I'd be very grateful for some advice about what car to buy with a budget of £5500. I'm driving approx 20,000 motorway miles per year, so fuel economy and safety are my main requirements. Any suggestions for what to buy ? Am very tempted by the Smart Fortwo, but don't know whether it would be much fun on the motorway ????. Also like the Renault Clio dci, but realise I maybe missing some other good alternatives
Cheers for any advice
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Need a comfotabel car for 20,000 miles a year on the motorway.
Better getting a larger, mile muncher.
Any larger repmobile with diesel would do e.g. Mondeo etc
Alternatively, you may find a Skoda Fabia vRS which will do the trick and give you lots of fun as well.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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20,000 miles a year in a smart will have you in a mental home self harming yourself.
BIg comfortable mile muncher as said. Mondeo, vectra, laguna,
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RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
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If he's originally thought of a Smart or Clio, then I doubt this car will be used for family usage. Therefore maybe a class lower than Mondeo/Vectra/Laguna may suffice. The Focus/Astra/Megane would do nicely although I doubt you will get a big bottom Megane for this money. Might therefore also consider the Golf.
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Seat Toledo TDi SE. 55+ mpg @70mph. All the toys. Liked by HJ. Motorpoint have an 02 plate with 30k miles for under £5k.
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Good idea!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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yer
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RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
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Toledo excellent choice especially in SE trim.
It's all very well saying that if he doesn't have a family he could get something smaller, but small cars often lack all important features like cruise control. I don't have a family, infact I'm 21, but I still got the Mondeo becuase the Focus, even in top spec guise, didn't even have heated seats, let alone cruise and trip computer.
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I still got the Mondeo becuase the Focus, even in top spec guise, didn't even have heated seats, let alone cruise and trip computer
The heated seats thing is weird. According to a post I read on the backroom, they cost the manufacturers only a few quid to fit, but they only fit them to top-o0f-the-range models. Yet I think they are one of the nicest things you can have in a car.
I wonder which manufacturer will be the first to break ranks and fit heated seats to all models -- like the Japanese manufacturers did in the 1970s with car radios.
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Forget the heated seats from the manufacturers.
Bought a fantastic seat cover which is electrically heated and powered from the cigarette lighter for the grand sum of £5 last week from Netto!
Works beautifully with 2 heat settings and warms up very quickly.
Only trouble that some will turn up their nose at the mention of Netto, but thats their loss!
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Forget the heated seats from the manufacturers. Bought a fantastic seat cover which is electrically heated and powered from the cigarette lighter for the grand sum of £5 last week from Netto! Works beautifully with 2 heat settings and warms up very quickly.
But it means you've got to have two horribly cheap looking pads connected to your seat and plugged into the ciggy lighter which is a tad les..... efficient than just hitting a button on the centre console :p
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"But it means you've got to have two horribly cheap looking pads connected to your seat and plugged into the ciggy lighter which is a tad les..... efficient than just hitting a button on the centre console :p"
And at only £5 a whole of a tad less cheaper as well!Only as much as the price of a hot curry from a takeaway
-Only that this will keep you warm for a lot longer than the curry.
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I wouldn't want heated seats - I like my car to be cool (others say freezing) and have never had a problem with cold seats. Suppose being well padded helps!
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Heated seats? what kind of whimps are we breeding in this country!
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RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
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what kind of whimps are we breeding in this country! -- RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
The mis-spelt kind? ;)
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If its less than 5C outside and I'm sitting on leather seats, I want my tush warmed! Also, very good for lower back pain...
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Heated seats? You load of girls. What do you want heated seats for?
(Just so you know Mike, you can get heated seats and cruise/computer on the Focus - I know it's a bit late for you now though).
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Electric blanket/seat warmer from Netto, plugged into the cigarette lighter? Don't fry yourself!
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Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability.
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Once you've had heated seats you won't want to do without!
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Heated seats? You load of girls. What do you want heated seats for? (Just so you know Mike, you can get heated seats and cruise/computer on the Focus - I know it's a bit late for you now though).
Not on the prefacelift models, though, and even if you can it's an exceptionally rare option :)
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I just wanted to post in this thread and that gave me an excuse ;-)
Yeah you're right. If my car was 3-5 years older it would have got all of that but now Ghia doesn't mean much.
Compare that to my mate's Elle or Chic or some other special edition 1.6 which has heated leather, ESP and all that malarky.
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Thanks for the advice, and the hot bot discussions ! Have a fair amount of female!) natural padding in that area myself so probably won't put heated seats top of my list (although I do live in Scotland !)
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I used to sneer at the idea of heated seats until I bought an old Volvo 940 estate and used it through a mid-France winter - never managed to get heated seats again since I sold it, unfortunately.
I quite fancy the plug-in option - does this mean the covers come from the Netto we all know in France or is it in the UK as well?
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Unless the seats are leather, I can't see the necessity for heated seats. Most fabrics are naturally warm to the touch.
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Indulge in a bit of modding! My bay window VW has heated seats from a Saab 9000. They go in a treat, and were very warm at 0630 this morning...
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My grandfather's 1990 Fiat Tipo had a heated seat (driver's only), and I hated it- felt kind of like you'd wet yourself!
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Dr Alex Mears
Seat Leon Cupra
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
you are a miner.
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Have a fair amount of female!) natural padding in that area myself so probably won't put heated seats top of my list (although I do live in Scotland !)
Having reasonable padding myself, I too I was very doubtful about heated seats untill I tried them in a friend's Volvo. MMmmmm ... lovely!
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