Hi There,
I'm in the process of working out my sums regard a new job I've been offered.
The good news is, it is relatively close. The bad news is, it is still a 70 mile each day commute. My current commute is a 3 mile cycle ride, so I'm going from zero commute costs to significantly more.
My crude maths suggests that will be circa £600 PCM in fuel assuming my LR manages to average 16MPG (£578.50 to be precise). I'm confident I'd get more than 16MPG as most of the journey is on a dual carriageway, but I need to allow for traffic etc so I've just gone for my long term average to date. I'd say the route is 60% NSL Dual Carridgeway, and then 40% NSL country lanes with the occasional jaunt through a 30mpg village. I might squeeze 20MPG average, but that isn't proven.
So. I did some sums for at which point it actually makes sense to get a second car. I think for it to be worthwhile there needs to be a significant increase in fuel economy (to about 50 ish would be brilliant, but absolutely nothing less than 40). To complicate things, we are looking to buy our first home (which hopefully will be closer !) so we don't have £5-10k to spend. The outlay needs to make sense, so I don't want something unreliable, but equally, I want to keep expenditure to a minimum. £2.5k tops really.
It will just be a tool to get to work, so I'm not hugely worried about something that has huge street cred, I just want reliability, decent fuel economy, and ideally, relatively relaxed to spend 2 hours a day. I'd prefer a hatch, even an estate, it needs ISOFIX so we can use it other than just as a work tool to gain some extra value, and 5 doors would be ace but not essential.
It would be nice if it had 'some' driving dynamics. I'd considered something like a Fiat Panda 100HP, as even with high miles they seem to command a decent price, and Evo seem to love them. However, I've got none anywhere near me, and I don't want to travel 80 miles to get a cheap car for work.
I don't think a diesel makes sense at this price point as the reliability will be a huge risk. A 'simple' N/A Petrol would be great, but I know by saying that, I'm restricting my choice to smaller vehicles to achieve the MPG. I know a lot of people would find it hell to sit in a car like that, but the place we are looking to move to is less than half the distance. Incidentally, even after the move a second car still makes financial sense.
So, TLDR:
- Need a second car
- Must have ISOFIX for our little boys seat
- Hatchback/Estate highly preferred
- 5 Doors much preferred for ease of use
- Petrol or Diesel, but must be able to achieve a decent MPG. I think the bare minimum over the commute needs to be 40MPG or else it gets to a point where running two cars doesn't make sense.
- Budget of no more than £2500.
OCUK... help?
I'm in the process of working out my sums regard a new job I've been offered.
The good news is, it is relatively close. The bad news is, it is still a 70 mile each day commute. My current commute is a 3 mile cycle ride, so I'm going from zero commute costs to significantly more.
My crude maths suggests that will be circa £600 PCM in fuel assuming my LR manages to average 16MPG (£578.50 to be precise). I'm confident I'd get more than 16MPG as most of the journey is on a dual carriageway, but I need to allow for traffic etc so I've just gone for my long term average to date. I'd say the route is 60% NSL Dual Carridgeway, and then 40% NSL country lanes with the occasional jaunt through a 30mpg village. I might squeeze 20MPG average, but that isn't proven.
So. I did some sums for at which point it actually makes sense to get a second car. I think for it to be worthwhile there needs to be a significant increase in fuel economy (to about 50 ish would be brilliant, but absolutely nothing less than 40). To complicate things, we are looking to buy our first home (which hopefully will be closer !) so we don't have £5-10k to spend. The outlay needs to make sense, so I don't want something unreliable, but equally, I want to keep expenditure to a minimum. £2.5k tops really.
It will just be a tool to get to work, so I'm not hugely worried about something that has huge street cred, I just want reliability, decent fuel economy, and ideally, relatively relaxed to spend 2 hours a day. I'd prefer a hatch, even an estate, it needs ISOFIX so we can use it other than just as a work tool to gain some extra value, and 5 doors would be ace but not essential.
It would be nice if it had 'some' driving dynamics. I'd considered something like a Fiat Panda 100HP, as even with high miles they seem to command a decent price, and Evo seem to love them. However, I've got none anywhere near me, and I don't want to travel 80 miles to get a cheap car for work.
I don't think a diesel makes sense at this price point as the reliability will be a huge risk. A 'simple' N/A Petrol would be great, but I know by saying that, I'm restricting my choice to smaller vehicles to achieve the MPG. I know a lot of people would find it hell to sit in a car like that, but the place we are looking to move to is less than half the distance. Incidentally, even after the move a second car still makes financial sense.
So, TLDR:
- Need a second car
- Must have ISOFIX for our little boys seat
- Hatchback/Estate highly preferred
- 5 Doors much preferred for ease of use
- Petrol or Diesel, but must be able to achieve a decent MPG. I think the bare minimum over the commute needs to be 40MPG or else it gets to a point where running two cars doesn't make sense.
- Budget of no more than £2500.
OCUK... help?
Complimented my Range Rover perfectly. Circumstances meant it became surplus to requirements but i'd absolutely recommend one with how cheap yet thoroughly competent they are.