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£4/5k budget...best MPG?

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AngelGrinder
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PostPosted: 12:35 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: £4/5k budget...best MPG? Reply with quote

As per the title, I currently have an Smax that's doing 50mpg which is pretty good, but don't need such a large car any more, so having a look at a replacement. I'm 90% motorway driving, and have just moved out to the sticks, so looking for as high as possible mpg.

Quite like the look of the 2011 onwards 1.6 detec Civics, but in my budget they all seem to be 130k + miles.

Any suggestions for me? Nothing smaller than a focus/golf size.

Thanks!
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nowhere.elysium
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PostPosted: 12:42 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

My diesel Avensis claims 65-70mpg on long motorway runs. It works out at closer to 60-65, but still, it's pretty efficient fuelwise. Never gonna be an exciting car, but it does the job comfortably and relatively frugally.
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grr666
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PostPosted: 14:36 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any well maintained VAG 1.9TDI from the 2001-2009 ish era. Thus avoiding DPF technology.
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AngelGrinder
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PostPosted: 15:12 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

grr666 wrote:
Any well maintained VAG 1.9TDI from the 2001-2009 ish era. Thus avoiding DPF technology.


Websites stating around 50mpg...which is good...but ideally looking for a bit higher, the Civics, and just had a quick look at some Hyundai i30s are hitting over 70mpg fairly easily.
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grr666
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PostPosted: 15:26 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remap. My Skoda Fabia vRS used to achieve 60mpg with a little careful throttle. Couldn't get it below 40mpg even literally
ragging the clutch out of it tbh. There's the SDI which is the same lump minus the turbo and 60mpg is a minimum in one of
those. I could fill up in Bristol and the needle not even start to move until I reached the M25, my wife had one. The way she
drove it it saw high 70'sa lot of the time, I think she thinks nothing can comfortably rev past 3k. Laughing
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B5234FT
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PostPosted: 15:43 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dont get too attached to MPG ratings. The difference between 50 and 60mpg over 25k a year for example is ~£500.

You'll fairly quickly eat that up in differences in tyre sizes/costs, VED, servicing (especially if its a belt rather than a chain), or any sort of significant failure (turbo, clutch, DPF etc.)

If you really want economical motoring, you need to look at the total costs, not just MPG.
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 15:58 - 20 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

B5234FT wrote:
Dont get too attached to MPG ratings. The difference between 50 and 60mpg over 25k a year for example is ~£500.

You'll fairly quickly eat that up in differences in tyre sizes/costs, VED, servicing (especially if its a belt rather than a chain), or any sort of significant failure (turbo, clutch, DPF etc.)

If you really want economical motoring, you need to look at the total costs, not just MPG.


I do agree which I why I like a bog standard simple petrol engine. I'll take the hit in mileage (and it's not that huge a hit nowadays) for the trade off in complexity and servicing.

However I rarely do over 15000 miles a year.
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stevo as b4
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PostPosted: 00:38 - 21 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Servicing and maintenance aside, there has to be a reasonable cut off point where a diesel is a far better option. Your not realistically going to better 40mpg in a petrol Focus sized car>.

For 15'000m a year and a daily driver I wouldn't consider anything other than a decent used diesel ideally a pre DPF one, or at least a pre Euro 5/6 car where you don't have to retain the original exhaust system and emissions equipment.

A Mondeo ST or Alfa 159 2.4JTD etc would probably appeal!

Nothing wrong with a large petrol saloon, coupe or estate, if you don't really use it. In my case I could swap my 2.0 petrol car for a 7.0 big block V8 thing without it hitting me in the pocket.
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B5234FT
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PostPosted: 09:45 - 21 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not saying go and buy a v8, just that rejecting a car that 'only does' 50mpg in order to buy one that does 60 is nonsensical if that latter car has higher costs elsewhere.

That said, the OP has an Smax, which I wouldnt touch with the shitty stick due to the now out of warrantly weak ass power steering setup which is a potential £1800 dealer fix.
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Hong Kong Phooey
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PostPosted: 15:29 - 21 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

mpd72 CPT wrote:
I don’t see why people get so hung up on mpg.

The cost of buying and maintaining a £4-5k second hand diesel approaching 100k will probably exceed any fuel savings over an equivalent petrol car.
With the mileage I do, petrol cars are more reliable, cheaper to buy and nicer to drive.

Just picked up an 88,000 mile S Type 3.0 V6 Sport R Jag for £750. It’s practically mint and came with 12 months MOT. It had been garaged and not driven for 8 of the last 10 years as the owner is now too old to drive. It’s a lovely drive and has a nice spec.

I’ve spent a couple of hundred giving it a service, adding Bluetooth handsfree, DAB and Iphobe streaming, plus fixing niggles like the parking sensors and a slight misfire on one coil pack. Other than an AC top up, all the toys work.

It does 35 mpg on a run and averages almost 30 mpg overall. It has never failed an MOT and has only had advisories on slight cracking on the old front tyres. It is solid, with no rust at all and should pass MOT’s for several years to come with no serious work needed.

That would have to be one hell of a diesel to compete for cheap luxury motoring at that price, 35mpg or not.


Hope you looked under the cills for rust before buying, they're notorious.

Agree, mpg is not the be all and end all - dpf, dmf, egr, intake vanes etc are all bolt on shit that's killing diesel reliability, that's before you get into megabucks for any high pressure fuel pump or injectors.

It all depends on planned mileage, unless I'm mistaken it's still not been provided by the op.

For now anything v8, or petrol turbo with the boost cranked to the max, life is too short driving boring crap around.
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stevo as b4
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PostPosted: 19:10 - 21 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's just about being sensible and realistic, and not getting sucked into the have cake and eat it claims of both modern diesels and downsized petrol eco engined cars. Both can suffer all sorts of problems and are not suitable for all usage and driving patterns.

A good used petrol car that does a real world 40mpg+ in a car up to Golf size is as good as it gets, and the equivalent diesel that does 55mpg.

Also big V8 everythings are also not suitable for all folk and their requirements, they can't be as if they were there'd not be enough of them to go around, and that would be a a gravely serious problem!
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Old Git Racing
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PostPosted: 22:57 - 21 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Depends how many miles you do annually and the fuel cost/servicing index, added to how comfortable you want to be.
I use my car for business and pleasure, average 18k/ year. Charge it out at 45p/mile for business so it needs to do good mpg to pay for fuel/servicing/insurance etc which it does. I get it serviced at the main dealer on the dot which gives me free breakdown cover, another saving but not ever used it.
Its an ex PCP car that had 26k on it at 3 years old, loads of them about at main dealers but it was more than your budget. Mercedes C250, does 55mpg on a motorway run, rarely returns less than 50mpg.
With your budget I'd stick with the Smax and run it into the ground, you wont get something significantly better at that price, spend the 4-5k on a 2 stroke bike for weekends that does about 20mpg.

OGR.
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owl10
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PostPosted: 22:11 - 09 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

The cheapest car is usually the one you already own.

3k to 10k is a bit strange. Below that and you go in eyes wide open, its a punt - you expect issues and have budgeted accordingly (older car or last decade with mega miles)

Above that and you can buy something newish with reasonable miles.

In the middle and you may do well, or you may buy someone else's problems and be changing it again in a year.

At least with your car you know it and its recent history.

Note - I know mileage isnt the be all and end all.. (Bought an e46 330i on 176k a few years ago) But consumables like bushes wear.. Etc etc...
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struan80
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PostPosted: 12:52 - 23 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

What you need is a cruiser for motoway miles Smile

My mum has an i30 and she loves it. Her review is nothing to go by though, hers is automatic.


Last edited by struan80 on 15:04 - 23 Sep 2018; edited 1 time in total
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RhynoCZ
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PostPosted: 13:51 - 23 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't pay more now to pay less then. That never works.

Any 1.9TDi (pre-DPF) will do 60mpg, there are also crap loads of spare parts, every single mechanic in Europe (UK included, I suppose) knows how to keep these going + the amount of online tutorials and service manuals around means you can do most of the maintenance and repairs yourself. The spare parts are also ubiquitous and fairly affordable.

Audi is luxurious enough, if you don't like the slavic Skoda, or blue collar VW cars. Seat is somehow right in between all those, yet I would advise you not to get one, as that is the only car in the VAG 1.9 TDi lineup, that has many, many Seat specific parts, that are not that easily obtainable.
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B5234FT
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PostPosted: 10:37 - 24 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

RhynoCZ wrote:
Don't pay more now to pay less then. That never works.

Any 1.9TDi (pre-DPF) will do 60mpg, there are also crap loads of spare parts, every single mechanic in Europe (UK included, I suppose) knows how to keep these going + the amount of online tutorials and service manuals around means you can do most of the maintenance and repairs yourself. The spare parts are also ubiquitous and fairly affordable.

Audi is luxurious enough, if you don't like the slavic Skoda, or blue collar VW cars. Seat is somehow right in between all those, yet I would advise you not to get one, as that is the only car in the VAG 1.9 TDi lineup, that has many, many Seat specific parts, that are not that easily obtainable.


Also, none of them will actually do 60mpg as a long term average
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RhynoCZ
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PostPosted: 18:21 - 24 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

B5234FT wrote:
RhynoCZ wrote:
Don't pay more now to pay less then. That never works.

Any 1.9TDi (pre-DPF) will do 60mpg, there are also crap loads of spare parts, every single mechanic in Europe (UK included, I suppose) knows how to keep these going + the amount of online tutorials and service manuals around means you can do most of the maintenance and repairs yourself. The spare parts are also ubiquitous and fairly affordable.

Audi is luxurious enough, if you don't like the slavic Skoda, or blue collar VW cars. Seat is somehow right in between all those, yet I would advise you not to get one, as that is the only car in the VAG 1.9 TDi lineup, that has many, many Seat specific parts, that are not that easily obtainable.


Also, none of them will actually do 60mpg as a long term average


Real 60 mpg? Doubt it. The OBC saing 60 mpg? Yes they do. Toledo Mk2, Octavia Mk1 and Mk2 and I haven't seen many other VAG cars that closely. But they all look the same, weigh pretty much the same and have exactly the same engine and gearbox.

It's all about the driver. And how well the OBC is adjusted. Just with a quick OBDII action you may mess with the numbers however you want, that however won't make it real mpg.

OP doing 90% of driving on the motorway, if he keeps his speed reasonable (they say no more than 110 km/h = 68.75 mph, that's where the fuel economy goes to the crapper quickly), he'll get 60 mpg quite effortlessly.
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B5234FT
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PostPosted: 09:40 - 25 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

RhynoCZ wrote:
B5234FT wrote:


Also, none of them will actually do 60mpg as a long term average


Real 60 mpg? Doubt it. The OBC saing 60 mpg? Yes they do. Toledo Mk2, Octavia Mk1 and Mk2 and I haven't seen many other VAG cars that closely. But they all look the same, weigh pretty much the same and have exactly the same engine and gearbox.

It's all about the driver. And how well the OBC is adjusted. Just with a quick OBDII action you may mess with the numbers however you want, that however won't make it real mpg.

OP doing 90% of driving on the motorway, if he keeps his speed reasonable (they say no more than 110 km/h = 68.75 mph, that's where the fuel economy goes to the crapper quickly), he'll get 60 mpg quite effortlessly.


Sod reading the box of lies on the dash, for budgeting purposes what matters is the real figure, in the long term. Calculated as a long term average over the 100,000+ miles I've driven in them, in a huge range of conditions, you're only seeing a true 60+MPG at 65mph on a traffic free motorway if you start the journey with the car already warm.

Sure, I've done 200 miles at 60mpg following a fill on the motorway in the middle of the night, but as a long term tank average on a car used for commuting (i.e. starting from cold and seeing traffic) it's never going to happen. More like 52/53. And before you say it's all about the driver, I agree, however with 2500 hours practice, I have a pretty good idea what works and what doesn't.

You'd be foolish to budget based on 60mpg for the OPs purposes, aim for 50 and keep 5% in hand.
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