Car advice

[Aladinsaneuk]

Ok

New job and massive commute... So time to think about changing cars

I am looking for a diesel
4 or 5 door
45+ mg
Automatic out of choice
Under 5000 quid

Suggestions please

[BikerGran]

I'm very pleased with my 1999 Nissan Primera 2L auto estate, though it's a petrol one - cost me £1600 4 years ago and have hardly spent anything on it since.

A battery, couple of tyres, and a couple of bits of exhaust.

It's not exciting but very comfortable, drives beautifully as long as you keep it in 'sport' mode (which is really normal mode rather than normal which is 'very old person' mode). Also behaves well in icy conditions.

[D-Rider]

Well Mr iPad, iPhone, iCantbelieveitsnotbutter ....

it might not be a diesel or have quite enough doors but surely to be in keeping with your choices, you have to go for an iQ .... which it does admirably in a traffic jam .....
It hits the mpg figures and you can get a cvt automatic ......

[blinkey501]

Ok

New job and massive commute... So time to think about changing cars

I am looking for a diesel
4 or 5 door
45+ mg
Automatic out of choice
Under 5000 quid

Suggestions please

I would strongly suggest a ford mondeo or a focus pete or even a c max.
Comfortable, relaible , and parts are cheap and readily available...
Mondeo,s suffer from wheel bearing problems at higher milage and you get problems with rear calipers and handbrake cables but.......
Dont let this put you off has they are a piece of piss to change.
Fords diesel is a cracking engine..
The focus from an engineering point of view was made to a very high standard and is an excellent car...The cmax is a focus with a bit more room.
Book a test drive in any of these you will like what you drive

[paddyz1]

Any VW diesel 1.9 or 2.0L

Could I interest you in a Renault Clio automatic.

1.4 petrol 16v
4 door
100,000 miles
2002
Will have 12 months MOT at time of sale

£950ono (priced according to milage)

It is Silver, No Dents. Clean inside. Only two lady owners. Last one was an old woman who has owned it since 2007.

[mangocrazy]

Ok

New job and massive commute... So time to think about changing cars

I am looking for a diesel
4 or 5 door
45+ mg
Automatic out of choice
Under 5000 quid

Suggestions please

I'd second Blinkey's suggestion of a Mondeo or Focus. Cheap parts, easy to fix and any mechanic worth their salt will know their way around it. And if you're after the best mpg figures you can get, go for manual over auto every time. An auto box will dent the mpg figures by 3-5mpg, easily. And they're a nightmare if they go wrong.

[BikerGran]

But the auto is such a good drive - I don't get tired now even on a 200 mile run.

Don't go VW or Audi - gold plated parts!

[Aladinsaneuk]

Because I can...

Which of the jaguars was based on the model - x type?

[paddyz1]

But the auto is such a good drive - I don't get tired now even on a 200 mile run.

Don't go VW or Audi - gold plated parts!

I beg to differ

My previous golf done 200 thou miles and still pulled like a train. Only reason i sold it was because some muppet did not use the jacking point and damaged the galvanised flooring which eventually corroded.

Quality lasts and all that.....



Currently on a VW Scirocco with no probs either....

Each to their own etc

[flatlander]

Hondas yes excellent value and quality not over priced for what you get
Nissan primera facelift 6 speed 138 bhp diesel over 50 mpg The Note is ok and underpriced IMHO

VW AUDI NO over complicated over integrated design to fail instead of having a mid life crisis IME ever since mid 90's newer shapes

[D-Rider]

Because I can...

Which of the jaguars was based on the model - x type?

Are you asking which Ford the X-type shared a platform with?

If so it was the Mondeo. That said they were 2 very different cars. Jaguar spent a lot of time and effort improving the chassis, refining the ride, dropping in their own engine etc. It's a nice car to drive - I spent a couple of weeks driving one in Australia validating the navigation system before it was launched (it was our first navigation system in Australia).
As I say it was a nice car to drive but as with all Jags, a bit of an inverse tardis ... the interior being somewhat smaller than you would expect from the exterior.
I think the later diesels were meant to be good - but can't remember whether I drove one of them.

I'm with Paddy on the VW group cars - very nicely put together .... though save yourself some cash and go for the Seat or Skoda versions.

TBH I love my Mazda6. They wanted to make a family estate/saloon/hatchback family with as much of the character of their sports cars as they could muster. Double wishbone front suspension helps a lot in giving it better handling than other cars in the same class.

[HowardQ]

First thing is that older auto boxes and economy don't fit well together as Graham has commented, you may end up compromising one or the other.
You need a modern 8 speed auto to get economy close to matching a 6 speed manual, (but you won't get either of these for £5k.)

You know by now that I am a diesel convert in recent years, BUT the latest petrol engines can give incredible figures and petrol is much cheaper these days, so you cannot rule them out.
Terri has a low miles Mitsibishi Colt 1.3 which is pretty good on fuel as it stands.
Even then, it will only just average around 40 mpg on my commute, much better on a gentle run out.
Mitsubishi sell an Eco 1.3 cversion alled the Colt Cleartec, which is tuned for a bit more power and economy, reckon they used this extra power and torque to pull higher gearing. , (gives btter performance than the std. 1.3). It also has the stop start that annoys you at first but you get used to it.
See example -

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Then check the economy figures by clicking that section.
The combined figure is 55.4mpg

I did not believe that it could be so much better than Terri's non Eco version
Rented one on holiday last May in Cyprus, and OK it was just used touring about the island, round the coast, up into the mountains and short jouneys into town for a meal, but over the fortnight we did 725 miles on 10.57 gals of petrol, that's 68.58 mpg
Still can't believe it did that welll, although I was trying to see how good it could get as the holiday went on and the tank did not seem to be going down.

Not the car you would probably choose, (a bit like Andy's suggestion only bigger), but if economy is the main issue??
Otherwise the Focus/Mondeo/Golf diesel options look good.

[paddyz1]

I think with autos it is how you drive them. You don't get the response from pressing the accelerator to engine performance/acceleration with an auto. They feel like not much is happening so you press on the pedal more to try and increase the power. You are basically pumping more juice into the motor but the gearbox is doing the same thing (almost). I have had good economy out of an auto in the past (but that was well over ten years ago). Small amounts of pedal movement got the car moving the same as big amounts.

As with choice of car....i am biased towards VW but cars in the last ten years are all good choices unless it is one of those daft foriegn noddy cars where you could fit two side by side and still have space on your side of the road.
And Smart cars
and Kia
and................

[Aladinsaneuk]

thanks folks

i was thinking of the mondeo andy - damn auto correct in win doze i.e.!

i guess i do need a larger car - so will look at the mondeos

I also remember driving a japanese diesel as a rep that was better than a mondeo - will go have a ferret around....

[blinkey501]

Because I can...

Which of the jaguars was based on the model - x type?

Are you asking which Ford the X-type shared a platform with?

If so it was the Mondeo. That said they were 2 very different cars. Jaguar spent a lot of time and effort improving the chassis, refining the ride, dropping in their own engine etc. It's a nice car to drive - I spent a couple of weeks driving one in Australia validating the navigation system before it was launched (it was our first navigation system in Australia).
As I say it was a nice car to drive but as with all Jags, a bit of an inverse tardis ... the interior being somewhat smaller than you would expect from the exterior.
I think the later diesels were meant to be good - but can't remember whether I drove one of them.

I'm with Paddy on the VW group cars - very nicely put together .... though save yourself some cash and go for the Seat or Skoda versions.

TBH I love my Mazda6. They wanted to make a family estate/saloon/hatchback family with as much of the character of their sports cars as they could muster. Double wishbone front suspension helps a lot in giving it better handling than other cars in the same class.

The later diesel i think was the twin turbo version that jeremy clarlson did a ten minute lap round the neurbergring... Not sure you would get one for five grand though... Clarkson loved the car and performance