Ideally;

35+mpg average
Petrol I think as it does a lot of short trips for work (as well as some 200/300 round trips)
Less than 50k miles
Enjoyable to drive
Nippy enough for overtaking duties
Reliable

Contenders so far;

Accord Tourer (falls short on econemy)
Focus 1.8/2.0 (smaller inside)

Other options to look at?

Octavia petrol, golf, passat etc… there’s loads.

Even my 2L Subaru Legacy did over 40mpg at the weekend with a light right foot…

We’ve got an old-style (’03) Focus (1.6 petrol) that has served us well. Although you say it’s smaller than the Accord it is still pretty good. I’ve had a double height fridge freezer in the back with the seats down and my wife and I use it as a pillow-lined living room when camping and waiting for the kids to go to sleep.
It achieves your economy, copes well with short trips (frequent oil changes and early cambelt replacement, neither being particularly expensive). Reliable but it does struggle with the overtaking as it’s pretty gutless, but I just want my cars to move and not cost much which it definitely achieves.
If it died tomorrow I’d buy another.

Toyota Corolla Verso may be worth a look

As above, old shape Octavia should meet your requirements

What engine on the VW? 1.6 seems slow (its a heavy car I know) Useable space in the back isn’t meant to be as good as the Honda/Focus I thought either..

The Mitsubishi 1.8 GDI engine is incredibly economic. My Volvo V40 has this engine and my AVG combined MPG is 43 on the motorway I can get 46. This is a 2001 car I got for less than a grand.

Plenty of room in a V40 I can get 3 bikes with only front wheels off and three people easy. Lots of toys too.

That will get you a Merc C class. You will get 38MPG on a run, with a 1.8 Kompressor and 170bhp so plenty of go.

The MPG suffers quite badly on stuff like the school run.

Go drive any of the rest, then go drive the Merc, you will buy the Merc.

I dont understand why you want petrol specifically mind you.

I’m doing under 10k a year, with a lot of short trips- I thought this was bad for most diesels?

Yet to test drive the Volvos, but did look at V50s..

I’d be trawling trying to find a low mileage one of these:

EDIT: Thats the 1.8t by the way, not the skanky 1.9TDI

They’re pretty bullet proof with the K03, s/h turbos are cheap on the forums from everyone going BT on them.

rockthreegozy
Don’t know where you got that from, its a car, its been tested in millions of different ways, climates, altitudes everything.

Deisel or petrol will do both long and short journeys no problem.

My only tip would be if your keeping a car, any car, a long time, then oil changes at shorter periods than the regular service interval can only be a good thing.

my 1.8 vauxhall zafira will do 45mpg…

But it’s a Vauxhall 😉

Short trips are bad for a diesel EGR and DPF. However you could try getting a car without a DPF since these suffer most with short trips. My 2008 diesel doesn’t have a DPF.

Otherwise petrol estate? Economical around town, nippy for overtaking is a bit moon on a stick and contradictory. A 1.8TSI or possibly 1.4TSI volkswagen/audi seems about closest.

Of new cars the 1.0turbo Focus estate seems perfect to your needs.

For your mileage I would stick to petrol.

Lots of short journeys is a little incompatible with 35+mpg average. Easily achievable on a run, but not on lots of short journeys.

I’d probably be looking for a 1.6 Focus. Why <50k miles though? Criteria like that will really limit your options.

For about that much you can get a Skoda Octavia 1.4 tsi that’ll do an alledged combined cycle of 45 mpg. Most impressive is the 122bhp out of a 1.4 litre engine with 148lbs torque

Ok, lets say;

30mpg+ at all times- obvioussly higher on the motorway would be nice.
0-60mph around 10s (although I know thats not the defining truth, its a start)

Accord 2.2 diesel may actually fit.

Just drive a few, make sure you do try the Merc.

Very few lemons out there these days, try and find a car that has a nice stack of bills to verify service history and go with what you actually fancy owning.

All cars will have their own individual feel and fit, despite all being designed to be driven by humans… Its a bit like bikes.

My 06 plate (mk2) Octavia vRS estate ticks all your boxes, even the economy one as long as you drive it sensibly and certainly ticks the overtaking box 😉

75k on the clock though but will be up for sale soon probably for £5k-ish.

Newer shape Octavia vRS for £5k…

Hits the budget, looks in good nick, 36mpg on the combined cycle, but 45mpg on a run (believable as it’s the TFSI engine), 200bhp, 0-60 in 7.5 seconds so plenty rapid, all the good bits of a Golf GTi (engineering, reliability, performance) without any of the bad bits (price, lack of space inside).

More sensible, and leaves you a couple of grand spare…

Slightly over budget, but the rest of the criteria are spot on, and it’s only 3 years old!

Maybe an Astra???

2 Litre Focus Estate??? A Mate has one of these, he averages about 42mpg in it, and it doesn’t hang about either!

The Ultra boringly reliable choice, but actually quite a good car… Does everything you say you want, hits the nail right on the head… Sub 50k miles, 39mpg avg, 10sec to 60, and they’re pretty nice to drive by all accounts.

Sod the fuel economy, I want some fast luxury motoring…

The reasonably priced (and VGC) car, for the star who’s given up on life…

Another Mondeo in drag, but a surprisingly good car…

A bargain nearly new Astra with silly low miles, but on V Car hence price… Probably worth checking out though, has only done 2100 miles from new!!!

A High spec Focus in drag…

If it’s gotta be an Audi… Actually a nice car, but they do command a premium… Just as well it’s not a Diesel, it would be twice the price!

Quite overpriced but gives you an idea of the kind of nice older Beemers around…

If it absolutely has to be a golf…

For Hora…

Those should give you some food for thought anyway! (and as you can see, I was bored)

I’d avoid a Focus. Reliable and Focus don’t go.

I’d look at any Honda 2.0 (take a slight hit on mpg) as it ticks every other box.

I’d avoid the diesel in the Ford as well.

I’ll get shot for this but what about a 1.9TDI Seat Altea?

That will get you a Merc C class. You will get 38MPG on a run, with a 1.8 Kompressor and 170bhp so plenty of go.

The MPG suffers quite badly on stuff like the school run.

Go drive any of the rest, then go drive the Merc, you will buy the Merc.

I dont understand why you want petrol specifically mind you.

This is exactly what I have.

I get:

25mpg for city stop-start driving
34mpg for a 7 mile town and motorway commute to work
43mpg for a 100 mile run up north on windy A roads.

In the 2,000 miles I’ve done in it since I bought it, my properly calculated mpg is around 33mpg, which is pretty good considering my girlfriend’s 1.25 2008 Fiesta is sitting at around 39mpg.

I can hit high thirties/40mpg on motorways quite easily if I’m light with my right foot.

I drove a 3 series touring (lovely but quite harsh), A4 estate (which I liked), a 5 series (nice but not enough space considering its size) and finally the Merc. I wasn’t even seriously considering the Merc until I saw it/drove it. it’s lovely. I look forward to being able to get in it.

Merc A class- pretty leftfield (shouldn’t be) – but thats a good idea. As long as you avoid the lower cc engines. The only issue I had with one on a 24hr test drive was how it copes with sidewinds (scary) – otherwise it was a nice little/big car.

04 plate, 66,000 miles Accord SE Tourer

FSH, one year warranty (Honda Approved car), MOT August next year, 6 months tax, new mats.

£4100..

Any good?

Honda Accords are good cars

Problem with them, like pretty much anything Japanese, is they’re always thirsty compared to European rivals, and spare parts (and labour) are always expensive.

Reliability is up there with the best though.

I’d avoid a Focus. Reliable and Focus don’t go.

Sheer number of them on the road will mean there’s going to be a few that have had some woes, but on the whole, the Focus is a pretty reliable car. Being a Ford does also mean cheap as chips spares and labour, and Focus’ are always very economical compared to most of their competition in a like for like comparison.

Personally, given the cost of fuel today, unless you’ve got someone else paying for it for you all the time, I’d always try to get the most economical car I could, as fuel is the major part in most cars running costs nowadays.

as fuel is the major part in most cars running costs nowadays.

No for most cars depreciation is the major running cost. Under £5K it’s fuel.

Cheap as chips? The majority of the time I found it was small things that add up but clutch release bearings when they go cost to fix.

Your last comment. Ever had to replace parts on a Ford Focus diesel? Wipes out all mpg savings 😉

Oh and Ford petrol mpg figures are waaay off real world.