Opinions on these cars

robfosters

robfosters

robfosters

Caporegime
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Posts
53,766
Location
Welling, London
My motability car is up for renewal. I had a look round the dealers and as it will probably be my last one due to a possible heart transplant, I want something a bit nicer then the usual Fords and such. I have narrowed my choices down, but I'm finding it really hard to choose between 3 cars and I have to order soon.

Audi A1 1.6 TDI 116PS S line 3dr
BMW 1 series 1.5TD 116d M Sport 5dr
Mercedes A Class 180D Sport

Has anyone used any of these cars long term and if so, do they know of any pros or cons of each?

My main concerns are ride comfort, cabin space and versatility and MPG. Speed is not important, they are all rather slow. I have to say I think the Merc has the nicest looks, but that's really not an important issue.
 
Strange, my next door neighbour loves her A1.

Problem I have with test drives is the comfort. Because of my curved spine, it takes around an hour or so before my back goes from slightly sore to instant agony. You cant really have hour long test drives.
 
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The A1 isn't rubbish at all, however it's a class below the 1-series and A-Class, so given the alternatives I'd rather have the larger car.
 
robfosters said:
Strange, my next door neighbour loves her A1.

Problem I have with test drives is the comfort. Because of my curved spine, it takes around an hour or so before my back goes from slightly sore to instant agony. You cant really have hour long test drives.
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Would a Motability dealer not be flexible given the specialist nature of some people's condition? When I took a GT86 out, even without Motability, the dealer handed me the keys and said, "See you in a couple of hours."
 
wesimmo said:
Would a Motability dealer not be flexible given the specialist nature of some people's condition? When I took a GT86 out, even without Motability, the dealer handed me the keys and said, "See you in a couple of hours."
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I could ask, but whenever I have test driven before, the salesman only seemed to want to give me 10 minutes or so. I've never been offered the keys before to take the car on my own. And I've test driven a LOT of cars. Maybe they dont want to risk it with a disabled customer.
 
Give them a call in advance and explain the situation, I've taken cars out for a few hours before without much hassle

You may need to take a demonstrator not the specific spec you would have, so make sure the seats are the same
 
You say MPG is important, but surely if you were doing large mileage you'd want to be in a more suitably sized car? If you aren't doing large mileage then MPG is almost irrelevant.

How many miles do you actually do?
 
Out of those it's definitely between the 1 series and A class. However, I know you've mentioned mpg - how many miles do you do a year? If it's fairly low then any savings in fuel may be minimal in which case you're definitely better off with a petrol alternative.
 
10k a year. My current car is an auto Astra and I've had a really bad experience with that petrol wise. It's a 1.6 and I'm very lucky if I get 25 to the gallon out of it. Everytime I look at the MPG on the display, it says between 19-23mpg!
 
Small engined normally aspirated autos are generally pretty poor - though dual clutch boxes combined with turbo petrols are better. I assume you do mostly local trips for it to be that low?

You'll still get a reasonable mpg return with petrol equivalents of what you've listed as they all offer small turbos, certainly good enough for your yearly mileage
 
paradigm said:
That's either an incredibly terrible engine or it was broken. My 2.0T A6 averaged around 40mpg over my ownership!
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Then you did very well or spent so much time on the Motorway as to render your average meaningless for comparison. Interestingly the lifetime average of my 530d is 35!
 
The lifetime average on my 2.0 TDI A4 is 55.3, and most of my mileage is A road not motorway.

Maybe I'm just more economical? ;)
 
Unless you sit behind lorries at 56mph, I somewhat doubt you are 'more economical. You just have a different usage profile which is biased heavily towards efficiency.
 
Why those three cars?

There is a massive amount of choice available on Motability.

Also, you will not get 70+ out of the 1.6TDI. Settle for 50/55 MPG and you won't be disappointed.
 
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