SWMBO has finally agreed that her Tigra isn't the ideal car for doing 30k a year.

The picture of a Corsa on fire in the Sunday Mail do to a recall that the Tigra is also affected by seems to have been the final straw. A recall SWMBO has never bothered with even though it's free. Plus the leaking roof, sqeaking trim, rattling rollover bar, smashed bumper held together with duck tape (fat rabbit or hare) ,general unpleasent smell in the cabin and the fact she can't drive the damn thing properly and regularly has near misses because the blind spots are bigger than Belgium.

Do I sound like I'm sick of car sharing in it? I do call it 'The Skip' because it's open top, full of rubbish and rattles a lot.

Anyway she's agreed that if she's sticking with job she'll need to get a commuter car so I'm after suggestions.

Should be nearly new up to 12 months.

Less than £9k

Trim is irrelevant

Over 50mpg combined

Cheap insurance and tax

I have suggested a Focus 1.6 tdci poverty spec. Arnold Clark has some for abou the £8k price as does Motorpoint.

I'm not too sure about any others. I did some big miles in a Renault 1.5 diesel Clio. The engine lasted fine but the rest of it fell apart quite quickly. My 2001 focus did 60k pretty faultlessly.

She's not keen on the mini or the Fabia.

Not sure if she'd push the boat out to a golf

Arnold Clark- Cheapest Deals On Over 15,000 New Cars, Nearly New Cars And Used Cars

What about a ford fiesta tdci, and where are you based?

With the launch of the new fiesta prices should start to come down a tad,my dad had a fiesta for three years and your getting focus quality, baby focus looks and I would reckon your budget would take in a zetec trim level.

Hope this helps

Been looking for similar motors recently for my dad.

I think the CEED is a good buy and seems quite a nice car. The Grande Punto can also be had for good money as can the Bravo.

Nisan Note, Megane,

Good steady cars -

Edit - Can't get the link to work but Motorpoint have a couple of 1.9TDi Altea.

I'm no fan of the Focus but each to your own.

I know she's not keen on the Fiesta. We've had a couple of friends with them that have had some big bills with them, new engine and new steering rack among other things.

Spotted the Mazda2 online that might be an option, and based on the new Feestie.

We're just a little north of you in Angus btw.

One of my close mates has just bought a pre reg (i.e brand new with delivery miles) Renault Megane Extreme (plenty of goodies) 1.6 16v (40mpg+) for £7995!!! :eek: Thats astonishing value, and 2 of my other friends have both had Meganes that have been faultless, infact one of my friends is on his 2nd and about to order a 3rd!! Not my favourite car, but a lot of car for £8k all the same!

One of my close mates has just bought a pre reg (i.e brand new with delivery miles) Renault Megane Extreme (plenty of goodies) 1.6 16v (40mpg+) for £7995!!! :eek: Thats astonishing value, and 2 of my other friends have both had Meganes that have been faultless, infact one of my friends is on his 2nd and about to order a 3rd!! Not my favourite car, but a lot of car for £8k all the same!

We've had two Renaults previously, a Megane Hatch and a Scenic (both old shape) and they've probably been the two most reliable cars we've had.

I know they don't tend to feature well in owners reports but all I can say is that neither ever left us stranded and nor did they fall apart - guess they weren't Friday cars!

Tend to agree with VRStu that the Cee'd (daft name) looks a good choice, particulalrly as it has a 7 year warranty and the diesel is the same price as a petrol.

SWMBO has finally agreed that her Tigra isn't the ideal car for doing 30k a year.

The picture of a Corsa on fire in the Sunday Mail do to a recall that the Tigra is also affected by seems to have been the final straw. A recall SWMBO has never bothered with even though it's free. Plus the leaking roof, sqeaking trim, rattling rollover bar, smashed bumper held together with duck tape (fat rabbit or hare) ,general unpleasent smell in the cabin and the fact she can't drive the damn thing properly and regularly has near misses because the blind spots are bigger than Belgium.

Do I sound like I'm sick of car sharing in it? I do call it 'The Skip' because it's open top, full of rubbish and rattles a lot.

Anyway she's agreed that if she's sticking with job she'll need to get a commuter car so I'm after suggestions.

Should be nearly new up to 12 months.

Less than £9k

Trim is irrelevant

Over 50mpg combined

Cheap insurance and tax

I have suggested a Focus 1.6 tdci poverty spec. Arnold Clark has some for abou the £8k price as does Motorpoint.

I'm not too sure about any others. I did some big miles in a Renault 1.5 diesel Clio. The engine lasted fine but the rest of it fell apart quite quickly. My 2001 focus did 60k pretty faultlessly.

She's not keen on the mini or the Fabia.

Not sure if she'd push the boat out to a golf

Arnold Clark- Cheapest Deals On Over 15,000 New Cars, Nearly New Cars And Used Cars

Focus 1.6TDCI sport at 1 year old was going for about 8.5k last i looked Very pleasent place to be for the money IMHO.

Mk4 Ibiza PD100?

Personally I think the sensible money is with German or Asian (i.e. Korean, Jap et al) and the C'eed has a lot going for it with a 7yr/100,000 mile warranty.

The Hyundai i30 is very good as well.

Personally I think Ford build quality is rubbish and would never put my money there.

The Grande Punto we had in Scotland as a hire car was the one of the most un-comfortable thing I have ever sat in and displeasure of being a passenger. Shame as the mk1 Punto I had was fabulous

Megane - Had one in Tenerife and found the interior low rent and uncomfortable after a while due to the design of the dash; it dug into my shin. Engine was ok and spec was a good one. Styling is ummm personal :p

I looked at the Focus TDCi but decided to stay with Škoda

Panda 1.3 Multijet, brand new for just over 6k inc air con.

SWMBO has had hers now for just over 12 months and its covered 20K miles without putting a foot wrong. Now that it has loosened up she is averaging around 67 mpg. Insurance group 1 and £30 tax. How cheap do you want motoring to be ?

Panda would be a good one but she doesn't like the look of them.

Hopefully she'll come round to the idea that it doesn't need to be pretty just cheap and she'll look again.

She's going to keep the Tigra as a weekend car.

Panda 1.3 Multijet, brand new for just over 6k inc air con.

If that's from where I think it is they have sold out of those and only have 1 non aircon left.

If that's from where I think it is they have sold out of those and only have 1 non aircon left.

I was looking here FiatSupaSaver.com - Why Pay Dealer Prices? Brand New Fiats- Huge Discounts

Looks like you need to move quick to get one then

Alternatively you can factory order ( as ours was) although it costs a little more

FiatSupaSaver.com - Why Pay Dealer Prices? Brand New Fiats- Huge Discounts

And how can you not like the Panda, its kind of cute and funky with a charm of its own (unlike the rip off 500 which is 70% Panda underneath)

Edited 3 September, 200817 yr by MisterGT

Why are you posting such pish in my thread pal?

On topic. There was an ad on the telly for a Citroen C1, under 7k new with a stated mpg of 68. Probably the 1.0l and probably a too slow. Plus French.

The advantage of a ford for her is that there is a dealer not far from her both at home and at work which can make life easier for servicing and warranty work. She seems keen on the focus.

On topic. There was an ad on the telly for a Citroen C1, under 7k new with a stated mpg of 68. Probably the 1.0l and probably a too slow. Plus French.

Built in Czech as a shared venture between Peugeot, Toyota and Citreon - they also make the 107 and Aygo in the same factory, so I wouldn't let the French company name on the car put you off.

Not sure about "too slow" - it's a revvy 3-cylinder 1l engine in a light car, so while it's not actually fast it certainly doesn't feel sluggish.

Would say it's worth a look anyway...

Rob.

With a wheel placed at the edge of each corner and a revvy petrol engine, the C1 is a hoot to drive and very chuckable. I can confirm that 68mpg is a realistic figure too. You don't say where the 30k miles are to be done, but if they're mainly motorway I think she'll be happier with a "mile muncher" and I don't think the C1 fits the bill. I'd probably be looking at Focus/Grande Punto/Astra/etc sized diesels, but with that mileage whatever she gets is going to suffer pretty big depreciation and need frequent servicing so I guess those costs need to be factored in as well.

Chris

Fairly mixed route. About 30% single carriageway 'A' roads where she'll need some grunt to overtake the grannies on the few straights, 60% dual carriageway and 10% urban.

She has to drive the A85 which is a terrible road (I did it for 3 years), lots of accidents from frustrated drivers. Getting past quickly is a must. Which is why I'm edging towards the 109bhp focus. I've never owned a car with less than 1.3l the few 1.2s I've driven were comically slow. So I've concerns over a 1.0l. Still we'll give it a go. I wait to be surprised.

If you can live with mid-40's mpg the Panda 100 may tick all the other boxes (ins 5, tax band D, loads of kit as standard and can be picked up new for £7695), although I see she said she didn't like the look of the MJ. I've covered 12k in just shy of 6 months and can't really fault it - it captures the essence of a sports car without all the negatives. I've also never had a problem overtaking slower moving cars in it

May be worth a look and might even replace the Tigra as a weekend toy

Chris

the 1L C1/107/Aygo isn't at all bad, but I wouldn't want to be doing motorways in it. For that the ford is a more comfortable car, plus you get less of other drivers trying to intimidate you.

The 1.6TDCI focus is pretty good as we have one in the family, but the other cars Chris listed would be sound too.

The ford servicing is pretty cheap compared to the VAG costs.

I have just seen the picture of Corsa.It was good.The recall of SWMBO has been a good thing.Let's hope for the best.

----------------------------

gomez

New Cars

Panda would be a good one but she doesn't like the look of them.

Shame really. The 100hp is only £6995 brand new! Amazing value.:eek:

FiatSupaSaver.com - Why Pay Dealer Prices? Brand New Fiats- Huge Discounts

Fairly mixed route. About 30% single carriageway 'A' roads where she'll need some grunt to overtake the grannies on the few straights, 60% dual carriageway and 10% urban.

She has to drive the A85 which is a terrible road (I did it for 3 years), lots of accidents from frustrated drivers. Getting past quickly is a must. Which is why I'm edging towards the 109bhp focus. I've never owned a car with less than 1.3l the few 1.2s I've driven were comically slow. So I've concerns over a 1.0l. Still we'll give it a go. I wait to be surprised.

For that mileage and road, look for a big power Focus or Octy TDi.