Car (for me) that does 45 mpg and better

peasant

I'm kinda half thinking about buying a cheap second car for the daily commute.
It's 35 km one way with bits of dual carriageway, bits of town (not much) and lots of bends and hills on a dangerous but otherwise good road.

In order to make it worth my while there are a few conditions that the car must fulfill (in order of priority)
1) real life 45 mpg or better ...diesel or petrol doesn't matter
2) it has to be reasonably safe in a crash (so no Peugot 106 / Saxo / Cinquecento or anything like them that crumbles like a coke can)
3) looong NCT, preferably brand new
4) tax no more than 500 Euro p.a (i.e max 1.6 liter in old money, no 1.9 tiddldieye). Easy to insure.
5) price ..the cheaper the better, max 3 - 4 k for a really good one
6) no sky high mileage ...I want to put on some more
7) some sembleance of "fun" or "driveability" would be nice, same goes for a reputation of "reliability" (but as these are all very subjective they come last)

Other than that I'd consider almost anything ...from a Fiat Panda to a 1.6 ex an post Berlingo van ...all it has to carry is myself and a bit of shopping every now and then. Bonus points for something that noone else drives (or would drive ). Extra bonus points for a nice interior.
to repeat ...the object is to save money in the long run, so the above criteria must be adhered to, otherwise it makes no sense. Sadly this rules out all the tempting bangernomics barges.

Now hit me with your suggestions :pac:

EPM

Fiat Doblo? It's...quirky...

peasant

EPM wrote: »

Fiat Doblo? It's...quirky...

Yepp ..I'd consider the 1.3 diesel. But most vans I've seen have had a hard life and passenger versions are out of my price range (still)

VolvoMan

You seem like a man who values practicality, and therefore I think a Mk1 Yaris should fit the bill. Either that or you could look at an early Honda Jazz.

Owen

Smart ForTwo!

biko

2005 Aygo.
Price: €3,500
Lady owner, full service history, 70mpg, nct 09/11, tax €144 per year.



MPG seems exaggerated but they can do 50 apparently.

peasant

VolvoMan wrote: »

You seem like a man who values practicality

Correct, and good suggestions, thanks.

But in this case I'm also open to non practical solutions ...I will keep the abundantly practical van anyway. If they were cheaper I'd looove a Smart Roadster or Daihatsu Copen ...but sadly they ain't

Guy:Incognito

biko wrote: »

2005 Aygo.
Price: €3,500
Lady owner, full service history, 70mpg, nct 09/11, tax €144 per year.



MPG seems exaggerated but they can do 50 apparently.

Couple of hundred more will get an 06 C1 . May aswell take advantage of peoples negativity towards French cars. Plus it would have a nice double Chevron'd front end

Mmmm, spending €3000 to €4000 but limiting yourself to max 1600cc in a diesel is a tough one, really hard to find any value there. You'd have lots more choice spending €2500 to €3500 and paying the extra in roadtax for a 1.9 or 2.0 I reckon. You're currently eliminating 2.0 406s, C5s, all VAG stuff, Rover 75s, Mondeos etc. For your criteria a 1.8 diesel Focus just about sneaks in ish but that engine is a bit of a dog.

1.4HDi etc have too much bad value in their prices in that price category I think.

'twill mainly be quite small petrols that qualify on the mpg criteria.

Bigus

biko wrote: »

2005 Aygo.
Price: €3,500
Lady owner, full service history, 70mpg, nct 09/11, tax €144 per year.



MPG seems exaggerated but they can do 50 apparently.

Those Aygos are great fun to drive with a revvy 3 cylinder that sounds sporty unlike a 3 cyl corsa or polo. they will do 60 mpg with practice.

Owen

They've the tax wrong anyway, minimum tax on a pre-08 is 172 for the Year.

alias no.9

Edit: sorry, just saw the mileage on that one

peasant

RoverJames wrote: »

Mmmm, spending €3000 to €4000 but limiting yourself to max 1600cc in a diesel is a tough one, really hard to find any value there. You'd have lots more choice spending €2500 to €3500 and paying the extra in roadtax for a 1.9 or 2.0 I reckon. You're currently eliminating 2.0 406s, C5s, all VAG stuff, Rover 75s, Mondeos etc.
1.4HDi etc have too much bad value in their prices in that price category I think.

All perfectly true (and mulled over many times) but buying a cheaper, bigger diesel basically kills any resale value (on top of the higher running cost). And at that point it's just cheaper to keep driving my van and forget about the second car.

Graham_B18C

peasant wrote: »

All perfectly true (and mulled over many times) but buying a cheaper, bigger diesel basically kills any resale value (on top of the higher running cost). And at that point it's just cheaper to keep driving my van and forget about the second car.

I must ask, when you refer to yout Van, do you drive the Camper as a daily?!

peasant

alias no.9 wrote: »

Just about within budget with some bargaining

Sorry, no ...even I have limits
Brilliant car by all accounts ...but so ugly ...and a baby-puke ferry on top ..thanks but no thanks

EDIT ..t'was a Citroen Picasso

peasant

Graham_B18C wrote: »

I must ask, when you refer to yout Van, do you drive the Camper as a daily?!

Indeed I do ...and it's not a camper

ottostreet

MX-5? OK, it doesn't do 45mpg, but it should be pretty cheap to run, and still be fun.

colm_mcm

Mk1 yaris d-4d?

What's your budget?

Graham_B18C

peasant wrote: »

Indeed I do ...and it's not a camper

Kudos to you sir! I always thought it was a camper.

The Aygo posted above looks like a great suggestion

peasant

Graham_B18C wrote: »

The Aygo posted above looks like a great suggestion

I like this Citwoen ...IT'S WED !

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201114201874642

Graham_B18C wrote: »

Kudos to you sir! I always thought it was a camper.

Nope, it's a 5-seater ...and 4WD

Shane732

peasant wrote: »

I like this Citwoen ...IT'S WED !

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201114201874642




Nope, it's a 5-seater ...and 4WD

What's the van your driving at the moment?

I don't know the mpg etc... of these but maybe:

1. 04-05 Mitsubishi Colt
2. 04-05 Fiat Panda

If you could stretch your budget a little bit maybe you could look at an 02 - 03 Mini Cooper. I used to have a 1.6 Cooper and it used to get 38 mpg pretty easily. I used to drive that car pretty hard and would always come in around the 38 mpg. You'd certainly have more fun in a Cooper than a Colt or a Panda.

It's a proper car to drive and it'd put a smile on your face every time you sat into it.

Even still I miss the thrill I used to get out of my Cooper and then JCW. You could just throw it at anything and it'd stick to the road!

Go for it!!

Tragedy

You drove an outback or forester didn't you? 2.5l if i'm not mistaken

Owen

Those FIAT Idea's aren't bad actually.

Alanstrainor

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Sorted Low mileage, fun, safe, funky looking.




http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2033524

I want it!

They're supposed to be woeful on juice though i thought?

Guy:Incognito

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Sorted Low mileage, fun, safe, funky looking.




http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2033524

Looks a bit like an ankle boot in the black with the tinted windows.

unkel

peasant wrote: »

All perfectly true (and mulled over many times) but buying a cheaper, bigger diesel basically kills any resale value (on top of the higher running cost). And at that point it's just cheaper to keep driving my van and forget about the second car.

Isn't it cheaper to forget about a second car anyway? What kinda MPG does your syncro do? Must be at least 30MPG on your commute, no? Care to share with us the deliberations you mulled over many times?

Your commute is 70km per day so with 220 working days per year, it's 15.4k km. With diesel at €1.45, the difference between a 45MPG and a 30MPG car is only €700 per year. Buying a cheap frugal runabout will set you back much, much more per year in total costs than that...

VolvoMan

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Those FIAT Idea's Panda's aren't bad actually.

FYP.

delly

An '05 Almera 1.5 with 92k km on the clock. NCT until Feb 2013 and a couple of months tax. Well specced and a decent size with 42 MPG claimed so not far off the 45 mark. All for €4k asking. Link

bazz26

Something a little different:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201103200966460

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1604887

or this

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201021198134177

peasant

unkel wrote: »

Isn't it cheaper to forget about a second car anyway? What kinda MPG does your syncro do? Must be at least 30MPG on your commute, no? Care to share with us the deliberations you mulled over many times?

Your commute is 70km per day so with 220 working days per year, it's 15.4k km. With diesel at €1.45, the difference between a 45MPG and a 30MPG car is only €700 per year. Buying a cheap frugal runabout will set you back much, much more per year in total costs than that...

The Syncro does 34 mpg currently.

The other idea behind getting a second car is to get the Syncro off the road every now and then and to sort of give it a "rolling restoration" to nearly new condition. (so basically costing lots of money )

In order to justify that to myself the daily driver should be as cheap as possible to run and have a bit of resale value once I'm finished with it.

alias no.9

You could look for something like a Clio 1.5DCi from the north. Rare as hens teeth over here but will do 60mpg+, are comfortable, and vrt should only be a couple of hundred on an early one.

Vicxas

Toyota corollas are easy on petrol, so are VW Polos.

Cookie_Monster

delly wrote: »

An '05 Almera 1.5 with 92k km on the clock. NCT until Feb 2013 and a couple of months tax. Well specced and a decent size with 42 MPG claimed so not far off the 45 mark. All for €4k asking. Link

I got 99mpg outa mine once

but the average was much lower, 34-36 was best long term so prob not ideal

Vikings

Have you thought about a bike? I always find myself mulling that idea over.

Much cheaper running costs, and if you pick up a cheap enough bike your initial costs will be around the same as buying a car when you factor the IBT and gear etc. and with no passengers to carry then why not?

Failing that I have no suggestions sorry

Ferris

C5 1.6hdi VTR?
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2032753


Miles might be a bit high but you get the idea.