Totally stuck on what car to go for next

FatFishMonster

FatFishMonster

FatFishMonster

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Im in the process of selling my 2015 Fiesta ST, its an amazing car and will be sad to see it go.

But with the commute im doing (live in Devon, commute across rural moor roads, 22miles each way), increase in family size, and having to pick up the little one who now lives 30 odd mile away, its just not practical for these journeys anymore, and to be honest, I don't really want to have car finance anymore.

Im looking at spending between £2000-5000 (2k over 1 year or 5k over 2 years, credit card or loan, not figured out those bits yet)

Ideally, going from the ST id like like a bit poke or some decent looks.

I figured given the roads on the moors, few hills and what not, a diesel would have been the best way to go?

What ive been looking at so far are:
B7 Audi a4 2.0 TDI S Line, however been slightly put off these by the known oil pump problems.
E46/E90 BMW 320D M Sport

Anybody have any suggestions? Am I going about this all wrong?
 
I'd have thought if your downgrading you'd be best off avoiding the premium marques as you'll get far better value elsewhere.

Honda Civic, Skoda Octavia etc?
 
Well i think you need to make a choice, you could get a tired premium car and put up with the higher associated costs of running it/poorer reliability if that's something your happy with.

Is saving money a part of this decision? Or do you just need a bigger more comfy car?

Plus if you do go for a BMW or Audi it will be an fairly old design of car now so might not feel that great compared to a newish car?
 
LiE said:
Golf GTI would be my recommendation.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201903165956806?onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&model=GOLF&aggregatedTrim=GTI&sort=year-desc&maximum-mileage=80000&postcode=mk22lq&advertising-location=at_cars&price-to=5500&make=VOLKSWAGEN&radius=1500&quantity-of-doors=5&page=1&modal=photos
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How would that fair over the commute though? Surely that will have high fuel costs over the drives im doing?

sovietspybob said:
Well i think you need to make a choice, you could get a tired premium car and put up with the higher associated costs of running it/poorer reliability if that's something your happy with.

Is saving money a part of this decision? Or do you just need a bigger more comfy car?

Plus if you do go for a BMW or Audi it will be an fairly old design of car now so might not feel that great compared to a newish car?
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Its a bit of both really, the ST isn't practical for 2 adults and kids (all over 6 so no need for prams etc), id like to save money (wouldn't we all! :p ) and also be a bit comfier over these commutes, but also retain some of the "nice car"ness, but I would put saving money over the comfort (not completely, else I would just get a Mondeo)

My line of thinking was, If the car lasts over a year then i'd have more disposable income than what I do now as it would be paid off, but then I guess that income could be taken up on maintaining a cheaper car?

The interior of the Fiesta ST feels fairly dated anyway as its from 2015 before they interior got a bit of an update, the old style non colour SYNC unit for example, so an Audi or BMW at that price point looks similar inside.
 
If you are considering an Audi, you can pick up a B6/7 Passat for next to nothing these days and can look decent with a few mods. I had one years ago and it done me well more than enough space, not the fastest car but will do the job well. Only issues as you have already said is the potential oil pump failure. I am currently looking at getting a 5 year old Passat estate one but as an estate as need the space. I think they are good value for money. I agree with soivetspybob, i would stay away from the high marque brands, as nice as they are they can also cough up a big bill if something was to go wrong. One of the lads i work with just a had a big bill on his 2005 330D and he has got over issues he also needs to fix now to. Don't get me wrong having a BMW or Mercedes is great, i have one currently but sometimes we need to think smarter when buying cars, i know i have to.
In this situation anything VAG will be a good choice if you ask me or you can stick with ford or go honda or Mazda.
 
FatFishMonster said:
But with the commute im doing (live in Devon, commute across rural moor roads, 22miles each way), increase in family size, and having to pick up the little one who now lives 30 odd mile away, its just not practical for these journeys anymore, and to be honest, I don't really want to have car finance anymore.
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Not a recommendation but with similar requirements - 22 mile commute through rural Somerset/Dorset, etc. I ended up somehow buying a pickup truck... definitely not the ideal vehicle aside from being a little more appropriate for if/when we get worse weather.

My brother uses a Mazda 6 with similar kind of usage and it seems a pretty decent vehicle overall and hasn't given him any trouble aside from Mazda's Instant Mobility System was completely useless when he did get a flat tyre.
 
22 mile commute puts your mileage at around 10k a year, plus a few k for SDP, surely you're still in petrol engine territory there. Not to mention the expensive issues that tired diesel engines can generate that would very quickly wipe out any small fuel saving.
 
Invertigo said:
22 mile commute puts your mileage at around 10k a year, plus a few k for SDP, surely you're still in petrol engine territory there. Not to mention the expensive issues that tired diesel engines can generate that would very quickly wipe out any small fuel saving.
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I did wonder that, but didnt know whether a diesel would handle the hills and what not over the moors/rural roads a bit better.
 
For that mileage I personally wouldn't go for a diesel, a petrol would make a lot more sense and Focus/Golf size would suffice but I would imagine anything is going to feel a bit less fun after the nimble ST
 
Maundie said:
For that mileage I personally wouldn't go for a diesel, a petrol would make a lot more sense and Focus/Golf size would suffice but I would imagine anything is going to feel a bit less fun after the nimble ST
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Yeah, I've made my peace with the fact it wont be as fun as the ST. It will be missed.

From my understanding, wouldn't the diesel handle the rural roads a bit better on that mileage? (I could be wrong of course, my knowledge isnt great)
 
Not sure about that as diesels are really suited to the constant speed at low revs on a motorway, if you have to keep poking it to maintain decent speed on a twisty road I wouldn't have thought it would be as economical as a petrol, happy to be proven wrong though.
 
I didn't read the part about how many miles you will be doing. With doing close to 10k a year you might want to stay with petrol, but if you think the amount will increase you may want to go diesel. I know people on here will disagree, but i was taught under 10K a year stick with a petrol, 12K+ go for diesel and if you sit in the middle of these you can go either depending the type of journeys you are doing.
One of the other issues you will notice when looking at the larger sized cars majority of them for sale are Diesel. Last year it took me months to find a 2011 petrol 2.0 Mazda 6, for my wife. We love this car and we use it as the family wagon at the moment and for all of our short trips. A Mazda 6 will be a good choice too.
 
So the ST was sold last Monday, luckily i'm not in country for 2 weeks comes Friday, so I am actually saving a bit of money!
But will need to get something sorted for when I get back. Plus it saves some money too!

Seen a few golf GT TDi's around.

I have a few trips up country this year, and my parents are a 65-70 miles round trip and i drive up there over 2 weeks or so.

inflames said:
I didn't read the part about how many miles you will be doing. With doing close to 10k a year you might want to stay with petrol, but if you think the amount will increase you may want to go diesel. I know people on here will disagree, but i was taught under 10K a year stick with a petrol, 12K+ go for diesel and if you sit in the middle of these you can go either depending the type of journeys you are doing.
One of the other issues you will notice when looking at the larger sized cars majority of them for sale are Diesel. Last year it took me months to find a 2011 petrol 2.0 Mazda 6, for my wife. We love this car and we use it as the family wagon at the moment and for all of our short trips. A Mazda 6 will be a good choice too.
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How do you find the petrol mazda 6 on fuel efficiency?
 
FatFishMonster said:
So the ST was sold last Monday, luckily i'm not in country for 2 weeks comes Friday, so I am actually saving a bit of money!
But will need to get something sorted for when I get back. Plus it saves some money too!

Seen a few golf GT TDi's around.

I have a few trips up country this year, and my parents are a 65-70 miles round trip and i drive up there over 2 weeks or so.



How do you find the petrol mazda 6 on fuel efficiency?
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I have never done a tank to tank calculation but the on board display currently shows 25.3mpg average. Thats mostly small trips to shops, during the week work and school runs so a lot of city driving. At the weekend we tend to use her car when we go out as a family these trips are a lot longer. Last year we drove from Norwich to Ashford to catch the Eurostar, i reset the average before we left, the MPG on the display after that and the return leg was low 40's, sorry i don't remember the actually value. We have both been very pleased with this car, its not the quickest by no means.
The boot is big enough for a hatch back, you can easily get a Wheel chair in it and some shopping. At the weekend we got my 7 years old and 3 year old push bikes in the back. Before my son was walking everywhere you could get a buggy and wheel chair in together with a squeeze. In an estate format the boot would be massive, but they tend to be diesels. I have just had a quick look on auto trader, we bought it this time last year, from a dealer and the pices haven't changed hardly at all, some dealer are asking for more than what we paid for a car with higher mileage. My only negative is the car is noisy when you first start it up, but that is due to it being chain driven not a belt. Once its all warmed up it fine and a pleasure to drive.
 
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