Economic diesel needed for 6 months - any ideas?

davenpearsall

I'm going to be commuting down to Oxford from Birmingham for 6 months and need to get rid of my clio.

1. It's given me nothing but grief.
2. It gives me 40-45mpg on the motorway whereas I can get up to 75mpg (according to the stats for the cars on autotrader).

I expect to get £3500-£4000 for the clio and cant afford to pay anything more than what I will get.

I've been look at Fiat Puntos 1.3 multi-jets. These seem to give good mpgs. However I've never had a Fiat before and the punto diesels are few and far between. I seem to be able to afford around a 03-04 plate.

I've done similar searches on the trader and have come across 05-06 fiestas and focus'. The fiestas say they give up to 75mpg but I can't really believe that with a ford. The focus' are obviously less mpg but I know are popular and motorway work horses. These ford however have mileages close to or over 100k which frightens me a bit.

People have told me that modern diesels though will go on forever and shouldn't be put off by a too high mileage.

Has anyone got any of these cars or have any suggests on other makes/models. Should I stay above a certain age or below a certain mileage?

I just need something for a real short time that isn't going to give me any grief. It will be gone in January 2011 as I'm out of the country for another 6 months.

Any advise appreciated.

Kilty_2

Just buy whatever you can find that's diesel for < £1000 that has at least 6 months MOT. Absolutely no point in wasting £3500 to £4000 on a car you'd certainly lose money on when you sell it in 6 months time.

You can usually find something a lot more comfortable than a Punto for banger money too.

Alternatively - call the big hire companies (Avis, Hertz, Europcar etc) and see what kind of money they can get you a 6 month hire for.

davenpearsall

Thanks for the info.

The problem I have with getting a car for <1000 is that it is likely to be older and have more that could potentially go wrong with it.

Reliability and good MPG are essential. MPGs tend to come from the smaller city cars with the 1.0-1.4 diesel engines.

MX5huggy

Is comfort a factor you will be spending 3 hours a day behind the wheel.

Your looking at 16800 miles, 420(Gallons of petrol (at 40mpg)) or 280(Gallons of Diesel at 60mpg). Or £2293 vs £1528 (at £1.20 per litre).

I bet you have fixed the Clio now and its not worth changing for a £800 pound saving.]

How much is a season ticket on the train?

LeeSouthEast

My 2003 Focus TDCi gets 65mpg on decent runs.

aqueoushumour01

is your clio a diesel? maybe the thermostat needs replacing

Kilty_2

davenpearsall wrote: »

Reliability and good MPG are essential. MPGs tend to come from the smaller city cars with the 1.0-1.4 diesel engines.

And using smaller city cars with the 1.0-1.4 diesel engines for high mileage no doubt causes reliability issues

Oh and then there's the comfort issue :eek:

High MPG is possible from bigger cars too.

davenpearsall

Yeah I realise it is a bit of a contradiction in terms. However comfort is something I can do without for a 45min journey each way for 6 months.

I presumed the bigger the car the lower the MPG for reasons as simple as they are heavier, tend to have bigger engines etc.

Kilty_2

davenpearsall wrote: »

I presumed the bigger the car the lower the MPG for reasons as simple as they are heavier, tend to have bigger engines etc.

It is true - you'll find a city car that outperforms a big car in terms of MPG quite easily however if we're talking about the difference between 55mpg and 60mpg then I know what I'd rather be in.

Plus - small cars demand a price premium on the used market so you could make a saving buying a bigger car that is more than the difference in fuel

gilbert_and_sullivan

I hope your commute doesn't get you near Oxford at either rush hour, it takes me around 30 to 45 minutes just to get to the M40 from the Mini factory at the wrong time of day.

Car wise, i think i'd want something a bit more sturdy for that commute to be honest.

sebdangerfield

davenpearsall wrote: »

I presumed the bigger the car the lower the MPG for reasons as simple as they are heavier, tend to have bigger engines etc.

Not always true depending on the type of driving. I tend to find I can get decent MPG from higher powered cars on the motorway because the larger, more powerful engines aren't working so hard. There was a top gear about it.

http://www.garagetv.be/video-galerij/flitspaal/top_gear_toyota_prius_vs_bmw_m3_fuel_economy.aspx

Clarkson drove an M3, the V8 one at motorway speeds following the Pryus and the M3 did better MPG because the poxy little Prius 1.5 was working so hard.