SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Need to do a round trip commute (for personal reasons cannot relocate) of 250miles on a daily basis.

Looking to spend about £2k on a decent/quality car that will happily crunch miles (mainly motorways and the A1 to the East of England!)

What do people recomment?

Quite fancy a BMW 330D - knock's out 40MPG'ish and is a quality motor but wondered what others thought?



Plus - if anybody know's of anything going please let me know - start work on Monday and do not want to take the scooby!!

Thanks

StevieL81

306 diesel turbo? Don't they do something like 47mpg?

saints_forever

Will you get a 330d for that price? Must be talking high mileage?

For your budget I'd rather have a slightly newer Mondeo or Octavia. Or if you could do smaller and slower something like a Clio or 206 diesel will bang out the miles. My other half has the Clio and gets on average 64mpg

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Seem a few 330d's with 120k on the clock - figured thats not too bad for an x plate?

Which Octavia or Mondeo would you say? Clio is roo small for motorway I think?

cheers

saints_forever

Go for a Mondeo 130 zetec or ghia, or the 1.9 octavia which model wise looking at an elegance or above (can't remember the others). I wouldn't go for basic trim on them. Octavia will be slightly slower unless you can find the equivalent 130.

My cousin had the zetec Mondeo and it just kept going problem free, he was commuting daily not quite your distance though. Only reason he changed was to get the ST diesel version.

Simon K

250 daily ? your going to be one tired dude at the end of the week. Best of luck with the new job.

SBK

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I wouldn't recommend a 330D to do that trip on a regular basis. Mine just about scrapes 40mpg on a long run, but 32mpg is much more normal. They have issues with injector and turbo failures too, which could get quite expensive if you're really racking up the miles.

A colleague of mine has an Astra diesel which he reckons does 60mpg or so.

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Octavia diesel every time
I ran one for 6 years 72k miles and averaged 55mpg with up to 60mpg on long motorway journeys

Cheap to run and service and parts too
That's why taxi drivers use them

At 2k you want a workhorse to run into the ground not an old luxury BMW which will cost hundreds to put right when something goes wrong and at that budget to buy an old BMW you want to do really small mileage

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Cheers mate

Got to be done. It's a 3 month contract and living away from home during the week isn't an option. I should be able to skive a day here and there and work from home and also from a local office so I'm hoping it's 3/4 days a week

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Not too familiar with Octavia's although like the look of the vRS. Which model shall I look for and do they fall into my price bracket?

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the advice mate - will check out Octavia's and Astra's then. What model Astra would be best? Something like a 1.9 cdti?

kevo10

had a golf gttdi. good motor as standard 130 brake and loads of torque. had it Revod up to 180 brake and even more torque . was a lovely motor . dont know about prices now tho

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Can you get a 130 mapped to that much??

Have seen lots of 110's and 130's but didn't think they would be as good as a 150 gt tdi (wehich are out of my price range)

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

You've got something wrong with your beemer buddy!

I drive a 330Ci petrol on my daily 80 mile commute and average 33mpg!!

My brother-in-law has a 330d estate and his commute is nearly 150 a day and he gets well over 40mpg.

kevo10

yes was 180 brake on the 1.9 PD engines. tough engines and being modern dont sound like a tractor. miss that car

kevo10

oh sos. mpg wise before revo was about 55 mpg but with revo dropped down to about 48 mpg. still good though . great drive and comfortable

kevo10

by the way , from what i remember , the 150 gttdi had a problem with their camshafts and lobes wearing very quick. think it was known as chocolate camshafts. i may be wrong but id check on the golf websites

ScoobyJawa

Not really. My 2006 E92 see's about 42 max on a run, averaging around 80-85. If I stuck to 70 it would get into the mid 40's. They are 6cyl performance diesels so don't get as high as 4 pot diesels.

33mpg on a 3.0i is very good, I could never get mine much over 30 driving like miss daisy.

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the tips kevo10 - will keep an eye out. Popping out later and seeing what is out there and what I can get for my Scooby (bugeye).

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Has he had any issues as above on the 330d?

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

My BiL doesn't drive at 80-85, sticks pretty close to the NSL.

As for my mpg, dual carriageway almost door to door. Sticking between 60 and 70 gets me low 30's all day long. When I had the STi driving off boost I couldn't get above 25 Hence me selling it!

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Just traded in our 307, would do 50 mpg all day every day verified with fuel receipts. Used to get 600-650 miles to each tank when I was doing 35k miles a year

TX.

scoobynutta555

Easy. Golf gt tdi 130. get a standard one and don't modify it. Clutches start going when you map. Loads around for that money, cheap tax, easy fix and easy mid 50's, 6 speed. I never bought one without full history and was picky enough to avoid if the stereo or alloys were changed to non vw. TBH I wouldn't go near Ford/vauxhall/French at that money.

I've had half a dozen gt tdis, 130 is the all round pick. 150 is tempting, but fan and cam issues.

Tidgy

250 miles a day

your gonna tare through cars very quickly putting 1250 miles a week on them, 5k a month, 60k a year

is train an option? if its a direct route you may find its more viable than car. when i go to london for work i always take the train for ease.

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

Nothing major. Had rear suspension issues but that was covered by his click4 warranty.

His is a 58reg 330d so I assume it won't have as many 'issues' as an older higher mileage car.

dazdavies

iTrader: (22)

I did this, 3 month contract in London.

Caught the train from Doncaster to London every day 2 hours door to door £250 a week on the train.

Tidgy

s long as its direct its dead easy init.

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Train would be an option but it's Bury St Edmunds and no direct routes! I'd need to catch trains from Birm to there and I'm looking at 3 hours each way!

It's a contract position for 3 months so don't want tot turn it down as we need the cash

SPIDERWRX

Rent a car £100 a week (Vauxhall Astra, Ford Focus or similar)

18 weeks = £1800 save you £200 + lots of pitfalls

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Looked into it and all the major firms (Enterprise, Hertz, Thrifty etc) won't let you do more than 2.5-3k miles per 28 days due to their depreciation! If we factor in 20 days of travel at 250 miles round trip it's clocking in 5k miles a month