New (used) car suggestions.

squarehead94 · 3 Mar 2020 at 00:36

Looking to get a car in the new year. I do deliveries so over 15k miles per year.
Requirements are:
55+ mpg urban driving (short journeys along with odd long journeys
Under 6 years old
Under 100k
Under £30/Year tax
What should I look for? Reliability and comfort essential, so far looked at 15/16 plate ibiza or polo 1.2/1.4 TDI's. Anything better to look at or are they the best bang for buck?
Cheers

tom_nieto · 3 Mar 2020 at 04:01

Hybrid would be an obvious choice with lots of city driving and stop start. What’s the total budget?

[TW]Fox · 3 Mar 2020 at 07:17

55mpg urban and under £30 road tax?

I can't imagine many cars at all can manage 55mpg urban and why is the road tax so important?

Nasher · 3 Mar 2020 at 07:51

A pre-2018 hybrid with 0 road tax.

IS200h or Prius etc.

Maccy · 3 Mar 2020 at 08:21

In the new year??

squarehead94 · 3 Mar 2020 at 14:23

tom_nieto said:
Hybrid would be an obvious choice with lots of city driving and stop start. What’s the total budget?

5k. Looking at 15 plate or above. Plenty of polo 1.2 tdi's about at that price or even less (3200 is the cheapest I've seen for the 1.2 tdi in basic guise with 92k)

[TW]Fox said:
55mpg urban and under £30 road tax?

I can't imagine many cars at all can manage 55mpg urban and why is the road tax so important?

Plenty do, I drive a lupo 1.7 sdi at the mo and that does 57mpg and it's a 20 year old car. Up! And seat mii etc can achieve high 50s-low 60s city driving I just want something a tad bigger and preferably diesel. I'm told the polo/ibiza 1.2 tdi can do that too but not sure on the 1.4 tdi bluemotions. I pay 30 road tax at the mo, I'm not bothered about going fast, just something that will comfortably do 70mph and get there in less than a week like my current 57bhp flat diesel lupo does.

squarehead94 · 3 Mar 2020 at 14:25

Maccy said:
In the new year??

Yeah I'm saving towards one but wedding is in August. Hopefully new car time december/january. So even suggestions of cars up to about the 6k mark would be fine, as I'd imagine they'll depreciate a little by the time I look to purchase one as itll be around the 21 plate release.

squarehead94 · 3 Mar 2020 at 14:41

Nasher said:
A pre-2018 hybrid with 0 road tax.

IS200h or Prius etc.

I'd just be concerned over reliability. Reason I instantly thought vag ie ibiza/polo is cheap parts, and can fix myself. Wouldnt be confident working on an electric or hybrid, as much as I'd love an e-car. Plus well out of my price range

Maccy · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:05

squarehead94 said:
Yeah I'm saving towards one but wedding is in August. Hopefully new car time december/january. So even suggestions of cars up to about the 6k mark would be fine, as I'd imagine they'll depreciate a little by the time I look to purchase one as itll be around the 21 plate release.

I would revisit this towards the end of the year, the market could totally change in the next few months (Brexit, Corona virus blah blah blah)

mccarf · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:14

To be honest when I was delivering I went for a micra and it was brilliant at it. 2 years of smashing it around town turning it on and off loads of times per day and it never went wrong once. Didn't get 55mpg but it was considerably more reliable than most of the diesels in my shop. Having said that if your car works fine then I'd just stick with it.

mikeyw85 · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:44

you'd do well to get 55mpg out of a diesel if doing mostly urban driving. a petrol will be worse, but at least may be cheaper to buy and maintain. a hybrid would be best for mpg, but with a £5k budget i'd probably keep it simple, and go petrol.

Psycho Sonny · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:58

[TW]Fox said:
55mpg urban and under £30 road tax?

I can't imagine many cars at all can manage 55mpg urban and why is the road tax so important?

Prius fits the bill to a tee

Psycho Sonny · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:59

squarehead94 said:
Looking to get a car in the new year. I do deliveries so over 15k miles per year.
Requirements are:
55+ mpg urban driving (short journeys along with odd long journeys
Under 6 years old
Under 100k
Under £30/Year tax
What should I look for? Reliability and comfort essential, so far looked at 15/16 plate ibiza or polo 1.2/1.4 TDI's. Anything better to look at or are they the best bang for buck?
Cheers

Toyota Prius is your best bet

squarehead94 · 3 Mar 2020 at 17:12

Psycho Sonny said:
Toyota Prius is your best bet

Psycho Sonny said:
Prius fits the bill to a tee

Batteries are really expensive for them no?

Psycho Sonny · 3 Mar 2020 at 17:16

squarehead94 said:
Batteries are really expensive for them no?

why would they be an issue? plenty of dead cars to lift them out of but tbh they last a very long time and i know of someone who has done 350k miles in the lexus system with original battery.