Used car advise?

friendlyface1

Hi folks,

In 3 weeks I will go from working 6 miles from home to working 55 miles from home - resulting in an approximate annual mileage of 30,000!

I currently drive an '03 plate VW Passat 2.0 Petrol. It's just not economical enough so I'm on the look out for a workhorse that, touch wood, won't let me down and will eat up the miles. Diesel more than likely.

Budget is around £2,000 - £2,500.

I'm far from a car enthusiast so I was hoping for one or two suggestions?

For the money, Renault Megane's keep cropping up on my searches, some nice clean '04/'05 plates but not so keen - reliability is important!

Astra's are alright. They will gobble up the miles but again, not inspired.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions they would be gratefully received.

topdaddy_2

Any other requirements eg number of seats/ doors? Size of vehicle important?

Wh05apk

I would suggest keeping what you have got initially if it is reliable, you will only save about £100 per month or so, until you see how it goes, you could easily spend that money on maintenance on an unreliable car.


To do 30,000 miles a year in a £2,000-2,500 is a big ask, at that price you could get a peach or a dog.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Alternatively take a long hard look at your present car, has it been well maintained, does it run well, does it have 5 years of 30k a year left in it, most importantly do you like it?

If the answer is yes to all then LPG converting your present car is one viable solution, good conversion will cost just over £1k and i don't mean by messrs bodgit and scarper either, you'll recoup the cost in about 25k miles.

You have a very good vehicle there, i'd sooner be doing 30k a year in that than in some clapped out Megane.

Check out http://www.filllpg.co.uk/ for cheap filling points on your route.

bigjl

Can't really fault the lpg idea on your current car.

Though as you put the miles on the Passat you may find that the suspension bushes start to wear out and there are lots of them on that age Passat.

You can Polybush them which will put a permanent end to those issues.

grahamtabby

i have had 2 passat TDI 1999 and 2002 both run on bio bought locally for £1 a litre. the 1999 ran on pure bio so with the savings it returned around 85mpg the 2002 cant run on pure bio so i did a 50/50 mix and as it was an auto i only got about 50mpg.
I now have a 1.8turbo petrol passat so know how thirsty they can be.
i really wouldn't worry too much about high miles. i had 300k on the 1999 one and my 1.8T has 160K and feels strong.
Personally i wouldn't touch any renault but would stick with german (maybe not mercedes)or go japanese.
If you want to get a diesel and go down the bio route you need to get an older car. VW with bosch fuel pumps can run on bio ok. you can only use about 10%bio in a common rail diesel engine like the newer ones.
FYI you might want to avoid the next model passat than yours. the electronic parking brake can fail.

jimjames

If you like the Passat then swapping to a 130 TDI would be a good option. Same car but much improved economy

Clive_Woody

Avoid Renaults, especially cheap old ones.