£5000 cars any good for motorway driving?

bethsdad

I have an old fiesta diesel, which I am thinking of scrapping to get a new car. I have seen advertised several cars for around the £5000 mark - eg Hyundai i10, VW Fox, Suzuki Alto etc.

I use the car for a 35 mile round trip 5 days a week, mostly up and down the motorway. Do you think these cars would be up for the job, or would I need a more powerful one? I'm mostly travelling at quite busy times, so it is rare that I get up to 70mph, although not unheard of.

All the above cars are quite small engine sizes. Does this matter?

I like the sound of the Hyundai because it comes with air-con and 5 years unlimited mileage warranty, but is it up to the job on the motorway?

maninthestreet

What is the BHP of the Fiesta Diesel you currently have?

Pee

I have a V reg Vauxhall Vectra. 1.8. It loves the motorway.. and very hard to keep below 70mph. (£850)

My previous cars, 1.6 Nissan Primera - £700 - Vauxhall Cavalier 1.9 diesel, I think £900 Ford Sierra 2l £500 and Ford Granada 2.4 £250 but quite substantial petrol bills all loved motorways, although the 1.1 Fiesta I started with (I thought £8,000 - ish?) was rubbish on the motorway, to the point that I was going so slowly it was a hazard to others.

That said you aren't actually travelling very far on a motorway, and I was a fairly new driver driving the fiesta.

bethsdad

Fiesta is 60bph (assuming that cars of similar age / spec on Autotrader will be the same bph)

It has good points and bad points - I like that fact that it is pretty economical to drive and so far (touch wood) I haven't had many problems with it. However, on the motorway it can be a bit of a bumpy ride, and it isn't all that comfortable to drive. It has no mod cons (no air con, power steering, electric windows, central locking), and it is a bit like driving a tank. It's also quite old, and I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before it packs up.

AdrianHi

bethsdad wrote: »

on the motorway it can be a bit of a bumpy ride,

Short wheel base does that, going to another small car will not solve the problem. None of these £5K small city cars with often 3 cylinder engines are going to give you much motorway refinement.

Someone mentioned a Nissan Primera. I used to have one of these. Awesome car to drive, very composed on the motorway and reliable. I'd be tempted by something like that for £1K-£2K.

Take one of those Hyundais for a good hour test drive including your usual motorway route so that you know for sure though.