What car to buy

crvs

We have been looking for a 3-5 year old automatic car for past 3 weeks but not getting anywhere. We always owned old BMW's which never gave more than 19 mpg.
What we need in new car? - Great comfort as BMW, all modern facilities,good MPG and great value for price.


We have viewed VW golf 1.6 TDI (2011), Toyota Auris Hybrid (2011) , Seat leon (2013- manual).
Verdict -DH found VW not interesting and overly priced , Toyota ok.
Whilst viewing all these , we happened to view AUDI A4 s Line Avant (58 plate , 36k for 14k) and quite liked it. Not pursuing because of the running cost. We would also like to consider successful 320D BMW.
We are so confused. please help.


PS: We don't do more than 12miles a day as of today.


Thanks,
Vidhya

frisbeej

You may run into problems with diesels if you are only doing short trips.

Hintza

You will be driving less than 5,000 miles per year in short runs. You do not want a modern day diesel, you will destroy it with that sort of driving! You need to buy a small economical petrol engine.

crvs

How about VW 1.4 TSI DSG?

forgotmyname

£14,000 for a 6 year old A4?

Running costs will be neglible to the depreciation.

BeenThroughItAll

crvs wrote: »

How about VW 1.4 TSI DSG?

Decent enough when they're looked after, but a colleague of mine has had coil packs, alternator, timing chain, turbocharger, and gearbox all replaced/fixed under warranty since buying a supposedly 'well looked after' TSI secondhand.


I wouldn't personally go near one. I'd keep many thousands of the pounds you have and buy an older secondhand VAG group car with a 1.9TDI PD motor in it.

Herzlos

Forget about fuel economy and diesel - you're only doing 12 miles per day, so you'll likely never see your increased purchase cost back.

Yes a big petrol like the A4 will cost more in tax and in fuel, but not by that much.

You want an automatic, so have a look at 3-4 year old automatic petrol saloons - you'll save thousands on purchase Vs small diesel hatchbacks, which will more than offset the increase in running costs and give you a better experience at the same time.

macman

Diesels cost more to buy but (so far) the residuals are likely to be better. However, at 4,000 miles p.a. the fuel is not a major factor in the running costs, and as stated above there are bargain bigger-engined petrol automatic cars available that are too expensive to run for higher-mileage users.

mad_rich

Herzlos wrote: »

Forget about fuel economy and diesel - you're only doing 12 miles per day, so you'll likely never see your increased purchase cost back.

^ This. Unless you're doing a lot of miles, a difference in fuel economy probably makes a much smaller difference than you imagine.

12 miles a day, even if you do it every day of the year, is still less than 4500 miles per annum. But let's call it 4500 for the maths.

At 45mpg, your fuel use is 4500/45 = 100 gallons (or 454 litres). £590 per year at £1.30/ litre.

Go up to 55mpg and it's £490 - i.e. you save £100.

Go down to 35mpg and it only costs you £166.

A 55mpg car sounds great compared to 45mpg but in reality you're only saving £100 per year. That's the sort of figure that can be dwarfed by repair bills or purchase cost. If it costs an extra £1k for an more efficient car, it'll take 10 years to break even. And that's if there are no increased maintenance costs (which there almost certainly will be if it's a diesel).

Even if your mileage suddenly doubled and fuel was at £1.60 a litre, it'll only save you £250/ year in fuel costs to go from 45mpg to 55mpg.

At the cheaper end of the scale, where the price differential between diesel and petrol has faded out (and where the cars are older and don't have DPFs) they might make sense for someone doing twice your mileage.

For 12 miles a day, dare I suggest an electric car?

darkmatter101

You do not do enough miles to justify a diesel. You would be better off with a petrol. Get a 2007 onwards e90 BMW 325i or 330i. It has the updated N53 engine, does 50mpg extra urban! and around 40mpg mixed. Great comfort, powerful and rear wheel drive. Also you will love the noise of that 6 cylinder BMW petrol

burlington6

Yep, buy a petrol. There was someone on here the other day who bought a diesel and a year or so down the line was trying to blame the salesman for selling it to him. (he wouldn't accept it was his own fault)