A Comfortable Car & Cheap To Run

There are too many variables to try to stick within a twelve pence per mile "budget," and we should also consider depreciation.

If we assume that petrol costs 85 pence per litre and you'll average 35 mpg, this comes to approximately 11 pence per mile. But if petrol increases to

If you've had the Peugeot 406 from new and it's now worth £3,000 (say), how do your 140,000 miles of petrol compare with the loss in depreciation? How much was it - let us suppose it was £15,000 to keep the maths easy. You've lost £12,000 in depreciation, around 8.6 pence per mile. Your fuel cost has been £15,400.

If you cover around 40,000 miles a year, you should seriously consider ditching conventional petrol engines and opting for something diesel or LPG. Using 85 pence per litre but with 50 mpg, your cost per mile in fuel drops to under 8 pence.

Finally, when you say "comfort," what do you mean? A smooth motorway ride, a quiet engine at a cruise, or good air conditioning and a heater for the winter, or good seats? I would struggle to recommend the Neon although the air conditioning is very powerful.

For cheap servicing, the "mainstream" makes are better. The more mainstream the better, so the more units sold the cheaper parts tend to be. That means Ford and Vauxhall. Renault, Peugeot, Citroen tend to be more expensive - Japanese cars, well you shouldn't need so many repairs but parts tend to be expensive... The above is going on experience with the company car fleets. I did want a 406 TD myself but the regular servicing was around half as much again as the Mondeo TD.

The Focus has all of the bases cover, but you should also seriously consider the previous generation Astra. This is nearly as good as the Focus in most respects, but it's always cheaper (sometimes much cheaper) as a used buy. Both the Focus and the Astra have a good range of petrol and diesel engines. If you're wanting an economical motorway car, the 1.6 petrol Focus or either diesel (the TDCi models are better than the TDDi donks). It's similar with the Astra, the 1.7 DTI is newer but very economical, the 2.0 DTI offers good performance and economy, and the 1.6 petrol has the bases covered.

Anyway I think I've asked more questions than I've answered.....

Mk2 Ford Mondeo. Very cheap to buy - £3k gets a mint condition late V/W/X plate range topper with leather, ac, etc etc, very reliable, suprisingly good fuel economy (40-45mpg on the Motorway), and cheap parts.

Home Servicing?

Hmm, I was going to recommend the Mitsubishi Carisma GDI, but not with home servicing. Those coilpacks (4 of 'em) are £80 each, IIRC.

Richard

RichardK ( snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMbtconnect.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

As a cure for insomnia?

A Mk2 Mondeo if you're absolutely sure the clutch is OK as they are really expensive to replace. Otherwise, a Primera 2.0 from 1997 to 1999, they still rate 5 stars out of 5 for reliability in What Car? magazine.

Maybe - I had one once - it lost loads from depreciation and cost me an alternator - 100k with only an alternator seemed OK.

And the 12p/mile is just the petrol, as I've been bought out of the co. car scheme.

The comfort I'm after is really ease/comfort of cruising on the motorway - if it gets hot I'll open a back window, if it gets cold I'll switch the heater on. A decent seat wouldn't go amiss either as I have 'Snowboarder's bum' (Previously broken coccyx) and most seats get a bit painful after 4 hours!

They're good cars, dammit! No less interesting than a 406, Avensis/Carina, Mondeo et al.

Richard

Get another 406 if you liked that one. They have a ride and handling that equals anything else in the class, and the HDi ones are very economical.

Just what I was thinking. Now the 407 is out , the last of the 406s should be available for an attractive price , and having owned one before makes the home servicing easier.

Oh , and continuing a fine tradition , Skoda Octavia TDI

Hmm. Good cars but not very involving.

RichardK ( snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMbtconnect.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

They're tedious beyond belief. I rented one for a week. It was enough.

I used one for a year. It was forgettable, but handled well, carried everything I wanted, and returned 44mpg reliably.

Only thing I hated was the awful interior trim.

Now: For the same reliability and economy, I would actually choose a Mk II Golf GTI, but I feel that the Carisma is very unfairly dismissed.

Richard

recon you either got a 1.6 or it had something wrong with it..

my 1.8 GDI GLX was a fantastic drive, best car ive ever owned. and great fun on the twisties.. I know several people who after a blatt in mine gave them serious consideration as their cars came up for replacement.

Loopy

loopy livernose ( snipped-for-privacy@Hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I have no idea if it was a 1.6 or 1.8. I couldn't have cared less. It wasn't very slow or fast, it wasn't very bad or good. It wasn't very... anything.

It was just plain boring. I seem to vaguely recall it was blue.

Had you or they actually ever driven something, anything else?

Interior trim in it's cousin the Volvo S40 1.8i (same GDi engine, similar economy) is a lot better - leather on many of them (mine had it).

Sure it was the GDi? Seriously good motor.

You're Rob "buy a Honda Civic, it has a great engine" and I claim my tenner prize! :)

Yep, I haven't experienced an S40 though, so I recommend the Carisma. I figure they were cheap cars, but also, they're faster depreciating because of the negative image.

Richard