Please excuse this as a first post!
I'm looking at a job switch which would reguire a cross country, mostly single carriageway A road, 45 mile commute.
As the job is a shift work one, one consideration is that I need to be able to manage the trip in all conditions ie snow etc.
The budget is £10-12K (cash buy) and (personally) I want something sporty(ish) although the all weather requirement (possibly?) suggests maybe 4x4?.... We are still debating whether it'll be a 2nd car or the main family one (we currently have a 6yo 1.6 zetec Focus) and one thought was another Focus? A nearly new ST is in the price range (or is this a mid life crisis for this 50yo, lol?), as I've always had a soft spot for fast fords, in the past I've had a XR3i (mid 80s) and RS2000 (mid 90s) escorts.
New or nearly new or what? Diesel or petrol?
The commute itself would account for 12K miles a year, and I'd hope to keep the car 5 years. The jobs worth about £500 a month more than I currently get, so I don't want to blow most of that on petrol and other running costs, lol.
Any thoughts or suggestions on where I/we start looking/test driving?
Cheers,
Angus
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Almost anything will do you, in lots of years of motoring I have never found a situation on normal roads which necessitated a 4x4, which, for most models, I wouldn't describe as "sporty", anyway. More like bus racing. Just get whatever you fancy, though.
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My friends ST does 23 mpg and he's not a hard driver. It can go much lower...
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Octavia 4x4 2.0tdi
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Mondeo ST155 2.2 Diesel. Fast, frugal, handles, comfy, cheap to maintain, will eat the miles while you smile.
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Whereabouts is the road, is snow really going to be an issue?
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Another vote for a 2.0 TDI Octavia: there may not be many used 4 x 4s around, but FWD is pretty good for most weather conditions. If you're in a hilly rural area, then maybe 4 x 4 would be worthwhile. If you can't find, or don't like the idea of, a 4 x 4 Octavia, what about some form of Subaru? Much thirstier though.
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Angus, I second the Octavia, either the 4x4 or a vrS for blasting through those roads in comfort!
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Octavias are fine cars. I had a diesel estate one on hire and thought it pleasant. But for a man who likes fast Fords ? Come now !
;-)
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Humph, your Ford is quite fast! (140 bhp isn't it, same as my Golf?) And a diesel has the sort of torque that will be much more useful for Angus's daily drive, rather than something which gives of its best only at high revs.
If you can get an Octavia vRS for £12k (should be possible) you have the choice of 197 bhp petrol (the Golf GTI engine) or 170 bhp TDI.
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No, you are quite right Avant. I'm teasing a bit, but that's why I recommended the ST155 a bit further back. Fast Ford with frugal leanings I thought. Anyway, I'd quite like one.....
;-)
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Honda CRV ?- civilized drive, well built and going for a "good" price.
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first well done on getting a new job.
I was made redundant in Nov, was cycling/running to work, now its 17miles each way and now shower...so had to buy a car...
at the old place, field service guys used to have small 4x4s but after 130k in 2 years they got changed to skoda 4x4 tds and all the guys love them, they handle better than the 4x4s they had before and have a decent mpg.
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with my new job i have to travel 10miles A road, and 7 miles single track back roads, with muddy tracks and errr farm waste over the roads!!!! my budget was 4k. so bought a impreza 03 plate with 29k on the clock and FSH seems the road tax, put of buyers so there dirt cheap. fast ford.....owned a fiesta RS turbo for a while....rare as hens teeth
0-60 in 7.9 which was quick in 1990. LSD as well. good fun in a straight line but the cast iron block made it very nose end heavy compaired to the 205gti's with there alloy blocks. oppps waffle over...haha
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2.0 non-turbo imprezza. Great fun. awd if you need it. And how new do you NEED it to be?
You're not doing mega mileages. So something 3-4 years old and with the best part of 100k on the clock will suit you ideally, and cost you about 5k if you look. e.g. eBay item 190277115291 (which might not be quite what you want!)
And with the 5k cash you saved, you can afford it to be a bit thirstier.
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Subaru service intervals bit short ?
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It's been a while since I owned an Imprezza and both of mine had turbos on them, but I think they're 10k service intervals, may be wrong though.
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Subaru service intervals bit short ?
Since the turn of the millenium (check on individual car) they are normal - at 12k.
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Anyway, after an awful lot of humming and hawing I've decided to buy a new Impreza 2.0 R 5dr from Motorpoint for £10.5K.
I've weighed up the pros and cons of a Cyprus import etc and it still makes sense to me, so I'm just wondering if any of you have anything else to add?
My arguments are still that I'll be using it for a 40ish mile cross country commute across Perthshire and Fife. and the AWD is an important consideration when the other guy doesn't get to go home until I get there. Family commitments also mean regular trips to Kintyre and the Western Isles so more winding A roads etc. In total about 18K miles a year.
Although I'm 50yo and not a boy racer, I do have a history of cars that made me smile, my all time fave was my RS Escort in the early 90s. I know the Impreza is no looker (according to some!) but I do believe it to be a good drivers car and will be a reliable workhorse for the 5 years I intend to keep it.
OK, the wife drew the line at the WRX and the daughters were muttering about mid life crisis etc, but it still makes sense to me. The girls (19 & 22) still threw a strop when I suggested taking them off the insurance to keep the costs down, lol.
Any further advice, before I lose more the the £100 they've got just now?
Cheers,
Angus
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I presume that your 45-mile commute means 45 miles each way. If so, you'll be spending nearly an hour each way behind the wheel. So look for something reasonably quiet. with a comfortable seat and a comfortable ride -- not a low-profile boneshaker. Since you're on A-roads rather than motorways, try to get something which handles reasonably well.
All of that seems to me to suggest that a Ford Focus 1.6 would do the job nicely, unless you really really need 4WD, and I'm sure that there are plenty of people do lots of driving up there without 4WD.
You say that you "don't want to blow most of that on petrol and other running costs" ... so I suggest that you should look very carefully at the actual costs here, because I don't think that the sums will allow you to treat yourself much, if at all.
The extra mileage will burn a lot of the £500 per month, and I strongly suggest that do yourself a spreadsheet to estimate the actual costs -- including everything. That means fuel, depreciation, road tax, insurance, servicing and repairs, speeding tickets, breakdown service, and everything else ... including the interest on any loan you take out to buy a new car. Remember too that fuel prices may go up a lot from their current levels.
Whatever car you're doing this journey in, I reckon you're looking at a minimum of £2000pa fuel, £300pa servicing, £100 tyres, £100+ VED, and with other running costs you'll not come in much under £3000 a year even before you factor in the biggest cost of all -- depreciation. If fuel prices go up to last year's levels, you might be looking at another £500 minimum fuel cost, so you're talking £3500 to £4000 a year before you have started paying for the car.
At 90 miles a day, five days a week, 50 weeks of the year, your annual mileage will be 22,500. Current average fuel prices in Perth: 85p unleaded, 97.3p diesel (see www.petrolprices.com ). On a 35mpg petrol car, that'll cost you £2484 pa, and on a 50mpg diesel it'll be £1,991-- a saving of £494pa with diesel. But if the petrol car does 40mpg, the saving would only be £183pa.
So let's take a saving of £400 a year, which is achievable if the petrol car will do 36.4mpg. At that rate, the payback time for a £10,000 diesel car would be 25 years, by which time the car will be a distant memory.
So forget changing the car to save money on fuel: it won't come anywhere near paying back the purchase cost unless you get a super-economy car, such as a 60mpg Toyota Aygo, which will cost you £1449pa in fuel.
If you spend £10,000 on a new car, then if you put all your extra £500 a month into it, it'll take you about 20 months before your new job is putting any more money in your pocket.
One other consideration is that at 22,500 miles a year, by the end of five years you'll have put over 110,000 miles on a car. So anything newish will be worth buttons at the end, and the more expensive the car to start with, the more money gone.
Buying a £10,000 new car may be what you want to do, which is fine -- your money, your choice! -- but it's not going to leave you better off financially. If your current car is wearing out or you really want to change, £5K from Cargiant buys you a 3yo Astra 1.8 design, or about £2k more for a similar age/mileage 1.9CDTI. So even buying cheap, a diesel won't pay, because the fuel savings will be gobbled up by the extra purchase cost and the higher servicing and repair costs of a diesel.
Personally, I'd use the Focus until it drops or becomes unreliable, and then buy a good-value s/h car to replace it, something that's cheap to buy with lots of life in it, and with low servicing costs. But it all depends on how much of your £500 a month you want to put into a car. (BTW, is that £500 before tax or after tax? If it's before tax, it'll be less than £400 a month in your pocket)
Do remember also to take into account the other costs of doing a relatively high mileage. Your insurance may go up; you'll use more tyres and wear out your brakes more quickly; you'll probably need two services a year instead of one; and you'll have an increased risk of damage to the car. Remember too that high mileage journeys at night in wintry weather significantly increases your risk of accidents, and any crash you can't claim off someone else will mean either lottsa cash out-of-pocket or a rise in your insurance premium.
Hope this helps.
Edited by NowWheels on 17/01/2009 at 08:29
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NowWheels,
Thanks for all that advice and effort!
My annual mileage is based on the shift pattern which gives 3 1/2 return trips a week, rather than 5.
In the past I have done my advanced driving and HGV courtesy of the RAF and consider myself a experienced driver and managed the route in the past with 2WD when others have given up/ended up in the ditch etc But I also know the benefits 4WD bring having also used a landrover defender in the past. When you know the guy on duty doesn't get to go home untill you turn up, even if you are doing 5mph you know you need to press on.
There is also (with the job) a relocation package to cover the extra mileage, either paid monthly over 3 years (then your on your own)or as a one off lump sum (conditional on being spent in full on a car) which is where the circa £10K comes from.
I've also been thinking about the increased risks/insurance as well. The riskiest part is driving home after a 12hr nightshift. Having said that, I know when to pull over and have a kip.
It's all a very complicated equation, lol.
Thanks again,
Angus
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Angus, if you will be getting a relocation payment to help offset the cost of a new car, then the sums do indeed look different.
Interestingly, the cost of a 3yo Skoda Octavia 4X4 seems to be a little bit higher than a similar vintage Subaru Legacy. The Legacy is a petrol, of course, but if you bought one for £1500 less than an Octavia that'd cover the fuel cost difference. Subaru parts have a reputation for being very expensive if needed, so I dunno how maintenance costs would compare.
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Octavias will on variable srvicing so 2 years or when indicated usually from 18000 to 24000 miles. Whichever soonest
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>>Angus, if you will be getting a relocation payment to help offset the cost of a new
>>car, then the sums do indeed look different.
I disagree. Or rather, I agree, but I think I'll come to the completely opposite conclusion to you.
The relocation costs paid over 3 years will pay for your commuting over that period.
Splurged up-front on a more expensive car than you need, they are completely wasted.
(What happens to the balance of the 10k if you
1. Get 10k up front and leave before 3 years are up
2. Get padi monthly and are made redundant/sacked/resign?)
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