What car should I get next ?

[natalie1974]

Hi , I currently own a Suzuki Wagon 1.3L auto and the fuel consumption is beyond silly now . It costs me over £20 a day just to do my 130 mile a day school run and I only go 55-60 mph on the motorway !

So I am looking at getting a new car , something along the lines of Renault Scenic , Citroen Picasso or Vauxhall Zafira . I am thinking of diesel because of the mileage I do . I want to be high up , like I am now . So what would you recommend for the best fuel consumption and reliability etc ? I also need to factor in that it would have to be very low mileage as I have to change cars every 2 years max as I do 50,000 miles in that time so thinking of re-sell value . I have approx £5K to spend , again I don't want to spend loads because of the excessive mileage I do .

Any feedback would be welcome , thanks .

[balsingh]

The Picasso will be the cheapest to buy and will have an excellent Hdi engine but I know people who have had them had electrical issues.

The Scenic has Renaults excellent safety record on its side and also an excellent Dci engine but tends to cost more.

The Zafira is an excellent sporty drive but probably not as economical as the others.

Take a look at www.parkers.co.uk (http://www.parkers.co.uk) for runnign costs and owner reviews.

[anewman]

I'd have thought the Wagon R 1.3 would be quite good on the petrol, especially at 60mph. But I guess the auto box will help increase the petrol consumption. Has it been regularly serviced? £20 for 130 miles? You should be getting *much* better than that from your current car. I'd get the car serviced if it hasn't been done. Based on your mileage a service would be needed approx every 5 months with most cars.

On a practical note, thought of moving closer to the schools or going to different schools? As an outsider a 65 mile journey to school seems way over the top and a bit insane, but then again I guess I was lucky to have a school bus or live in walking distance when I lived in the countryside, and to later live in an inner city area and be in walking distance. £4000+ to take the kids to school and all the time and effort is definitely worth saving. Times that by the number of years in school there's possibly over £44,000 to be saved. That's excluding car servicing, tyres, insurance, and inflation etc.

Also there's nothing to say you have to buy a low mileage car or change it every 2 years due to high mileage. So long as it is serviced to MFR's specs most cars will be fine. Choose the right car and it will go up the clock to over 200,000 miles with ease.

[natalie1974]

Basically DD1 goes to a private school , I used to live down that way so school run was a lot less . You would think with what I spend on fuel and then school fees (£400 a month) OH would move but he won't move as it is handy for his work ! :mad:

OH is actually a mechanic and looks over the car every 4 weeks and apart from normal things like oil and air filter and plugs etc nothing else has needed to be done , oh tyres have been changed .

[netlang]

"It costs me over £20 a day just to do my 130 mile a day school run and I only go 55-60 mph on the motorway !"

This is around 31/32mpg I think I would get a service and tune up if you are otherwise happy with the car. I get about the same mpg running around locally in a 2.0 petrol CRV auto. Traffic is a killer on MPG

Here is an extract from a Whatcar review

The later 1.3 model will cost you more because it's a newer car, but an average fuel economy figure of 46.3mpg is competitive, and an insurance grouping of 3 makes it cheaper to cover than the 1.2.

[anewman]

It seems the car gets all the servicing it needs. The problem could be a sensor, for example exhaust oxygen sensor, temperature sensor. Could be the thermostat stuck open (this would be noticeable with blowers tending to be cool and in the temp gauge on the dash).

[natalie1974]

No , all the gauges seems to work ok , fan cuts in when it goes above the 1/2 way mark on the temp gauge and blowers are hot hot and cold cold if you get my gist :cool:

I have seen a nice Citroen Picasso 2.0 HDI SX , 03 plate , 44k on the clock , 2 owners , FSH for £3995 . What do you reckon on the price ?