Suggestions please

Richard53

Looking for suggestions for a car to replace the current gas-guzzler. I am due to retire at the end of the year, and my income will be considerably reduced. I'm hoping to be able to see more of my children, but as they live 250 miles away (in opposite directions) it's stupidly expensive. Currently, a round trip to see either costs about £150. I love the truck, but that would mean I hardly got to see my kids. I want to see more of them, not less. Also, being a Range Rover, although it is currently in good running order, any future failures are likely to be expensive. There won't be as much in the car fund as before.


I'm thinking of selling the Range Rover and replacing it with a smaller car, possibly looking at Golf, Focus or similar. It would need to be reasonably economical (50 mpg on a run) and capable of long motorway journeys when required. Cheap to run, reliability and ease of servicing would be good. I'm not fussed whether petrol or diesel, although if diesel it would have to be pre-DPF, so probably 2006 or earlier. Budget would be as little as possible, but realistically around £2-3000 tops. PAS, aircon and a nice music system would be good; otherwise, basic and simple is all I need. Although my days of speeding everywhere are probably over, the car would still need to have an element of fun, though - around 2 litres and 130 bhp would do it.


I've always fancied a Golf, and like the Focus (my wife had two and I drove them a lot), so that's where I am starting from. I know there is vast experience of all kinds of motors on this forum, so any suggestions for other makes/models to look at would be welcome. (Also, models/variants to stay away from ...) I have a few months to think about it, so I am not in a rush and can wait for the right car to come up. Selling the RR will be a wrench, but I have run the numbers of my future income and outgoings and I need to have my sensible head on. I haven't made a decision yet, though ... still thinking it all through.


Thanks all.

[Deleted User]

You could move closer to your favourite grandchildren...
did you mention budget? Maybe look at Kia who offer a 7 year warranty.
Sometimes me will be along shortly to recommend a Mondeo, probablybas cheap to buy and run as a Focus.

Herzlos

How many miles do you do? How often are you doing the 250 mile return trip?


Unless you're doing the trip weekly, I'd probably look at getting a petrol as it'll be better for the local stuff, cheaper to maintain and you'll get more car for the money.


Also unless you need the space, I'd be inclined to go smaller than a Golf, potentially a Polo equivalent (I'd go for the Seat/Skoda equivalent as the cheaper badge gets you more car for the money).

Jonesya

I've got one of those Pre-DPF diesels and its been a very good and reliable motor (bought new, long before the current diesel emission issue rose its head I add!), but trouble is they're all getting very old now - 9, 10, 11 years old and stuff is starting to wear out, they're into banger territory. So while I'll keep mine until its uneconomic (at which point I'll scrap it), I wouldn't go out and buy a car that old today, unless it was cheap, certainly a lot less than £2-3k because you're likely buying a car with repair bills coming, and approaching the end of its life.

So then its the newer diesels but yeah the DPFs seem to be a problem.I'm not sure I'd go for a diesel again, even if they're reliable today I suspect the maintenance costs for the DPF and catalyst will be high when they start to get old.

If I was you, my first thought would be - could I keep the Range Rover and get it converted to LPG, how much would that cost and save me in fuel? would it work? are there local LPG stations?
https://www.filllpg.co.uk/?page=lpg.php

If not, well personally I'd pay a bit more and get a reliable Japanese car around 4 years old, probably petrol.

Richard53

Deleted_User wrote: »

You could move closer to your favourite grandchildren...
did you mention budget? Maybe look at Kia who offer a 7 year warranty.
Sometimes me will be along shortly to recommend a Mondeo, probablybas cheap to buy and run as a Focus.

Haha, moving not an option, and no grandchildren anyway.


Budget up to £3k as stated above. Not interested in a new car, whatever the warranty, unless I win the lottery, and probably not even then.


I've had a nearly-new Mondeo, probably the best sensible car I have ever had, but I'm looking for something smaller this time. Focus size would be ideal.

Richard53

Herzlos wrote: »

How many miles do you do? How often are you doing the 250 mile return trip?


Unless you're doing the trip weekly, I'd probably look at getting a petrol as it'll be better for the local stuff, cheaper to maintain and you'll get more car for the money.


Also unless you need the space, I'd be inclined to go smaller than a Golf, potentially a Polo equivalent (I'd go for the Seat/Skoda equivalent as the cheaper badge gets you more car for the money).

Sorry, forgot to mention mileage. I'll probably be doing about 6-8k a year, and the motorway trips (250 one-way, 500 round)every few weeks.


I've had quite a few diesels, and they seem to be fine for my usage, combining local running and longer journeys. However, I have never had a DPF diesel, and from my wife's experience with her DPF Skoda I don't want one, ever.


Might consider smaller, thanks. Not thought of Seat or Skoda, but will add to the mix.

Richard53

Jonesya wrote: »

I've got one of those Pre-DPF diesels and its been a very good and reliable motor (bought new, long before the current diesel emission issue rose its head I add!), but trouble is they're all getting very old now - 9, 10, 11 years old and stuff is starting to wear out, they're into banger territory.

If I was you, my first thought would be - could I keep the Range Rover and get it converted to LPG, how much would that cost and save me in fuel? would it work? are there local LPG stations?
https://www.filllpg.co.uk/?page=lpg.php

If not, well personally I'd pay a bit more and get a reliable Japanese car around 4 years old, probably petrol.

I'm happy with a pre-DPF diesel, and I like the way diesels produce their power. On balance I'd probably go for diesel over petrol. I realise I am in banger territory - that's kind of the point of the exercise.


I ruled out LPG long ago - the payback period for my usage would probably be longer than the life of the car. Also, one more thing to go wrong, and also nearest LPG supply is 20 miles away in a direction I rarely go in. Not worth it, for me.


I'm not sure about going Japanese. I loved my MX-5, but every Jap saloon I have driven has been free of any kind of interesting character. Jury's out on that one.

Apodemus

My wife has a MkIV diesel Golf, bought at four years old and now 15 years old. It’s been a tremendous car and done between 12K and 15k miles a year for that time. When we bought it we looked at Polos as well and there was a big difference in ”feel” between them. Moving down from a RR is going to be tough enough without going all the way down to a Polo. For the longer journeys the Golf will be fine (we had a family holiday to France in ours and drove from North of Scotland to South of France with no issues).

As an aside, I have a nine-year-old Td4 Freelander (no DPF), picked up a year ago for £6k and you might find that a reasonable half-way house on your way down from RR to hatchback. I’m averaging 39mpg in it.

James2k

what engine and mpg to you get/have in the rr?

tacpot12

I'd suggest you take a look at the Skoda Octavia, smaller than a Mondeo but bigger than a Focus. As well built as a Golf, but better specified for the money, and you have the same choice of engines. The Laurin & Klement or Elegance specs give you a lot of comfort for the money. They feel smaller than they are, in part because they have an excellent turning circle. And whereas the Golf boot is small, the Octavia boot is cavernous.

The best engine is the 130 BHP PumpDuse (PD) diesel engine. No DPF and 50+Mpg on motorway run.

Richard53

Apodemus wrote: »

My wife has a MkIV diesel Golf, bought at four years old and now 15 years old. It’s been a tremendous car and done between 12K and 15k miles a year for that time. When we bought it we looked at Polos as well and there was a big difference in ”feel” between them. Moving down from a RR is going to be tough enough without going all the way down to a Polo. For the longer journeys the Golf will be fine (we had a family holiday to France in ours and drove from North of Scotland to South of France with no issues).

As an aside, I have a nine-year-old Td4 Freelander (no DPF), picked up a year ago for £6k and you might find that a reasonable half-way house on your way down from RR to hatchback. I’m averaging 39mpg in it.

That Golf sounds like what I am looking for. Smaller but not too small. I have looked at Td4 Freelanders, but they are much pricier than the opposition. Probably rightly so, as those I know who have them like them. (And they have a reputation for reliability that no other Land Rover product has.)

James2k wrote: »

what engine and mpg to you get/have in the rr?

4.6 petrol. 16 mpg local, 20-ish on a run keeping to legal speeds. To be fair, not a lot worse than the 21/23 I was getting from my 300Tdi Defender.

tacpot12 wrote: »

I'd suggest you take a look at the Skoda Octavia, smaller than a Mondeo but bigger than a Focus. As well built as a Golf, but better specified for the money, and you have the same choice of engines. The Laurin & Klement or Elegance specs give you a lot of comfort for the money. They feel smaller than they are, in part because they have an excellent turning circle. And whereas the Golf boot is small, the Octavia boot is cavernous.

The best engine is the 130 BHP PumpDuse (PD) diesel engine. No DPF and 50+Mpg on motorway run.

My wife currently has an Octavia, and there's a lot I like about it. It's a thoughtful and clever design, and it tows beautifully. But it has a DPF, and it needs a wasteful 20-mile thrash in third gear to clear the warning light every 300-500 miles. Awful. (By contrast, her previous car was a 2 litre C-Max, with a DPF, same mileage and usage pattern, and it never gave a moment's bother.) An older one without the DPF might be a possibility, although I wonder if two Skodas in one family is one too many


Thanks to all for the input.