Comfortable Car for the 800km Per-Week Commute

SachaJ

Hi all.....

I know it's been asked a fair few times and I'm going back over previous threads to find suggestions. Not found much (yet) for my particular needs.....

I'm currently doing a commute in a '09 X-Trail which I'm going to have to change to an MPV (3 kids under 4 so all in seats). This means I need to get a car for myself for the commute of around 700km to 800km a week.

I'd want a diesel and €5k might be my budget. The commute itself is around 80% motorway and can take 1 hour in the summer and averaging an extra 15 or 20 minutes in the winter (when the kids are back) depending on traffic and accidents on the M50. So could be 10 - 13 hours a week in the car.

I'd like something comfortable and a max of a 1.9 or 2.0 engine as with my budget, I'll be in the "cc" tax bands. The X-Trail doesn't have cruise control which I miss so would like that. I find the X-Trail quite loud also and I have to ramp up the stereo so it would be great to have low road noise.

Cars I'm thinking of are in the family size (ish) like the A4, 320D, Octavia, Passat, Avensis and so on. Other important things of course are MPG, maintenance costs and reliability.

What do I get for €5k (or so) that suits my needs?

bladespin

Mondeo - ticks every box there, one of the most comfortable cars I've ever driven.

Tea 1000

320d and A4 are small, and the Octavia is a bit cramped in terms of width too. Why isn't the X-Trail big enough? They're big...

Celly Smunt

Diesel 159?

Dublinstiofán

What about a Skoda Superb? If you get one that's had its dodgy clutch done
it ticks all the boxes

Bpmull

My dad has a 05 octavia 1.9tdi and he does a good bit of driving about 40k km per year but it varies. He has the car almost a year and a half loves it. 200k km on it and runs like a clock. Total maintance cost so far outside of normal oil and filter 2 cv boots 100 euro. I'd get the facelift model if I was you they came out 05 onwards.

Also a good bet would be a 05 onwards 1.7 astra.

skyhighflyer

I would look at a Volvo S60 D5 auto. The most comfy seats I've sat on: big solid car with nice comfy leather armchairs, job done. Get a nice one for around eur4k, the 1k saved in your budget will cover the tax difference between that and a 2 litre car for 3 years.

Wouldn't fancy doing 800k a week in an astra or Octavia to be honest, good cars and all as they are.

tw0nk

My dad has the old superb, 1.9 tdi, really comfortable and lots of leg room, great commuter car. They usually come with climate control, cruise control, symphony sound system, cant fault it on spec. Road noise is very low if you stick with the standard wheel size, boot is ridiculously big, lots of room for people in bad seats. The 1.9tdi is quite easy on fuel too for the size of the car, again depends on how you drive it.

The old man has had no problems with it since '05 and its still motoring along.

_Kaiser_

Did a 1000km a week commute in a 06 2.0 TDI Passat for a year (including the bad winter of 2010). Never put a wheel wrong, very comfortable and if maintained properly, very reliable. In all I racked up about 200,000km in it (245k km when I sold it recently) and never had any real issues beyond wear and tear stuff for that mileage.

Costs wise it was about €100 a week to fill and I'd get about 1000-1100km out of that of 95% motorway miles

Plenty of rear seat space and huge boot.

SachaJ

Tea 1000 wrote: »

320d and A4 are small, and the Octavia is a bit cramped in terms of width too. Why isn't the X-Trail big enough? They're big...

Won't take 3 child seats across the back so it has to make way

SachaJ

tw0nk wrote: »

My dad has the old superb, 1.9 tdi, really comfortable and lots of leg room, great commuter car. They usually come with climate control, cruise control, symphony sound system, cant fault it on spec. Road noise is very low if you stick with the standard wheel size, boot is ridiculously big, lots of room for people in bad seats. The 1.9tdi is quite easy on fuel too for the size of the car, again depends on how you drive it.

The old man has had no problems with it since '05 and its still motoring along.

Funnily enough been looking at a couple of nice ones on usedcarsni. Under £4000 gets one with less then 90k miles and they look immacualte. Not sure how much the VRT would be though.

Mycroft H

Citroen C5 2.0hdi? Comfy economical mile muncher.

Means Of Escape

BMW 745LI

R.O.R

me bolly wrote: »

BMW 745LI

:rolleyes: There's always one (usually more tbh)

SachaJ wrote: »

Won't take 3 child seats across the back so it has to make way

Do you need something that will take 3 seats across the back, if you are getting an MPV as well? Likelyhood is that if you are going out as a family, then you'll take the MPV, and the new motor will be used for commuting or popping to the shops at the weekend.

I've a similar commute, clocking around 700km per week, mainly motorway. My requirements would be:

Long Service Intervals - Service time doesn't be long coming around at that sort of mileage.

Comfy seats, with decent lumbar support, and a functional armrest.

Decent Radio, preferably with some sort of USB / Aux function for a music player.

Large fuel tank - last thing you want to be doing on the way in / way home, is filling the bloody tank again.

I'd question the need for Cruise Control. I have it, but never use it. At rush hour, traffic speed varies so much that you'd be engaging and disengaging the cruise every few seconds - much easier to just use the throttle pedal.

With that sort of budget, I'd probably be searching out a 1.9Tdi Superb. If looked after, will do big miles with no complaints. Generally have a decent level of internal specification. 30k service intervals, which will be no issue at all doing 35,000km + per year, think it's got a 55/60 litre tank (at least 800km to a tank, probably nearer 1,000, possibly even over).

Doesn't need to be a rocket, as long as it's able to cruise comfortably at 90-120km/h, it doesn't really matter how long it takes to get to that speed.

Idbatterim

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-320d/5542588 this doesnt look to bad...

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/320-D-VC/37713764770248220/advert?channel=CARS

_Kaiser_

Idbatterim wrote: »

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-320d/5542588 this doesnt look to bad...

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/320-D-VC/37713764770248220/advert?channel=CARS

Ah come on man.. he needs a decent motorway cruiser with space for a few kids. A 3 series won't cut that. Even a 5 of that vintage would be pushing it due to poor rear legroom.

Idbatterim

Ah come on man.. he needs a decent motorway cruiser with space for a few kids. A 3 series won't cut that. Even a 5 of that vintage would be pushing it due to poor rear legroom.

the Op mentioned a 320d himself, a4 etc... There may be an issue with fitting 3 child seats in the back granted! He doesnt want bigger than 2L understandably...

Ah come on man.. he needs a decent motorway cruiser with space for a few kids.

what obvious nail on the head cars am I missing?...

FYI the E90 3 series is 71.5 inch wide, the same vintage passat is 68.5 up to 2005 and the newer model 71.7...

SachaJ

Yes the MPV would be the wife's car which would also be used for going anywhere as a family. Probably get in the region of €10k-€12k for the X-Trail so will spend that on the MPV (maybe an Alhambra or something).

I'll then get the saloon type diesel for the commute. I guess it will occasionally need to carry a couple of kids (but not all 3).

derry

I would look to spend the money on good 2000cc petrol car preferably Avensis or most any2000cc Asain made car will generally do and convert it over to LPG
Petrol cars tend to be more silent and on LPG cost less per mile than even diesels do .The ability to get good big petrol's cheaper exists probaly newer models than diesel while ROI has luv affair with diesel and hasn't caught up on the new petrol's with very good MPG and the LPG are often cheaper again than the diesels
Avensis petrol cars are often exceeding 300,000 miles so the pedigree is they are they are generally reliable and fairly cheap to maintain and service .

Derry