This summer I'm going to have to think about retiring my trusty 2012 Golf whilst it's still worth something. Its done about 132k with relatively few problems, looking online it should go somewhere between £2500-3000 if I tidy a few bits up on it. Maybe optimistic but that's what people are currently asking!
I'm not really up for getting a big finance deal so I really want to keep budget under or around £3k if possible. That money should get me something a bit older with way less miles (ie under 30k), from a less premium brand. Firstly how old would you go and is this a good idea? What would you suggest for a motorway & a-road commuter? Priorities are fuel efficiency and reliability. 4 door so I can get the kids in if needs be, and would like something that feels solid and comfy on the motorway.
I'm looking at 2012+ Fiesta or Focus as my wife used to have one and was also solid. Just not sure what else to look at to be honest. Its a shame to move away from VW as I like my Golf but the premium brands are too expensive to get something low mileage.
Comments
There's no point at all in changing to something just as old and with an unknown amount you might need to spend on it, unless you need something very different.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
FYI I am sticking with me 60 plate Volvo because I know it's history, I know what I have fixed, the parts that I am expected to do in a few years if i keep the car and what should and shouldn't go wrong. I can budget for it.
You're unlikely to buy anything better for £3k, and at that price you're almost certain to buy something that was moved on because the previous owner didn't want to spend on either a problem or a big bill coming imminently down the line.
My current motor has 144k on the clock and is over 17 years old. I don't plan on getting rid of it until something significantly terminal happens.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
I'm an enviro-nazi and I hate diesels, but I still think using an old car that has already done most of its environmental damage for as long as you sensibly can is better for the world than buying a new 'clean' one... since until you get to *well* over 100K then it's taken more energy and resources to build a car than to drive it that far.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It came out then that it was faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar better for the environment to keep an old and dirty car going as long as pragmatically feasible than to scrap it and buy a new one.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I rarely drive into B'ham city centre but if it were my daily commute I'd have to think about it. I have to drive in my job so if I had a similar job there it would become an £8 daily tax on going to work. There are several cities with LEZs now and several more planned so if I were changing car and regularly drove into a city it would be a factor.
There was something on Radio 4 the other day about EVs and you can play with the figures endlessly but certainly a nominal figure of 100k miles. So, replacing a low mileage petrol car for an EV to continue to do a low mileage makes no environmental sense.
That's true, but be careful you don't lose sight of the bigger picture - that £8 a day (max £2K a year even if you're doing it every working day) might be less than the cost of changing the car.
It's remarkable how small a cost difference can make people change their behaviour if it's presented as a 'tax' (bad, unfair, punitive - must be avoided) rather than just a 'cost' (eg depreciation, maintenance etc - accept and get on with it). That was part of the problem with the rush for diesel - by offering the carrot of saving a couple of hundred pounds a year in road tax, the government managed to encourage a generation of people to buy what for most were really the wrong cars... backed up by diesel itself being too lightly taxed to reflect its carbon content relative to petrol.
I certainly wouldn't *buy* a diesel to use in the city, but if you've got one already I would think fairly hard before buying something else unless there are also other reasons.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Just goes to show green is more important than green.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein