Car strategy for the New Year
Discussion
Greetings chaps...
As the year draws to a close, and work starts to slow down, I have a little more time to reflect on my fleet.
I currently run 3 cars: an impreza, a 3 series and a 7, but I fancy ringing the changes in 2011.
I think I'll move to a 2 car fleet.
Car 1 is my fun car. Impracticality, speed, fun that sort of thing. I have my eye on several different motors at present, and will have a lot of fun choosing. In the mean time, the 7 ably fulfills this job.
Car 2 is more difficult and where I need some help. It's my work horse and family bus, needs to be an MPV or mid to large estate or even a 4x4. Basically, the less I spend on this heap, the more I've got to spend on car 1. Ceiling is about £12k, but the less spent the better, and that includes running costs. This car has to be smart, but not flash (believe it or not, my 3 series is too 'flash' in my industry!), and must be capable of lots of miles reliably. A teensy bit of PHism would be nice, and it cant be dog slow. Lastly, as it's a wafter, I'd prefer an auto, but this isnt a deal breaker.
so far, I've had an online gander at:
VW Touran: possibly a bit soporific?
VW Passat: did I say soporific?
Subaru Legacy: bit more like it but will it cost me a fortune to run?
I'm sure there must be plenty of stuff out there I've forgotten?
cheers and Happy Christmas all!!
As the year draws to a close, and work starts to slow down, I have a little more time to reflect on my fleet.
I currently run 3 cars: an impreza, a 3 series and a 7, but I fancy ringing the changes in 2011.
I think I'll move to a 2 car fleet.
Car 1 is my fun car. Impracticality, speed, fun that sort of thing. I have my eye on several different motors at present, and will have a lot of fun choosing. In the mean time, the 7 ably fulfills this job.
Car 2 is more difficult and where I need some help. It's my work horse and family bus, needs to be an MPV or mid to large estate or even a 4x4. Basically, the less I spend on this heap, the more I've got to spend on car 1. Ceiling is about £12k, but the less spent the better, and that includes running costs. This car has to be smart, but not flash (believe it or not, my 3 series is too 'flash' in my industry!), and must be capable of lots of miles reliably. A teensy bit of PHism would be nice, and it cant be dog slow. Lastly, as it's a wafter, I'd prefer an auto, but this isnt a deal breaker.
so far, I've had an online gander at:
VW Touran: possibly a bit soporific?
VW Passat: did I say soporific?
Subaru Legacy: bit more like it but will it cost me a fortune to run?
I'm sure there must be plenty of stuff out there I've forgotten?
cheers and Happy Christmas all!!
bencollins4 said:
I have an Octavia VRS 2.0T which would be a pretty good number 2 car. Huge boot, 40mpg on a gentle run and not a bad drive. Mine was £8k for a low mileage '06 plater quite recently.
oooh, that sounds like the ticket. Petrol or diesel, I dont mind. Hadnt realised these had come into range?Only downside is I ran a mk1 Octy estate for 137,000 miles once before. The seats were too small and too poorly upholstered for a motorway muncher imho. I ended long journeys with a square arse.
Is the mk2 better?
CaptainSlow said:
surrey7er said:
Is the mk2 better?
Yes, much.I've had both a diesel and a petrol. Whilst I prefered the petrol both are good.
Seats really are important on a car you use for long journeys!
surrey7er said:
CaptainSlow said:
surrey7er said:
Is the mk2 better?
Yes, much.I've had both a diesel and a petrol. Whilst I prefered the petrol both are good.
Seats really are important on a car you use for long journeys!
I can't really tell you if the Mk 2 is better as I've never been in or had one, but I believe it is better built. I did a round trip the other day for work that involved about 10 hours in the car and can say I had absolutely no problems with discomfort, although I am only 5' 7" and no heavyweight!
All I would say is it is certainly no raw hot hatch and as a result, probably not as exciting as a Golf GTI. Very capable on a back road though with a really smooth, torquey engine. I think the power and tourque figures in the 2.0T are usually pretty pessimistic from VAG.
All I would say is it is certainly no raw hot hatch and as a result, probably not as exciting as a Golf GTI. Very capable on a back road though with a really smooth, torquey engine. I think the power and tourque figures in the 2.0T are usually pretty pessimistic from VAG.
Very interesting discussion here. And my tuppence is, dare I say it on PH, ahem...... Volvo V50. I had a 2.0D sport as a company car. Despite getting a ribbing for having a grandad car when I was only 28, it was a phenomenal all rounder. Refined, solid, fast, turbo diesel tourque, well specced, economical. Long distance cruises with the cruise control set at 90mph, would return about 57mpg. A couple of times I could do 8 hour drives in it without discomfort. A quick search on Autotrader reveals there are loads under 10k.
When the car lease came up for renewal, I looked about and tried loads of stuff. The 2 options I arrived at were the Legacy 3.0d and another Volvo V50, this time the D5. In the end, I opted out and bought a BMW Z4 on my own cash. Monthly payments on the Z4 are about the same as the P11D payments on the V50.
When the car lease came up for renewal, I looked about and tried loads of stuff. The 2 options I arrived at were the Legacy 3.0d and another Volvo V50, this time the D5. In the end, I opted out and bought a BMW Z4 on my own cash. Monthly payments on the Z4 are about the same as the P11D payments on the V50.
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff