[webwysard]

Hi Gents,

Need a local run about for the above mentioned sum.

Has to be reliable but atleast does 40mpg for real short journeys. Doesn't matter petrol or deisel but would be great if falls in a lower tax bracket and cheap to insure.

Please advice.

[xs2man]

Should be able to pick up a mk4 Gof GT TDI 130 for that money. 50+ mpg no problem. Pokey motor, especially after a remap. Not that bad a place to sit. Cheap tax and depending on your age, shouldn't be too bad to insure.

[webwysard]

Not botherd about the performance but mpg needs to be 40+.

Any other other contenders ?

[davyk31]

I had a great little Fiesta Zetec last year for winter, 2003, 65k miles, cost me £1900. Absolutely faultless, ran great, mpg on a run would be up round your figure, town a bit less. Sold it in Spring for £2000.

[webwysard]

Originally Posted by davyk31

I had a great little Fiesta Zetec last year for winter, 2003, 65k miles, cost me £1900. Absolutely faultless, ran great, mpg on a run would be up round your figure, town a bit less. Sold it in Spring for £2000.

I've been considering this myself but just not sure how reliable are those.

Was yours petrol or deisel ?

[dopper99]

My missus had a 1.4 petrol Fiesta Zetec 03 plate for about 18 months funnily enough. But just swapped it for a brand new Fiesta 1.25 Zetec.

Doing ONLY short town journeys you wont see anywhere near 40mpg with one of these. Even the new one is only showing 28mpg on its fuel computer (although not really run it yet). These are short stop-start journeys and my missus never goes out of town on a run. I guess the mpg will go up a fair bit on a run.

Dont know what the diesel is like, probably much better - but then you shell out more for one.

[phil200tdi]

Can't you lease a small car for like £80 per month.

Get a cheap 1.0 city car with free tax and laugh all the way to the bank!

[creepy coupe]

MK6 Fiesta 1.25.. 1.4 or 1.6 .. 16 valve engines are bomb proof.

[davyk31]

My Fiesta was a 1.4 petrol, go for Zetec and they even handle quite nicely. If you want regular 40+ mpg you would need to go diesel which could easily be achieved in yuor budget, maybe stretching up to an 04 or 05 car.

Mine was totally reliable, I kinda liked the thought of having an older car with a few issues I could tinker and fix but I can honestly say there was nothing wrong with the car. I replaced a few cosmetic bit like misted up foglights which was a bit of fun and improved the looks.

Was really tempted to keep it come spring time but 3 cars is hard to justify. Also it didn't have aircon which is a pain on the cold winter misted up mornings, takes an age to clear. I'm on the hunt now for another one with aircon, quite a few diesels about up to £3k with decent low miles but I would like again to be sticking round the £2k mark.

[dobbo99]

i have a 1.2 clio 53plate a couple of years ago when i was setting up the company. i paid 1400 for it, with a slipping clutch. was a bit sceptical being a renault and all, but it was perfect, had the clutch sorted, gave it a service, cleaned all the foundation off the dash and steering wheel (previous female owner), properly cleaned the paint, and was well impressed. 36-38mpg
bit flimsy as its french, but was a great little car. I sold it after a year for 2k to a girl in the office, she still has it and its running fine.

id get another, and you can get densels as well.

we bought a new shape 09 clio earlier in the year, which is a nice little car, but bigger, heavier and not as much character.

fiesta and focus diesels should be in plentyful supply in your price bracket as well.

[davyk31]

Also Beetles and Minis are in that range now if you want something a bit different, neither might meet your mpg hopes though as it would be too early to get a diesel Mini for that cash.

[gIzzE]

I just bought a 51 plate Mercedes C220cdi auto estate with 110k miles on it and full service history for £2200, added a Pioneer Appradio to it for £350 all in, replaced the front ball joints and thermostat (both will be shot if not done already) for £400 fitted and it is sweet as a nut.

It is returning 48 average and 60 on a run, is very comfy and still looks pretty decent.

This shape..


The 220cdi engine and 5 speed auto 'box is bullet proof on these. Just look out for rust.

Much more comfy car than anything from BMW for racking up the miles, or anything that Mercedes offer currently as well for that matter.

I would rather be in that than a small hatch, even if the hatch is newer.

[gIzzE]

It was cheap as it had cloth and a wood interior!!



I bought a complete leather interior for £300 as well, but now I have the car I prefer the cloth.


Some real bargains out there now, 10 year old cars are not like 10 year old cars were 10 years ago, if that makes sense?

Also had quotes in the £260 region for insurance, my E350cdi estate was £720 for comparison.

[335d Rocco]

I'm in the same boat of having to look for a car to commute to work, I'm hopefully going to get a new job, but the downside is its an 80 mile round trip, I don't want to put that mileage on my e90, so am looking for a commuting car if the job comes off.

The funny thing is, I sold my old mk4 gt Tdi 3 weeks ago, it sat in my mums garage for over a year and as soon as it goes, it looks like I should have kept it

I'm thinking of getting an Audi a3 1.9tdi, don't know what I'll get for a 3k budget

[gIzzE]

Why would you buy another car do that commute, why sit in an old A3 to for an hour at the end of each day with a nice 3 series sat at home??

Makes no sense at all to me?

It is only 19k miles a year.

I have gone from doing 40k miles a year to around 20k now, and whenever I sold my car the mileage never made much difference, much less than you would expect anyway.

I sold my E320cdi at 5 years old for £13k with 105k miles on it, similar cars with 60k miles on them were £15k, and low mileage ones with sub 40k were only getting a grand more. There were some at 160k and 180k and they were nearly £10k still.

So those 'extra' 60,000 miles over 3 years cost me around £3-4k at most, certainly not worth buying another car for.

if it were a 911 GT3 or a Ferrari I would understand it, but a 3 series? The perfect commuter car?

[335d Rocco]

I do agree with what you say, it's just I live out in the sticks in Yorkshire and snow is nearly guaranteed at least a couple of times a year. in my current job a guy I work with gives me a lift in his 4x4 when it snows, but I won't have that luxury in my new job, hence a commute car maybe required.

Another kind of method in my madness is my daughter has not long passed her test and is on my case to insure her in my car, that's not gonna happen in the e90, but will look into it if I have to buy another car for work

[gIzzE]

Winter tyres. Job done.

However, the daughter thing I totally get, my daughter started learning to drive last year and we swapped Fionas X1 for an old Fiesta so she could use that, and to be honest when she went off to Uni my wife said lets just keep the Fiesta as a second car rather than spending £400 a month on another car.

Then when I decided to move the E Class on I went with an older car again, currently saving £10,000 a year on cars, and it feels very, very good.