Car for 13 to 15k budget Corolla-Avensis- Fluence- Mazda- Mondeo?

kala85

Im looking at buying at second hand car and I need advice. I will be driving about 700km ( with 500km per week of this a commute to work). I am currently driving a petrol car with 6.8 to 7.2 l per 100 km ( about 7.0 l per 100km on average) and I think its 37 mpg on average over the past five years driving. I spend 80e to 85e on petrol per week. Hopefully I will reduce the fuel bill in this new car as well as I hope to hold onto it for the next five years.

Fuel economy is very important to me, reliability and maybe comfort as well.
I have looked at a good few cars so far and I have narrowed it down in the following order.

1.Toyota Corolla 1.4 diesel
2.Toyota Avensis 2.0 d4d diesel
3. Mazda 3 1.5 diesel
4.Renault fluence tom tom 1.6 diesel with two years manufactures warranty left
5. Citreon c4
6 Mitsubishi lancer or Ford Mondeo - but I thought that they were a bit big and maybe sluggish

Milage on above cars ranges from 40km to 65km.

I need advice on fuel economy for all these cars and also reliability on any of these or experiences of these. Thanks!
Whats the fluence like for reliability.
Would there be much difference in fuel mpg between a diesel corolla and an avensis

Noccy_Mondy

You're going all over the shop here. You have given three different size classes of cars.
Corolla, Mazda 3 and Lancer are one group and fluence I think? (smaller)
Avensis and Mondeo are another group (large)
And the C4, Picasso I'm assuming would be lager again.
Depends on if you need more space really. Was the Mondeo 1.6 diesel?

JohnBoy26

What about a Hyundai i30 or KIA cee'd? Both have a very good 1.6 crdi diesel engine and both are reliable and well built.

kala85

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

What about a Hyundai i30 or KIA cee'd? Both have a very good 1.6 crdi diesel engine and both are reliable and well built.

I have it narrowed down to those ones above. Thought the i30 was a bit small space wise. Might look at the ceed before the end of the week.

Thinking about the corolla. What are they like on fuel 1.4 diesel on country roads non motor way roads. Any issues I should look out for

colm_mcm

The corolla is way smaller than the i30 inside.

Ceed is pretty much the same car as the i30 so won't be any bigger.

Old diesel

colm_mcm wrote: »

The corolla is way smaller than the i30 inside.

Ceed is pretty much the same car as the i30 so won't be any bigger.

Not sure how Toyota managed to built a big enough car on the outside so bad for rear legroom :rolleyes:

IF the newer Lancers are as reliable as older Mitsubishis - and the drive suited - that's what would get my cheque - in PETROL form.

I know some will say - oh here we are saying go Petrol - but its my personal preference to pay more at the pump - if it means less risk of high repair bills.

The 1.6 CRDI in Hyundais and Kias though are quite common now - and you just don't seem to hear of them going wrong.

I think the post 07 Mondeos had the Peugeot 2.0 HDI engine - or a version of it - and Afaik - they aren't a bad engine either tbh

Don't forget OP when doing your calculations - that your shelling out a sum of money for the new first day - when comparing a newer diesel car your buying - to a petrol car you already own.

IMO - if for example the new car is costing you 15 grand - to change to - you need to factor that in - as you need to save that much imo - for it to make sense financially.

That doesn't matter so much though - if you wanted a new car anyway

kala85

Looked at the new ford focus today.looks good. 1.6 tdci engine . Any opinions on this. Looked at the corolla again. On second look it seems to be tight enough in the back.

What's the focus diesel like . Seems like a very comfortable car to sit in.

What's corolla mpg like