Fuel Economy

AgentSmirnoff

Thanks for taking the time to find these, giving them a look now

RDG

AgentSmirnoff wrote: »

Yes insurance is definitely a big one, I get quite a large discount thanks to my whole family, house and family business being insured on Direct line. I've got my eye on a 2003 Focus. 1.6 3dr. Gets about 41 to the gallon, while still having sufficient legroom. Thoughts?

Id still shop around as even directlines discounted rate may not be competitive.

Focus is a good car and if you get a gudun it will be reliable and theres plenty about, is 41mpg the official figure? As id be suprised if it will still do that.

AgentSmirnoff

41mpg as stated by Ford. REALISTICALLY though, 35-38mpg is more likely considering age. Theoretically I'd get a smaller car for the sake of mpg but my size is a barrier to this. I once drove a Corsa for my driving lesson and it was very difficult to do so comfortably.

Edit: Direct line will insure me on most cars with a range of £1000-1300 a year.
Some comparison sites will give me cheaper (£700-£900) however, only on
classic cars which will of course likely sacrifice mpg and reliability.

PollyOnAMission

My OH recently bought a V reg diesel (1.9 TDI I think) Ford Focus for around £1k. He keeps track of his fuel fill ups and mileage to calculate fuel economy and he averages 55mpg. I'd say that's pretty reasonable!

Catapa

AgentSmirnoff wrote: »

I am in terrible shape :P

As a 19 year old student in terrible shape you should get a bike !

RDG

AgentSmirnoff wrote: »

41mpg as stated by Ford. REALISTICALLY though, 35-38mpg is more likely considering age. Theoretically I'd get a smaller car for the sake of mpg but my size is a barrier to this. I once drove a Corsa for my driving lesson and it was very difficult to do so comfortably.

Edit: Direct line will insure me on most cars with a range of £1000-1300 a year.
Some comparison sites will give me cheaper (£700-£900) however, only on
classic cars which will of course likely sacrifice mpg and reliability.

Just because the corsas driving position didnt suit you dont assume all hatchbacks are the same, i know people who are your height and they drive small cars with no problems. Go test drive some and find out, from my experience I dont think the focus is much roomier than the fiesta in the drivers seat.

You dont mean classic cars as comparison sites dont cater for these you just mean older cars which at a max buget of £1000 you are going to be looking at. If you get a looked after 10-15year old car and are willing to look after it then it will in all likelihood be reliable.

£600 pound difference is a lot as that is likely to be £500 next year etc. Id consider the cheaper insurers as well as directline.

jodiej1987

Imo it is as straight forward as you may think, everyone automatically assumes that a low engine car will get the best fuel economy and from experience i know this is untrue. im a 24year old student and have owned all sorts of cars and they havent really differed that much in terms of fuel economy and insurance.
for eg, im currently driving a 1.1 rover 25 and it uses just as much petrol as my old volkswagen golf that had a 1.6 engine due to the rover being 16v, both average 40mpg. insurance was the same aswell and my budget has always been around 1000. ive had a couple of peugeot 206s and loved driving those, both 1.4 and again have done about 40mpg.
But the best has to be a skoda octavia i had a couple of years back, it was a 2.0diesel, and averaged 60mpg and was a lot cheaper on the insurance.

Edit: forgot to mention, my boyfriend is quite tall and has never had issues driving any of these

teffers

Small engine : cheaper for short runs at low to medium speed (Urban)

Larger engine : cheaper for longer runs at speed, for example motorway.

waynedance

I have a Citroen, no problems, more old non Citroen's around then there are Fords and others.

waynedance

Catapa wrote: »

As a 19 year old student in terrible shape you should get a bike !

He is looking to buy his 1st car, that my friend is a bike. Hope I have learn't you something.