Looking for a comfortable motorway cruiser for under £6000?

raptor2004

Hi all, due to personal circumstances my mileage has increased considerably. I currently drive a Yaris petrol which isn't particularly suited to motorway journeys as there is a lot of road noise, no AC and the seats aren't supportive for long drives.

I am looking for a diesel car that has comfortable supportive seats, provides a comfortable ride and and a bit of luxury while being relatively cheap to run (at least 55-60 mpg on a motorway cruise). Prefer automatic but I don't mind a manual as long as the clutch is light.

I would prefer a EURO6 compliant car but no essential, so EURO5 is also fine but road tax must be below £300 per year. 

Any recommendations?

cymruchris

To be fair, you could just squeeze a Euro 6 diesel for a budget of under £6k, but your options would be limited to maybe higher mileage vehicles. Vauxhall Insignias seem to be in budget which would likely give you a more comfortable motorway cruise with all the bells and whistles. I can see a few on Autotrader that have the 1.6 diesel engine auto with euro 6 for under £6k. There also seem to be a few Skoda Octavias in the same bracket. They both have road tax under your budget. I imagine the Skoda would have slightly better residuals and reliability. You didn't mention what size of car you were looking for other than it being a good cruiser.

raptor2004

cymruchris said:

To be fair, you could just squeeze a Euro 6 diesel for a budget of under £6k, but your options would be limited to maybe higher mileage vehicles. Vauxhall Insignias seem to be in budget which would likely give you a more comfortable motorway cruise with all the bells and whistles. I can see a few on Autotrader that have the 1.6 diesel engine auto with euro 6 for under £6k. There also seem to be a few Skoda Octavias in the same bracket. They both have road tax under your budget. I imagine the Skoda would have slightly better residuals and reliability. You didn't mention what size of car you were looking for other than it being a good cruiser.

Thanks. I would want a medium-large car, like a saloon. Something with a longer wheel base so that it provides a more comfortable ride. I like the Insignia but not sure about the reliability of the 1.6 diesel engines?
Not a fan of Skoda, they just feel a bit cheap on the inside.
What about the Citroen C5 or the Peugeot 508?

cymruchris

raptor2004 said:

cymruchris said:

To be fair, you could just squeeze a Euro 6 diesel for a budget of under £6k, but your options would be limited to maybe higher mileage vehicles. Vauxhall Insignias seem to be in budget which would likely give you a more comfortable motorway cruise with all the bells and whistles. I can see a few on Autotrader that have the 1.6 diesel engine auto with euro 6 for under £6k. There also seem to be a few Skoda Octavias in the same bracket. They both have road tax under your budget. I imagine the Skoda would have slightly better residuals and reliability. You didn't mention what size of car you were looking for other than it being a good cruiser.

Thanks. I would want a medium-large car, like a saloon. Something with a longer wheel base so that it provides a more comfortable ride. I like the Insignia but not sure about the reliability of the 1.6 diesel engines?
Not a fan of Skoda, they just feel a bit cheap on the inside.
What about the Citroen C5 or the Peugeot 508?

I personally wouldn't touch a Citroen or a Peugeot (or anything French) with a bargepole. Had several as fleet cars, and always had electrical gremlins telling me that this was faulty or that needed replacing, and they were never right. I also had a brand new VW Golf that broke down at 225 miles with a catastrophic gearbox failure. The reality is that all cars have things that do go wrong, will go wrong, or might go wrong. Nothing we buy these days will be fault free forever!

Everything mechanical or electrical on any car has the potential to go bang and fail, and when buying used you don't know that that 'one careful lady owner in her 70's' was actually ragging it around the local retail park's car park at midnight every Saturday night with 'the boys'. Buying used is always taking a chance, but you can do your due diligence before making a purchase (looking at the MOT history, checking for accident status, looking at service history etc.)

I can't comment on the Insignia engines as I have no experience of them - but it's the usual thing - if your budget is £X, and you want A, B and C - then within those constraints the options are potentially more limited.

You can fret about this car having this 'common problem' or that car where the 'whatever it is' always breaks - but you could buy something that has no inherent issues, and the engine fail completely in 6 months time. 

One thing that mitigates common/unusual failures is a good service history that follows the schedule, and has been done by reputable companies/dealers. This isn't a guarantee of course, but if the oil changes have been done on time with the right oil, and all consumable parts have been replaced when needed using reputable brands, you're likely on the right road of getting a decent car.

Once you've found a car in budget that ticks your boxes - make sure you study the MOT history, complete the 'accident write off' online checker (there are several) and look at the history closely. If it all checks out - take a chance - and fingers crossed you'll be lucky

Goudy

What about a Mazda 6.
Or the Mazda CX-5 which is their SUV, so rides higher for a better view of the traffic ahead.

Mazda Skyactiv diesels are pretty decent and were a year or two ahead of the Euro 6 game.
They are very frugal and Mazda tend to have a decent reliability record.
£6k should get you either in Euro 6 with auto gearbox and VED shouldn't be crippling.

Bigwheels1111

Re tax, get a reg before 2017, ie 66 plate.

My 66 plate 5008 1.6 Bluehdi auto will do over 50mpg but a 60 mph.

Road tax was £30, gone up this year to AGHHHHH £35.

raptor2004

Any thoughts on the older E90 generation BMW 320d?

Goudy

The N47D20 engine (Euro 5) in the 320d is prone to cam chain problems.
Cracked and stretched chains jumping sprockets are pretty common on earlier versions but the later ones still suffer.

The chains are at the back of the engine making replacement a total headache and really expensive.

I also think they suffered clogged swirl flaps in the intake manifolds as well

The later (Euro 6 2014 on) B47D20 still suffers from cam chain/sprocket and swirl flap issues, so beware.

For your budget you'll no doubt be looking at some high milers, make sure the chain isn't rattling (or there's some evidence of replacement) and the service history is impeccable. BMW blamed poor servicing for both problems.

raptor2004

Goudy said:

The N47D20 engine (Euro 5) in the 320d is prone to cam chain problems.
Cracked and stretched chains jumping sprockets are pretty common on earlier versions but the later ones still suffer.

The chains are at the back of the engine making replacement a total headache and really expensive.

I also think they suffered clogged swirl flaps in the intake manifolds as well

The later (Euro 6 2014 on) B47D20 still suffers from cam chain/sprocket and swirl flap issues, so beware.

For your budget you'll no doubt be looking at some high milers, make sure the chain isn't rattling (or there's some evidence of replacement) and the service history is impeccable. BMW blamed poor servicing for both problems.

Okay, might be best to avoid those. I was really drawn to the older Citroen C5 HDi engines with the hydropneumatic suspension as they provide a really soft comfortable ride.

Grumpy_chap

raptor2004 said:

Hi all, due to personal circumstances my mileage has increased considerably. I currently drive a Yaris petrol which isn't particularly suited to motorway journeys as there is a lot of road noise, no AC and the seats aren't supportive for long drives.

I am looking for a diesel car that has comfortable supportive seats, provides a comfortable ride and and a bit of luxury while being relatively cheap to run (at least 55-60 mpg on a motorway cruise). Prefer automatic but I don't mind a manual as long as the clutch is light.

I would prefer a EURO6 compliant car but no essential, so EURO5 is also fine but road tax must be below £300 per year. 

Any recommendations?

A Mondeo coudl fit the bill:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308050461493

jimjames

VW Passat diesel would easily fit into that price criteria and you can't beat it as a comfortable motorway cruiser