Changing car

DD265

I changed job last month and I love it. Downside - spending £400 in a month on fuel because my commute has gone from 2.5 miles each way to 37 miles each way and my car is just not economical.

It's an MK4 Fiesta, about to hit 70000 miles this weekend. In really good nick, just had about £800 spent on it getting it fit for motorway commuting (new front tyres, exhaust went, full service and new cam belt) and it's running beautifully, but that kind of expenditure on fuel is not sustainable.

As moving to be closer to my new job isn't an option just yet I need to look at changing vehicle. Public transport doesn't work - doubles the transport time and it'd be £20 a day. I have no money set aside and I don't have the means to save at the moment with spending so much on fuel. My plan is to identify the right car for me then a) work out how to finance it and b) find a good deal on it. I see this new car as an investment hopefully for 10+ years.

Ideally I want a mid size hatchback. I am not willing to compromise on:
5 doors
Air con
Engine (1.4 or larger)
Economy

I want but am willing to compromise on:
Age - I'm a bit concerned about getting into a situation like I did with my Fiesta where everything goes at once from wear and tear.
Navigation system
Bluetooth (provided I can retro fit something)
Front fog lights
Heated seats
Manual transmission
Heated windscreen (or will settle for a car that clears its windscreen quickly, I get up early enough as it is!)

I plan to test drive a few as a starting point, looking at:
Hyundai i20
VW Polo
Honda Civic
Mazda 2 (not the best economy out of the bunch but one of the cheapest)
Nissan Pulsar (not the best economy out of the bunch but my family have had a lot of Nissan cars and they've been great)
Suzuki Swift
Toyota Yaris

I think on paper, it looks like it may be a toss up between the Hyundai and VW. Any thoughts/recommendations?

forgotmyname

Wont the money your hoping to save on fuel just be transferred into depreciation costs instead?

So the saving will be err zero?

Are any of those cars more fuel efficient than the Fiesta? Are you sure its costing £400 a month in fuel?

Thats about 22MPG.... I can see that being the case with a 2.5 mile journey in traffic. But not on a 40 mile commute.

marlot

I commute 50 miles each way to work in a 2.0 petrol and it costs me less than £400 a month in fuel. I suggest you find out how much fuel you're really using first. The reserve light comes on with mine after 300 miles, and takes 41 litres at that point, making 33mpg for example.

Don't assume that many cars on your list will be cheaper overall. To make significant fuel savings, you need to be looking at a diesel - and there is a risk of a big repair bill with modern diesels.

Check this website out: http://www.whatcar.com/truempg/my-true-mpg or http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/

harveybobbles

DD265 wrote: »

I changed job last month and I love it. Downside - spending £400 in a month on fuel because my commute has gone from 2.5 miles each way to 37 miles each way and my car is just not economical.

So after one month then?

how many miles do you get from a FULL tank? Or do you put £20 in here, £15 there etc?

Foxy-Stoat_3

£1500-£2000 will put you in any 1.9tdi PD engined car that will be fine for your commute for a few years. Pick one with good history and dont worry about buying a car with over 100,000 on the clock, as long as the cambelt and water pump has been changed, serviced regually. Buy from a private seller for the best deal.

Mk4 golf or Bora, Skoda Octavia or fabia, Ford Mondeo or Focus, Audi A3/4/6.

I get 600-650 miles from a full tank, £90ish or £70ish with the full 20p off a litre in my B6 A4.

topdaddy_2

370miles a week in a fiesta shouldnt be costing a ton a week. Whats the range of your fiesta? Sounds like just under a tank a week to me which should be about fifty sixty ish quid a week.

BJV

I would look at PCP on a newer leaner meaner car. there are some good deals on and you can get a lot for just over £100 a month. The additional fuel economy and the lower insurance and lower road tax will mean that even after paying out for the car you should still save. The fact that it will still be in warranty means that you will not need to budget for expensive repairs.




Google car leasing what car is not bad http://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/ but there are loads of others.


For example if you are going to spend £2000 on a car it will be an older car so you will have to budget in MOT costs and repairs. Say £40.00 per month. That means that conservatively it will cost you around 123 per month.


At the end of the two years your £2000 esp on the mileage you do will not be worth a great deal . Don't forget extra road tax, don't forget on top road side assistance.


Instead pay the £123 per month on a PCP hand it back or part exchange it. Enjoy it in the best years of its life and then hand it back.


If you have the extra £2000 burning a hole in your pocket tie it up in an ISA.


But hey that s my 2p worth.


P.s congratulations on your new job!

colino

Your car really needs serviced by someone who knows what they are doing, they are great little buzz bombs and unless your commute is grinding through a procession of B roads, your mpg is way off. If you have just spent £800 on it, you've already committed yourself, in a moneysense way of fixing what you have, as anything else will mean leaping into the unknown and losing money on this one.

DD265

It is a motorway commute but along the M62/M60 so a lot of it is spent stop-starting in queuing traffic. They've put a 50mph zone in ready for roadworks but 50 would be nice.

The fuel light comes on around 260-280 miles on these longer journeys (I used to get around 200 out of the tank). It costs me around £40 to fill up depending on just how low I let the tank get. I can't risk going too low in case anything happens on the motorway, one night it took 2.5 hours to move 2.5 miles!

macman

Are you talking about a new car? If so without any savings, how do you intend to finance it? The normal method is to work out what you can afford, and then see what you can get for that money.
The i20 is due for replacement early in 2015, the current one is fairly uninspired.
Your shortlist is very odd-some are superminis (eg Polo/Yaris/Mazda), and some are hatchbacks (Civic/Pulsar)-what category of vehicle do you actually want?
Finally, at 18K miles plus pa, you really should be looking at a 1.6 or bigger turbo diesel, not a 1.4 petrol engine, since economy is the main motive for changing.

forgotmyname

So your car is doing around 40mpg. Its going to take a long time for a newer car to pay for itself.

Learning howto get the best economy from your current car would probably save you more.