Commuter car (primarily motorway) - up to c. £20k

Rockingfella

Hi All,

I am looking at getting a car to commute to work as I am about to change jobs from working in the city to working on the outskirts of London.

I'll be commuting around 75 miles round trip (primarily on the M25) and was looking for a suggestion on a car that would deliver fairly decent MPG (above 45 on the motorway) but would be a pleasure to drive.

Was thinking about a BMW 320D M Sport or perhaps stretching to a 520D. Was also considering the Audi TT, but wasn't sure the MPG was actually above 40 (real world).

Happy to also consider electric vehicles, as I have access to off road parking and a charger, but don't think I can get a Tesla in that price range ;-)

All suggestions welcome, just please don't recommended buying a £2k car and keeping the money. I am going to be spending at least 2 hours a day in this thing and I am used to a bit of comfort.

Thanks.

shinytop

In my experience BMW 320Ds are brilliant cars, good quality and reliable and economical. Unless you have the ability to charge at home don't even think about an EV.

Rockingfella

Thanks for the feedback.

I can get access to a charger if I did go the EV route.

Car_54

One more vote for the 320D.

DrEskimo

Hyundai Ioniq is probably the most comfortable EV for your price range. Think they are well kitted out with lane assist and radar cruise, etc. but would need to spend some time researching model trims as I am not familiar with them.

Whilst it only has a 28kWh battery, it is amazingly efficient and consistently is able to achieve above 4 mi/kWh all year round, meaning a 75mile commute should be no issue with home charging every night.

Fuel savings could be extraordinary. If we assume 20k miles per year with diesel at £1.30/lt achieving 60MPG, you are looking at spending £2k a year on fuel.

In contrast, charging the Ioniq up each evening between 00:30-04:30 using Octopus GO's tariff at just £0.05 per kWh would mean spending just £364 a year on electricity.

Factor in very strong residuals in the used EV market, very low maintenance/servicing costs and no VED, and you're looking at pretty substantial savings...

System

Nothing wrong with your BMW but you'd get more for your money with a diesel Mondeo which would be cheaper to run and maintain plus its much less common too. Audis, BMW and Mercs are ten a penny on the roads today.

just please don't recommended buying a £2k car and keeping the money. I am going to be spending at least 2 hours a day in this thing and I am used to a bit of comfort.

My Mondy is now at 9 years old/144,000 miles and still nice and comfy, noise, knock and rattle free. Joys of doing almost all of its mileage on long runs and doing things like changing the shock absorbers recently which improved the ride no end even though they'd still pass a MOT, and fitting decent quality tyres with low road noise. I doubt the driving experience is much different from a new/nearly new one.

Merely pointing out that you don't necessarily need to be buying brand new/almost new to have that.

System

DrEskimo wrote: »

Hyundai Ioniq is probably the most comfortable EV for your price range. Think they are well kitted out with lane assist and radar cruise, etc. but would need to spend some time researching model trims as I am not familiar with them.

Whilst it only has a 28kWh battery, it is amazingly efficient and consistently is able to achieve above 4 mi/kWh all year round, meaning a 75mile commute should be no issue with home charging every night.

Fuel savings could be extraordinary. If we assume 20k miles per year with diesel at £1.30/lt achieving 60MPG, you are looking at spending £2k a year on fuel.

So with those savings on fuel, how long before you recoup the purchase price premium of several thousand typically attached to an EV over its ICE equivalent? 4-5 years in at 80-100,000 miles and possibly still within the period you're repaying finance on it you could be looking at a battery replacement at possibly as much as £5000.

Factor in very strong residuals in the used EV market

Not after 4/5 years of doing 20,000 miles a year unless you have proof of a new battery. You may find it very hard to sell. Who is going to give you a decent amount of money for a car with a £5k or more bill due in the near future?

EVs are great for the environment but you're just kidding people if you think an EV will save money.

DrEskimo

Tarambor wrote: »

So with those savings on fuel, how long before you recoup the purchase price premium of several thousand typically attached to an EV over its ICE equivalent? 4-5 years in at 80-100,000 miles and possibly still within the period you're repaying finance on it you could be looking at a battery replacement at possibly as much as £5000.


Not after 4/5 years of doing 20,000 miles a year unless you have proof of a new battery. You may find it very hard to sell. Who is going to give you a decent amount of money for a car with a £5k or more bill due in the near future?

EVs are great for the environment but you're just kidding people if you think an EV will save money.

Well it has a 5yr/unlimited mileage warranty on the car, and a 8yr/unlimited mileage warranty on the battery, so you will be well covered. Most EV's now come with at least 8yr warranties on the battery.

Why?

Because battery degradation is minimal and battery failures are so rare. Battery management systems that control voltage and thermals of the batteries, and the fact a % of the actual battery pack is locked away means battery preservation is optimised.

Data from high mileage Tesla's are showing how degradation barely drops below 80% even after 250k KM.

https://electrek.co/2018/04/14/tesla-battery-degradation-data/

It's another one of those EV myths that batteries are a common fail point and degrade so quickly that the require constant replacements. Perpetuated largely by people not understanding the systems in place in EV's compared to their phones and laptops....

MEM62

Rockingfella wrote: »

Was thinking about a BMW 320D M Sport or perhaps stretching to a 520D.

My 320i averages north of 42 mpg on my 80 mile commute up and down the M3 and is far nicer to drive than a diesel.

LilElvis

My husband does a lot of motorway driving and has had at least two M Sport BMWs. He loved the cars but found them really uncomfortable for distance driving because of the sport suspension. A couple of hours as a passenger used to make me stiff and give me backache too.

parking_question_chap

LilElvis wrote: »

My husband does a lot of motorway driving and has had at least two M Sport BMWs. He loved the cars but found them really uncomfortable for distance driving because of the sport suspension. A couple of hours as a passenger used to make me stiff and give me backache too.

Agree with this, if the part of the M25 you take isnt well surfaced an M sport could irritate you pretty quickly. If you are driving motorway miles and want fuel economy there really isnt any benefit in getting the Msport, which is set up for more spirited driving on windy B roads.

If you are all about the image then im sure you will ignore the above.