What car for 32 mile daily commute?

My new commute has me travelling 16 miles each way per day - 8 miles of A/B roads and 8 miles of motorway, around 8k miles per year. My 2008 Focus 1.8 petrol with 105k is struggling to manage 30mpg so I am considering changing for something more frugal on a budget of £10 to £12k. My current favourite is a Yaris Hybrid but I hear they can be rough on the motorway, would a small/medium sized modern petrol or diesel or a full electric/PHEV vehicle suit my needs better?

Asked on 4 September 2019 by Ryan

Answered by Andrew Brady
If you can charge at home and rarely travel further than your commute, there's no reason why an electric car wouldn't suit your needs. Your budget will get you a used Nissan Leaf 24kWh which has an official range of 84 miles, although this will have dropped slightly as the battery degrades over time. The Yaris Hybrid isn't great to drive and the interior's pretty poor, too. If you don't want an electric car, your budget will get you a wide choice of economical petrol cars. A Hyundai i20 would be a good choice with the 1.0-litre T-GDi petrol engine. You'll get a nearly-new one with your budget.
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