10000 to spend on car - advice

jason_carolan

i've got 10k to spend - ideally 1.4-1.6 hatch - not sure petrol/diesel
i'd be driving about 300-400miles per week - mainly to work.

any recomendations please let me know - so much out there - its a minefield of choice!!!!!

thanks
j:)

mondeo

Get yourself a skoda superb as everyone is going to blind you with skodas any minute now.;)

MrDerp

There's something you should know about 1.4 hatchbacks if you're doing a lot of driving on N roads and motorways: they won't necessarily save you money on petrol.

I do 250km of driving per week to and from work, 70% on 100km/h roads.

I recently switched from a 1.4 focus to a 1.8 volvo s40, and I'm getting identical 8.1 - 8.2 l/100km fuel consumption. The volvo is a little bit more on tax and insurance, but it's a much more comfortable place to be for my commute, and responds much better than the (weak) 1.4 focus did to my inputs.

I'm assuming with your weekly mileage that you're doing a bit of N road and/or Motorway driving so if you go for a petrol (cheaper initial outlay by a long way, you'll get a newer lower mileage car for your 10K) then get a 1.6 hatch. It'll have near identical (if not better?) economy on your particular driving habits.

Though a little heavier on tax and insurance, you'll be spending a lot of time in the car, and if you're willing to spend 10K you're gonna want to enjoy driving it too!


Edit: Rule of thumb for Irish cars: ALWAYS ignore the bottom petrol engine.

Divorce Referendum

mondeo wrote: »

Get yourself a skoda superb as everyone is going to blind you with skodas any minute now.;)

Id recommend the mondeo.... oh wait thats not a hatch either:rolleyes:

_Conrad_

if you want a car to drive you to work and back and you're doing 400 miles a week, get a diesel. simple. You'll use way less fuel. Modern diesel engines are gone WAY beyond the stage that people think they're at, many people still think of a diesel car as the sort of experience you'd have driving a 1.6d jetta or golf from the 80s for example, making LOADS of noise and going really slow but using feck all fuel. now they're way quieter and perform far more like petrol engines, with the benefit in a daily commuter car of being better on fuel and having more torque.

jason_carolan

if i go for the diesel what about diesel golf or fiesta 1.4 tdci diesel???

EPM

If you go petrol you really can't go wrong with a 1.6 focus tbh.

_Conrad_

jason_carolan wrote: »

if i go for the diesel what about diesel golf or fiesta 1.4 tdci diesel???

As long as diesel golfs have been available they've always been grand cars, popular and well liked. The engines have been good right through to the present day.

Not had many encounters with a 1.4 diesel fiesta, but the mk5 on fiestas are nice solid little cars, though i've not been up close and personal with the diesels only the petrols

In general i've found the modern ford diesels to be good, if a little more crude than some of their counterparts. I had a 1.8tdci focus for quite a while as my own daily runaround and it was a great car, myself and my father also bought and sold a lot of them, and tdci mondeos second hand (and managed new ones on company car fleets), they gave feck all bother, so that speaks well for the tdci engines in general i suppose.

MetzgerMeister

>/=1.6 Focus or an MG ZR

colm_mcm

einheisserschre wrote: »

>/=1.6 Focus or an MG ZR

It's 2011, where have you been?

MetzgerMeister

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's 2011, where have you been?

Hahahaha The ZR is still around!

jason_carolan

einheisserschre wrote: »

>/=1.6 Focus or an MG ZR

thanks all so far - when u say focus 1.6 - hatch or saloon???

another quick question - any cars i've looked garages from 2008 on they say they dont need nct yet - is this true - last thing i want is to fork out 10-12k and have to do an nct in a few months.

Ihaveanopinion

2003 Nissan 350Z - sounds a bit crazy, terrible MPG on short city driving, no storage space

but its an awful lot of fun

MetzgerMeister

jason_carolan wrote: »

thanks all so far - when u say focus 1.6 - hatch or saloon???

another quick question - any cars i've looked garages from 2008 on they say they dont need nct yet - is this true - last thing i want is to fork out 10-12k and have to do an nct in a few months.

Whichever takes your fancy. As a lot of people on here will tell you, the 1.4 focus is gutless. Get at least the 1.6.

Cars don't need their first NCT until they are 4 years old

lomb

jason_carolan wrote: »

i've got 10k to spend - ideally 1.4-1.6 hatch - not sure petrol/diesel
i'd be driving about 300-400miles per week - mainly to work.

any recomendations please let me know - so much out there - its a minefield of choice!!!!!

thanks
j:)

I bought a brand new 1.4 golf(with a few luxurys-metallic, air con, leccy windows,mirrors etc) in the UK for 10000 sterling when a base diesel was about 40% more. I drove it for 7 years and on long runs on A , B and motorways could get 48mpg or 5.6 l/100 km driving gently and about 6.7 l/100km driving like i normally do. It was quick enough although overtaking was hard work for sure. The 1.4 is a nice revvy engine with a nice gearbox(post 2002 only though).
I saved big time on the initial purchase, servicing, repairs, tires, suspension bushes due to the lighter engine putting less load on the mechanical bits. Probably handled better also for the same reason.
I only ran it on fully synth and used Michelin Energy tires ,not sure if that made a difference but anyway made good financial sense to me.
As far as comfort I sometimes drove about 400 miles in one go and wasn't particularly tired at the end of it considering I spent 8 or 9 hours in it in a day.Something to think about.

newmug

Take 9500 of your money and put it in the credit union, and keep 500. Then go out and buy a MK3 diesel golf van. They have a 1.9 engine, miser on juice, and commercial tax. For the saloon version, get a vento. They're so solid, you could use it as a bomb shelter if WW3 ever breaks out. It'll be old, a 90's car, but it'll never let you down. They're still around for a reason.:cool: