Advice for down the line - commuter car 20k miles a year

Mason- · 21 Jun 2019 at 16:23

Hi all.

Currently do 80 miles a day (45 minutes each way), 4 days a week, very easy driving. 60 road then dual carriageway A120 against traffic, and then M11 against traffic. My average speed tank to tank is 53mph that include idling time etc. Currently doing this in a 59 plate Alfa Mito 1.4 16v petrol. I get around 45 mpg driving sensibly according to the trip.

The Mito has been rock solid, only had to service it. It's at 92k miles at the moment, had cambelt done in 2015 on 36k miles so 108k that will need doing again.

I have 2 lines of thought, A) run this thing into the ground or B) swap cars. Financially it makes sense to just run this into the ground however what really annoys me about it is it is very loud at speed and not comfortable at all.

I could spend around £7k on another car but I think what's the point. I should probably get something <£4k and just run it until it explodes. I'd want something that's diesel, good mpg, comfy and quiet. I don't care about it being sporty at all, chances are it'd be faster than the Mito anyway. What would you guys recommend?

Some old diesel saloon would probably work, but what about larger hatchbacks like golfs/focus/leons etc.

Won't be actually changing until around October time but I want a decent idea for the time being.

Cheers.

BinnsY · 21 Jun 2019 at 17:18

I think this one is a bit of a struggle. Your desired budget is rather low and your essentially going to end up in something as old and as high mileage as your current Mito, but you will have the gamble of not knowing it's history or what problems it might throw at you.

I'd suggest either sticking with your Mito, or spending closer to your 7k on something newer, lower mileage, and better. I just think it's the 4k option that would be a struggle.

If it were my money I'd probably go for something like this;

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201906118895489

If you really do want to go for the cheap option I'd probably go for this.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201905147947367

But as mentioned its the same age as your Mito and not far behind on mileage.

Mason- · 21 Jun 2019 at 19:42

arfoll said:
For once a spec thread that makes sense

In your shoes I'd go for an as new as possible diesel vo lvo s80 or an s60 if you want a bit smaller. Volvo sedans are super unpopular so cheap comfy seats, great cruisers, cheaper than the Germans to fix & service, not too unreliable as essentially ford, interior is way nicer than a mondeo. Mpg won't be amazing though.

That's what I've been looking at and thinking of.

The only concern I have about the old s80s is parts. Surely the parts for them are quite expensive?

Nasher · 21 Jun 2019 at 20:04

A Lexus hybrid barge. Not sure how cheap you can find them though atm. But comfortable and cheap to run, the pre-2018 cars also have £0 tax.

rodenal · 21 Jun 2019 at 20:21

About £700 per battery cell tho - which at the age (for the budget) you're running a risk on. Different if you particularly wanted one but battery repair would buy a lot of fuel on what is just a runner

Nasher · 21 Jun 2019 at 20:23

I think you get 4+ years from them, but what you save in tax will go on the battery I guess.

Mason- · 21 Jun 2019 at 20:35

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201904036587039?postcode=cm776ae&sort=mileage&price-to=5000&advertising-location=at_cars&model=S80&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&radius=1500&make=VOLVO&page=1

Tax is a lot... not sure what sort of mpg I'd get. I pay £130 per year on the mito for tax anyway so it's not that much of a jump. If I got 55 mpg in that I'd save £500 in fuel per year anyway.

Or this one

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...radius=1500&model=S80&fuel-type=Diesel&page=1

Avalon · 21 Jun 2019 at 22:34

As someone who used to do 2,000 miles a month for over a decade, this advice is based on a few hundred thousand miles of experience.

I ran numerous diesels: RAV4 2.0 D4D, Golf MK5 1.9 DSG, Octavia MK2 1.9 DSG, Leon Sport 2.0 DSG, Altea 2.0 DSG and two petrol options, a Fabia 1.4mpi and a Yaris 1.0 vvti.

Stop focusing on mpg, it’s unrelated to actual cost per mile and a really poor indicator as fuel
prices can change dramatically (we’ve been at anything from £99p/ltr to £1.40/ltr in the last few years). The cheapest miles I ever did were in the Yaris, followed by the Fabia. NA and chain driven petrol with ‘small’ tyres is the way forward if you want cheap miles, the exception would likely be something like the Fabia SDI.

TBH stick with what you have, throwing 7K at something to make minimal savings per mile is generally not going to work as the mileage will hasten the depreciation and likely cost you more than any saving along with the unknown factor.

Tinders · 21 Jun 2019 at 22:36

I ran an Accord for 3 years, loved it, mine was the 2.2 es GT, nice looking car and perfect for munching the miles, drove well when pressed and lovely crisp gear change. Far far better than the A4 Avant that replaced it.

tom_nieto · 21 Jun 2019 at 23:27

Better the devil you know in this situation. Commuting is pretty terrible whatever you drive. If you want to change, that’s fine, but it shouldn’t be for financial reasons. More comfort, larger car, something different are all very valid reasons.

Would you spend £7k including trade in of the Mito or not?

MissChief · 21 Jun 2019 at 23:51

tom_nieto said:
Better the devil you know in this situation. Commuting is pretty terrible whatever you drive. If you want to change, that’s fine, but it shouldn’t be for financial reasons. More comfort, larger car, something different are all very valid reasons.

Would you spend £7k including trade in of the Mito or not?

This is the truth. Change for these reasons and if you can get better MPG in there too, all the better.

Volvo S40 D3 £5.4k
Mondeo Titanium X TDCi £6750
Passat CC 2.0 TDI £6450
Honda Accord 2.2 £5850
Alfa 159 2.0 JTDM £3990
Jag XF 3.0 TD V6 Luxury £6295
Seat Exeo is basically an Audi A4 in Spanish clothes so look at those too, will get a car 2 or 3 years newer than the equivalent A4.

Loads of options to choose from!

Tom|Nbk · 22 Jun 2019 at 00:07

335d /thread

Tinders · 22 Jun 2019 at 09:21

Personally if it were me, my money would be on something with VAG engine, purely because parts are cheap on them, and theres lots of them about, so for a mile muncher when they do invariably go wrong, it wont cost an arm and a leg.

My dad bought a 2011 Merc C class, and whilst it was cheap, and not a bad car, the timing chain has gone on it, and its an engine out job sadly. The same can happen with any car, but something like a VAG car its easier to put right again.

Nasher · 22 Jun 2019 at 09:27

Tinders said:
Personally if it were me, my money would be on something with VAG engine, purely because parts are cheap on them, and theres lots of them about, so for a mile muncher when they do invariably go wrong, it wont cost an arm and a leg.

My dad bought a 2011 Merc C class, and whilst it was cheap, and not a bad car, the timing chain has gone on it, and its an engine out job sadly. The same can happen with any car, but something like a VAG car its easier to put right again.

Not sure it would be much cheaper with VAG tbh. Engine issues and engine out jobs is a thing on them too :/

Tinders · 22 Jun 2019 at 10:22

The merc is engine out just for a timing chain and head work. With a FWD layout it’s a easier in that regard. But my point is more that there’s a hell of a lot more VAG based cars out there, so parts will be cheaper simply due to volume.

telewebby · 22 Jun 2019 at 12:06

if you dont car about looks and its just a commuter car, go for a boring prius, batteries last ages, look at how many taxi drivers use them. 55 to 60 mpg, 0 or ceap tax

alex

Nasher · 22 Jun 2019 at 12:26

telewebby said:
if you dont car about looks and its just a commuter car, go for a boring prius, batteries last ages, look at how many taxi drivers use them. 55 to 60 mpg, 0 or ceap tax

alex

Same thing as the Lexus CT200h really. Except with that people won't assume your an uber driver (and get a better interior)

Frozennova · 22 Jun 2019 at 13:18

I was in a similar scenario 6 months ago OP.

New job, 35k miles a yea. I ended up with a 2007 Jetta TDI DSG, 1 Owner, 49k miles for £3000

Nasher said:
Not sure it would be much cheaper with VAG tbh. Engine issues and engine out jobs is a thing on them too :/

The 1.9 PD engines are nigh on indestructible.