Long commute, car choice advice please

Flearoy

geordieracer wrote: »

Have you looked at other options for your commute though? Bus/Train Car share?

The train isn't worth the miniscule saving over the fuel in my current car, given the inconvenience of a wait between trains and the stations being some way from either home or work. The car share idea is more likely to work, as I pass through a small town where I know that a fair number of people commute from, if not to my own place of work, somewhere along the way. I shall investigate further...

jaydeeuk1

Agree. Trains are for drunks, tramps and students (not sure if that counts as 3 separate categories), unless you can afford first class.

bengalknights

If you want comfort but dont care about fuel costs then you should be able to pick up a cheap 10 year old lexus

hermanmunster_3

trying to get a "new" car at present - few seem as comfortable as my mondeo...

geordieracer

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

Agree. Trains are for drunks, tramps and students (not sure if that counts as 3 separate categories), unless you can afford first class.

If ever there was a stupid post of the week winner you would win it.

andygb

Flearoy wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies so far. There's a definite them of better the devil you know!

Having done the journey to work this morning in my Mondeo and seen that the traffic was light with very little hold-up, averaging about 40mph for a 40mile journey, I think my car might actually return a might 35mpg, maybe even more! That said, I did set off rather early (7am). We shall have to see what the traffic is like on the return journey. To complicate matters, I've thought about keeping my current car and buying a good second-hand motorbike (maybe a Kawasaki ER5, Honda CB500) with good fuel economy that will enable me to stay in bed longer and be able to cut through the inevitably heavier traffic later in the morning. Having ridden through a good number of winters, I can confirm that at the first sign of frost the bike will be put to bed and the car used instead. So, I need to do my sums based on 35mpg say 3 months a year, and about 55-60 (based on my ER-5 from a while back) for 9 months a year, plus the extra insurance etc costs.

As an ex biker myself, I would stick with the Mondeo. There are high extra costs with the bike, in the form of back tyres, chains and sprockets, which will wear out on a daily commute. You will have to buy all of the gear to go with it, so it will not be a good economic decision.
First job on the Mondeo would be to check and maybe change the spark plugs (I have just fitted Bosch Super 4s to my 1.8 Verona, and the difference in MPG is remarkable), then the tyre pressures. Resist the temptation to use air con, and you should get nearly 40mpg on a long commute.

Flearoy

andygb wrote: »

As an ex biker myself, I would stick with the Mondeo. There are high extra costs with the bike, in the form of back tyres, chains and sprockets, which will wear out on a daily commute. You will have to buy all of the gear to go with it, so it will not be a good economic decision.
First job on the Mondeo would be to check and maybe change the spark plugs (I have just fitted Bosch Super 4s to my 1.8 Verona, and the difference in MPG is remarkable), then the tyre pressures. Resist the temptation to use air con, and you should get nearly 40mpg on a long commute.

I've got all the gear, but yes, I do remember having to replace tyres and chains and sprockets even on my smaller (500cc and less) bikes quite regularly, which would no doubt eat into fuel economy savings, not to mention the additional insurance, MOT, servicing, repairs, etc costs. Fortunately I still have all the gear as I only hung up the leathers a short while back. Traffic jams may influence me to get a bike a bit more than fuel savings!

Thanks for the advice on the spark plugs, I'll give them a look! I check my tyre pressures regularly too.

davidjwest

My commute is 150 miles a day and I average over 55mpg with my Mondeo diesel (04 plate, 2.0 TDCi, 6 speed, 130PS) but it is almost all motorway.

Had the car nearly a year now, coming up to 130k on the clock and so far it's been bullet proof - now I said it!

I only paid £1,600 for the car, it being in an auction and with some category C damage, so it cost another £1,000 or so to get it on the road.

Having read this thread, that Clio Hammyman mentioned looks very interesting! Bit small for a long commute maybe?

Flearoy

It looks like the Mondeo might be going to be replaced with a VW Polo 1.4 petrol that my brother owns. I won't be starting this long commute for a while yet, so in the mean time I'm keeping the Mondeo. He's been doing a similar distance commute in it to what I intend to do, and it's been fine. It's less thirsty than my car, cheaper to tax, and has been well looked after by my brother. I don't really need the big estate car anymore, as much as I like it, and money saving is the most important factor really. I would really like a MK3 Mondeo diesel estate eventually, as I can have my spacious car cake and eat it with the good fuel economy, but a good one will cost more than I can afford at present, so it will have to wait! I'm sure I'll miss the comfort and space but gotta save the £s.

bigjl

Now depending on the age of the Polo, it might be astute to get that converted to LPG, if it will do high 40's when run on petrol, that will drop to low 40's on LPG. But at about half the price then on a purely financial basis it would be the same as a petrol car doing 70+mpg.