Ok, this time last year I bought a new (to me) car, after many months of toing and froing between a classic car and a modern car I thought, 'bugger it, I'll have something a bit interesting'. I went for a Clio 197, and I must say its a fantastic car! Going from a 2002 Ford Focus 1.6ltr with 100ish bhp to a 2ltr with nearly twice the power was/is still a rush. The noise it makes over 5k revs still gets me a little too excited.
The problem is that I keep looking back at the classic car I nearly bought and keep thinking I made the wrong choice. Originally I was looking at buying an early 70's Alfa Romeo GT Junior. I fell in love with the Bertone body shape ever since seeing a couple racing around Donnington a couple of years a go. I nearly snipped up a decent looking example in Ochre Yellow (or as my mate annoyingly calls it 'baby poo yellow') for just shy of £10k, but the guy I was going to be buying it from told me the head gasket had just gone. He said he was happy enough to repair it without me paying any more, but it had scared me off.
Now I know they're totally different beasts, but I have semi-romantic ideas of cruising around in the classic Alfa, going to Shelsley with it in the summer, going to meets and down to the coast, etc. I know that realistically it'll probably spend all summer in the garage or on the side of a road... but let's not talk about that.
Anyway I digress, I have a daily commute of about 45 miles, which isn't loads, but it's enough to rule out using the Alfa as a daily. Ideally I'd like to sell the Clio, buy a cheap daily runner and put the rest towards the Alfa (plus a few quid, annoyingly they seem to have appreciated a bit since I was last looking at them).
Ideally it would do something like 45+ mpg and would be cheap to tax and insure, I was thinking along the lines of an Audi A2? 1.4 diesels are pretty frugal and can be had for around the £2k mark. Plus I kind of like their funky styling, and being a superseded, one shape, model it doesn't look too outdated considering its age...
...However something bigger with more curb appeal would be nice, but sticking to budget and criteria is proving difficult. Especially with big 02-04 E Class Mercs starting around the £3k mark, obviously the tax and insurance would go out the window with that. Any thoughts/experiences with high mileage diesels?
If you sell that clio you'll probably regret it, I regret selling my clio 200 big time.
I don't know if you do trackdays etc but that's more appealing than wafting about in an old Alfa, surely ?
As for cheap commuter car, sorry I can't think of something.
Let me be the first to suggest the venerable Mazda MX5 cheep reliable and great vfm which will make the daily grind a sublime joy.
I had a similar issue last summer, 2nd car in the garage (it nearly always is) need a sensible daily commuter.
I considered the A2 as a real contender, however, in the end I decided I needed something still fun as a daily & decided on a modern classic for the commute.
80's Mk1 MR2, averages 36-40mpg, simple to work on & very reliable.
If it didn't let water in through the T-bar i'd say it was truly Having cake & eating it.
I've done this also & it is fantastic, however, Mx5's have never really delivered in the efficiency department for me.Originally Posted by Captain Morgan
Mk1 28-34mpg
Mk2.5 26-30mpg
mk3.5 30-34mpg
As you like French look at something like the diesel Pug 207. The Audi has its attractions but ISTR hard ride and expensive to fix and maintain, there are loads of diesel 207s out there for good reason.
Personally I would just keep what you have or upgrade to a recent RenaultSport Megane, those puppies look like another RenaultSport classic in the making to me.
I was doing a 60 mile round trip every day and bought a 50 mpg Panda, it didn't really make sense unless I kept doing that commute for several years as economically you have to do a lot of miles over a long time to get the pay back and the whole time your spending two hours of your life every day in a dog slow uncomfortable car. Doing the cold hard maths I lost more money on the Panda when we traded it out then I would have spent on fuel just doing those miles in my old diesel Range Rover. Its become fashionable to have loads of cars but really it doesn't make sense at all. We went from 4 to 3 and if I was to sell my race car I would go back down to 2 again.
Thanks guys, some really nice feedback.
I love the MX5 idea, but like paulpsz008 said I think that I'm going to struggle to get the fuel efficiency.
The Peugeot 207 on the other hand looks pretty good and the 1.6TD appears to return very good fuel efficiency. Although memory serves that a friend of mine had one and had a few issues, but I suppose you get that with any marque and model.
May I make a suggestion, if you're looking at buying a "classic" then at some point you will be wanting spares etc, so you'll need something to pick these up in, as well as very decent economy and performance.
It just so happens that I'm selling my 1.7cdti astra van, 58 plate, full service history, timing belt done, new gearbox. dual mass flywheel, clutch etc etc. stunning condition, and you'll get 45-48 mpg. perfeck.
I can do you a very good deal on this, lol.
A Mk. VII Civic might fit the bill. Practical, ridiculously reliable if a little dull on the styling. Had my 2.0 Type-S for nearing 5 years and only replaced "service" items and tyres. Gets near 40mpg, not bad from a 2 litre VTEC that does 0-60 in 8.5!
You cannot directly compare fuel consumption on the cars which have been suggested in isolation. A modern diesel is going to cost more to service, and is likely to need more repairs than a petrol MX5, and those repairs will cost more too. The total running costs of the MX5 are likely to be lower overall.
And obviously you can't put a price on not having to spend 45 miles a day in a grim, generic modern hatchback.
What's a rag top like in winter? I know that they're meant to be great drives. Plus good models with medium mileage are well within budget.
Could you expand on the increased service costs and repairs with a diesel compared to an MX5?
Overhead several rag top Audi TT and bmw - the coupe is always stronger and safer
A golf gtd may fit the bill? Plenty of tuning and playthings for golfs
I run a TT Tdi now having had a company golf and my own tt rag top
Dumped both for the best of both
Looks
Economy
Performance
My point was not about comparing the Mx5 to a diesel, but comparing like of like.
The only area they disappoint is mpg.
For camparision my last 3 daily cars with the same type of driving.
328i touring, 30-34mpg
Mk3.5 2.0l mx5, 30-34mpg
Mk1 mr2, 1.6l 36-40mpg
Think you'll agree based on the above the mx5 is a little disappointing in this area.
In every other way the Mx5 is wonderful, but based on 20k+ PA I decided to drop down to the mr2 for £5k in my pocket, & £500+ PA in fuel.
Ragtops in winter, I've had 3 & all have been fine with great heaters.
Obviously snow is a challenge, but it's fun but winter tyres & a bag of sand or 2 in the boot and they're fine.
I agree with that part of Robins comment, off the top of my head;
DPF,
Turbocharger,
Dual mass flywheel & clutch,
Depreciation.
Genuinely thought your last point was depression for a second
If your commute consists of extended periods at motorway speeds then I really wouldn't want to be doing it in an MX-5, we had a mk3 2.0 sport from new it was a great little car but honestly was a bit tiring and noisy compared to pretty much every other modern car. Fuel consumption also very disappointing for such a small lightweight car, our 207 GT for example is about 10mpg better and easily quicker cross country.
About half of my journey is on dual carriageways and the rest are B roads.
I'd be very surprised if the MX5 is any louder or firmer than the Clio which has a very harsh ride and quite a high in-cabin noise level at cruising speed. Having said that it is a cracking drive
Its not the ride its the lack of sound insulation. The hood is only a single skin so it literally only stops you getting wet and reduces buffeting a bit, we always tried to drive it roof down because its not really a very nice place to be roof up. With heated seats and the windows up you can drive pretty much any time of year top down but its the sort of thing one has to enjoy doing. Personally for a commuter car I need something that cruises at motorway speeds effortlessly making the time wasted getting from A to B as tireless as possible, an MX-5 is about the worst car imaginable for such a purpose, latest model MB E220 about the best.
One last point, your clio will annihilate any of the 3 vintages of MX-5 cross country. Its not even funny how far away they are in capability. Get a test drive in a recent 2.0 sport, I guarantee you will be disappointed, that car wouldn't even see which way our 207GT went on a cross country run let alone a recent RenaultSport clio which is another level again.
I picked up a 2008 polo bluemotion as a daily whilst the slk lives in the garage over winter. Fuel economy is fantastic and I love it !
I paid 2600 for it with 120k on the clock.
After a nights sleep, it would be fairly pointless ditching the Clio for an MX5, other than giving me maybe a couple of grand to put towards the Alfa there would be minimal running cost savings. Really I just want to reduce to £230 a month I spend on fuel.
I did look at the bluemotion, I thought they were a bit expensive but you seem to have got one around my budget. What kind of mpg are you actually getting from it? Something like that could nearly half (or more) my monthly spend on fuel and reduce my tax from £23ish quid a month to £30 a year? Similar to the A2 in fact.
As a TT driver I get some stick....
But
Going from a hot hatch to a mx5...
They are in my opinion not in any way a mans car
Fighting talk... I'd give you a go in the Clio :)
Just run some figures through excel, used an average MPG figure to calculate cost of fuel per month (I was surprised to find that I should actually only paying about £185 for fuel, so I'm budgeting £40 more than I need to, thanks to the recent drops in fuel price).
I reckon I could be saving over £90ish a month by buying a small run-around.
Plus based on savings alone the two small cars would pay for themselves within 2 years.
Of course I haven't taken servicing and maintenance into account, however I can't see them being any more expensive than the Clio.
Last edited by TomWazza; 11th January 2015 at 11:30.
I'd assume this is covered over in the PH somewhere but those mpg figures are they real world or manufactures figures?
Might a small engined petrol supermini get you close to your wanted figures by cheaper purchase and servicing costs and offer a wider range of cars to select from.
I've tried to base the mpg figures on more of a real world results than manufacturer claimed.
Yeh I know what you mean about a supermini, I'm just trying to find the balance between good fuel economy/low running costs and having something that won't be too horrible and boring to drive. But the MX5 is out.
Just run some figures through excel, used an average MPG figure to calculate cost of fuel per month (I was surprised to find that I should actually only paying about £185 for fuel, so I'm budgeting £40 more than I need to, thanks to the recent drops in fuel price).
I reckon I could be saving over £90ish a month by buying a small run-around.
Plus based on savings alone the two small cars would pay for themselves within 2 years.
Of course I haven't taken servicing and maintenance into account, however I can't see them being any more expensive than the Clio.
You haven't taken depreciation into account either. I can't imagine any Renault, Clio or otherwise, having anything less than eye-watering depreciation, even if were gold plated with a diamond-encrusted interior. Your other three options, however, have probably reached the bottom of their depreciation curve.
Yeh I know what you mean. I paid £5k for it last year and probably have another £1k in it, to be honest I think they're knocking about for between £3.5k to £6k. Mine needs some cosmetic work though too.
I had an A2 for 2 years and couldn't recommend it highly enough. Very light, so decent poke from the 1.4. The petrol was very good on fuel, so the tdi would be sipping fuel. I sold it to my mother in law 7 years ago and it's still running like a champ at 15 years old. Was once ranked as the most reliable car in Germany where there are loads of them. Definitely worth a serious look.
For all sorts of reasons we sold my wifes A2 1.4 petrol recently.
Truly great wee car and its cavernous - honest!! We had 4 20" Range Rover wheels and tyres, black lab dog and 2 adults in it. Still had space 👍
Great fuel economy and ideal city/commuter car.
Why did we sell it again............😗
What Paul said. Also EGRs, and injectors seem to last about five minutes on recent diesels.
The OP suggested that a 207 td or an Audi tdi might be an option because of fuel consumption and therefore cost.
Neither a hot hatch or a convertible are particularly masculine. If the OP was that bothered by that I suspect he'd be looking for a German saloon with too-bright LED headlights
I would have thought that by now everybody should have understood that the answer to the question "Which two-seater should I buy?" is "A Mazda MX5".
And the answer to the question "Which four-seater should I buy?" is, of course, "Two Mazda MX5's".
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