic.

I never had any problems with the car despite it being build in the Spain the same week that they won the World Cup ;) but then I did run it from new. Interior felt pretty well screwed together though the dash felt rather cheap. One thing to bear in mind that the cupholder is totally useless so I ended up using the central arm rest which was frankly a pain in the bum.
 
[TW]Fox;25674908 said:
All 4 of the cars on that list look fairly terrible to me as choices for a 100 mile a day commute.

An out of warranty Renault diesel will just spend any fuel savings on constant repairs I would imagine.
Click to expand...


I used a Skoda Fabia Vrs for a number of years. Drove it like I'd nicked it and returned 50mpg. Drove it like miss daisy and got over 60mpg.

In 140K miles it needed servicing, Some tyres, Brakes lasted over 80k oh and an alternator belt.

Was first used for town driving 200+ miles per day
It then changed roles into a motorway car doing 400 miles per day.

It was amazing for the role
 
A2 is an interesting car, from an engineering POV, its an all ally body and the fit and finish inside is well up there with the big Audi's. Its more than an adequate cruiser for the highways of this fine nation. Its a big car inside, they have done a good job with packaging But you need to get the 1.4TDI in SE trim with the smaller 15" wheels, otherwise the ride is firm, and they are expensive for what they are, 04 plate TDI's still go for upwards of 5k. Which is silly money for essentially a small car, it does have quite a cult following now, and i do think it will be a future classic.

But really if you have kids etc, something like a Focus Or Civic would be better bet, even an Octavia.

The Megane, will cost you money, Injector and HG faults are prevalent in the 1,5 DCI, the turbo do tend to go, but they are cheap to fix. My old man has a sideline selling used diesel engines and components, and Renault are right up there with Ford in terms of failure rates.
 
mattyg said:
I used a Skoda Fabia Vrs for a number of years. Drove it like I'd nicked it and returned 50mpg. Drove it like miss daisy and got over 60mpg.

In 140K miles it needed servicing, Some tyres, Brakes lasted over 80k oh and an alternator belt.

Was first used for town driving 200+ miles per day
It then changed roles into a motorway car doing 400 miles per day.

It was amazing for the role
Click to expand...

A Fabia is not amazing for the role of 400 miles a day at all, infact it's hard to think of a type of car that's less amazing for that, perhaps a sports car. It lacks and real sense of refinement or comfort because it's simply not designed or intended for that sort of task.

I think what you mean is that it was cheap to operate which of course it was.
 
Whatever you chose, please get the misses to pose for some photos with it ;)

My money would be on a Mondeo with some toys or something equally dull.

Or maybe just a trailer on the back of the Insight for the kiddies :D
 
I did 4 years of 100 miles per day in a GT. It's a great looking car and was uber reliable but the ride on the 18's was annoying.

I also tired of the constant road noise so when it was time to upgrade I want for a 159 with the same 1.9JTDm engine.

Aside from a new steering rack shortly after purchase, covered by the garage, it's been a great car and is far more suited to the 100 mile commute!
 
We already have an X-trail, which is our big car. All I need is - well, basically 3 seats.

400 miles per day I can't imagine being good in any car!

My original thought was always to go from the Insight to an A2. I love the lightness of my current aluminium car. Plus, I do get tired driving back and forth, with young children accounting for sleepless nights. Having a car with lots of road feedback (bumps and noise!) and a gearstick that you actually need to use once in a while - does keep me awake. Back when I was driving a fiesta, there were numerous times when I nearly fell asleep at the wheel. Comfort isn't always a good thing.

Deep down I love the beauty of the engineering above the way something looks. But when you look at the Alpha and then the A2 - I do wonder whether the extra expense would be worth it.
 
wonder_lander said:
I did 4 years of 100 miles per day in a GT. It's a great looking car and was uber reliable but the ride on the 18's was annoying.

I also tired of the constant road noise so when it was time to upgrade I want for a 159 with the same 1.9JTDm engine.

Aside from a new steering rack shortly after purchase, covered by the garage, it's been a great car and is far more suited to the 100 mile commute!
Click to expand...
Are they all 18s? I dread to think how much tyres would cost. Plus I'd be extremely wary of ruining the rim in a pothole.


Hmm, I do like these....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-MERC...&rkt=10&sd=251424914888&_trksid=e100084.m1843
 
I think they did them with 16, 17 and 18 so there is at least some choice available.

May suggestion if you are serious is to give one a test drive and see how you get one. The rear seats are perfectly useable and the boot is a decent size.
 
[TW]Fox;25675819 said:
A Fabia is not amazing for the role of 400 miles a day at all, infact it's hard to think of a type of car that's less amazing for that, perhaps a sports car. It lacks and real sense of refinement or comfort because it's simply not designed or intended for that sort of task.

I think what you mean is that it was cheap to operate which of course it was.
Click to expand...

As it was for Business low running costs outweighs pretty much everything else.

I'm now older and DEMAND more comfort

Fabia was comfy

Previous car was a CRX;)
 
My vote would go to the Skoda Octavia with the PD engine. Not the most glamourous or refined but loads of space for kid related stuff and it's comfortable enough.
 
Can you get a reasonable Volvo s40 for that money? That is my possible next car if I suddenly have to change.

Trouble for me with all "new" cars, possibly bought on by this forum is the need for anything more than a banger to have FBMWSH and warranty to avoid the unexpected/expected bills for broken sensors etc. It seems that the last 5-10 years cars have got more little things to string all the performance/mpg improvements together to sell cars. Same with the Volvo and it makes buying slightly older more out of warranty cars quite scary.

I made the decision to stick with my current car and run it to death to not worry about depreciation etc after my round 80mile commute was going to be for more than a few months rather than spend £££ on getting a more unknown replacement. Fortunately I don't need 2 seats let alone 3.
 
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