Recommend a car for 1000+ miles a week

towelly

My Golf GTI just won't cut it anymore

I have the offer of a free old Nissan Almera 1.5L petrol, which I'd be happy enough to take under normal circumstances, but that's not really going to do it either.

I'd most likely buy second hand, say €5k, more if I can get a decent car. Whatever I get I'll be hammered with depreciation so I don't want to spend a fortune up front. Or I'll consider some sort of finance lease with unlimited mileage if the terms aren't a load of ****.

Any thoughts? Should I move house?

MuppetCheck

A thousand miles a week is tough going. About 1600km, I do 1000-1200 a week and am constantly shagged tired tbh. If you have no ties during the week get somewhere closer. You could still go home a night a week if you wanted and probably keep your car too.

slinky2000

Are you doing these miles all at once at the weekend say or are you doing 200 odd miles a day?

towelly

slinky2000 wrote: »

Are you doing these miles all at once at the weekend say or are you doing 200 odd miles a day?

200 a day on the motorway / dual carriageway.

towelly

slinky2000 wrote: »

Are you doing these miles all at once at the weekend say or are you doing 200 odd miles a day?

200 miles a day on the motorway / dual carriageway.

commited

For 1000 miles per week, I'd be looking for the best combination of the following:
- MPG
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Low depreciation
The above adds up to looking for something <€3k there are only 2 options I'd be looking at:
Volvo S60 D5 - relatively bullet proof, economical and comfortable. Make sure you look at a euro 3 model (up to early 05) as there is no DPF. Only downside in Ireland is the tax, but it's only €1/day more than a 2.0l...
Rover 75 diesel - similar to the above points, just slower and not quite as good overall.

Other suggestion would be Passat TDI but tbh I'd rather pay a bit more tax and be in a D5 all day long.

bazz26

I wouldn't spend anywhere near €5k on a car for this type of driving initially anyway. Given the miles and time you will be doing, you might not be able to stick it for long. With racking up 1000+ miles a week your €5k car will devalue very quickly to near worthless especially if you decide the job is worth the hassle.

I'd probably try and find something like a clean Peugeot 406 diesel for small money. They are a good reliable and comfortable car and generally they go for a lot less than a similar VAG TDi. It will also have already suffered from the heaviest depreciation so it should do the job while giving you time to decide if you want to stick the daily commute out or decide to live closer to the job. Then you can decide if you want to buy something a bit newer.

towelly

Thanks lads, I was looking at VAG TDi's but the S60 and 406 are great suggestions.