£5k Small diesel car for long daily commuting, any hints?

danielvmn

Hi money savers,

I'm in my second thread here asking for help in choosing a car for my wife's daily 100 mile commuting, I'm just creating another topic because her circunstances has changed a bit.

The ideal route would be a 50 mile each way, almost motorway only commute and a small diesel car should be ideal for her as we want to spend the minimum possible and she will have to go through the Rotherhite tunnel, which is very narrow, she is also still getting used to driving in the left side of the road.

The options are:

2007 Fiat Grande Punto 1.3 Multijet, 48k in the clock - £5k
2008 Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi, 58k in the clock - £5.5k
2008 Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi, 54k in the clock - £5.3k

Could you help me with any hint? As we are not sure whether a 1.3 car will have a much bigger economy advantage over a 1.6, when cruising via the motorways.
Also any other tips are very welcome!

Frank_Force

The Fiat and the Vauxhall both use what is essentially the same 1.3 Multijet unit, so worth factoring into your decision.

I think I'd go for the Fiesta given the choices you've given above.

rodenal

From your choices above I would only look at the fiesta - having said that I would personally pick up a 1.6 tdci focus, it's a much better car all round

mikey72

Most of that choice is just outside manufacturers warranty, (but should come with 12 months mot).
I'd probably pay a bit more or a bit less, and go for something still in warranty, or a year or two out, and save the the remainder in case I need to have a few repairs later.

Matt1977

danielvmn wrote: »

The options are:

2007 Fiat Grande Punto 1.3 Multijet, 48k in the clock - £5k
2008 Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi, 58k in the clock - £5.5k
2008 Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi, 54k in the clock - £5.3k

A friend of mine has a 58 or 59 reg Vauxhall Meriva 1.3 CDTi (same Multijet engine as the Corsa and Grande Punto, I believe). He sometimes has a long commute and admitted to me that the 1.3 engine struggles. The bigger 1.7 or 1.9 diesel engine options in the Fiat or Vauxhall may be better in this situation.

I have a Nissan Almera 2.2 dCi hatchback and is brilliant A-road cruiser (no motorways here in Norfolk ). Mine is a bit wasted with mainly just being used around town and 6 speed gearbox. Almera were on sale up until 2006 & was replaced (sort of) by the Nissan Note mini-MPV, available with a smaller 1.5 dCi with 86 bhp. The 1.5 dCi might be up to the job. There is also the Micra supermini with the same engine, if the cutesy styling isn't an issue.

Lum

For motorway work, the tiny 1.3 engines aren't going to be performing at their best. They are city cars and you'll be revving them outside their most efficient speeds on the motorway.

I too would go for a 1.6 as a minimum, ideally something like a 1.8 Focus as a Fiesta is not a nice car to drive regularly on a motorway, unless you are lucky enough to be using a motorway that is very well maintained and doesn't have ruts in the first two lanes.

getmore4less

We have a 52 1.5 dci clio and that is good on long runs.

nippy enough and returns over 60mpg cheap tax. 2 years(18000) service.

a few around at your price similar ages to those you listed and lower mileage

gilbert_and_sullivan

Go 1.6 every time.

Fiesta is fine with that engine, as is the rare more powerful and lighter Citroen C2 VTS HDi if she fancies something a bit sportier, they are very quick and £30 VED to boot.

Punto 1.6 Multijet Diesel runs the C2 VTS for power/performance/VED neck and neck and probably a bit bigger inside, certainly a better ride quality, the VTS is hard.

The 1.3 engine though economical is a frustrating drive, there is no power whatsoever till about 2k revs when the turbo spools up, i couldn't live with it, especially in a heavy Corsa.

Consider Yaris too, not as powerful as the 1.6's but a thoroughly competent and quality car and very good on fuel.

danielvmn

Thank you all for the tips, I will try to look for 1.6 engines.

The Micra is a good option, but it's a 4 seats car and that can be frustrating if we decide to travel with friends.

The Focus sounds great, but a 4 year old with diesel engine is more than I wish to pay, as we should make around 25k miles por year, we'd better look for lower mileage cars.

I will take a better look on the Clio too.

A friend recommended a Citroen C4, is this a good option? I know the car and I think it's great, with all the gadgets, but as I looked around the message boards, people don't usually like it's reliability, but I'm not sure if it's just the same prejudice against french cars or if it is indeed unreliable, although it does perform well in the reliability index top 100 website (http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100). How accurate is this?

Cheers

mikey72

danielvmn wrote: »

The Focus sounds great, but a 4 year old with diesel engine is more than I wish to pay, as we should make around 25k miles por year, we'd better look for lower mileage cars.

I wouldn't worry too much, even if you buy a 50k car, in two years it will have passed the magic 100K mark.
If you go for a higher milage, at least the cam belt should have been done at between 60 to 80K.

Lum

Low mileage isn't such a great idea on a modern diesel car. Increased risk of having been used as a city car and thus the DPF and DMF being on their way out (very expensive to fix).

If buying a diesel of this age I would be looking for signs of it having been used as a motorway mile muncher, high mileage and lots of stone chips on the front. This kind of use is kindest to diesels and what they're most suitable for.


Edit: I also wouldn't be buying an out of warranty French car, unless I knew an auto-elec who does mates rates.