MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Morning all
New car time, currently drive a Ford Fusion which has served well, but with two children, and me doing sports, it's far too small for carrying double buggies, bikes, surfboards and the like
Would like to upgrade to a larger car, maybe an estate or small mpv like the C Max that will be more comfortable with two children on longer trips
Would like a diesel
Must do 40mpg +
Cheap tax, no more than the £130/40 band
Nothing too large as it will be used by the wife when she gets round to doing her test next year
Budget up to £4000
If it was just me driving I'd put the money down as a deposit and finance the rest of a second hand kombi van as I want to get one in the near future anyway
As the wife will most likely then use it as her car, it needs to be useable round town and car parks for a new driver
I've narrowed my choice down to a 2009 Ford C Max 1.6 tdci Zetec
Will do 40/50mpg
Seems big enough but not massive
Only £30 tax
Insurance is nice and cheap
Looks quite nice in the Zetec trim, nice alloys etc
I'm quite keen on a Ford, as ours has done about 13/14000 miles in our ownership with just a battery replacement
Fire away
New driver? Don't pay through the nose for a show room example, find a cheap private sale with a few knocks on it. Then it won't result in a melt down when it gets pranged at Tesco's, you can just shrug it off 🙂
You could look at the Mazda 5, very similar to the C-Max as based on the same chassis.
Wasn't that the engine that gave a lot of trouble ?
Will take a look at the Mazda, cheers
Yes whatever we get will not be a showroom mint one as a new driver, two children, biking, and kitesurfing will quickly deteriorate it
As above engine prone to expensive disasters - ford one that is. Mine managed new dpf, newturbo and various other bits before gave in with it
Mum has had a 1.6tdci focus for a good six or more years with zero engine problems. The c-max you are looking at sounds the ticket to me.
Petrol cmax i found ours was like a tardis was good to drive too
Seat Altea.XL model looks pretty big.Kia Carens.Citroen C4 Picasso.
I have had a 2008 C Max and had no issues with it. Engine is the 2.0 TDCI version which will still return 40 - 50 mpg depending on whats on the roof. I would seek out the Titanium version though as internal trim is so much better.
I did find the boot a little small but that was coming from a Mondeo estate. The removable seats are good for carting stuff about.
Coming up to 100,000 miles now and still looks and drives good. Been a solid little car.
I like c-max - if we didn't have three lanky teens n tweens, we would have one.
I would also look at Altea and Altea XL - really practical, and seemed s bargain when we looked, with some petrols uber cheap, way offsetting any mpg losses unless you do 20k+ miles a year.
Got a 08 Cmax with the 1.8TDCI, gets mid 50's mpg on the motorway, less around town and pulls very well.
2 adults and 1 teenager and 1 toddler and easily swallows everything we need for a weeks holiday.
Ours is Titanium trim and quite a nice place to be inside.
Recently had to replace the alternator but other than consumables that is all that's gone wrong on it.
I planned to buy a C-Max but tried a Roomster and liked it so much I bought that - very happy with it and frugal (for a petrol). I hear the C-Max isn't as good on fuel as official figures suggest.
Op - how many miles a year do you do?
If less than 15-20k a year, then petrol may well be cheaper...
Fabia estate?
Around 10000miles
My understanding was diesel economy is much higher?
Wife had an 08 cmax, 1.8 petrol. Bought exdemo and sold after 3 yrs. Short journeys and around 8k miles a year. Economy was poor, around 28mpg on average. She now has a 1.6 petrol Kia Soul which does about 35mpg for same use. CMax had lots of problems, water pump, alternator, electrics and spent a lot of time in garage, hence was sold when warranty expired.
Around 10000milesMy understanding was diesel economy is much higher?
Yes they usually are.
But, short journeys kill modem Diesel engine bits and bobs, and diesels tend to have higher service and parts costs, plus short journey efficiency in diesels is shocking.
10k in a mid size car a year, I would err towards petrol personally.
Hmm, rough calculations on 10000 miles / year
Diesel 50mpg approx
Petrol 30mpg approx
£500 approx extra per year fuel
£150 extra per year tax
So £650 cheaper per year to run a diesel
So say I was going to keep the car for one year, I'd want it to be at least £650 cheaper for a identical petrol model and f the diesel I'm looking at
I suppose things breaking or needing garage work is pretty impossible to plan
What's classed as a short journey?
We only pop into town about 2/3 miles once a week, usually longer trips above 10miles
Occasional long trips 100miles +
Current car averages 50mpg, but gets well into 60s on motorway journeys
Diesel service intervals shorter a d usually more expensive to buy - offsets fuel costs. Tax likely to go up at somepoint too due to emissions
Fair point
Can they increase road tax figures on a car you already pay road tax for?
28mpg from a 1.8 cmax? That's crazy I was getting 28mpg from my mk3 Focus ST Estate and I drive like I think I'm in a race the whole time.
My old mk2 Focus 1.6 petrol used to return 35mpg easily. The mk2 C-Max 1.6 diesel only returned 45mpg and the engine was horrible to drive, I hated that car.
A budget of £4k will get you an early mk3 Focus or a high speed mk2 Focus. For anything under 10000m I would seriously recommend a petrol especially one without a turbo as they are simpler and nicer to drive.
Can they increase road tax figures on a car you already pay road tax for?
They do this almost every year. Over the 5 years I had my mk2 Focus the tax went up from £90 a year to about £180 a year.
I have a 1.6 petrol CMAX (58) which was bought 4 years ago.
First thing to say is that it cannot take a rear bike carrier due to its rear spoiler. Ours is not as fuel efficient as we had expected either.
That said, we have been really happy with it as a family car. It has load of cubby holes and a massive boot. I think we'll be keeping it for a couple more years so long as it is running OK.
Despised our old C-Max, worst car I ever owned for problems! We got rid of ours for a Toyota Corolla Verso as the extra seats come in handy though I would have been happy with a Skoda Roomster, acres of space inside, dirt cheap to pick up and cheap to run!
Our Cmax drives really nicely bonus of the 1.8 diesel engine is there is no DPF to worry about (unlike the 1.6 and 2.0) and the Egr can be easily blanked off if so desired.
I know the engine is based on a older design but its tried and tested and parts are relatively cheap if things do go wrong.
Citreon C4 Grand Picasso.
Very comfy and loads of space
Shopping for a new car for the Wife today. Dealer actively dissuaded us from the diesel model on the mileage thing. (6-9k annually). Looking at a Fiesta initially, but an eye on the Focus. Plus £500 for the Diesel engine. New Fiesta or yr old Focus, both with the 1.0 Engine. Not sure if 1.0 is enough to power a Focus though...
On the efficiency ticket, we have a diesel 2lt 4x4 ford kuga and a petrol bmw 1 series 116i. Both do between 35 and 50 mpg depending on journeys.
Thanks for all the advice, certainly a few things to think about