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Any - Which car to buy? - Chrish1985
My car has died and therefore I need to buy a new one but would really appreciate some advice. I travel 40 miles each way to work and back every day. 30 of these are on a fairly quiet motorway (travelling at about 85mph throughout) and the remaining 10miles is A and B roads where I probably average about 45-50 mph. I want to know what car would be most economical for this type of journey? My previous car (which I was lucky enough to get for free) was not at all economical and was costing me about £75 a week in petrol and over £200 in road tax. Any advice gratefully received. Open minded as to the type of car but rather not something massive.
Any - Which car to buy? - badbusdriver

Probably the most important piece of information would be, what is your budget?.

Any - Which car to buy? - daveyjp
Have you ever made the link between £75 a week in fuel and 85mph? Also be aware smart motorways are now getting 24/7 speed cameras to enforce the 70 limit.

As above need a budget, but if its decent i.e 5 figures, 400+ miles a week is probably diesel territory.
Any - Which car to buy? - Chrish1985
A fair comment but don’t have the patience to sit at 70 on an empty road! I have £3-4K but would consider finance if more cost effective in the long run. Thanks
Any - Which car to buy? - badbusdriver

I think the point is that most cars will use quite a bit more fuel travelling at 85mph instead of 70mph. And of course the added bonus is that you won't get done for speeding!.

£3-4K is not a huge sum of money so you really want to be looking at something simple and reliable with reasonable fuel consumption. Here are some options you might want to consider,

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www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=year-desc&...y New&onesearchad=New&make=HONDA&model=CIVIC&price-from=3000&price-to=4000&maximum-mileage=80000&fuel-type=Petrol&minimum-badge-engine-size=1.2&maximum-badge-engine-size=1.6&transmission=Manual&exclude-writeoff-categories=on

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=year-desc&...y New&onesearchad=New&make=FORD&model=FOCUS&price-from=3000&price-to=4000&maximum-mileage=80000&fuel-type=Petrol&minimum-badge-engine-size=1.2&maximum-badge-engine-size=1.6&transmission=Manual&exclude-writeoff-categories=on

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Any - Which car to buy? - Chrish1985
I have £3-4K but would consider finance if more cost effective in the long run. Thanks
Any - Which car to buy? - SteveLee

I'd get a 2007ish Fiesta Zetec 1.6 petrol manual. Easy 50+mpg on a run, many come with leather and lots of toys, reliable simple car, surprisingly good motorways cars and fun to drive.

Any - Which car to buy? - daveyjp
50+, but not at 85mph!
Any - Which car to buy? - argybargy

I'd get a 2007ish Fiesta Zetec 1.6 petrol manual. Easy 50+mpg on a run, many come with leather and lots of toys, reliable simple car, surprisingly good motorways cars and fun to drive.

+ 1 to that. Mine was a great car, and if it hadn't been for the whining sound from the passenger seat I would never have given it up.

Any - Which car to buy? - SLO76
With that sort of commute I’d borrow to buy a decent diesel Honda Civic. Stick with Honda dealer approved used stock for the best cars and 12mth warranty. These are fantastic on fuel, really don’t go wrong and will always be sellable even with a heavy six figure mileage up as long as you maintain it properly.

Forget diesel at your £3.5k budget and go for petrol but factoring in the higher fuel and tax costs here it does make sense to borrow to buy newer. The Honda 1.6 Diesel is one of the few modern DPF equipped diesels I’ll recommend.

Highstreet banks are lending £7.5k upwards from as little as 2.8% APR so forget costly dealer finance or daft PCP deals which are vastly more expensive in almost every case. You can even take out a Sainsbury’s credit card with interest free on purchases for the first 31mths and dealers are no longer able to charge you for paying by card so this could be a very cheap way to buy.

Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20171115127...0

Edited by SLO76 on 26/01/2018 at 23:54

Any - Which car to buy? - RaineMan

When I attended a Speed Awareness Course one person there had been caught doing 78 mph on the M3. He had held the view that anything up to +10% + 2 mph was OK but found it was not! Someone else I know was caught on an empty motorway - he says he has no idea where the police car came from. You obviously need a car for work so maybe one with cruise control might be an idea!

Any - Which car to buy? - Avant

"When I attended a Speed Awareness Course one person there had been caught doing 78 mph on the M3."

That could just be what he told you....

Any - Which car to buy? - nellyjak

78mph on a Motorway...and on a speed awareness course.???...I don't think so.

He wouldn't even be stopped by the county mounties at 78mph.

As for the OP's original question.?...at your budget go petrol...and if you want the best chances of reliability ...go Japanese

Edited by nellyjak on 29/01/2018 at 07:50

Any - Which car to buy? - Engineer Andy

78mph on a Motorway...and on a speed awareness course.???...I don't think so.

He wouldn't even be stopped by the county mounties at 78mph.

As for the OP's original question.?...at your budget go petrol...and if you want the best chances of reliability ...go Japanese

Bear in mind that the '10% +2mph' so-called 'rule' is nothing more than a local one that certain Police forces use as a guide for them to pull over/prosecute drivers - i.e. its what they 'consider' to be speeding so that an inaccuracy in the speed gun or camera. If I recall correctly, some forces use 5% +2mpg, and apparently one or two may now even use 1mph over the prescribed limit.

I bet most people a) don't know what the 'limits' are in each county/Police force area or b) even if they've crossed from one county/area to another (not all boundaries are signposted).

If I were the OP, whatever they get/use as their replacement car, don't hammer it down the motorway etc thinking they'll 'get away with it because everyone else is doing it'. If you do get nicked, or even given the option of going on a 'speed awareness course' your insurance will almost certainly go up quite a bit, though less so with the second option (some insurers don't at all, but I suspect less will over time).

Rather than be in a hurry and drive at 90 etc, just leave home 3-5 mins earlier, drive respeonsibly at or below the speed limit (as the circumstances dictate for safety [for everyone]) and reduce your fuel use by 25%, maybe more (even in a diesel), which could be spent on getting a better/newer car.

Any - Which car to buy? - Manatee

It used to be an ACPO agreed policy but it has always been possible to get done below the 10%+2. ACPO was dissolved in 2015 but has been replaced by NPCC. No idea whether they have a similar shared policy.

ISTR that the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire was blethering a couple of years ago about making his stretch of the M1 zero tolerance.

I keep meaning to write to him and suggest he tries to enforce 10%+2 on the non-car-derived vans on the A421 between MK and the Black Cat. None of these drivers appear to know they are limited to 60 and almost almost all are doing c. 80.

Thread drift.

Any - Which car to buy? - NARU

"When I attended a Speed Awareness Course one person there had been caught doing 78 mph on the M3."

That could just be what he told you....

I worked with someone who was done for 32mph in a 30 limit. When he wasn't believed, he brough the paperwork in. I was done for parking facing the wrong way at night (in a line of cars) in the same area.

It was near a training school for local police - I don't know if that had a bearing on the harsh treatment.

Any - Which car to buy? - daveyK_UK

You may get lucky at auction and get a Skoda rapid/Seat toledo 1.2 tsi for that kind of money.

it will have on it decent mileage at that price but it wouldnt put me off if it had full service history.

Not a fan of VAG cars after far too many friends and staff have had awful experiences, but the Rapid/Toledo has been excellent.