Nissan Almera/ Toyota Avensis/ Corolla
Hello all
Having started a new job 45 miles form home unsurprisingly the 40mpg I`ve been getting fro mmy `98 Renault Megane isn`t enough.
I love driving and in an ideal world would be zipping around in a nice sporty number, but sadly not when I`m covering 500 miles per week!!
So, I` resigned myself to less performance than petrol, but would obviously like something as good as possible.
I`ve test driven a 2000(X) reg. Almera 2.2 turbo diesel and quite liked the car but worry about the sluggishness. My other options are Avensis (2000 on, D4D) or a Corolla 00-02 D4D.
CAn I get better performance (the Almera looks good on paper)
Or is chipping the way to go (costly!)
Any advice on what to choose betweeen the three? £5K ish to spend
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I would say it wasn't worth the cost of changing. If you get 40 mpg from the Renualt, and you like it, why change?
You will lose far more in depreciation than you will gain in lower fuel costs.
If you want to change for other reasons then do it, but you won't save any money...
MB
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You don't say what engine you have in the Megane, so it's difficult to compare performance! 40 mpg is pretty good - are you sure it's doing that? - most modern small / medium diesels will return 45 - 50 mpg, so only 10 - 20% improvement over what your Megane appears to be returning. You also don't say what sort of driving you do - diesels are much less affected by cold starts and stop-start driving, maintaining their economy much better. They also need a different driving style - keeping to 1500 - 3500 rpm rather than higher as you would on a petrol.
The Almera IMO is a nasty car - although not as bad as the old Avensis - and the Nissan diesel engine is agricultural at best! If you want diesel, then avoid the far east - their diesel tech is a bit behind Europe.
Something like a Citroen Xsara HDi 110 or Pug 360 HDi 110 will give upper 40s MPG and a good bit of performance, but 5k is pushing things - especially for the Pug.
As MB said it is probably not worth changing for reasons of economy alone, but I would certainly go diesel at the next change (oh, but then I am a biased confirmed diesel head...!).
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Thanks to both for advice
The Megane is a 1998 1.6 and I think it is getting roughly 40mpg. However, I can`t stand the thing, its been falling apart since I bought it (2 months ago!) and I feel unsafe in it (partly due to squidgy brakes)
I`ve gone for Eastern cars as everything I`ve heard and read indicate that the European brands just don`t have the reliability to match.
As far as the nissan goes, it looks goodd on paper (109bhp, 115mph, 0-60 in 12.5 but still seemed quite sedentary in practice.
As I`m doing 25k a year surely the petrol megane will be dead in a couple of years (100,000 miles) whereas the diesels will live on Almera I`ve looked at has 57,000 on the clock but FSH)?
Point taken about depreciation, but how to get a reliable car in my price range without facing that problem?
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p.s. As to my driving, its a-roads and motorways, very little town driving 45 miles along A3 onto M25 onto M3
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I'd have thought you would want to buy a X reg 60K mondeo 2.0 petrol GLX at auction for around £3k and run it until falls apart. It will do a big mileage, leave you a couple of grand to put in the bank. They are reliable and drive well and will do close to 40mpg. Also cheap to fix...
Failing that, an Avensis petrol 1.8 will do the same as the above - great cars lets down slightly by handling but perfect for your run. D4D will cost more but will cheaper to run.
I would avoid the 306 as they seem prone to big bills. The Nissan is, as you say, an unremarkable car but will do the job
Focus or SEAT Leon diesels also a possibility but you will have to go for one with a high mileage,
MB
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