Best Car for Birmingham to Bristol commute

[SSG1000]

Hi all,

I have Been offered a role with my firm to work out of Bristol. (Hybrid model, office 2/3 times per week and then wfh)

Currently I’m based out of Birmingham, so the round trip is approx 150 miles.

I wondering what would be the best vehicle to accommodate the journey?

Currently 23 years old, and have been looking at 335d’s, but any suggestions are welcome?

Have around £18k to spend, will wrap some into a bank loan as rates are so cheap.

Edited by SSG1000 on Wednesday 7th April 12:26

[J1990]

If you're central Bristol then I'd be swapping that commute to the train.

An average of 375 miles per week on a stretch of motorway that is constantly at a stand-still (outside of COVID) due to accidents wouldn't be remotely entertaining to me unless it came with a good company car and a substantial salary increase, also need to consider the extortionate parking costs in central Bristol if that's appliacble for your role.

My old 320D did 60+ mpg all day long on motorway jaunts and was absolutely fine, a 335D would likely be a fun car for this and would be top of my list for your budget, you can get some 535D's in budget as well but I'm not a fan of the styling for that model year.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101198...

[Martyn76]

Aren't they planning to ban cars from Bristol City center too?

[J1990]

I believe the intention is that for anything Euro 5 and before that the charge would be £9/day to enter Bristol centre. They're pretty much going to war with diesels.

[blueg33]

Train. Bristol is a st place to take a car to.

[Red9zero]

J1990 said:

I believe the intention is that for anything Euro 5 and before that the charge would be £9/day to enter Bristol centre. They're pretty much going to war with diesels.

The clean air zone starts in October. It will charge Euro 5 or older diesels and Euro 3 or older petrol. It covers a very large area too.
That and the price of parking (the NCP we use for work is £25 for 8 hours) together with the general anti-car attitude of Bristol CC and the usual traffic chaos of road works, road closures, ad hoc cycle lanes and the odd demo / riot means I really don't want to go back !

[MG511]

Unless you will be working at Aztec West or somewhere in North Bristol with free and plentiful parking the train will be a far better option. I would try the commute for a few weeks before buying an £18K car. Also remember that the roads may be relatively quiet now but as lockdown eases the traffic will increase and Bristol is a very car unfriendly city. Very few people (mainly blue badge holders) drive to our Bristol office and we have 400 - 500 staff.

[ZX10R NIN]

Get a ULEZ compliant car & you'll be fine you don't need to spend 18k to get a nice commuter:

E350 Coupe

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011276...

E220

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102028...

Q50 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103290...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103290...

Q30 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103019...

V40 R Design Pro D4

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104010...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103270...

225d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103110...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103210...

425d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103300...

430d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103290...

A5 Black Edition Plus

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101067...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202002267...

S60 R Design Nav

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104030...

[fflump]

SSG1000 said:

Hi all,

I have Been offered a role with my firm to work out of Bristol. (Hybrid model, office 2/3 times per week and then wfh)

Currently I’m based out of Birmingham, so the round trip is approx 150 miles.

I wondering what would be the best vehicle to accommodate the journey?

Currently 23 years old, and have been looking at 335d’s, but any suggestions are welcome?

Have around £18k to spend, will wrap some into a bank loan as rates are so cheap.

Edited by SSG1000 on Wednesday 7th April 12:26

Well, as far as I know there's no car called a Birmingham, so that leaves one option...