so for very complicated reasons I am looking at getting a new car.
Its via my parents (bless them I am not ungrateful!), and they (for reasons of their own) have very tight criteria:
it must cost £6k no more
it must be newish ie have at least 24 months warranty
as far as i can think this leaves me with the option of the tiny town cars, the aygo, 107, c1 etc
they seem to be all about £6K, BUT will they handle a 400 mile per week commute for the next 3 years?
or are their higher powered alternatives that might be better suited for this kind of money?
interesting dilema, a bit of a parent classic that. 😆
Could you not do something like a 2 year old civic and purchase a warranty upgrade?
Much, MUCH more practical car, reliable (I think?), and you can actually drive it without being blown off the road by the first arctic that passes?
Kev
I've had a Citroen C1 hire car before. 10 miles was enough for one sitting.
Something like a 2 yr old Hyundai i30?
Yes
A colleague of mine drives his about 120 miles a day and finds it fine.
Pokey enough to keep up on the motorway, frugal enough not to hurt so much.
Mad bar-steward has been looking into LPGing it as well.
Focus from a dealer, with a decent warranty?? More room for the bikes 😉
Parents bought a Fiat Punto, apart from having no main beam reflectors (wtf?) which wasn't picked up untill the first MOT it's been fine. Was only about £6k and a year old.
1.2, economical, very spacious for the money, pokey enough for even my mum to do 90 on the motorway, and motorways scare her! More road noise than other cars though, but that's just Fiats apparently.
it would survive the commute, but it'd be a horrible place for 100 miles a day.
I'd be looking at something like this
completely compitent, its a year older than you wanted, but the £400 will cover a year's warranty. Will be a much much nicer place to spend your time
WOW, thisisnotaspoon didn't recommend an MG ****ing midget!
For me it'd be fairly uncomfortable to be honest.
The next stage up of car size would be MUCH better - ie Fiesta etc. Should still be possible and still be new-ish.
Although I dunno about this obsession some people have with warranty. My parents just spend ten grand on a 1 year old car for this reason - if they had bought a 3 year old one and put the money they'd saved in the bank, they'd have had enough to cover just about the most drastic of faults; the money would last indefinitely not just two years and chances are they wouldn't need it anyway.
They now have a plain but nearly new car, when they could've had a much better but slightly older car. In 6 years time they'll have a plain old car instead of a nice old car, for the same money.
We bought a 3 year old Ford Focus Zetec estate for £5995, with 16,200 miles on the clock.....
Uttery immaculate, as in like new. Except £10,000 cheaper. 🙂
Renault Twingo? or a few others to consider here:
[url= http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/%28S%28rpjkck55ip0ygx55l0lyq155%29%29/Search/GroupResults.aspx?make=&model=&type=0&maxprice=6000 ]<£6k at Motorpoint[/url]
I bought a 106 1.5D a number of years ago and it ticked all that criteria, ran it for 3 years doing 80 mile commute.
Honda Jazz? might be worth a look
Ford Focus as mentioned
Diesel Ford Fusion.
I'd get a newer Hyundai with a 5yr warranry, they have come along leaps and bounds in recent years and may even possibly 'do a skoda'...
I've been running a Peugeot 207 1.6 diesel 100 miles a day for the last few months. Surprisingly comfy and un-tiring for the size of car.
Average about 57 mpg without trying to be particularly frugal. Bought for just over 7k. About to change jobs so might get rid of it.
WOW, thisisnotaspoon didn't recommend an MG ****ing midget!
it must be newish ie have at least 24 months warranty
I once phoned warentydirect.co.uk whilst bored, they kept asking "Is that a Rover then?"
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pff aygo will be fine! mum has one and we drove four of us plus luggage down from birmingham to portsmouth and got the ferry over to guernsey and back. its a bit noisey and the gearbox is a bit vague, but you get a spanking new car for 6k! speedy enough for the motorway yet uber fuel effiencient. ignore the snobs and buy one.
I would negotiate with the parents, tell them to give you £4,500, let you buy a car a year or two older that is larger such as an Astra (not a Focus as they are relatively desirable/expensive) which will be more confortable, safer and better equipped. It could also be easier to sell later as a supermini with 80,000 miles will be less sellable than a medium sized car where 80,000 is average.
You can then tell the parents to stick the spare £1500 in a savings account, then in 24 months when your excellent choice of car is still running sweet, they can go and enjoy the cash themselves or give it to you as a reward for not buying a lemon 🙂 (plus, many aftermarket car warranties are not worth the paper they are written on. Mine was void before I walked out of the dealership as the second service had been done a tad over 10% late (i.e. service due at 10,000, records show it was done at 11,200) and didn't cover stuff like "any electrical issues".
My gf does a 60 mile round commute and she has recently commented that the seats in our Ford Fusion are a bit hard. (Not surprising as we had the luxury of a Mondeo TDCi a year ago, lovely car. In the months between the Fusion and the Mondeo we had a Punto and both hated the thing with a passion. If you do look at a Focus, the equivalent Mondeo is usually the same sort of price but comes with loads more toys)
but you get a spanking new car for 6k!
It's only spanking new for a few months. It'll be an uncomfortable spartan tinny box for its entire life. A Ibiza will be a nice comfy small car for its entire life.
For 5k you could buy a fiat panda 100hp, great fun, very highly rater and cheap to run.
It's only spanking new for a few months. It'll be an uncomfortable spartan tinny box for its entire life. A Ibiza will be a nice comfy small car for its entire life
it wouldn't even be spanking then. cheapest aygo is £7,500
the panda 100bhp is highly rated, but its got *very* stiff suspension and every review seems to complain about its ride quality. Good car, yes, good car for these needs, no.
Space and mass are your safety friends. Aygo has bugger all crumple space, if a collision occurs on a M/Way, you will take 2nd prize from everything except motorbikes. Better off spending £6K on a slightly older but bigger, safer car. Buy something Korean with a very long warranty, reliability and zero sex appeal, to keep the price down.
For £6k you will get an 18month old VW Polo.
I used to be quite happy commuting and doing regular 550 mile round trips to Scotland in a 1.0 Micra and then a 1.5 diesel Corsa. Both were getting on a bit but modern ones are much better soundproofed and I was pleasantly surprised at how good a new Corsa was on a recent 80 mile journey.
Having said that, a 400 mile weekly commute is quite a lot and I would definitely be thinking as ^^ that a car of Astra+ size with an economical (diesel?) engine would make life much more comfortable and be better from the resale point of view.
The car that 5lab has linked to looks spot on.
Not a Focus.
Took a peugeot 107 out this morning it was surprisingly nippy tbh.
£6k, and it sits at 70 perfectly well, 60mpg should be doable , car tax £20, insurance £350
But its quite comfy too!
Im only 5,5 so the size isnt an issue either.
Its looking more appealing....
Honda jazz.. reliable and will also be able to lob stuff in the back like a bike
Kia picanto??
I have a 2008 Fiesta (one before the new shape, cracking on a long journey, easy to park big enough to put 2 mountain bikes in/weeks shopping/ 5 in a car/ etc, does about 50-60mpg on a run, and revvy enough to have some fun on a track day!
does me for my inter-county escapades
space and mass are your safety friends
No, mass is a liability because you have more kinetic energy to dissipate or move by swerving.
However I agree a car as small as an Aygo would not have much zone to crumple, but I expect a strong cage would be enough and you'd end up pinged out of the way in a collision. One of those things that might save your neck if you were simply pinged across the road, or could kill you if you were pinged into more traffic or some trees etc.
I have one, bought new and 1 year old with 16,000 miles on the clock. I drive it 60+ miles a day and it's a pleasure. Fill it up once a week, good for 50mpg even at 80 mph and you would be very surprised at how nippy it is. You need to use the revs but it surprises many a car off the lights. handles like a go cart and with the front seat folded flat fit is a medium mondraker Summum (Long, Long bike) with the front wheel removed.
Cons: A little noisy but what do you expect for a car that weighs as much as a matchbox?
Go for it, cheap, eco friendly motoring.
If you are anywhere near Gloucestershire you are more than welcome to come and see it, I'll even take you for a spin so you can judge for yourself.
I had one for a week a couple of years ago whilst my car was being repaired. It was required for a 120 mile per day commute. A good car, but not suited to long commutes at motorway speeds. It felt unstable in cross winds and passing lorries, probably due to an absence of mass.
For all other duties, it was an excellent car, but I'd look for something older and larger for what you are asking of a car.
As an aside, now I'm not commuting 120 miles/day, it's top of the list for a runabout when my lease expires...
We have an Aygo as a second car. bought it last year. reminds me of a motorbike every time I drive it - lots of fun.