I've bought a car... 0-60? Eventually
Background
When I bought the 2005 Golf Gti (only 18 months ago) I used to drive quicker - but at some point during the last year I no longer do. Whether its the realisation of my own inevitable mortality, having a daughter etc I don't know but my priorities have drastically changed in a short period. Safety, reliability and cheap running costs are now my primary concerns.
Last week and with this in mind my wife and I began thinking about swapping the golf - and then decided to work out the running costs as we were hemorrhaging money - we earn a decent wage and couldn't understand why we were in debt at the end of each month.
How much!
30 minutes in front of an excel spreadsheet soon showed where a large chunk was going!
The Golf Gti!
It does 26.7 mpg (believe me I've tried improving it but to no avail and I haven't got a heavy right foot) and we do 24k miles a year (we like to get out and about!) at £6 a gallon (super UL). So that works out at about -
£5400 ish per year on petrol alone
+ insurance + tax + warranty direct + x2 services
on top add consumables like tyres, faults etc and pretty soon your looking at around
£8000 a year.
We also knew we'd soon need another car as our daughter will soon start school and we would both no longer be able to come to work in one car.
The plan
So we decided we needed a city car and a comfortable family car - but we refused to take out a loan.
In typical dewey stylee once we'd done the research we moved quickly.
At the weekend we bought the city car...
a 2006 Toyota Aygo+ - @50mpg, Grp 1 insurance and £20 a year tax - surprisingly with only 67bhp from its 3 cylinder 1 litre engine - we are both really enjoying driving it - its got bags more character than the Golf. Its also well screwed together and surprisingly spacious.
Your help
So next up we are selling the golf and looking for a cheap to run family car - which is where you guys come in.
Budget @5k
Must be cheap tax
Diesel for good mpg
Not silly insurance
Reliable
Minimum of 4 Ncap rating
Comfortable
I know quiet a bit about cars - and I'm quite up to date on things like the JD power survey, etc I've been thinking about Honda Accords, VW Passats and even full on family man Toyota Avensis... but your suggestions on other cars not on my list and experiences of the above cars are most welcome.
BIG 'family-man' Dewey
I'm in a similar boat. Looking to ditch my old (2001, petrol) Civic this year for a newer more economical (thus probably a diesel) hatchback.
One of the cars that keeps popping up on everyone's reccomened list is the new Ford Mondeo - it's too big for me but it would fit your requirements perfectly (depending on price, natch).
The other two diesel's I've driven recently are a Seat Leon and a Ford Fiesta. The Leon was ok, nice on the motorway but the cabin wasn't great. The Fiesta however was awesome, really fab to drive and the economy was impressive.
We opted for a Megane a few years back.
Meganes for some reason are the car of choice for the Motability scheme, which means that there are a good few second-handers around with low mileage at decent prices.
The running costs are reasonably, insurance too.
I was advised to avoid the 1.6 engine as it had issues (unsure about this)
atm we have an '07 1.9 deisel. previously we had an '05 1.4 petrol which was underpowered with 3 fully grown kids in the back, but ok with just 2 of us.
I thought you were looking for a 4x4 / crossover?
Quote from: Penfold;319795I thought you were looking for a 4x4 / crossover?
Thats still the plan for next year - this year we are sorting out our finances (ie paying of loans etc).
Thanks for the suggestions, I had heard the Mondeo is a good car - but for reliability I'm veering towards Jap/German marques - I'll do some more research on Which and JD and make sure I'm not being unduly critical on said Mundano.
Thought about a Kia CEED? Not something i thought i would ever suggest, especially as I don't fully know what they are like to live with, however, their reviews have been good and I believe the whole range has the 7 year warranty, other than that, the Honda Accord you mentioned seems quite sound and I bet you can pick one up with a lot of kit too
So you have the Aygo are looking for a cheap family car and want to buy a 4x4 next year?
Why not go for a 4motion golf or something then at least that covers off the family / 4x4 :)
ah sorry I meant the Yeti would be the family car - we need x2 cars :)
I like the looks of this and the awd would help in the snow.
Pen - nice car though I'd prefer the new R 20 given the choice - but can't remember if thats AWD) - no good for me as that would do similar or less mpg - i'm guessin less!
5k for a desiesel famil car you are best looking at major brands, its not going to have much personality but it will get the job done, ie ford / vauxhall (mondy and vecra both 5* ncap i believe as you will be looking at the last gen of both cars for that money) . I know a guy who really rates the kia Cee'd but personally i couldn't bring myself to it!
or
if you shop around you may be able to pick yourself up a nice volvo or skoda diesel, the comfort levels will be higher and they are nice cars to drive
Thanks Sheepy i'll take a look at Volvo and I agree with you re Skoda - they make decent cars now.
Been looking at a VW Golf GT TDi 2005 - with @75k miles on it for just over 5k and a new shape passat SE TDi - I prefer those to Vauxhall and Ford - I just thing they are better built - also I have a fantastic Skoda garage near me who I trust - and they let me take VW cars to them - so I'm veering towards VW.
My Golf is going into the Garage tomorrow to discover why the emmisions warning light is on (its been on since I've owned it) - I figured I'd better get it turned off before I sell it!
So far I've done 220 miles in my little Aygo and I've not even used half the fuel (£40 to fill up) in it yet according to the digital display - though it may not be accurate - if I get 400 miles out of £40 I'll be over the moon :)
Been very pleased with my 2.0 TDCi Mondeo, 130ish BHP, 6 speed manual. Wookey Hole for a boot and will return an indicated 55mpg commuting to work, albeit less when the bridge calls to make smoke.
So I visit a local VW garage where they're all quite matey to see what they'll give me for my Eos. Answer £13,000. OK so I've had it for two years and bought it for £17,000 so £2k depreciation per year is OK I thought. (not bad as my Landies were losing a LOT more per month).
I see visit another VW dealer who's along the road in Guildford and ask the same question. Answer £15,000. Is it just me or that crazy? I know they wanted to sell me a car and it was the end of the month but that's a huge difference. So I sent back a rather curt note to the first dealer explaining that for the difference I can have a newer car, better specc'd (With leather, parking assist, sensors, bluetooth etc) for the same cost to me and to go take a flying jump. I've bought a few cars from them in the past and I'm a little peeved tbh.
PS> Unless I'm going mad I can't find the original Let's talk cars! thread. I think it was live before the rollback ? Either way I've renamed this thread to slightly more generic and we'll run from here.
I'd be over the moon if a new car I'd bought only had 2k depreciation over 2 years!
Quote from: Penfold;320812So I visit a local VW garage where they're all quite matey to see what they'll give me for my Eos. Answer £13,000. OK so I've had it for two years and bought it for £17,000 so £2k depreciation per year is OK I thought. (not bad as my Landies were losing a LOT more per month).
I see visit another VW dealer who's along the road in Guildford and ask the same question. Answer £15,000. Is it just me or that crazy? I know they wanted to sell me a car and it was the end of the month but that's a huge difference. So I sent back a rather curt note to the first dealer explaining that for the difference I can have a newer car, better specc'd (With leather, parking assist, sensors, bluetooth etc) for the same cost to me and to go take a flying jump. I've bought a few cars from them in the past and I'm a little peeved tbh.
PS> Unless I'm going mad I can't find the original Let's talk cars! thread. I think it was live before the rollback ? Either way I've renamed this thread to slightly more generic and we'll run from here.
Indeed I am. I wasn't too unhappy with £4k depreciation tbh so £2k is superb! It wasn't new new. It's an 08 plate so I bought it at one year old. I know I got it cheap which is bourne out in the lack of depreciation.
Quote from: Penfold;320859which is bourne out in
You've been watching too many Matt Damon films..... ;P
Perhaps it was an intentional malapropism? ...... oh well, perhaps not, I don't think that one will fly lol.
Still think you should have got the Disco 3 V8 :D
My Golf Gti is up for sale - Autotrader and Pistonheads - fingers crossed!
V8 disco - lollol good luck with that one and the oilfield needed to run it:flirty:
Yay! Gl Dewey.
I'm all done and dusted.
Sold the Eos and bought this. My head won out over my heart and so far I'm really pleased with it. I'll get some steel rims with winter tyres on them to swap out in the Autumn and then I'm good to go. :)
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Nice car Pen! Can't go wrong with a VW.