Small/medium, economical car - any advice?

Alot_does_not_exist

Apologies for raising a topic which must have been discussed a thousand times already.

I have a budget of around £3k and am seeking a small to medium, used car with the accent on economy in all its aspects - road tax, fuel etc.

Would anyone be able to offer any recommendations, ideally based on experience?

Strider590

I wouldn't worry over the VED (road tax hasn't existed since 1936), those cars will cost a lot more, thus negating any savings on the VED.... In fact the same goes for fuel economy too, you'll pay less for something that using more fuel, which then leaves more money to spend on the fuel itself

Got myself a 2004 Vectra for £3000, the same age small economical car was selling for nearly £7000. Would you know it, i've got £4000 to spend on petrol.... Have I spent £4000 on petrol in the last 3 years of ownership?

Lets find out......

I spend £60 per month on fuel, sooooooo that's £60 x 12 x 3 = £2160
I get 32mph, so if i'd bought a 40mpg car i'd have spent approximately £60 - 25% = £45 a month on petrol and a total of £1620

Even if I got a car that does 60mpg, it would still have cost more than this.

So (forgetting repairs etc, which you can never predict on any car) in 3 years i've saved in the region of £3460 by buying a bigger and less economical car

Alot_does_not_exist

Interesting but I wonder if your basic premise - that smaller, economical cars always cost over double the level of their larger, gas guzzling mates - actually holds water.

Flying-High_2

What kind of Mileage are you doing?

Strider590 wrote: »

I wouldn't worry over the VED (road tax hasn't existed since 1936), those cars will cost a lot more, thus negating any savings on the VED.... In fact the same goes for fuel economy too, you'll pay less for something that using more fuel, which then leaves more money to spend on the fuel itself

Got myself a 2004 Vectra for £3000, the same age small economical car was selling for nearly £7000. Would you know it, i've got £4000 to spend on petrol.... Have I spent £4000 on petrol in the last 3 years of ownership?

Lets find out......

I spend £60 per month on fuel, sooooooo that's £60 x 12 x 3 = £2160
I get 32mph, so if i'd bought a 40mpg car i'd have spent approximately £60 - 25% = £45 a month on petrol and a total of £1620

Even if I got a car that does 60mpg, it would still have cost more than this.

So (forgetting repairs etc, which you can never predict on any car) in 3 years i've saved in the region of £3460 by buying a bigger and less economical car

So whats that 320 ish Miles a month? 11.5K over 3 years? :rotfl:
Bigger Mileage and the figures would stack up towards a more economical car surely?...

And double the Figures and we're not far off the £4k petrol piggybank figure

getmore4less

The way you drive maybe you would only get 40mpg out of a small car.

We get 60mpg from a clio what ever driving is done.

Numbers don't work so well for a £3k car which is where the OP is

£3k clio 60mpg 12k miles a year so around 200 gallons

1/2 the economy for your car is £600 py(@£6gall) so £1800 over 3 years that means £1200 to buy the less economical one certainly no more than £1500

MichaelCR

Alot_does_not_exist wrote: »

Apologies for raising a topic which must have been discussed a thousand times already.

I have a budget of around £3k and am seeking a small to medium, used car with the accent on economy in all its aspects - road tax, fuel etc.

Would anyone be able to offer any recommendations, ideally based on experience?

2004 - 2006 Ford Fiesta style or zetec trims.

The fiestas are fantastic runners, Cheap to run, Insure, Tax.....And are also very reliable cars. You can pick them up at quite a bargain price to.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2004-FORD-FIESTA-ZETEC-BLUE-BLACK-/250818765801?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a65f6a3e9#ht_614wt_1139

Great example of a bargain under £3000.

Strider590

Flying-High wrote: »

What kind of Mileage are you doing?



So whats that 320 ish Miles a month? 11.5K over 3 years? :rotfl:
Bigger Mileage and the figures would stack up towards a more economical car surely?...

Well.. No not really, a more economical car doesn't run on thin air does it?

As I said even if the smaller car was doing double the MPG it still wouldn't save money even doing heavy mileage.

My mileage is more than you state, buts its irrelevant because whatever car I had i'd still be doing the same mileage and therefore the offset would still be the same.

In fact to get double the mpg id have to buy a Hybrid, and that would cost a hell of a lot more than an extra £4000.

The point im making is that in a bid to save money, often we don't listen to the biggest money saver.... Common sense.
We seem to throw away the pounds in order save the pennies.

bigjl

I'm with Strider on this, sometimes you need to consider the cost of the car, small, economical cars with low VED are holding onto their value well beyond the way an ex fleet mile muncher does.

Actually if Meganes are actually a reliable car if you avoid all the gimmics then they make a good choice as they are smallish but lose value hand over fist.

You have to balance the fact that a car like striders, Vectra, will continue to lose value at a higher rate than a small car as the public perception is small equals money saved.

Not always so, though my wifes Clio has lost negligable value in just under 2 years of ownership, but we bought luckily, and then the down turn has meant small 5 dr, diesel superminis with reasonable miles in a strong colour(silver in our case) and crucially with A/C, are in demand by everybody downsizing, I reckon it has only lost £1250/1500 in the time we have owned it, and we bought from a dealer, not auction.

A good buy at the moment are all the ex motability Astras coming onto the market, mostly in good colours and surprisingly a lot are in Design spec, with more than few autos, which in that car is a nice car to own, want better economy then get it LPG converted.

Sadly they are outside the OP's budget, but if they go to an auction they may get lucky, but then again they may buy a wrong-un.

Alot_does_not_exist

An interesting debate. I take the theme to heart. However I am still looking for the combination mentioned and so would appreciate any further contributions to be on-topic.

Flying-High_2

Strider590 wrote: »

Well.. No not really, a more economical car doesn't run on thin air does it?

As I said even if the smaller car was doing double the MPG it still wouldn't save money even doing heavy mileage.

My mileage is more than you state, buts its irrelevant because whatever car I had i'd still be doing the same mileage and therefore the offset would still be the same.

In fact to get double the mpg id have to buy a Hybrid, and that would cost a hell of a lot more than an extra £4000.

The point im making is that in a bid to save money, often we don't listen to the biggest money saver.... Common sense.
We seem to throw away the pounds in order save the pennies.

I based your Mileage on the what you said you spent and a quick calc at todays prices..... Either way for the figures quoted it can't be high.

Forget your Mileage... Someone doing Twice what you do and the figures would be twice what you Quoted... and your £4k petrol that "you" havent spent would be gone plus a bit more... £4320?

Double your 40mpg figures and we are at £3240 and you'd of been £1080 better off over the same distance as a 32mpg Vec....

So in theory 4k could of been spent on the car originally to be in same place....? Or if spending the £3k anyway today be £1080 better off in 3years?

60mpg over the Same distance? be even more better off in 3 years...

What I'm getting at is if you do small mileages.... its all pretty irrelevant and I agree with what your saying but Start Increasing the Mileages and it swings the other way where more ecomony will work.....

and I appreciate your basing what you say on when small cars were £7k and the Vec was £3k... But The OP has £3k;)

Plenty of £3k Diesels or Petrols about that will smash 45mpg....

Alot_does_not_exist

Flying-High wrote: »

I based your Mileage on the what you said you spent and a quick calc at todays prices..... Either way for the figures quoted it can't be high.

Forget your Mileage... Someone doing Twice what you do and the figures would be twice what you Quoted... and your £4k petrol that "you" havent spent would be gone plus a bit more... £4320?

Double your 40mpg figures and we are at £3240 and you'd of been £1080 better off over the same distance as a 32mpg Vec....

So in theory 4k could of been spent on the car originally to be in same place....? Or if spending the £3k anyway today be £1080 better off in 3years?

60mpg over the Same distance? be even more better off in 3 years...

What I'm getting at is if you do small mileages.... its all pretty irrelevant and I agree with what your saying but Start Increasing the Mileages and it swings the other way where more ecomony will work.....

and I appreciate your basing what you say on when small cars were £7k and the Vec was £3k... But The OP has £3k;)

Plenty of £3k Diesels or Petrols about that will smash 45mpg....

Like......?