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Precisely what I was about to ask.
if I was spending 3 hours a day in a car (pretty much 20% of my waking life), I’d probably splash out on something I wanted, rather than just getting the cheapest thing I could.
Also, this.
There’s a school of thought which says that cars are merely tools to get you from A to B. Presumably these people also view houses as something to keep the rain off and consider things like wallpaper and artwork to be a wasteful extravagance. Look at that poser with his fancy-schmancy “carpets.”
If you’re doing 30k/pa that’s, what, two hours a day every working day assuming an average of 60mph for ease of maths, 4 hours per day at an average of 30. Why would you not want something that’s a nice place to be?
This, houses for courses but avoid stigmas and generalisations. I've done the same with my 320d touring Auto. Its a great motorway cruiser, I can get all my bike and camping gear in it and - dare I say it - the leather smells generates a level of calm for me.
Yes, there are bigger boots, faster engines, less contentious badges and general whataboutary, but I like it and its serving me well. Plus I paid 2/3rds of the price of a standard car for a loaded ex demo 1yo just before the release of the current model.
I’ve done the same with my 320d touring Auto
I still miss mine in xDrive guise. Fantastic car once I ditched the run flats.
It’s actually 100 miles each way 2 days a week. Not sure that makes a huge distance but at least it’s not every day
Actually that's a shed load better than doing less every day imo especially if they're not consecutive days.
Days in the office would be flexible so no need to do 2 on the trot, although sometimes I would have to
Not read the thread but remember that cars do not 'wear out'. Shocks wear out, engine mounts wear out, wheel bearings wear out etc. The cheapest way to get good comfortable motoring is to buy a car, keep it, and pay attention to it IMO. And when you do replace bits don't get the cheapest stuff just because it is an old car. For example mine was feeling crashy and rubbish on rough roads compared to new cars, then I replaced the shocks with new quality parts and it felt like a new car again nice and plush.
If you don't keep a car running well with good parts it'll end up feeling crappy, and you'll begin to dislike it and want a new one.
I'd be tempted to do consecutive days and stop over somewhere cheap with that kind of commute.
+1 for that.
And my bike would be coming with me to sample the local riding.
I still miss mine in xDrive guise. Fantastic car once I ditched the run flats.
yep, mine has 18” NRFLT Pilot sports, the other demonstrator was a carbon copy yet with 19” run flats. I chose deliberately.
The other time I enjoyed such a car was as a passenger in a Mercedes e class. It just wafted along eating up the miles, with the interior being a bit more classy than mine, although I prefer the BM drive.
If you don’t keep a car running well with good parts it’ll end up feeling crappy, and you’ll begin to dislike it and want a new one.
Our 2008 Kuga family car feels 10 x better with a new set of tyres even One of the shocks is misting, and will Mrs K now redundant any plans of a new car are out the window for a bit, I bet 4 new shocks would make a ton of difference.
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My overall plan is that I keep the BM for my work duties, and that the Family car will in time be upgraded to something nicer to take Mr and Mrs K beyond school runs, but the Kuga will run until it almost dies. It’s a cheap fix with a Pug diesel, Haldex 4wd and enough scrapes that makes it less of a worry.</span>
Anyone else struggle with the reality that we live in a world where people have to drive 20,000 miles a year to go to work?
In my line of work yes, but the construction industry does it a lot - as my Mate said to me years ago "I've asked them to build more stuff nearer my house, but they never listen to me".
70 miles a day is pretty shit, but longer commutes are often on motorways and even when it's bad you can average 60mph it's 'only' what, 35mins each way? My short commute inc School Run is about the same. When I worked in town and took the train it was about an hour.
I know guys who take a 3hour train ride into London a couple of days a week, I know a guy who commutes to Oslo once a week.
Anyone else struggle with the reality that we live in a world where people have to drive 20,000 miles a year to go to work?
Its a good question I is/was a travelling salesman, and with the current experience of COVID19 its easy to see MS Teams replacing a lot of my mileage. I bet there's a lot of reps like me thinking its not so good to be committed to PCP/Lease for a flash motor now.
For context - I drive >50k miles a year self employed so no allowance or financial incentive to buy anything specific
My advice would be to buy something you really like sitting in/looking at - All other considerations will eventually go out the window
I've had a run of Mini Clubmans and my last one was sold on at 175k miles - they're not particularly comfortable or quiet or even economical (50mpg ish) I just really like sitting in one and If you're doing that for most of your working day it helps.
I had a breif stint (2years) in a Volvo V60 and it was perfectly capable but completely numb to drive and in the end hated it - Fuel costs you can calculate, but the reality is - You put X£ of fuel in every X number of days - but you'll resent pouring it in a car you hate and not feel so bad if you love the thing.
Well as an update I've had a chat with them and looking like 1 day a week in the office with another couple month as a compromise, so more like a 1.5 days a week average into the office. That drops the commute to 15k plus any business mileage after that.
More palatable and they've confirmed there's no restrictions/stipulations on what car I can have so thinking more about something a bit older that has done a lot of depreciating and just adding miles on to it.
I bet 4 new shocks would make a ton of difference.
Yes. On mine, the rear two were misting but the fronts appeared fine. But the new ones were way more supple, possibly because they are gas filled. Not sure if the original ones were also gas filled but if they were, the gas pressure drops over the years which might've explained why replacing shocks that weren't visibly leaking oil improved the ride so much. They suggest reaplcing shocks at 7 years regardless, which seems plausible if they're gas filled.
Anyone else struggle with the reality that we live in a world where people have to drive 20,000 miles a year to go to work?
Yep. Seems bananas and not something I'd want to do. All that time spent trundling up and down motorways. Not so bad this time of year but I'd not cope during the winter sat in long, rainy and traffic jams with thousands of brake lights glaring at you for hours on end.
Anyway, on a more positive note - I'd go for the older, comfortable and reliable option. E class is a good shout, I bet you can get a decent E220d saloon for decent money (non-AMG spec for cheapness and comfort). I'd also budget to upgrade the radio to carplay, either through a new head unit or a software upgrade to the built in system. I know these things are available for E60 BMWs etc, and would seriously improve the long-range comfort and bare-ability of 35k miles per year whilst not pouring money down the drain.
There do seem to be a decent number of E class saloons around, but all start at a reasonable mileage (circa 70k and up). I know that it used to be that a 100k car was towards the end of it's life, but is that still the case these days?
Would I be a fool to buy a 10 year old car with 100k on the clock already (assuming fsh and decent condition), or does that buy me something that with regular servicing will go on for a lot longer without any big bills?
Trying to avoid hijacking your thread @slackman99, but I had similar questions re. mileage.
We’ve just relocated, bought a new house closer to family but I’m staying in current job. Now need to buy a second car (we managed with 1 car within the family previously).
My commute isn’t anywhere near yours, it’s exactly 60 mile round trip on flowing A roads, so not a problem really. Around 40 mins each way.
What I was looking at something like a Mondeo, a nice comfy cruise and room in the boot for bikes/dog/kids crap etc.
Getting to the point…for my £3k(ish) budget, the cars are all around the 100K mark. My thinking is, if it’s got full service history 100K on a 10 year old car isn’t too bad?
We have a nearly new Dacia Stepway, it's not nice to drive on longer runs. Wife can have that back!
Offer to buy your soon to be ex company, company maintained A3?
Carry on using it?
There’s a school of thought which says that cars are merely tools to get you from A to B. Presumably these people also view houses as something to keep the rain off and consider things like wallpaper and artwork to be a wasteful extravagance. Look at that poser with his fancy-schmancy “carpets.”
If you’re doing 30k/pa that’s, what, two hours a day every working day assuming an average of 60mph for ease of maths, 4 hours per day at an average of 30. Why would you not want something that’s a nice place to be?
Colin the C-Max would disagree until he got knocked out on Saturday 🙁
Not by any stretch a 'nice' interior, just grey plastic and a radio, but I was commuting 70miles a day in it and at it's worst commuted from Reading to Preston twice a week for filming blocks. Bought for £5k with 30k on the clock, written off at 139k.
I did the same trip in the OH's fiesta and TBH didn't notice much difference other than the fan doesn't work (and it was a hot summer!).
Anyone else struggle with the reality that we live in a world where people have to drive 20,000 miles a year to go to work?
That's average in america IIRC. I think they spend about the same as us on fuel, but fuel is half the price.
Getting to the point…for my £3k(ish) budget, the cars are all around the 100K mark. My thinking is, if it’s got full service history 100K on a 10 year old car isn’t too bad?
Probably in the realms of rolling a a dice. Most car's don't go wrong, there's thousands of moving parts though so there'll always be something that wears out.
The upside of a ford is the parts are generally cheap.
Would I be a fool to buy a 10 year old car with 100k on the clock already (assuming fsh and decent condition), or does that buy me something that with regular servicing will go on for a lot longer without any big bills?
I'd say yes. Buy something newer, with some warranty, but unfashionable. By the time you've run it for 75k miles, depreciation will mean it's worth little anyway and the difference to the trendy must-have airport shuttle will be minimal. I once bought an older Audi A6 estate with high mileage but FSH, etc. It was a financial disaster! Never again.
Use your budget for a deposit on a newer car with outright purchase using a bank loan (finance is cheap at the moment). Above all, for commuting, you want reliability and predictability for servicing and consumables.
Anecdotal, i know, but when i asked around the office about buying something reliable, most people said go japanese. (150 people in my ‘office’)
I’d buy a car with 10y and 100k under it no problem, but it would depend what it was.
If you’re buying a car to cruise the motorway it has to be able to do that effortlessly.
Japanese or korean would be very high up my list.
I’d also want cruise control, and steering wheel controls for the audio, comfy seats, and a Diesel engine.
So, japanese, not a tiny car, diesel, not poverty spec.
I also agree strongly with the posters above who say it is worth doing reasonably big jobs on older cars, it still ends up cheaper than buying new and throwing away as soon as it’s paid for.
There do seem to be a decent number of E class saloons around, but all start at a reasonable mileage (circa 70k and up). I know that it used to be that a 100k car was towards the end of it’s life, but is that still the case these days?
When I was in a very similar position to you I bought a V6 TDI A6, ex-lease with 90k on the clock. New it was £40k, I paid £10.5. I traded it in for £2k three years later with 175k miles on, having paid for nothing but tyres, fuel and regular services. The car in traded it in for was another A6, this time with almost 100k on, which I kept until it had 203k and still got 2k trade-in. Similar costs, although I did have one big bill of £800. When I added in the MAR I was well ahead of anyone who had taken a company car (we could choose car or allowance), and I'd had a much nicer car. There are few better places to be on a 100 mile drive in the winter, in the dark and the rain, than an A6.
Of course, you can get unlucky and end up with a big bill - that's life really.
So I’m just finishing up a job where I could either get a company car or sort out a lease myself. I ended getting the company car due to if something goes wrong it’s the company that has to get me back on 4 wheels and carry on working and making them money. I ended up paying some of my own money (extra £100 a month) to get the model I wanted (seat lean fr 2.0 diesel 150bph DCG over the se 1.6 diesel 116bhp with no toys. Other guys did pay extra to get Audi A3 or even a4 models which I know got even more expensive). In the 4 years of driving it it’s just clocked on to 90k. My thoughts were when ordering this car was to potential buy it at the end of the lease so worth specing it to what I wanted (which I will be buying it for commuting to new job though I though it would be worth buying for second car/other half). Also with doing 20k a year I wanted something that was comfortable to be in and make driving easier (which it certainly does with the built in satnav and a bit of poke for the motorway and auto). The only other issue that I wished I’d thought about was company car tax that went with it which to be fair I would of got stung with even with the standard car (first 6k of wages are taxed so don’t have the 12k tax free limit). The new cars available to lease have moved away from seat and Audi to a real mix bag of Toyota, bmw, and ford with a push for electric, hybrid or petal which would make the tax cheaper as well as extra money added by me in the first place.