Currently drive a 07 Citroen Picasso on 60k miles. Runs well and has more than enough space for me, the mrs, 2 kids and a bike and a dog. It is spacious, easy to drive, unexciting and has piss handling.

I am using it most of the time to commute to work, 45 miles each way, pretty much all motorway and getting ~40mpg when I’m trying.

Money is tight just now so have nothing to spend other than what I could get for the Picasso(~£2.5k). Is there a better car out there for me that will save me spending so much on fuel all the time(almost £300/month to commute) and still fulfil the requirements of family and bike carrying?

Could you just not try as hard?
I’m the annoying bastard who does 60 in the slow lane and it saves me loads.

Keep it.

Much better to have a car you know well, and is reliable than swap it for a potential problem car just to save a few quid on fuel.

If you can find something that does 50mpg you’ll save £600 a year on fuel, 60mpg save £1200 a year on fuel. However that assumes equal insurance, tax and servicing cost. That seems a tall order if you want it to be as spacious and cost only £2.5k. Something like a diesel Mondeo might fit the bill, the Picasso’s height and shape is going to cost it efficiency at motorway speeds.

Could you just not try as hard?
I’m the annoying bastard who does 60 in the slow lane and it saves me loads

Have been trying really as less as I can suffer. Added 10 minutes to my commute by doing it at 60/65 over the last month and have got the mpg up from 35 to 41. 😕

Much better to have a car you know well, and is reliable than swap it for a potential problem car just to save a few quid on fuel.

This is the key point! I trust my 10 year old Honda more than I’d trust any new car.

Wont be much in the way of a saving on fuel + risk of buying a pup. Id stick with the boring mum wagon youve got and look for other ways to save. Alter driving style dump excess crap out of the back. Drive part way park and cycle the rest? Get fit ride your bike more and save a few pennies.

Much better to have a car you know well, and is reliable than swap it for a potential problem car just to save a few quid on fuel.

I did have these thoughts. I would have to go for something like a diesel estate from 10yrs ago and reliability might be an issue. Higher servicing costs could easily tip the balance against savings on economy.

Have you not seen the new picasso 650b brings the motorways to life.

the masses would appear to be leaning towards sticking with the devil I have/know. 😐 disappointing… as it confirms my belief hat this is the sensibler option. I think I want a change really and this is a good excuse and an easy sell to the other half.

Was looking around the internets a bit more and the replacement, if I went down that route, would be an Audi A4 Avant from around 2003, 1.9 diesel. Does anyone have one and can report on actual real world fuel economy?? On paper it says 60mpg which would make a big difference to me.

It might have the better fuel economy, but come service time it would wipe out the savings.

1.9tdi Avant , 55mpg ( at least) when I’m driving but I almost never exceed the speed limits and take and age to get close to them.

50mpg when my good lady drives it like a normal person which you will all be glad to know is 90% of the time.

It’s actually very difficult to get less than 50mpg, bikes hanging of it,roof box, boot full of wine, etc.

Have you not seen the new picasso 650b brings the motorways to life.

😆

It’s actually very difficult to get less than 50mpg, bikes hanging of it,roof box, boot full of wine, etc.

Cheers, as I pretty much sit at speed limit the whole commute apart from a couple of roundabouts I reckon I’d be looking at averaging over 50. Good to know.

Those 1.9 tdi engines are great but you won’t be looking at a low miler and there is the rub. Parts are not cheap and you could be buying someone else’ neglect. Expensive to run and cheap to buy means cut corners on maintenance are a real possibility.

You’d have to have a good look at mondeo TDCi. Value for money, 50mpg.
cheap to run.
And a pretty nice place to spend your commute.

Got a cheap 2004 golf tdi a few months ago.
The list of things it’s will need is growing as the weeks go on
Most are simple DIY task disc pads shocks etc
But think the dmf has started to rattle and that’s not cheap

500 mile welsh trip lay week inc some motorway and lost of twisty up down roads 50
Avg mpg and is a nice place to be in.
But if your is reliable I’d prob keep it
If I have to change the dmf that’s around £700

A4 1.9 tdi130 and a zafira cdti150 here. Audi does 50-55mpg without too much effort on my commute (which is 99.9% free flowing dual carriageway) I seldom go above 80. Mine has 200k on it, original exhaust, original clutch, original suspension. All its had us servicing and cambelts (air con compressor failed a few years back but I just left it) great car BUT……if I were to sell it, it would almost certainly be because it had something massively wrong with it! I expect a several hundred pound bill for clutch and flywheel sometime soon and all those original parts mentioned above won’t last forever. I guess what I’m saying is they make a great buy new or at 3yo but I’d be very wary of an old one. Its also not big enough for 2+2+dog+baggage+bikes. As a load lugger its frankly rubbish.

With the zafira (which I guess is comparable to your Picasso) its terrible on fuel at anything over 70, but will do 50mpg all day long with a roofbox and 350kg trailer. Maybe a service on yours and experiment at 60 – 70mph and see what that does?

Is the Citroen petrol or diesel, as if it’s petrol then any diesel needs to be 10% (give or take) better on mpg just to cover the increase in fuel costs, plus diesels cost more to service than petrols.

OP if you are looking to sell I’m looking to buy one of yours. Its FUGLY but I’m after something to take me up to the end of my current cars lease.

Keep it. Can you lose weight from the car, chuck out spare wheel etc? A re-map might be worth it as well….better the devil…

Get super-anal about economic driving –

– check tyre pressures every week – you lose something like 0,25mpg for every 1psi your tyres are under pressure – so if each tyre is 1psi under, that’s 1mpg.

– remove roof boxes, roof racks, rear mounted racks and any other extraneous outsde stuff when not in use.

– no hard acceleration – smooth and steady is the key. Use as high a gear as possible without making the engine labour.

– regular and meticulous servicing – if you can do it yourself, so much the better.

– switch your air con off if you have it.

I’m assuming that it’s a diseasel? If so, look at getting the DPF removed and also blanking off the EGR valve. I’ve just done this with my Volvo D5 and got 5mpg extra out of it without trying.

Alternatively, could you justify spending say, £1K on something small with a small engine just for commuting?

The other alternative to the Audi is that old classic, the Octavia.
Standard hatch has a huge amount of room in the back, estate is bigger.
1.9TDi is pretty much the same engine as the Audi and VW equivalent, and you’ll easily get 50-60mpg at your speeds.
Decent handling car, fantastically comfortable place for long trips, and you ought to get a pretty decent one for your budget.

Wont be much in the way of a saving on fuel + risk of buying a pup.

There’s also the risk of that Citroen becoming a money pit at any point, they are not one of the most reliable brands..!

60mpg is possible in a normal shape car, but I would look at your driving style in the car you have. 35mpg is shockingly bad, we just hired a C4 mpv job and it got about 46mpg over a tank which included plenty of mountainous country lanes in addition to motorway – and four adults and two kids in it.

Cruise control on at 70, keep it there. Changing speed, even very slowly, costs you fuel, and try to avoid braking. Read the road ahead and lift off slightly to avoid having to brake later.

Also next time it needs tyres, look at energy savers, my favourite being Nokian. All their tyres are energy saver, they are quiet, grip well, not any more expensive (for my car), gain 3-4mpg easily and most importantly last incredibly well, like all energy savers do. 50-60k miles on a set will save you a lot of money.

My old Mondeo ST TDCI never ever got below 50mpg no matter what I did with it. For a motorway cruiser, it was flippin brilliant. Far, far, far superior to the Octy vRS I have now but nowhere near as well built or as fun to drive.

If you have to do it, I’d go Mondeo. That said, an 07 Picasso… is that the new(ish) shape one? I’ve no idea on the prices of them but I’d have thought if it was anything other than the mk1 then it’d be worth a fair chunk more than £2500. Guessing thats a WBAC quote?!

Keep it and move closer.

Lol yeah moving house is so cheap, the ideal thing to do when you’ve got no money… 🙄

Most economical car is the one you own, if its runs right and causes no issues why shell out 2.5k on something unknown?

The Picasso is the old shape. Petrol, 1.6 16v. Valuation is based on similar models selling on the bay. Just checked WBAC and they would give me 2k for it. Can’t chuck anything out it, already have the middle rear seat in the garage and don’t carry around a load of junk. It doesn’t need new tyres atm. I will check the pressures more regularly to make sure all is well.

Never sat in the Mondeo TDCi but it sounds another option, or the Octavia. I realise I would be looking at high mileage and original parts wearing out but perhaps I can find one with high motorway mileage and fsh with regular oil changes and belt changed on schedule. It seems daft to be going to an older, higher mileage car but the Picasso is depreciating at a fair old rate which I don’t see happening with the Audi etc 😕

Went through similar soul searching – and pretty much every year when get car serviced. But – depreciation on the Saab 900 is nil, as in its worth exactly the same every year, i.e. £50 if I’m lucky, so I reckon if I was to get a second hand car I’d be starting on the depreciation curve again and buying an unknown..

So, way I look at it is I have a pot of cash that otherwise would be depreciation on another car, that I have to keep the 900 going nicely – 1996 and seems fine so far..

There is no cam belt on due the mondeo! The age you are looking at is chain driven 🙂

Mine is on 130k and hase been fab apart from dmf at 100k and a big (#1200) hit at last service due to brakes, crankshaft pulley, major service and a few other items. Up til then very few issues at all.

I get upper 40s mpg long term including a fair bit of urban and single carriageway a gy a road driving and grip rather than economy focussed tyres. Mine an estate.