under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG

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Sat 26 Mar 2011 20:46
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - CarGoBeep1

Hi all,

I'm looking to get a car for under £4000 to do around 500-800miles a week, must have good MPG and insurance/tax be acceptable.

I've been told to think, diesel and german only but its slim pickings on Auto Trader. Also the cars in the under £4000 appear to be almost all over 100k milage, is this going to be an issue or can they take it?

So i'm looking for any car suggestions, tips and advice,

Thanks in advance

Edited by maikutanner on 26/03/2011 at 20:47

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Sat 26 Mar 2011 21:02
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - Avant

That's a lot to expect of an old car! Business mileage I presume: personally I wouldn't work for an employer who expected me to do that sort of mileage without at least helping with the cost of the car.

Probably your best bet is a VW or Skoda with the 1.9 PD diesel engine - e.g. Golf or Octavia. But any diesel is liable to expensive failure with high mileage.

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Sat 26 Mar 2011 22:23
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - Boulder2k9

What Avant says is very true thats alot to ask of a car that you are buying for 4k to be honest. This could be a good option, relatively low mileage and good reliability and MPG.Plenty of space too

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2471497.htm

Edited by 159man on 26/03/2011 at 22:23

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Sun 27 Mar 2011 09:47
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - CarGoBeep1
It is for work but I'm going self employed. I've always had company cars until now and don't want to be spending too much on the car at this early stage of the business.

I appreciate it's a lot for a 4k car but my thinking was the sell it after 12months of business.

So it's golf or skoda then..what are your thought on a BMW 320td? There appear to be a few on auto trader. Also should I consider petrol's with good MPG? or couldn't they take the mileage?

Thanks again
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Sun 27 Mar 2011 12:14
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - davmal

That sort of mileage will knock a dent in the resale value, so why go for Germanic, with its associated price premium?

Unloved Japanese or Korean models will be newer and as reliable for the price you're paying, or pay less and get a "disposable" car, or maybe a Citroen with an HDi engine for comfort and longevity.

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Sun 27 Mar 2011 12:21
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - Boulder2k9

Well that is understandable trying to keep your overheads down.

Ok firstly do you need a big car, i.e estate 4x4 or just a hatchback? Secondly for that type of mileage you want to be looking at diesel. Thirdly I would keep away from a BMW 320td, at this price service history and condition are more important and a BMW with high miles could cause serious problems turbo etc.

What I would recommend would be a relatively low mileage mk 4 Golf TDI. Don't be tempted by a newer mk5 golf with the 2.0 TDI engine as I have only heard of bad news with those, also they will be more expensive as they are a newer model etc.

This is an example of what i'm talking about, If you run this for 12 months and put 40k on it it would still be worth a bit when you sell it on

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201110381620494/sort/pricedesc/usedcars/fuel-type/diesel/price-to/5000/maximum-mileage/up_to_60000_miles/body-type/hatchback/model/golf/make/volkswagen/page/2/postcode/sw1a0aa/radius/1501?logcode=p

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Sun 27 Mar 2011 16:34
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - Collos25

Peugeot 407 1.6hdi

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Sun 27 Mar 2011 18:52
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - CarGoBeep1

thanks for all the suggestions!

back to autotrader i go :)

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Sun 27 Mar 2011 20:12
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - spikeyhead {p}

I end up usually paying about £4k for a 100k mile ex rep mobile and changing it when it dies. I usually end up doing 25 to 35k miles a year, so similar to teh OP.

If you don't mind dull, go for a vectra, I'm currently running an 05 plate Saab 9-3 which is ok but hardly fun. With some very gentle motorway running I've managed to see 55mpg on the trip computer. It did snap a cambelt not long after I bought it, my fault for not checking the service history. only done a few thousand miles on it so far so no long term opinions.

Before that I had a Modeo tdci which finally died with 178k on it, the last 80k of which were mine. Did eat a couple of waterpumps, which are expensivve at about £300 as they also kill the power steering pump and I also needed a set of injectors which was the larger part of a grand. It doesn't have a camblet so that's a saving on most of it's rivals.

Never had a Passat or other VAg car for long but their reliability isn't as good as the adverts imply.

There's always teh choice of somethign Japanese, but generally they don't make good deisels or else something French which means being brave or lucky.

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Mon 28 Mar 2011 15:35
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - davmal
< >

Honda? Toyota? Not good diesels?

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Mon 28 Mar 2011 20:00
under £4000 car for many MILES a year and good MPG - PST

There have been quite a few 07 and 57 Passat Estates going through auction recently. Ex-lease with full VW service histories. Generally around the 100K mileage mark but obviously motorway miles and around £4K including buyers premium.

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