I think I may need a new car soon!

[Neil]

Don't worry, I'm still keeping the Puma (for at least another year anyway I think).
Problem is there is a 99% chance I'm posted to Leeming in North Yorkshire in August, and commuting to Oxford and Brum most weekends in the Puma is going to give my wallet a hell of a kicking, and not do the Kat's mileage any favours either.

I'm thinking of getting a small cheap diesel (by cheap I mean no more than around £500-£600) that I can use to bang up and down the motorway for a year or so, by which time I'll be due another proper posting. I'd then sell the diesel on after that I think.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this - is it a false economy with tax and MOT's and indeed fuel? Or would it be better to just stick with the Kat and bite the bullet with fuel costs?
Also, what would you all recommend? I'm thinking something small and French, probably a 306 1.9D or something.

Thanks in advance for all your opinions!

 

[BenF]

AndyW does exactly the same as you are planning - don't know if he is a member on this site, but you can PM him on the 'other' site to find out how he has worked it

 

[XIIVVX]

Mrs XIIVVX runs a Citroen C3 1.4 16V HDi.

Probably not affordable at the prices you mention, but capable of 65mpg and with road tax of £30 per year

Day to day I run a £300 Toyota Carina (J-reg)

Does high 50s to the gallon, tax in getting close to £200 per year but because it's an old (Non common rail) diesel will run on vegetable oil that I can source at about 60p / litre.

At a 50/50 mixture with pump diesel that's still quite a significant saving.

Those are the parameters. You now need to sort out your priorities.

 

[Dal]

I've often thought similar things Neil.

My way of looking at it is that I can regulary get 40mpg out of my puma. I know virtually every inch of it, and what is new / replaced, and what hasn't been.

There is always a risk when buying another car that it may break down tomorrow (as with any car I know) , but that just seams to be an extra risk.

Maybe you should get a pen and paper (or excel sheet) and work it out - costs, mileage, tax & servicing, depreciation etc. and see how things work out.

 

[guyincognito1975]

My pal just picked up a Corsa 1.5D for £450. Decent nick, 12months MOT and will do 60ish mpg. Tax is cheap and engine is dead simple and would run on chip fat.

 

[DradusContact]

If your only willing to spend that amount of money then you could save. They reckon it can take up to 10 years for a diesel to pay itself, but thats if your buying new. Id look at either a fiesta, escort (1.8td pretty quick) or a citreon, but not a renault or pug. The smart fortwo diesel can acheive over 90mpg! Rare as pixie dust though.

 

[XIIVVX]

I've just done the sum.

If Mrs XIIVVX had been running a Puma 1.7 instead of the C3 and we assume that fuel has averaged around 80p / litre over the last five years then we are now £5,300 better off than we would have been with the Ford.

Increase the fuel price by 50% (which is more or less what has happened) and it starts to get very, very scary.

 

[BOK]

My recommendation would be a Pug 106 diesel :grin:

 

[Supersonic]

No no no, Pug 205 TD :wink:

 

[Neil]

I have looked at some 106 D's. Found a reasonable P reg (facelift) example for £750 with 70K on the clock. I'm still undecided as to if it's going to be a false economy running two cars. I'm beginning to think it is.

I think I'll do a couple of runs from Leeming to Brum/Oxfordshire and back, and see what the fuel consumption is like with the Puma.

 

[vickydink]

eww pug? u sure? i have several mates who have constant problems

 

[DradusContact]

couldnt agree more then dink. Dont know anyone who owns a pug or renault that hasnt had problems with them.

If you driver your puma at 60 i bet you would manage decent economy, like 350 miles per tanks if its soley motorway.

 

[Puman Being]

Yeah 60 is a good speed.

I recently did a 150 mile journey, much of it at 85mph
it guzzled LOADS of fuel and oil

If i stay around the 60mph mark its really economical on fuel and doesn't use oil

 

[BOK]

Stick with a basic model- no power steering, central locking etc...but make sure it's a 5 speeder. Fix it with a hammer!

If something major goes, throw it away and buy another one.

Also consider a Saxo diesel and treat it the same way, it's basically the same car.

I'd personally buy another old Sunny or Almera 1.4 16v in the blink of an eye but I got the impression you weren't keen on the 'blandness' of it... I'd like to see you break an Almera, my Mum finished my old one off (the 1.6 auto that I went to a few Puma meets in) though after she ripped a wheel clean off it off complete with suspension attached, only stopping when it hit a parked car though When it was written off the payout ended up as £700 depreciation over 3 years how about that!
My work colleage ran a 1.6 Almera for 2 years and covered 110,000 miles in that time (it already had 63k miles when I bought it!), total neglect (only had ONE service in that time!) I drove the thing just before we got rid of it, started first time after standing for over 8 weeks (the steering wheel was going mouldy), still did a ton! I have nothing but respect for these cars, they are amazing 8)

I like Japanese cars for what they're (very) good for rather than think about their weak points

 

[e3silversurfer]

japanese and good..... RX8 springs to mind (not exactly helping am i )

 

[BOK]

japanese and good..... RX8 springs to mind (not exactly helping am i )

lol...that's probably the worst car I can think of for covering high miles in

 

[AndyW]

Neil, as I only just joined the site yesterday, I've only just picked up on this. I just hope my reply will still be of some relevance.

Especially now you've got an FRP, it will hurt you and the car so much to be doing those miles.

When I got myself a new job and the Puma was doing 80 odd miles a day, I could feel the car deteriorate as I was driving along - it hated it. After 40 miles it would be filthy, especially in the winter. So I bought a £200 M reg Fiesta. It didn't look pretty, but it did it's job (until I crashed it) it did 10k miles in 6 months and I have to say is one of the best cars I've ever owned. It just kept going!

I then bought a L reg Clio diesel for £350. It was a 1.9 RT (non turbo), so one of the top spec, it was very comfortable and had all the mod cons. It did let me down once - the throttle cable went. But to be fair, it had done over 140k miles so it didn't bother me that much - a throttle cable can go at any time. But I got rid of it because the heaters didn't work, and doing 80 miles a day in the freezing winter isn't ideal.

You may think that it's expensive to run two cars, and in a way it is. But it doesn't cost you extra on fuel (you can't drive both at the same time can you?) the insurance on an old banger won't be a fortune, and if you put a limited mileage policy on the puma, then that will save you even more money. The main thing with a banger is as long as it moves, who cares? Once you've bought it, you won't have to spend huge amounts of money on it. Parts are normally cheap and easy to come by anyway and older engines are so easy to work on. As long as it passes its mot, job done! And you can't really loose money on them. Buy them cheap, sell them cheap.

I've now got an N reg fiesta and I've had it since november last year. It's done 14k miles in that time. I now work alot closer to home, but I think I'm still going to continue running two cars, as it's nice to know that when the weathers nice or you feel like going for a drive, the Puma's waiting for you in the garage.

I hope that helps!

Andy

 

[DradusContact]

Im in a similar position with an old fiesta i got for my girlfriend to learn to drive in. The problem weve got is we cant afford the insurance on it. my other problem is making sure they both get run at least once a week, as there are times when i will bike to work all week and neither car will move all week.

 

[red]

Good post there Andy

I do 80 miles a day too.. considered getting a second car but not that wasn't for me. mmm 400 mile week.

I've completed 34k so far since I bought the car back in November 2006 and have enjoyed the smiles per mile; i'm not keen on stacking up the mileage but then the car is still below average for it's age so the impact overall is minimal.

I probably wouldn't have done it differently had I got to choose again.

N.b. I am on the look out for a Bike though to try and split the miles a bit!

 

[DradusContact]

Red, you dont look like a typical biker, i cant imagine you on a hog.