[Closed] 12,000 miles in 3 months, and don't want to do it in my car, which one though?

fiesta diesel, age to suit budget.

what does cheap mean? give us a clue?

2.5k would get you a diesel clio. I like them. 70+mpg.

Reliant Robin... cheep cheep 🙂

Mondeo estate (diesel) any age less than 100K on the clock will be about all you can get I reckon taking into account a+b
205 diesel might be a good bet - as might a 405
Golfs will probably be out of budget or more hastle than they are worth.

55mpg is a limiting factor too - really means you'll struggle as most cheap weasels will have starship mileage by then

I'd think about ditiching the mpg constraint or shifting the budget.
For what its worth I used to get 42 mpg from my old 1.8 cavalier (an 86 car) driving with a feather light right foot at 70 on the motorway and about 36 out of an old 2 litre volvo 740 estate with 200K on the clock

2.5k would get you a diesel 5 series with cruise control in good condition on about a T plate

306 Hdi, or if you want super cheap a 205 1.8d easily do 60+MPG

polo, ibiza or fabia sdi - slow as anything but v. high mpg

Thats a good call - should find a 98 polo diesel about somewhere that should go on for ever although bits of trim will fall of left right and centre

Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDI. The 2003-2008 ish ones are the best of that category IIRC.

Cheers for the tips, I'm not looking to get anythign big like the 5 series, just something cheep that'll do the mileage for 3-4months and then probably get sold after the year when the tax/insurance has run out.

You can get a lowish mileage Mondeo 2.0tdci 130bhp with cruise/climate 50k ish miles for £2.5k ish.

I bought one purely for the purpose of doing a stupid long commute. Swallows bikes 50mpg at 80+ mph with the cruise on.

If your doing lots of motorway miles you wont get a much more relaxing car to be in for the money.

Having done that drive for about the same period - the two advantages of a big car rather than a budget small car are that the engine will be much less stressed and they stand a chance of having cruise control.
The Cruise control was always worth its weight in gold.

The plus side to that drive though was always breakfast at Westmoreland services !

at that sort of money, you'll be wanting a late 90s diesel repmobile. The mondeo of that age is VERY robust, but has an old-tech engine that won't get more than 45mpg in normal use. The equivilent Vectra is less good dynamically, and slightly smaller in estate guise, but has a far more modern engine, which is nicer to use and has better mpg.

The mondeo isn't available with Cruise Control - I fitted an aftermarket kit to mine

I'd reccomend picking up something with just enough MOT to get you through, then scrapping it afterwards. alternatively, if you're willing to spend £1000 for purchase and insurance for 100 days, have you looked at a longer-term rental from avis et al? 12k at 40mpg would be £1800. 65 mpg is around £700 less - might well be worth investing more up front to offset costs of fuel - it'd also be a nicer place to sit, and sure to not let you down in the mean time

advantages of a big car rather than a budget small car are that the engine will be much less stressed

Not necessarily. A small car with diesel will be geared similar to any other ime since the engines are often the same. You get the same 1.9 TDi 105bhp in small VAGs as you do in larger ones.

My Ibiza cruised at 70 at a smidge over 2krpm. One of the reasons I liked it so much 🙂

The mondeo isn't available with Cruise Control - I fitted an aftermarket kit to mine

Ford are tight as hell with options, very few Fords around with cruise ime since it only comes on the top spec car with leather etc.

Why do you need to commute each week?

Budget Cruise control is always an option however as employed by a mate (it involves a specially crafted House Brick).

IMHO you don't have to spend much more than 1K to get something that stands a chance of having some value in it when you come to sell it but don't buy from a dealer at that price - in my experience post office windows etc are the best places to buy for that sort of price

Ford are tight as hell with options, very few Fords around with cruise ime since it only comes on the top spec car with leather etc.

maybe so (however fitting cruise yourself from scrappy parts is normally quite straight forwards) - however in this case it was because the TDDI engine didn't have an ECU (it started life in '81) and they couldn't be bothered to re-engineer cruise for such a small market (the engine was crap - so very few ghia\ghia x were sold with it)

Early mk3 mondeos were also available with this engine - I've no idea if cruise was available in them. My guess would be no.

Why do you need to commute each week?

Because I like sex with the missus?

Seat Cordoba / mk3 Polo TDi.

Mine does 65+ mpg @ 65pmh on the motorways.

Eh ? Mondeo's are pretty good with specs. I just looked on autotrader and there are plenty of 54 plate + models LX or above that have cruise as standard. The TDCI engine is also smoother and quiter than my wifes 59 plate VAG.

Is the budget not £2.5k?

Personally I would prefer to be in a bigger car with more metal around me. Having test driven a new Ibiza lately they are not half as refined on a motorway as the Mondeo which cruises at 2000 revs at 75mph.

Night and day difference between late Mk2 and early Mk3 Mondeo diesels. Had/have both; comfort, ride, handling, refinement and any other benchmark you care to name, the Mk3 wins hands down.

MK2 on an S with the 89hp Endura engine, only got 37.7mpg over the 10k miles I had it (100 miles motorway commute each day) Worst car I ever owned.
Mk3 on a Y with the 115hp Duratorq engine, so far 43.71mpg over the 48k miles I’ve had it. Same commute.
Estates by the way.

I’d go for an early B5 Passat, 110hp if you can find one. Better than both the above on economy although service parts are generally more expensive. If the cam belt’s been changed don’t worry about mileage, sold mine with 175k, friend has a 20v with over 230K on it.

Thought the budget was 1K or a+b in the original post which of course equals "cheep cheep - like the budgie"

Well I could be tempted to increace the budget, f the car was still going to be worth something in 6-12 months, the attraction of cheap cars was that if the DMF/cambelt/injectors went to the parts bin in the sky somwhere north of sheffield I could just scrap it, get ~£300 back, and start again.

Right - dunno about Mondeos, but one reason I didn't get a Focus was exactly that, I couldn't have cruise without everything else.

My Ibiza did 57mpg in summer doing 80mph everywhere.

Ah I thought some one said above budget was £2.5k, Im talking trollocks then 🙂

Just for info Mk3 tdci Mondeos are chain driven so no nasty cam belt failures or service costs (not to say chains cant go!)

Duc - Member
Having done that drive for about the same period - the two advantages of a big car rather than a budget small car are that the engine will be much less stressed and they stand a chance of having cruise control.

That's just not true...as molgrips mentioned the 1.9TDi in many VAG models is used in small and large cars and various states of tune.
The 130 in my Ibiza sits at 1800rpm in 6th and it's not pulling around any extra bulk (like it would in a Golf or Passat).

As suggested I'd look at either Polo/Ibiza/Fabia diesel with the 1.9TDi.
The 100 bhp one in the Ibiza is plenty quick enough and you should see very good mpg. I went for the 130 and get 55mpg as a matter of course. Recently I've been driving a bit more carefully and am nearer 60mpg+.
This is the best I've had in mine, recently:

[IMG] [/IMG]

(That's 68.9mpg if it's not too clear) - and yes I shouldn't believe the trip computer because it tells terrible lies, but even if it's 5% out, that'll still be 64mpg.

Have you thought about hiring? Don't know about the big boys but our local guy does weekly rates around £110 on a new Fiesta so you wouldn't be worried about service, tyre and insurance costs on top of that. If you're committing to longer period you ought to get a good rate.

Is that actually accurate though stumpy01?

My old focus said it was doing 60mpg, but if you measured the amount of fuel you put in and the miles covered it was actually 50mpg.

edit: just read the last sentence of your post. My trip computer was a bit more than 5% out. More like 15-20%

Rover 75 CDTI. Cheap, economical on the motorway and nobody in their right mind would nick it.

People seem to be failing to spot the fact that you won't get a VAG car that has a PD or later series diesel engine for under a grand inlcuding insurance.
Having had a quick mooch on Autotrader I think its probably diesel 306/307 or maybe a 106 as the safest bet to come in under the intiial constraints.
there are a few things the French now how to do very well and one of them is build a slow but bomb proof diesel engine.
Like all things mechanical if an idiot owns it then it will always get broken but thats why you're better off buying privately at this price.

glenh - Member
Is that actually accurate though stumpy01?

My old focus said it was doing 60mpg, but if you measured the amount of fuel you put in and the miles covered it was actually 50mpg.

edit: just read the last sentence of your post. My trip computer was a bit more than 5% out. More like 15-20%

Being the geek that I am, I record my fuel economy, as an actual value. I started it as a curiosity and now it seems stupid to stop. It's like some kind of 'train-spotter' data gathering exercise.
Anyway, I used to also note down claimed mileage to compare it to actual mileage. Generally, it was 2-4% out, once it was 8% out and I am not sure why. Even 10% out would have been 62mpg - not bad for an (almost) 8yr old car with 152k miles on the clock.

Really cheap? An old Peugeot 405D / TD - no more than about 50mpg from that though, or perhaps a Focus MkI TD (might get 55 from this). Easily get a good one of these for less than £1k.

All down to condition - don't buy stupidly cheap or you'll end up with repair bills, which make your ecomony mission rather pointless.

Having just spent the last three weeks lookin for a new car and finally getting one what I can say is there are very few cars for sale at the moment !

Duc - Member
People seem to be failing to spot the fact that you won't get a VAG car that has a PD or later series diesel engine for under a grand inlcuding insurance.

oh yeah........

Erm, it ain't pretty and insurance will probably broach the £1k barrier, but this is <£1k......
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201106379523436/sort/priceasc/usedcars/fuel-type/diesel/price-to/1000/model/ibiza/make/seat/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/pe68la?logcode=p

Because I like sex with the missus?

I take it she can't travel then.

Why do you need to commute each week?

Because I like sex with the missus?

save the cash, and have sex with someone else's missus

Rover 75 CDTI. Cheap, economical on the motorway and nobody in their right mind would [s]nick[/s] own it.

Slight correction for you there 🙂

Both valid options, but..........

Would you choose teesside/middlesbrough as a destination for a weekend away?

or

Would you realy? In Teesside? Better keep the dissinfectant to hand!

You'd better hope your missus never logs on here ! 😀

hope not, she'd kill me if she saw how much I spend on the classifiedes!