Choosing the proper car/engine size for 50-mile commute in London highways

eamon

Accidents on motorways/dual carriage ways are rare, they are the safest roads in the UK. At your price point a long MOT is key, that will largely take car of your safety worries. At your price point brand is relevant. VW & Toyota are overpriced though the Toyota has the superior reliabilty stats. Another brand to consider is the Skoda Fabia part of VW group but far better built. There are a few for sale near you. Great cars. Drove one from Exeter to Leeds a few years back never missed a beat at 70+mph and no issues on manic motorways such as the M5 & M42.

alihd

AdrianC said:

If you passed your test in a manual, then confidence should be no difference between a manual and an auto.
If you passed your test in an auto, you cannot drive a manual legally.

My licence is for manual and I can drive both.
I meant: I get tired, physically. My clutch control is fine, but my leg hurts if I want to be in traffic 2 hours a day. I suppose an automatic won't have this issue so I probably shouldn't be afraid of traffic

AdrianC said:

Small petrol autos in the £2-3k budget are few and far between, and mostly ex-Granny transport.

I kinda agree but don't get your final point. What kind of car, not motorcycle , would you have bought with such a budget if you were in my shoes? Manual? Diesel?

angrycrow

With a budget of £2000 to £3000 I would buy a 1.6 Ibiza (although they discontinued the 1.6 in 2010) then put 4 premium tyres on it. Very safe, very reliable, excellent on the motorway and great fun on the twisty roads. Returns around 35 mpg in mixed driving (that's with a heavy right foot) and 45 on the motorway. These are real world figures from my car. 

lcc86

I used to have a 1.3 Toyota IQ doing a 60 mile daily m25 commute for 4 years, it was absolutely fine, wasn't the fastest but had some oomph, and suited my needs although may not be practical for everyone. Never had any issues with it and put some serious miles on it. I don't know if they do a 1.3 aygo (it's more or less the same car so they might do). It also had a 5 star NCP rating despite its size. 

AdrianC

alihd said:

My licence is for manual and I can drive both.
I meant: I get tired, physically. My clutch control is fine, but my leg hurts if I want to be in traffic 2 hours a day. I suppose an automatic won't have this issue so I probably shouldn't be afraid of traffic

Ah, I misunderstood "be less scared of traffic", in the context of the focus on crashworthiness.

AdrianC said:

Small petrol autos in the £2-3k budget are few and far between, and mostly ex-Granny transport.

I kinda agree but don't get your final point. What kind of car, not motorcycle , would you have bought with such a budget if you were in my shoes? Manual? Diesel?

Most small petrol automatics are one-owner from new, low-mileage, and people get very excited about that.

They ignore the fact that they've never been further than the GP surgery and Tesco, so are absolutely knackered because they've never got properly up to temperature, and all four corners have been touch-parked to oblivion and back. Before Granny was finally persuaded to give up driving after launching it over a low retaining wall, scraping the underside badly.

As for what I'd buy... Be very thankful that I'm not you, and don't take what I'd buy as any kind of recommendation, because my motoring tastes are... idiosyncratic... and I'd probably end up doing it in something utterly ludicrous, fragile and thirsty.

Seriously, I think your original idea of an Aygo/107/C1 was bob on the money. They're a hoot to drive, they're ludicrously simple by modern standards, and they're almost as cheap as walking. A very quick look at what's on Autotrader, and I think I'd be phoning up about this...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010265458288
A good trade off between a bit of minor cosmetic damage, in return for a bit newer and lower mileage. Negotiate a little bit more gap between that and the advertised price of straight ones... and if you can get it for ~£1,600, you're laughing.

Grumpy_chap

For that commute by car, the smaller city cars are ideal - take the route Adrian suggested (A30 - Chiswick).
Public transport may offer better solutions.

photome

alihd said:

Before my Festiva, I had a Paykan (derived from 1967 Hillman Hunter = Root's arrow).


I learned to drive in a Hillman Hunter

alihd

photome said:

alihd said:

I learned to drive in a Hillman Hunter

They were true legends... really fabulous cars. 

AdrianC

alihd said:

photome said:

alihd said:

I learned to drive in a Hillman Hunter

They were true legends... really fabulous cars. 

They were truly awful. Even in the mid 60s, when they were launched, they were way behind the game - and one of the main reasons Rootes had to be rescued from the brink of bankruptcy by Chrysler. Only sheer desperation saw them still in production in Europe until the brink of the 80s, and only local desperation and lack of alternatives saw them stay until the mid 00s in Iran.

alihd

AdrianC said:

alihd said:

photome said:

alihd said:

I learned to drive in a Hillman Hunter

They were true legends... really fabulous cars. 

They were truly awful. Even in the mid 60s, when they were launched, they were way behind the game - and one of the main reasons Rootes had to be rescued from the brink of bankruptcy by Chrysler. Only sheer desperation saw them still in production in Europe until the brink of the 80s, and only local desperation and lack of alternatives saw them stay until the mid 00s in Iran.

We used to produce them until early 2000s 😂