Car advice please

marcarm

Looking for a new car as the current one is in need of replacing.

We have 2 kids with car seats (and a teenager but rarely does he come out with us so we are not factoring him into the equation!). The majority of the journeys are short to and from nursery along with taking them out for activities.

Occasionally there will be a longer journey.

Currently have an 05 Focus 1.6 Ghia which is ok if a little boring.

My likes for cars are different than my wifes so finding something that we both like is not that easy.

The main criteria is that it is better on fuel than the Focus is at the moment, due to the short journeys it is killing us on petrol. We have spent over £80 so far since 21st October on petrol and have hardly been anywhere to show for it.

Budget of around £3.5-4k. Any ideas please? I'd prefer a saloon but that not too important, as generally a saloon is bigger so won't be as efficient.

jaydeeuk1

So spending £3000+ to save what might be 25% on fuel - less as winter is coming up. Plus if its short journeys that rules diesels out anyway.

How many miles did you do on that £80? If its poor then when was the last time it had a proper service? Old oil, sparks and air filter will hammer mpg, as will underinflated tyres

marcarm

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

So spending £3000+ to save what might be 25% on fuel - less as winter is coming up. Plus if its short journeys that rules diesels out anyway.

How many miles did you do on that £80? If its poor then when was the last time it had a proper service? Old oil, sparks and air filter will hammer mpg, as will underinflated tyres

Thanks, the fuel efficiency isn't the only reason it needs replacing sooner rather than later, that's just what is important in the next car.

It has been serviced every year at MOT time. I do need to start taking records to work out the MPG but the car says about 35 or so, not sure how accurate that is.

fiish

The MPG given by the car's built in computer is usually 5-10% more than you would see if you did the odometer based calculation, but you would need to use your records to check your specific car.

If you're making mainly short journeys, you're not likely to improve very much on 35mpg with a newer car given the budget you stated. It is hard to get over 40mpg with only urban driving on most petrol cars, I think.

gabitzul

Short journeys will kill any car's MPG.

When I had the same car (1.6, the Ti-VCT one, 115 BHP) , average MPG was about 37 MPG.

Don't be fooled by diesels, they are economical on the m-way at 65 mph in top gear, but in town likely to be worse than petrol.

That's why these days, as the wife does not need her car at the moment (at home with our new born), I use her Jazz 1.4 instead of my Merc C220 diesel. I saw a few times around 25 MPG in heavy traffic in that, where the Jazz does 40 MPG.

forgotmyname

I had my previous diesel car below 30mpg during short winter journey's.

1.6 Focus should be super cheap to fix virtually anything., you can get a car that will be better on fuel in city driving, just choose something with a 1L or less engine and not a turbocharged one.
On a run though it may use more fuel than the 1.6 Focus. Unless you potter along at 50mph.

My 2L diesel used less fuel than my sisters 1.6 diesel on a motorway run. Around town it will be the other way around.

But short journeys and diesel are not recommended. I do it but i change my oil twice a year and give it a good blast every now and then. And luckily i do not have a DPF etc.