Most economical cars under £2k

a quick search on autotrader

Alfa Romeo Mito 1.3 JTDM Sprint 3dr
Citroen C1 1.0 i VTR 5dr
Citroen DS3 1.6 e-HDi Airdream DStyle Plus 3dr
Citroen C4 1.6 e-HDi Airdream VTR+ EGS6 5dr
Renault Clio 1.5 dCi ENERGY Dynamique MediaNav (s/s) 5dr
Renault Megane 1.5 dCi Knight Edition (s/s) 5dr
Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic DPF 5dr
Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir (s/s) 3dr
MINI Hatch 1.6 One D 3dr
Peugeot 107 1.0 12v Active 5dr
Peugeot 208 1.0 VTi Active 3dr
Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi ecoFLEX 16v Energy 3dr
Vauxhall Astra 1.7 CDTi ecoFLEX 99g SRi (s/s) 5dr
Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDI BlueMotion Tech 1 5dr
SKODA Octavia 1.6 TDI CR SE 5dr
SEAT Ibiza 1.4 TDI Ecomotive DPF Ecomotive 5dr
 
Thank you for that list, I will stay away from the Renault, would never want to own an Alfa because of reliability (if I was gonna get one I'd get a classic one though). Citroen is a maybe, the fiat 500 will never get the quoted mpg sadly 0.9 litre engines are far too small. I was looking at this:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...7ey&fuel-consumption=OVER_60&make=FIAT&page=1

These do actually get 65-70mpg and I know because I've driven one before, one of the few that actually isn't BS'ing about MPG figures and I did really like it but just wondering about reliability?
 
I just bought a wee car like this for £1500, although mine has sat nav, less miles, cruise control and a 60 plate.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201909272695974?model=CLIO&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&sort=price-asc&postcode=g641ln&price-to=2000&aggregatedTrim=dCi&advertising-location=at_cars&price-from=1000&make=RENAULT&radius=1500&page=3

It's my 2nd car, so not the end of the world if it goes pop. Had some well worn down DCi's in the past and the engine seems to outlast the rest of the car. Just don't let all the other maintenance get on top of you, or it will be a big bill at once.
 
Fiat's I know their reliability leaves a lot to be questioned just because well, Italian electrics? :D

What about a little Skoda Citigo or something? My friend has one of those and gets 62mpg on the regular plus it's petrol which is a plus.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...rt=relevance&price-to=3000&radius=1500&page=1

Being made by VW I'd assume this is a fairly decent car in terms of reliability?

Also please accept my apologies for any ignorance on my part I'm into cars but I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination haha.
 
Thing is getting an 09 plate with similar mileage wouldn't really make sense to me, otherwise I'm just introducing a lot of unknowns whereas I've owned my Rio since 80k and maintained it well so I at least know what to listen for and what's been done to it.
 
I've decided to go for a Citigo the one I linked something like that right around April I've run some insurance quotes and its about £50 less. Then on fuel I'll be saving approximately £400 a year even at just 60mpg (saw a youtube test where at 90km/h it was getting 80mpg), will save £125 a year on tax and it'll be around the 60k mile mark so it'll have 40k miles less than my current car and it'll take 2.5 years to pay itself off. MOT's and maintenance will probably be less as well. Not to mention I'll have a car that's got more resale value at the end of it (as my Rio would be at 140k+ in 4 years time when I plan on getting another car again, maybe a Jag or something when I can afford it :p).
 
The cheapest Citigo on Autotrader (that’s not a categorised write off) is £2495 with over 140k on the clock, have you thrown your under £2k budget out of the window?

Can’t see this saving you anything long term, one of the most costly parts of owning a car is often changing it, especially when buying cheap and used, your ignoring the high likelihood that your “new” car will have issues that’ll need sorting which will cost money and most likely outweigh any perceived fuel savings.

Also, just how are you working out your mpg? You seem to imply (in post #15) that you can better the combined mpg figure if a particular vehicle, if so let us know your secret!

As said manufacturers figures are wholly unrealistic and to think you can better that already laughably optimistic figure is kidding yourself.

Keep what you have and save for something better, as said why swap cheap & crap for the same?
 
My old Toyota Yaris would average around 66mpg, i could get over 70 if i really tried but the £ difference between not caring how you drive it at 66 and driving like a granddad at 70 was almost nothing so i never bothered.

That was using the 1.4 D4D diesel in a MK1 yaris, they used the same engine for all the MK2's as well.

I have to say though getting in to any 2 grand car is quite a lottery, could easily need another grand spending on it so unless you've got an ancient wreck of a car it's never worth swapping at that end of the market.
 
Just to be clear - you're wanting to spend a few thousand quid on an old high mileage car to 'potentially' save £50 a year on insurance, £100 a year on tax, and 'maybe' a couple of hundred quid a year on diesel? Yeah... no. Better the devil you know.
 
I saw a Citigo with 60k miles on in a pretty crap green (probably why it was so cheap haha) but that was £2495 and looked in good shape with full service history. But to be fair my previous experience with 3 cylinder cars has kind of put me off, my old Perodua blew the head gasket at 93k and never started again (albeit I wasn't expecting much more out of a £200 buy).
I've actually been up most of the night looking for insurance quotes and to my pleasant surprise I've managed to get £200 cheaper on my Rio by adding a third driver and changing my job title from "Waiter" to "Catering Staff" would you believe :D
About that MPG claim, my old Perodua Kelisa 1.0L was rated at 55mpg combined and with good driving (anticipating and never braking), sticking to 55mph on the A roads where I live and in the middle of summer I could get 65mpg from brim to empty. Calculated by doing Miles driven / ( fuel used (L) / 4.54 l per gallon ).
 
That Yaris sounds appealing, but I think I'm gonna rule diesels out for the foreseeable future unless I am buying new, just because one bit of poor maintenance and you are paying massive prices for someone else's incompetence. I think I'm just going to try and run my Rio as efficiently as I possibly can and then when I've saved enough get a new (pre registered) car and run it forever because as long as cars are looked after nowadays, you can run them for 200k miles. I just don't think I could spend more than a grand or two not knowing for sure that the car had been looked after and if it's out the dealer, at least you have peace of mind and over 10-15 years, the used vs nearly new argument basically tends to come out on the side of new as one poor used purchase and you're throwing money away (not saying new cars never go wrong, but at least they're more predictable). I'm also the type of guy who can keep a boring car for a long time and not get sick of it I don't need a change every few years.

P.S. I bought my Rio off someone I knew looked after their cars so I suppose the devil you know argument plays a bigger role here. Come to think of it even a car with 50k miles if it's been neglected might only have a few thousand left in it.
 
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dude7691 said:
Fiat's I know their reliability leaves a lot to be questioned just because well, Italian electrics? :D

What about a little Skoda Citigo or something? My friend has one of those and gets 62mpg on the regular plus it's petrol which is a plus.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...rt=relevance&price-to=3000&radius=1500&page=1

Being made by VW I'd assume this is a fairly decent car in terms of reliability?

Also please accept my apologies for any ignorance on my part I'm into cars but I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination haha.
Click to expand...
Another myth. Nothing wrong with modern FIAT or Alfa Romeo. And VW reliable, shouldn't be drinking my latte now. Spit over my desk. German cars, crossing the 8-10 years mark, if not sooner, become a nightmare because of their electronics/sensors. At that age, Japanese and Korean would run circles on any VW.
 
dude7691 said:
That Yaris sounds appealing, but I think I'm gonna rule diesels out for the foreseeable future unless I am buying new, just because one bit of poor maintenance and you are paying massive prices for someone else's incompetence. I think I'm just going to try and run my Rio as efficiently as I possibly can and then when I've saved enough get a new (pre registered) car and run it forever because as long as cars are looked after nowadays, you can run them for 200k miles. I just don't think I could spend more than a grand or two not knowing for sure that the car had been looked after and if it's out the dealer, at least you have peace of mind and over 10-15 years, the used vs nearly new argument basically tends to come out on the side of new as one poor used purchase and you're throwing money away (not saying new cars never go wrong, but at least they're more predictable). I'm also the type of guy who can keep a boring car for a long time and not get sick of it I don't need a change every few years.

P.S. I bought my Rio off someone I knew looked after their cars so I suppose the devil you know argument plays a bigger role here. Come to think of it even a car with 50k miles if it's been neglected might only have a few thousand left in it.
Click to expand...
Wise choice. Keep the car you know the history, oil and filter changes as should, and you won't have a lemon, clocked mileage, DPF tampered or clogging, and thousand other things that may go wrong when the maintenance is poorly kept.
 
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