So, just got a new job 😀 !
It requires me to commute between 55-70 miles a day exclusively on a motorway. Roughly 13-17,000 miles per year.

I’m really lost on what to get.
Ideally;
– Good for motorway journeys (happy to sit at 70mph).
– Very reliable
– 5 door
– Fit a couple bikes inside somehow.
– Not too big, so hatchback ideally.
– Budget of £7,500 (max).
– 2010+

My guess would be to get something diesel with 6 gears.
I’ve been looking at fiesta, Fabia estate, Golf, Focus, Auris & Ceed.

Any suggestions, links or pointers would be much appreciated!

Civic. I have a 2008 Civic CDTi and do 80 miles per day up and down the A68 and get about 48mpg on average. Diesel, 5 doors, 6 speed, reliable, small outside, TARDIS inside

Can fit a large Spitfire in without taking wheels off, and 3-4 bikes upright with wheels off.

When I was looking I looked at the Auris – dull inside but the T180 looked interesting, Golf too expensive for my budget, Fiesta too new and small, but economy good.

We have a Fabia estate 1.9tdi. It would do all you want. Have driven my mums newer smaller engined version too. Its a bit less grunty but a perfectly acceptable place to be. Two bikes wheels off in the boot would be fine with seats down I expect. Never really tried as I use roof bars.

.

Excellent. Thanks for the input. Looks like I’m looking at the right cars.
I’ll see if a civic fits into my budget too. I’ve been told that rear visibility and parking can be challenging..

The Honda Jazz has more internal space than the Civic and without the rear view issue, it isn’t a diesel, but a 1.4 petrol should give you 50mpg+ on that type of run.

Go smaller! Seat Mii, Skida citigo

Super low cost insurance, MPG 65+ on petrol, unusually comfortable seats

0 % finance

Bikes on roof or back

Civic

Civis are looking quiet expensive and out of my budget.
I can only find high mileage examples within budget (80,000+).

I’ve found a couple Fiesta Zetec 1.6 TDCIs locally.
> 5 door, 2011, 45k for £6,500. Not the biggest car but I figure it should work. Cheap parts too. Any horror stories about the 1.6?

Civic or jazz. We commute 60miles a day in a 2007 1.2 jazz. A 1.4 would be ideal but great cars.

Or spend less and get an old accord and run it till it dies then get another.

Jazz is looking like the winner at the moment.
They come with lots of kit and have lots of space.
The 1.4 manual should return around 50mpg on the motorway.
Will test drive one shortly.

Go bigger ! A big car really does make for a nicer place to be on a motorway.

Passat or Mondeo every time. Will get over 50mpg, much quieter comfy places to be than a smaller car.

No personal experience, but Jazz gets bad reviews for motorway driving as under powered and not refined.

anagallis_arvensis – Member

Two bikes wheels off in the boot would be fine with seats down I expect.

It takes good packaging but yep. The boot in the fabia defies my understanding of spacial geometry, everything needs to be packed in like you’re building a dry stone wall, but the tradeoff is that you can pack everything.

He did mention it being the fabia estate which has a decent boot for the size of car.

Take advantage of the fact njee is looking for something with isofix and…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-ot-vw-golf-20-gt-tdi-sport-170

or more upmarket:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bmw-330d-e91-3-series-touring-m-sport

Thanks for all the input.
I’ve just spotted the Nissan Note.. seems better value for money than any of the other cars. I may need to test drive one of these too.

I did that type of commute for a while.

I had a Golf Tdi, 105hp the old 1.9.

I wouldn’t have wanted anything smaller because when its persisting down, pitch black and blowing a gale it’s not going to get blown all over the show. It is big enough to provide a good enough level of comfort for an hour twice a day and it meets your load lugging needs.

I am NOT saying specially by a golf but if you want a cruiser going smaller is not going to cut it imo.

Bigger will ease the pain further BUT the extra weight and size can result in higher costs (fuel, tyres and brakes will typically cost more ime).

I am currently doing 20000 a year and my decade old mondeo is comfier than my golf (which was a brand new mk5 when I had it) but similar sized tyres have 2/3 of the life expectancy and I would say the same on brake wear . Domestic needs dictated a bigger car a few years back otherwise I would probably still be at Golf/Focus/Astra/Civic size.

This is what a Mercedes E class is for. Big bargy, comfy, and built for the job.

I recently changed jobs and had the same problem. My Merc gets around 40 when I drive it very gently but averaged about 35. Looked at Electric and was keen on the Nissan Leaf after a test drive. Good as they are the range is nowhere near enough.
You could go smaller and smaller but at the end of the day you will spend a couple of hours in it each day so it would drive me mad if it was bland, small and noisy just to save a £ each way!
I went for an Alfa Mito 1.3JTM. 60+ without trying and all the toys. Had Alfa’s before and love the styling so quite happy with the choice.

I’ve just spotted the Nissan Note.

We have these at work. Don’t bother 😆 I quite liked the old Note (it was a little bit quirky), but the new one is a horrid thing to be in and drive.

I was in this situation two years ago and in the supermini category the two best choices for me were the current shape fiesta, pre facelift, and the Fabia.

The fiesta drives better but is smaller. You can get two bikes in the back both wheels off and two people’s holiday stuff for a week. We had one as a hire car and I thought I wouldn’t like it having driven the older fiesta but it was great. However the cabin is a bit cluttered and it was more expensive to insure. It was also thirstier.

We got the Fabia in the end, and like it so much we are buying a second. It is definitely not the last word in driving dynamics but it is the biggest thing in the category so you can fit in a lot of stuff including bikes, although I use a towbar rack. I did about 25,000 miles in The first year I had it and it did 65-70mpg very happily on the motorway, sometimes 80 on a long run. I have the mid spec 1.6tdi and it is very reliable. The estates don’t look great but are more cavernous.

The estates don’t look great but are more cavernous.

No, they are bloody ugly but ours does its job well.

I never thought picking a car would be this difficult.
Thanks for all the big car suggestions, but I’m not looking for anything big.

So far then;
> Honda Jazz- lots of space, good spec but only available in petrol
> Nissan Note- Good diesel engine, very good spec but hideous and questionable quality
> Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCI Zetec- Good engine, cheap to run but fairly small and expensive
> Skoda Fabia 1.6 tdi (estate or hatchback)- huge space, good engine but parts and servicing more expensive

I’m not going to look at German cars. As much as I love them I don’t want to pay a premium for the name.

I find it interesting that all these 1.5+ diesels only have 5 gears.

My o/h has a 60 plate Note (n-tec version, so has nice creature comforts such as sat nav, Bluetooth, MP3 etc) from new and it’s a cracking car, well built, utterly reliable with no problems what so ever. It has a good spec and very comfy, with really good space inside; pretty versatile. The mean rear seats can slide forward or back ( like the front seats would ) to give more or less space in the boot. Cracking car. Hers is the 1.4 petrol so doesn’t meet your needs but the car itself is a cracker if you can find a diesel one.

The 1.4 petrol does have 5 gears though!

I myself have a new shape 3 door fiesta ( petrol ) and can get a bike in with both wheels off. Never needed to put more than one in so far,

I’d personally suggest a diesel note.

Having had 2 nissans recently their quality was well deserved 8+ years ago but now has faded and is at best mediocre now + the main dealer customer service is abysmal (actually dishonest)

sometimes 80 on a long run

Really? How did you measure this? The claimed is only 80 and the “real world” figures are significantly lower than this. Which engine?
My Mito returns around 62 consistently on motorway runs and higher around town (needs a 6th gear) Which is much less than the claimed which is always the case.

Surfer, I had to keep fuel receipts so compared them to the readout on the dash. This isn’t a regular occurence, it’s happened maybe 8 times in two years on runs from Leeds to Retford, Sheffield to Gloucester etc. Generally a 35 mile drive on the motorway with about 10 miles on normal roads before will get 70 without much effort.

I do that sort of mileage, and you need either a diesel or an LPG converted mid to large size car with comfy seats. Ie, a Golf, 3 series, Mondeo etc. An automatic will help with the drive too but obviously some are better than others.

You’d be tapped to try and do 70 miles a day in a city car. I hired a Citigo the other week, they’re hugely affected by crosswinds compared to a large car and you need to change down for hills. That’s before you get to the kit you’re missing – proper seats with plenty of adjustment, xenon lights, Cruise etc.

My advice is to do a spreadsheet to calculate fuel costs over a year for everything you’re looking at buying. You will be spending 2-3k a year on fuel and at least 2 hours a day in the car, and you need to work out a decent compromise between the two.

I’d question the need for diesel (as a current diesel owner doing around 20k a year), but I’d fully support bigger is better on motorways.

I’ve done a 20k per year in a 90’s Civic, a 2006 Fiesta, a 2001 Focus, a 2008 Mondeo, a 2009 Jag XF, and now a 64 Merc C-class. The latter three cars have been much nicer places to be for long motorway drives.

Petrol/diesel in a reasonable modern car that isn’t over the top on power… up to about 15k per year there isn’t much in it unless you’ve got a lead foot.

Personally, a largeish car, a big lazy engine, an auto, and decent soundproofing are my top criteria for a motorway commute. It needs to be a comfortable place to be.

Another vote for the Fabia.

It’s a complete Tardis, albeit an ugly one. I can get my Banshee Prime – which is a big old 29’er – in my estate without taking the wheels off.

I’ve got a 2009 1.4tdi. With hindsight I’d probably have gone for the 1.9tdi as my ex’s Golf with that engine gets the same economy (55mpg all day long), but has more grunt. Don’t know about the current Fabia engines, though.

Let us know what you get!

Little update- I bought a little 3 door mk6 Fiesta Zetec TDCI. I got it for an absolute bargain and about half the price of the equivalent Fabia. It’s roughly 25% cheaper on parts and servicing than VAG too. It’s much bigger inside than I thought and swallows up two bikes and kit comfortably. Currently it returns 64mpg sitting on the motorway.

ignore.

Go small and you will regret it after a while. Focus or bigger defo diesel. I would go for a 2.0L TDCI Mondeo with soft suspension. As a mile muncher they are very very good.

Nice cars, keep on top of the oil changes and be prepared to replace a turbo and oil feed pipe at some stage in its future and you won’t go wrong. My daughters run Peugeots and a Cmax with the same engine and they’ve been brilliant.

E class, thats what they are for!

Ideally;
– Good for motorway journeys (happy to sit at 70mph).
– Very reliable
– 5 door
– Fit a couple bikes inside somehow.
– Not too big, so hatchback ideally.
– Budget of £7,500 (max).
– 2010+

😀

I was in a similar commuting position about 18 months ago and spent £1300 on a BMW 320td. Much nicer to drive than a city car / small hatchback and does 50-55mpg. If you work out the fuel cost in pence per mile it’s a rapidly diminishing return as you go to higher and higher mpgs. Unless you do mega miles the difference between (say) 60 & 70 mpg is tiny compared to compromising on a small, uncomforable car. (not saying the Fiesta is uncomfortable, but some of the other suggestions were not appealing for communting!)

Well, It didn’t tick all boxes but then at less than a third of the cost you can’t complain. For what it’s worth, I find it more comfortable than my GFs ’13 Polo which surprised me.

It’s a nice looking motor that. Well done 🙂

Not really a car for doing the sort of distances you mention.

I bet it will cost more to run than a 2.0 diesel mondeo, and won’t be half as comfy or relaxed and safe

… But it’s what you like 🙂

Well, It didn’t tick all boxes but then at less than a third of the cost you can’t complain. For what it’s worth, I find it more comfortable than my GFs ’13 Polo which surprised me.

I’ll give it 3 months and you’ll be looking for a bigger car…