Hi Everyone,
Looking for a bit of help as I keep going in circles trying to choose a car.
I'm budgeting around £2k for the car, and then around £1k for the insurance (I've no no claims, as I've been a named driver on a friend's policy).
It'll be used for commuting from the centre of Manchester south Stockport; as I'm going against the flow of traffic it's mostly a gentle cruise at 30 with few, if any, stops, then a bit of motorway (hello M60!), so not the start-stop in 1st gear that most would associate with city driving.
I'm also planning to make a few further journeys; hiking in the peaks / lakes / Scotland and a few 100-200 mile trips to my family. Doing the maths I reckon this'll be about 8k-10k per year, although a good proportion of this will be on the motorway.
I'd also like to be able to take friends when hiking, so I'm thinking something focus sized or bigger. I don't really think i'll need an estate so can go for the slightly cheaper (or, less leggy) hatches/saloons rather than an estate.
The only toys I'd really be keen to have are AC and cruise. I prefer manual to automatic too, although I'm not hugely fussed.
So this brings me onto the choice.
I figure that with more motorway than city it might be a better shout in a diesel engined vehicle, although there's the minefield of DMF/Injector/EGR issues.
Therefore, do I go with something like a 1.6 Petrol Focus / Civic? A slightly larger petrol car (1.8 or 2.0 Mondeo)? Something LPG'd (although at £2k and with LPG fitted it might be the worst of terrible cheap cars)?
..Or perhaps to take a chance on a diesel that is less likely to be costly; from reading around it seems like this means the PD130 (not BXE engine code!): something like a Passat / Octavia, or perhaps even if I can arrange insurance an ovloV S60 D5...
I keep seeing posts about things like the S60 having a great stereo and comfy seats, but I can't help then thinking that the insurance and maintenance would be heavy going compared to a 1.6 Civic.
So I turn to you folks - any suggestions on where to turn? If I've left any details out then sorry; please let me know!
Cheers!
Blueacid
Looking for a bit of help as I keep going in circles trying to choose a car.
I'm budgeting around £2k for the car, and then around £1k for the insurance (I've no no claims, as I've been a named driver on a friend's policy).
It'll be used for commuting from the centre of Manchester south Stockport; as I'm going against the flow of traffic it's mostly a gentle cruise at 30 with few, if any, stops, then a bit of motorway (hello M60!), so not the start-stop in 1st gear that most would associate with city driving.
I'm also planning to make a few further journeys; hiking in the peaks / lakes / Scotland and a few 100-200 mile trips to my family. Doing the maths I reckon this'll be about 8k-10k per year, although a good proportion of this will be on the motorway.
I'd also like to be able to take friends when hiking, so I'm thinking something focus sized or bigger. I don't really think i'll need an estate so can go for the slightly cheaper (or, less leggy) hatches/saloons rather than an estate.
The only toys I'd really be keen to have are AC and cruise. I prefer manual to automatic too, although I'm not hugely fussed.
So this brings me onto the choice.
I figure that with more motorway than city it might be a better shout in a diesel engined vehicle, although there's the minefield of DMF/Injector/EGR issues.
Therefore, do I go with something like a 1.6 Petrol Focus / Civic? A slightly larger petrol car (1.8 or 2.0 Mondeo)? Something LPG'd (although at £2k and with LPG fitted it might be the worst of terrible cheap cars)?
..Or perhaps to take a chance on a diesel that is less likely to be costly; from reading around it seems like this means the PD130 (not BXE engine code!): something like a Passat / Octavia, or perhaps even if I can arrange insurance an ovloV S60 D5...
I keep seeing posts about things like the S60 having a great stereo and comfy seats, but I can't help then thinking that the insurance and maintenance would be heavy going compared to a 1.6 Civic.
So I turn to you folks - any suggestions on where to turn? If I've left any details out then sorry; please let me know!
Cheers!
Blueacid
