Long commute car suggestions ?

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Sun 7 Nov 2010 16:01
Long commute car suggestions ? - Azile

Hi,

I'm looking for some hellp / suggestions here, sorry if this has been asked before but I really know nothing about cars other than where the fuel and windscreen wiper fluid goes in.

My working location and company have now changed -

I used to travel around 50 miles in a '99 Honda CRV, 20 miles motorway, 30 miles mixed A roads each week day - 100 miles round trip, I was getting 250-300 miles to a tank (unleaded), depending on motorway queues etc.

My new role is 100 miles away, 200 miles round trip, so I'm guessing my CR-V is not the car of choice now, as this will be costing me, if roughly £65 a tank around £1,000 a month in fuel.The trip is A-Roads, though there is a motorway option, but only for 20 miles, and the motorway adds about 40 minutes due to the constant roadworks on it.

So, I am looking for a replacement car, second hand, but only have 4-5k plus whatever I can get for the CR-V.

I'm thinking that I should be looking at a diesel of some type ? But the only diesels I can see are way above my affordability, or have, what I think a lot of mileage - some of the diesels have around 100K on the clock - I dont know if this is a bad thing for diesels (I have heard that diesel engines are better with high mileage than petrol).

My other criteria would be, I am 6ft 4 with size 13 feet, and struggle when I drive my wifes Scenic, so I don;t think a small diesel would work - bearing in mind I will be spending almost 5 hours a day in driving, I want to be kind of comfortable, and not creating a dent in the roof :)

So, if it is a diesel I should look for, and Ill end up doing around 50k miles a year, are there any recommendations ? Or should I just plod on with the petrol hungry CR-V ?

Another question - I wonder if my insurance will rocket up, if I am doing such mileage - anyone with experience of that ?

Thanks for any help / suggestions, much appreciated!

Cheers

Andy

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Sun 7 Nov 2010 16:32
Long commute car suggestions ? - Cultural Attache
As your physical sizes excludes the smaller car diesels then you should perhaps be looking at Mondeo, Vectra, Passat size vehicles. Autotrader should have thousands for sale to give you a sample price guide. Though saying that my friend is over 6ft tall weighs in at 20st and has size 12 feet. He drives a Focus and always wears boots (walking or steeleys) and appears to manage fine.

At your earliest chance hit the 2nd hand car dealers and try out some motors for size.

You are going to be spending a serious amount of money on fuel (refuelling twice a week ouch!!) and equally a lot of time in the car 4hours+ per day. So I would go for the most comfortable as a not comfy car will make you ill and that is not fun.

Other more knowledgeable poster will along soon.

Eamon
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Sun 7 Nov 2010 16:39
Long commute car suggestions ? - conara
Hi Andy, few years back I was doing the same type of miles , Northampton to glost all across country , I am just over 6,2, and a 12 and was using an 6mth old M5 so not only was the mileage going up but the value was going down I went through a few cars but the best was a merc C220 d auto I put 195,000 miles on it and it would returne an mpg of late 30s and motorway mid 40s , the only things thet ever went wrong was a pin came out in the gearbox hade to replace the glowplugs and the worst was at about 215,000 the boot failed when a lorry pushed it into the back seat , no but seriously if that had not happend I would still be running it today, you could get a reasonable one in your price range, hope it helps
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Sun 7 Nov 2010 18:43
Long commute car suggestions ? - Falkirk Bairn

With your new job can you work 4 x 10 hrs rather than 5 x 8 hrs??

B&B x 2nights - Cuts cuts down petrol + wear and tear on the car.

PLUS Recharges your batteries and less wear & tear on your health.

Car - diesel Astra / Focus.

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Sun 7 Nov 2010 19:31
Long commute car suggestions ? - Xantiaman

Was in a very similar situation myself, just not the mileage you're racking up.

Had a Subaru Forester, which needed a service every 10k and returned 28mpg (usually 300 miles to a tank.) Change of job meant I was doing a round trip of 50 miles/day + social mileage, a pretty consistent 24k/year. I think my model now costs £400/year to tax!

I opted for a Vauxhall Signum and purchased a 1.9tdi (120bhp.) Because they are unloved you get a lot of car for the money, its comfortable and roomy enough though I'm only 6ft 1in. Whilst not especially rapid it keeps up with traffic and cruises easily enough on the motorway. I've averaged 46/47mpg with mixed driving and get 500 miles to the tank which costs £60 -65 to fill at the moment. Tax is £150/year, it only needs servicing every 20k and the insurance is 25% cheaper than the Subaru (but that was a 2.5XT.)

So far, so good; my only concern over the car is reliability I purchased it with 7k on the clock and its now up to 62k but required a new heater control (under warranty) also an alternator and egr valve (after warranty expired.) The Subaru had 75k on the clock when I got rid of it, 65k of those being mine, with no mechnical problems at all. The Vauxhall certainly isn't in the same league as the Subaru or Audi I owned previously.

I quite like the idea of an old Merc if you can live with a very high mileage model.

Edited by Xantiaman on 07/11/2010 at 19:32

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 12:56
Long commute car suggestions ? - Roly93

No offence, but you must be a man of steel who loves his job, to cope with a road commute like this on a daily basis.

My company is 156 mile round trip, but I only go there once a week. I did it on 2 consecutive days a few weeks ago and felt as though I had been hit by a truck afterwards !

I guess if you tell your insurance about the extra mileage it will definately go up.

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 13:12
Long commute car suggestions ? - Ethan Edwards

Get a car that suits you in every regard, one that you know the hisory of.

Which car is that then? Your own.

Simply have it converted to run on LPG.

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 15:38
Long commute car suggestions ? - dieselicious

move house or change job. you'll thank yourself.

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 16:28
Long commute car suggestions ? - Collos25

Or you could buy something like a Bmw 520 for around 2k and travel in comfort and spend the reast on fuel, 200 miles a day in the UK and then work and in winter its a long hard day.

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 19:25
Long commute car suggestions ? - Roly93

move house or change job. you'll thank yourself.

Assuming you get a car that does about 45 mpg you will be spending at least £450 a month on fuel, not to mention tyres and depreciation on 1000 miles a week. At current mortgage rates this is at least £150K of mortgage.

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Tue 9 Nov 2010 10:24
Long commute car suggestions ? - Ethan Edwards

That suggestion about staying up during the week and only coming home weekends. Seems pretty sound to me. B&B perhaps but don't overlook a static caravan. People like Park Resorts are currently giving them away (old ones to be sure). The months site fees work out at about a weeks fuel costs. So it's cost effective. Sites usually close for about six to eight weeks over Christmas/New Year. Otherwise it's a cheap easy option.

I do about 75mile s a day round trip and thats as much as I want to do. If you can do 200 and still be fresh as the proverbial daisy, then 'your a better man than I am gunga din'.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 09/11/2010 at 10:27

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 16:50
Long commute car suggestions ? - PatrickO

Not being funny but if you are going to be doing a commute of 200 miles per day, your job should be paying you more than being able to afford 4-5k plus the crv on a replacement car or it should provide you with a company car and remunerate you enough to face a 200 mile commute per day, I know this will be a different amount to different people.

Or has been suggested consider moving house or preferably changing jobs.

Unhelpful i'm afraid but sometimes a different perspective is better than new car advice. :)

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Mon 8 Nov 2010 23:34
Long commute car suggestions ? - Avant

I do rather agree with Patrick above, but jobs are hard to come by and no doubt you're glad to have this one.

I'm wary of recommending a used diesel as so many of these engines need massive repairs as they get older. But one that doesn't have all the recent complications like the DPF is the VW/Skoda/Audi/SEAT 1.9 TDI. Look for a sound Octavia to fit your budget, or even better a Superb with this engine.

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