25,000 miles a year in comfort (and on a budget)

[tom_nieto]

Hello Motors, some advice please?

I'm looking at quite a considerable commute which would involve getting to know the M5 very well. Whilst the 911 is great, I don't really want to be racking up the miles on that, and let's be honest I might actually have to buy a car with a roof for a change.

I've pretty much ruled out a new lease/EV owing to the high mileage which I presume will make the contract expensive - educate me if I'm wrong!

I'd rather not spend more than £5000, but could stretch that a bit if there was something really worth considering. I don't want to have to sell the 911 to fund this. High mileage cars are a given and I'm not particularly worried about this. This is not going to be a family heirloom.

I'm looking at things like the W212 E class which seems comfortable, affordable and boring. The coupe is slightly nicer looking, but not sure it's worth spending the money on. I'm slightly sad that the 90's Mercedes cars are so expensive at the moment as it would be fun to get something like a 500SEL/SEC.

There are the usual suspects like the Passat and Octavia which might get a slightly newer car, but probably not quite as comfortable as the Mercedes.

Japanese might be more reliable, but are they attracting scene tax at the moment?

TL: DR - £5000 sofa on wheels

Thank you!

 

[tom_nieto]

Can you really get a W212 worth buying for £5k? I am surprised you can.

High mileage for sure, but not terrible looking things. Probably a smarter buy than a 1990's E for the same money...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...rly New&onesearchad=Used&model=E Class&page=1

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...nesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&page=1

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...ode=b179en&price-to=5500&model=E Class&page=2

 

[tom_nieto]

Lexus gs300 will go for ever and won't cost a bomb.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...arly New&onesearchad=Used&model=GS 300&page=1

It's GOLD! Good option though.

 

[tom_nieto]

Take a look at the Mercedes S class limousines. Like this one:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111149575721

I like them, but they seem increasingly old and perilously expensive.

 

[tom_nieto]

25k miles a year? I hope your job is driving, there's zero chance I'd do that.

Obviously I’d rather not do that, but in the short term this is the situation. Just over an hour each way isn’t a mega commute by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[tom_nieto]

I’d rather take a hefty pay cut! If you add an extra two hours into your working day and divide out the salary it has a significant impact on your hourly rate! Oh and don’t forget to factor in the days when the motor way is broken and you 70 minute commute turns into 3hrs!

If only life were that simple eh? Nothing confirmed yet, but this is all part of planning the logistics.

More and more keen on the W212 coupe. A diseasel even makes sense for this journey!

Does anyone have experience of high mileage lease deals or EV deals? If I spend £6000 on an old boat that would give me £500 pcm if this were for a year, although I doubt I’d get such a short term deal and I think I’d end up spending a lot more on a lease overall. I also figure that buying a car that has already got 100k on it (and has been well looked after) should have done the bulk of its depreciating.

 

[tom_nieto]

I am not sure I really understand what the coupe offers you over the saloon, other than logically less car for the money as the coupe tends to be more sought after.

As usual, you are speaking sense. Probably makes more sense to go for the saloon.

 

[tom_nieto]

Premium cars usually have premium repair bills.

This is my concern with an E class as well. How much more expensive is routine servicing going to be on an S? The S has loads more to go wrong which will be expensive when it breaks.

 

[tom_nieto]

Let’s be honest the cheapest thing to do would probably use my wife’s Fiat 500 as it wouldn’t involve any more outlay and is decent on fuel and tyres. It isn’t exactly a comfortable cruiser though! I’m not sure getting a brand new small hatchback would be worth it over our existing car.

 

[tom_nieto]

What about the older E Class or even a CLS?

5K seems to get a 320CDI CLS with about 80k on the clock.

I do like the look of a CLS but pre 2010 Mercedes are not famed for reliability or rust proofing. Major bodywork would kill any savings. W211 E classes are fine, but I’m not really after anything exciting here so might as well go with the newer car. Will have a look though.

 

[tom_nieto]

@blun - this is welcome advice as I would be able to charge at home (and possibly at work too). There may be good deals on EVs on salary sacrifice from the NHS which may further improve the deal. A lot are 36 month deals which could end up needlessly expensive if my mileage drops.

Owning a cheap barge outright is not high on my list of priorities, but thought I’d explore all avenues. I probably need to speak to a local Mercedes specialist to figure out how much regular servicing would be (and how much peril there is!).

@Jez - excellent point about clocking, very easy to do and I would need to be very careful. I’d need to spend a bit more to get a post 2006 S class. They look lovely, but they just scream “huge bills” to me. Again will take advice as the Diesel engine and 7G box is broadly the same as the E class cars that I’ve been looking at.

@teenwolf - good option, but manual and no leather. Likely to be reasonably reliable I guess, but still potential for decent bills I should think - suspension, clutches etc.

Thank you for the suggestions so far!

 

[tom_nieto]

I’ve done similar to this, 20,000 miles a year for £4000 spent.
I’ve been quite amazed that it’s been possible.
Car in choice was a Berlingo 1.6HDI
(Don’t laugh loads of vans doing exactly the same thing).
Anything with the VAG 1.9 TDI engine should also be a decent choice.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-OC...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

The outright purchase price of an automatic Octavia is not a million miles away from a similar age and mileage E class Mercedes. I realise that the latter has much larger potential running costs, but it's a much nicer place to sit. I would have suggested an Octavia or a Passat every day of the week before trawling autotrader over the last couple of days.

I need to investigate the running costs in more detail.

EDIT: The Superb looks like a much nicer place to be than a similarly priced Octavia.

 

[tom_nieto]

I'll also put a vote in for an EV, with some of the lease schemes and the likes of Tesla not wanting more than minimal servicing its worth getting the calculator out as the fuel, servicing and tax savings soon add up and there are model 3's out there doing 250k miles plus problem free. Also its a very nice place to be on the motorway..

I’d be looking at £500 a month in diesel with this sort of mileage (at 45mpg) which soon adds up over the course of a 3 year lease term. It probably puts the EV on a par with a cheap diesel over 3 years. However, I’m not likely to be doing this mileage long term, so the lease might get unnecessarily expensive towards the end of the term. Will need to do some man maths. I would like an EV!

 

[tom_nieto]

Not sure if missed while you quoted that one but that example has a manual shifter/clutch. I’d personally not be willing to drive that locally let alone for heavy mileage.

Skodamarts suggestion of an old a3 or similar is very poor. Even ignoring everything else, id put it to him that I’d trust the Mercedes chain timed engines (which are not known to fail as some bmw chains can) and 7g Tronic box orders of magnitude over the belt driven engine/dsg whatever is in an a3. The Mercedes will likely only ever want consumables and the odd ancillary part, they are excellent cars.

Yes and yes. Definitely don't want a manual for this task and compared to the inside of the Mercedes, the Avensis looks depressing - which would you prefer to arrive if you ordered an Uber? I'm sure the Mercedes has some expensive bits to go wrong, but at the end of the day it's still a turbo diesel high pressure injection engine with a DPF which can throw unpleasant bills in a Toyota, Skoda or a Mercedes. Servicing from a well reviewed independent garage in Moseley is £149 for a minor and £219 for a major. The person I spoke to reckoned the timing chain should be replaced, but this is not a part of Mercedes official servicing schedule. They also don't have air suspension which is good for the wallet, but bad for the waft. The reason I'm gravitating towards a Mercedes E class is that it's a considerably nicer place to sit than a great many cars, especially at this budget.

I'd love to just buy a brand new car or spend considerably more, but I don't want to sell the 911, so need to keep outlay relatively low.

Cruise control will be mandatory on any barge that is purchased!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the thread so far, a lot of food for thought! Always great to get so many opinions, and the predictable "get a different job" responses