Which car??Advice...........

brownie4583

I have started looking round for a new or nearly new car recently.
I have a 2.0 automatic at the moment but due to the tax costing £144 for 6 months,and only getting around 26 miles to the gallon around town(although insurance isn't bad £350 fully comp),i am looking for something smaller,cheaper tax,and better on petrol.
Having had 4 big cars over the past 15 years or so,all 1.8-2.0 litre,have you any advice on a good small car?
I have looked at Peugeot 207 1.4,Nissan Note 1.4 auto,Vauxhall Corsa 1.4i and Citroen C4 up to now.
Are there any more recommendations from owners on here?
Thanks.

Weird_Nev

Look at the whole cost of changing cars before trying to save £100 a year on tax would be my advice. You could be spending thousands to save very little monthly.
Very few cars get "good" mpg round town.

If you want to change anyway, then an Idea of budget/requirements would be handy.

brownie4583

My present car is reliable,still runs like a dream,has been straight thru every M.O.T,but is 03 plate so coming up to 8 years old,and now has 84,000 on the clock,so i am thinking of changing before i have to start spending large amounts on it.I have had a new timing belt fitted at 74,000 and new rear discs,but that's about all up to now.
I think the Peugeot 207 is £40 tax,mine is £250 per year,probably around £80-£100 cheaper insurance and possibly 50% less petrol costs?

Weird_Nev

50% less petrol costs? So you need a petrol that does 50mpg round town, or a diesel that does 55mpg on short journeys? That's plain unrealistic.

you need to really bottom out the numbers. The cost of changing your reliable car for an unknown younger car could take your current car a long, long way. You're just stepping up a rung on the depreciation curve.

LandyAndy

I'd recommend a Mazda2 from my own experience of owning one (1.3 petrol) since Sept 2009. Nice to drive and nippy. Capable of long motorway journeys at 80+ in reasonable comfort. I mostly do short journeys in it (5 - 10 miles) and get 45 - 50 mpg. Downside from your point of view is the road tax is relatively high.

whatmichaelsays

From personal experience, I can recommend the Seat Ibiza with the 1.2TSI engine.

It's a 105bhp engine that replaced VAG's 1.6 in its supermini range. Tax is free in Y1 and £30 thereafter. Car is well equipped, reasonable on fuel (getting 35-37mpg around town and high 40s-low 50s on longer runs) and looks the part.

Weird_Nev

LandyAndy wrote: »

I'd recommend a Mazda2 from my own experience of owning one (1.3 petrol) since Sept 2009. Nice to drive and nippy. Capable of long motorway journeys at 80+ in reasonable comfort. I mostly do short journeys in it (5 - 10 miles) and get 45 - 50 mpg. Downside from your point of view is the road tax is relatively high.

Have you worked that out tank brim to tank brim? Our 1.3 Mazda2 returns 35mpg across a tank, and a mate with the same car reports likewise. Economical they ain't.

Strider590

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Look at the whole cost of changing cars before trying to save £100 a year on tax would be my advice. You could be spending thousands to save very little monthly.
Very few cars get "good" mpg round town.

If you want to change anyway, then an Idea of budget/requirements would be handy.

Some common sense :cool:

£100 a year is nothing, not compared to £1000's in depreciation, not to mention any finance costs.

For most ordinary folk, with most ordinary cars, there's no saving to be made at all by changing cars. Change cars if you simply want a new car, that's fair enough but don't try to make lame excuses

mikey72

Not much common sense there I'm afraid.

I'm with the op.
Our big petrol engine gets high twenties around town, and costs over £200 in tax.
Our little diesel gets 55 to the gallon, and is £100 cheaper to tax.

Even on 10000 miles a year, it saves over £1000.

That'll more than cover the difference in depreciation.

The car won't help the op, it's an old 106, we're looking to update though, and the Renault Modus, and Vauxhall Meriva diesel are supposed to have a comparible mpg.
They'll need a good run down the motorway though, not just town use.

LandyAndy

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Have you worked that out tank brim to tank brim? Our 1.3 Mazda2 returns 35mpg across a tank, and a mate with the same car reports likewise. Economical they ain't.

Yes.:) Every time. Although my journeys are short they are mostly on an A road (A338 between Salisbury and Ringwood). We've done about 27000 miles in it since new in September 2009. It has never returned under 45 mpg to the best of my recollection. I would certainly be concerned if it did. Used on the occasional longer, motorway journey it does in the low 50s.

I am very pleased with its economy. If you and your mate are getting 35mpg there is something wrong or different somewhere.

mikey72

Even that figure would save over £1000 of petrol for the op each year on 10000 miles