Replacement car advise?

blacksheep1

Hi folks,

Recently I started a new job. My daily commute means I'll be driving somewhere in the region of 30,000-35,000 miles per year (taking into regular account weekend driving as well).

I currently drive a VW Passat 2.0 Petrol (03 plate).

It's a good car, but just too thirsty. After driving extremely conservatively (60mph on motorway, etc), i can achieve 40mpg. If I hit some traffic which, depending on my shift, is almost a certainty), it's nearer 33mpg-35mpg.

This just isn't enough.

I'd have around £2,000 to spend on a replacement.

I'm really not a car expert at all so was hoping someone out there maybe able to suggest something as a replacement?

A Diesel presumably would pay dividends doing that sort of mileage. Keep hearing "Japanese or German" when it comes to car manufacturers.

Any time taken to reply would be appreciated.

Thank you.

BeenThroughItAll

blacksheep1 wrote: »

Hi folks,

Recently I started a new job. My daily commute means I'll be driving somewhere in the region of 30,000-35,000 miles per year (taking into regular account weekend driving as well).

I currently drive a VW Passat 2.0 Petrol (03 plate).

It's a good car, but just too thirsty. After driving extremely conservatively (60mph on motorway, etc), i can achieve 40mpg. If I hit some traffic which, depending on my shift, is almost a certainty), it's nearer 33mpg-35mpg.

This just isn't enough.

I'd have around £2,000 to spend on a replacement.

I'm really not a car expert at all so was hoping someone out there maybe able to suggest something as a replacement?

A Diesel presumably would pay dividends doing that sort of mileage. Keep hearing "Japanese or German" when it comes to car manufacturers.

Any time taken to reply would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Replace Passat petrol with a 1.9TDI (not a 2.0TDI) Passat diesel.


Done.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Alternatively if your current car is in really good condition, get it converted to LPG, at your mileage you'd break even on cost in a year.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

If you need the size of a Passat/Octavia/superb I'd say go diesel 1.9 version of those 3 models, or if looking audi avoid the BXE engine.

[Deleted User]

Definitely look into LPG conversion.

Also, if you're happy with your Passat and confident it won't need any expensive work I'd think carefully before replacing with a 2nd hand car whose history you don't know. Work out the fuel saving, if it'll be over £1000 a year I'd consider taking the risk, for £500 a year saving I wouldn't.

I would see how you get on in this new job for a few months before deciding though.

Strider590

If you get something that does 10mpg more, how much money will that save on fuel? £2000? I very seriously doubt it.......

Factor in the fact that most people sell cars when things start to go wrong and your also likely to be shelling out in repairs too.

maxheadroom

http://www.fuel-economy.co.uk/calc.html

have similar dilemma see recent thread, do the maths carefully, use calculator in the link above plug in annual mileage a real world mpg from fuelly or honest john and current cost of fuel to work out annual fuel costs

I found there were savings to be made but when factoring in buying an unknown car and risk of suffering turbo, injector or dmf or dpf failure which seemed a real risk in vehicles in my price range which was up to 3000 and would soon wipe out any saving made on fuel

I ended up going with an 03 1.6 petrol megane from my brother with no known issues and full history which gets 43 mpg on the run which will cost me about 700 more in fuel over the year doing 20k over buying a vag tdi diesel getting 50mpg for which the turbo is near enough 500 from euros let alone fitting it and dmf is similar

gabitzul

If your Passat is in good nick and has good tyres, brakes etc, I would also vote for the LPG conversion.

Your fuel economy will drop a bit compared to petrol (maybe 10%) but you can buy LPG for about 70p. Not bad, eh?...