You don't need good mpg for low running costs if you only do 100 miles a week. The difference between a 20mpg car and a 40mpg car will be a couple of quid a week tops.
Take advantage of the fact everyone assumes they need a tiny, crappy hatchback and buy something large and comfortable for less money.
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In my view, the OP can get a medium sized car that will suit his purpose nicely. An Astra or similar would be ideal, given the budget. They are usually cheap to fix when they go wrong, and the diesel engine in them is pretty good, if not super quick. They are relatively comfortable if my memory serves me right (10K in a hire car once, commuting the 60 mile round trip to work up and over the Pennines on the A62).
Its the road tax that costs the money these days- the Astra is in band C, so provided the car is a post March 2001 (and for the budget, that should be possible), the RFL is only £115 for the year.
I'm sticking with the Astra suggestion - but if you want an executive car, what about an Omega in your price range?
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The difference between a 20mpg car and a 40mpg car will be a couple of quid a week tops.
Petrol's about £4.5/gallon, so a 20MPG car will use 5 gallons, a 40MPG one 2 1/2, so the difference is about £11.25.
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Petrol's about £4.5/gallon so a 20MPG car will use 5 gallons a 40MPG one 2 1/2 so the difference is about £11.25.
Exactly. You can't even buy a takeaway pizza for that, which puts it into perspective. If you do low mileage you are lucky in that fuel costs become largely irrelevent and you can easily afford to own all sorts of things you wouldnt otherwise be able to justify.
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>>If you do low mileage you are lucky in that fuel costs become largely irreleventand you can easily afford to own all sorts of things you wouldnt otherwise be able to justify.
If £600 a year is irrelevant to you I could find a use for it?
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If £600 a year is irrelevant to you I could find a use for it?
In the context of buying, insuring and running a £2000 car.
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>> Petrol's about £4.5/gallon so a 20MPG car will use 5 gallons a 40MPG one 2 >> 1/2 so the difference is about £11.25. Exactly. You can't even buy a takeaway pizza for that which puts it into perspective.
It's all money, and more than "a couple of quid a week tops" to the OP who specified "good MPG", for either "Green" or economy reasons, or both. I have no idea what a "takeaway pizza" costs, I don't buy such junk.
If you do low mileage you are lucky in that fuel costs become largely irrelevent
Nearly £600 per annum on fuel is not the entire cost of buying "something large and comfortable", either.
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It's all money
So is the amount extra you'd have to spend to buy a similar age and mileage Ford Fiesta, Ford Ka or Vauxhall Corsa becuase the rules of supply and demand are such that these cars attract a price premium at less than £2k.
Many people who buy a sub £2k car thinks they want a little engine becuase they wont be doing many miles. That or they are new drivers who want something Group 1 insurance without bothering to run any quotes. So they purchased based in accurate perceptions. This increases demand for such cars, which has a detrimental effect on price.
Meanwhile, nobody wants a 1.8 litre Mondeo or a Honda Accord. They perceive them to be thirsty and expensive to run. Which at 20k a year they are but at 5k a year they are not. So demand for these cars drops - considerably. And so to does their price.
The other day I found an X registered Mondeo 2 litre Ghia X for £1500 with less than 100k miles on the clock. It is comfortable, very reliable, loaded with kit and will return 25mpg around town. It was £1500.
How much is an X registered Ford Fiesta 1.25? I'll tell you how much - more than £1500, thats for sure.
That puts your £600 a year fuel saving into perspective, doesn't it?
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How much is an X registered Ford Fiesta 1.25? I'll tell you how much - more than £1500 thats for sure.
A brief glance at Atuto Trades shows many available cheaper, although this is departing from the point.
That puts your £600 a year fuel saving into perspective doesn't it?
No. There are other cars of comparable size to the one you mention available for the same money which are far more economical. The original point still stands - the OP said that he wants an economical car (for whatever reason).
No-one mentioned smaller cars such as "Ford Fiesta Ford Ka or Vauxhall Corsa" as being the sole option, bar yourself.
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No.There are other cars of comparable size to the one you mention available for the same money which are far more economical. The original point still stands - the OP said that he wants an economical car (for whatever reason).
The OP said they want a 'SMALL RUNAROUND'. Hence my posts. Pick whatever large car you like, doesn't bother me, point is still the same. Pick a 1.9TD if you want to pay way over the odds for something to get 'amazing mpg' if you want, as well - the point remains that small = poor value.
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The difference between a 20mpg car and a 40mpg car will be a couple of quid a week tops.
Make that a couple of quid a *day* tops.
EDIT - you beat me to the draw FT...
Edited by Manatee on 03/01/2008 at 22:21
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EDIT - you beat me to the draw FT...
Oops! Sorry, Manatee... but if he gets a 1.7DTi Astra (maybe estate, maybe Y-reg for that money) it'll do about 50MPG (work that one out!), pull a small trailer easily, etc.
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I'm I hoping too much to find something in the new £35 tax bracket?
In which case you'll be looking at cars registered on or after 01 March 2001.
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Sometimes I really do despair!
someone comes on here and ask for help in choosing a small runaround and before you know it the advice is for a family saloon. If someone wants a small car then that's what they want. There can be loads or reasons ie easier parking, lack of space outside the house or even just happier with a small car - it's their money after all.
MichaelR bigger isn't always better although it looks like you go for the 14" pizza every time if you can't get one for less than that!
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If someone wants a small car then that's what they want.
This is the worst attitude someone can have. This sort of attitude stumps progress and we are lucky the forward thinkers in the history of this country didn't have such an attitude.
The OP receives opinions. They are entitled to ignore or listen to whichever ones they want. The OP perceives they require a small car. We do nowt know how or why they decided this. Where is the harm therefore in recommending alternatives they may not even have considered? I know many people who say they want a small car simply becuase they assume a large car will be many times more expensive to run. They do no research into this, they simply assume.
You should see some of the rubbish reasons people use to pick a car. I've even heard people saying things like 'Help me chose a £10k diesel Supermini, must be in lowest road tax band'. These people are daft. They actually base the decision on which £10,000 supermini to buy on whether it costs £35 a year or £110 a year to tax. Have you ever heard of anything so daft? Too many people don't bother to look at the total cost of owning a car including purchase price and realise how many things they feel are big deals (Tax, fuel) are merely incidentals dwarfed by other costs they are seemingly ignorant of.
What is wrong with providing many different options for the OP to read about?
Still I should not knock - we need people to buy horrible old Fiestas for thousands so I can buy nice cars for 25p becuase 'I ONLY NEED A SMALL CAR'.
Edited by MichaelR on 04/01/2008 at 12:54
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MichaelR if small = bad and big = good how come the Japanese become so successfull?
I really should ask my psychatrist sister what your obession with size could mean.... :)
Edited by normd2 on 04/01/2008 at 13:38
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Pizza? Mmmmmm.
If the Op wants a small thin pizza why try to load him up with a 16" meat feast deluxe stuffed whatsit and then claim it'll be better for him?
Besides, a small economical car will sell itself and hang on to a bit of money when the time comes to get rid.
More to go wrong on a big luxo barge - keep it simple and straight forward for a bit of cheap motoring.
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Thanks for all the advice - extremely surprising, useful and thought provoking.
I'm looking at the £2k as a one-off payment and keeping the car for a few years so it's really only the future running costs, reliability and cost of likely repairs that are the concern. I think I'm leaning towards the Astra....
Thanks again - brilliant forum to help out the stranded!
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If the Op wants a small thin pizza why try to load him up with a 16" meat feast deluxe stuffed whatsit and then claim it'll be better for him?
Becuase the OP may want a small thin pizza becuase he thinks 16" meat feast deluxe stuffed whatsits are way too expensive.
Therefore he will be most grateful if I tell him that Bobs Pizza's are doing 16" meat feast deluxe stuffed whatsits for half price!
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...and Bob's number is?????? do they deliver to Fife perhaps?
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The pizza stuff isn't helping.
MichaelR presents a good case for the bigger cars.
It's amazing to see how little you can buy a Lexus LS400 or GS300 for.
But I don't have one of these cars - despite the fact that I like them a great deal.
I have a Nissan Primera - which is about as big as I want, especially in width.
Also on smaller - or more mainstream cars, costs are easier to control.
Tyres for a Lexus, or a german autobahn-stormer will cost serious money, so something like a puncture could easily break your motoring monthly budget. Anything apart from routine servicing is going to scrap the car. A meaningful warranty may be difficult to get for a big high mileage car.
The cost of VED isn't really the issue - it's more a case of how cars may be targeted for tax purposes, the big cars are an obvious target. The VED class gives a guide of how the car is targeted by the tax man.
My Primera cost me about 2K, and Its been a delight to own.
So, I don't think you have to go very far up the size ladder before MichaelR's argument begins to reap sufficient rewards.
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My Primera cost me about 2K and Its been a delight to own.
And it is cars like your Primera, not a Lexus LS400, which I am advocating. My car is the wrong side of a Mondeo for cheap Motoring. It isnt cheap, even though I do 5k a year. But the Mondeo which came before it was very cheap to run.
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The OP could do worse than to do some research on Autotrader first. The latest search facility allows you to enter your postcode, how far you want to travel and your price range. It'll then return a list of all cars that meet that criteria. Next sit down with a pot of tea and a notebook, make a list of those that look like possibilities and then report back here so that the question is less open-ended.
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It also has to be said that if the OP is using the car to nip to the shops etc.. it is so much easier parking an Astra than even something thats only a little larger eg Mondeo. Its one of the reasons I like my Golf more than the Vectra I got rid of - I can chuck it in small parking spaces without worrying about the length of it...
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