£15k - automatic, economical, mid-sized...

[Xpander]

The wife likes her Kuga but it's st on fuel, and she's getting miffed with the economy. It's a 66 plate 1.5 petrol auto 180 with part time 4WD (Haldex type thing I assume) and it's averaging 27mpg.


It might be a 180 but it barely feels like it can pull itself out of bed. It always feels to me like it's struggling to pull it's own weight along as it wheezes along gruffly and coarsely. That doesn't bother her though, in fairness - she only trundles along.


Her commute is only 3 miles each way, then we mainly just potter around town in it, with the very occasional longer distance trip.


With a £15k budget, what options does she have for something of a reasonable size which must be automatic, cannot be a saloon (dogs, baby etc) and returns better economy than the Kuga? Is diesel pointless, being that she doesn't routinely cover longer distances? Is it fruitless to hope for an average of 40mpg+ given her usage/auto requirement/vehicle size?


Any thoughts appreciated.

[PH.sausages]

Honda Jazz big enough?

Low mileage 19 plate achievable for £15k

[Brett748]

If she likes the car is 6 miles a day enough to care about fuel costs?

How many miles a month does the car do?

At 500 miles a month 40mpg v 27mpg is only £50 a month at todays prices, I wouldn’t justify changing a car I was happy with for that.

[Al U]

If her weekly commute is 3 miles each way 5 days a week, so 30 miles, at 27mpg with petrol at £1.90/L then that costs her £9.59 a week.

If she had a car that did 40mpg it would cost £6.48 a week. A huge weekly saving of £3.11.

[jaydeeuk1]

If you only travel 3 miles in it why does performance or mpg really matter?
Engine will be barely up to temp so mpg will be st, diesel absolute no go. Electric might be an option but not at that price.

[2wheelsjimmy]

Get an electric bicycle. It's 3 miles. It'll be quicker cycling.

[Xpander]

Thanks for the replies.

I mentioned the commute distance due to the fact that, as said above, it's barely enough to warm the car up, let alone a diesel. She only works part time and then does quite a bit more running about in the week other than just her commute, but weekly/monthly mileage I'm not sure about tbh. I think she's just noticed that it's only doing 27 mpg and it's a lot less than her previous cars, all of which have been smaller than the Kuga.

I don't think she should change it personally, but there we go.


She's not keen on the Jazz, but thanks.

[ZX10R NIN]

Xpander said:

The wife likes her Kuga but it's st on fuel, and she's getting miffed with the economy. It's a 66 plate 1.5 petrol auto 180 with part time 4WD (Haldex type thing I assume) and it's averaging 27mpg.


It might be a 180 but it barely feels like it can pull itself out of bed. It always feels to me like it's struggling to pull it's own weight along as it wheezes along gruffly and coarsely. That doesn't bother her though, in fairness - she only trundles along.


Her commute is only 3 miles each way, then we mainly just potter around town in it, with the very occasional longer distance trip.


With a £15k budget, what options does she have for something of a reasonable size which must be automatic, cannot be a saloon (dogs, baby etc) and returns better economy than the Kuga? Is diesel pointless, being that she doesn't routinely cover longer distances? Is it fruitless to hope for an average of 40mpg+ given her usage/auto requirement/vehicle size?


Any thoughts appreciated.

Why not just remap it there are lots of good tuners who'll add an extra 40bhp (Mountune) & with the extra torque you may find another 2-5mpg but you'll have more go.

[Xpander]

ZX10R NIN said:

Why not just remap it there are lots of good tuners who'll add an extra 40bhp (Mountune) & with the extra torque you may find another 2-5mpg but you'll have more go.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

[ilikejam]

BMW i3?

The electric ones in that price range will do about 60 miles on a charge. Range extenders will do 120+

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205135...

[Xpander]

ilikejam said:

BMW i3?

The electric ones in that price range will do about 60 miles on a charge. Range extenders will do 120+

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205135...

That's a great shout. I really like them but IIRC my missus doesn't... I'll suggest it though, cheers

[anonymous-user]

Xpander said:

I mentioned the commute distance due to the fact that, as said above, it's barely enough to warm the car up, let alone a diesel. She only works part time and then does quite a bit more running about in the week other than just her commute, but weekly/monthly mileage I'm not sure about tbh. I think she's just noticed that it's only doing 27 mpg and it's a lot less than her previous cars, all of which have been smaller than the Kuga.

I don't think she should change it personally, but there we go.

Diesel is utterly pointless in this situation, all it will do is clog the DPF and cause nothing but problems. I agree with you, it seems utterly pointless to spend money changing the car to save a few pounds a week in fuel.

Has she become fixated on the MPG and is now using woman maths to justify getting a new car?

I agree with the other poster though, something like a BMW i3 sounds perfect for this sort of commute if you are going to change.

[budgie smuggler]

For 6 miles a day, a Nissan Leaf and 7 grand in your pocket.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206036...

Depends on what your requirement for transporting dogs/baby accessories are however.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Friday 17th June 11:48

[Bannock]

Another one who has realised SUVs are utter st for round town family duties, a bit too late....

Anyway, I'd recommend an EV like a Nissan Leaf, but you mention "occasional longer journeys", so I appreciate it might not be a well received recommendation. Outside of that, the 9th gen Civic (hatch or, even better, Tourer), with the 1.8 petrol and TC auto is pretty economical, very roomy (check out the magic seats, a great feature for doggy transport). I have one and get roughly 400-450 miles out of roughly 50 litres of fuel, whatever that makes as MPGs I don't know but it's all right by me for what it is.

Just don't buy another SUV.

[trevalvole]

ZX10R NIN said:

Why not just remap it there are lots of good tuners who'll add an extra 40bhp (Mountune) & with the extra torque you may find another 2-5mpg but you'll have more go.

Are the autos on these dual-clutch or torque converter - I'm wondering about the torque limit?

[Crumpet]

Jesus! 27mpg out of a 1.5? I’m getting 19 out of a supercharge 5.0 V8!

I’m going to offer up the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Think they’re down below 15k now.

[Funky Squirrel]

Cold engines do crap mpg, 27 seems great for 3miles in traffic. My car goes into single figures doing that!

[Xpander]

Thanks all for the replies.

Joey Deacon said:

Has she become fixated on the MPG and is now using woman maths to justify getting a new car?

Possibly a bit of that (she's worse than me, she's had 4 different cars in the last 2 years), but she does genuinely like the Kuga. I have told her that she's mad to change but she keeps going on about it.

If I tell her that some strangers off the internet also think it's a silly idea, she'll probably listen

budgie smuggler said:

For 6 miles a day, a Nissan Leaf and 7 grand in your pocket.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206036...

Depends on what your requirement for transporting dogs/baby accessories are however.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Friday 17th June 11:48

Appreciate the suggestion, but I know she doesn't like those.

Bannock said:

Another one who has realised SUVs are utter st for round town family duties, a bit too late....

Anyway, I'd recommend an EV like a Nissan Leaf, but you mention "occasional longer journeys", so I appreciate it might not be a well received recommendation. Outside of that, the 9th gen Civic (hatch or, even better, Tourer), with the 1.8 petrol and TC auto is pretty economical, very roomy (check out the magic seats, a great feature for doggy transport). I have one and get roughly 400-450 miles out of roughly 50 litres of fuel, whatever that makes as MPGs I don't know but it's all right by me for what it is.

Just don't buy another SUV.

Tell me about it. I tried to get her into as estate the last couple of times she changed cars but she wouldn't have it. I'll mention the Civic Tourer, you're the 2nd person to mention that they get decent mileage.

Crumpet said:

Jesus! 27mpg out of a 1.5? I’m getting 19 out of a supercharge 5.0 V8!

I’m going to offer up the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Think they’re down below 15k now.

Yep... My daily is a heavy lump of a 5.5 petrol E Class estate and I average 20mpg. I'll have a look at Outlanders, thanks.

Funky Squirrel said:

Cold engines do crap mpg, 27 seems great for 3miles in traffic. My car goes into single figures doing that!

It's not just the commute that she/we do in it, it gets other use too. That was probably not really worth mentioning in fairness. Actually, maybe it was, to highlight that a diesel would be a no-go.


As much as I don't like the Kuga (as well as the awful engine, it's fking tiny in the front for another thing) I know that she does, so I'm trying to convince her to keep it.

[ninjag]

2017 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, decent bit of poke and a low entry boot is ideal for dogs.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204164...


2017 Toyota CH-R Hybrid (boot maybe not so good)
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206026...


2017 Kia NIRO Hybrid
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206086...


2012 Lexus RX 450h
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206126...

[DodgyGeezer]

Skoda Superb.

When we bought ours mrs DG wasn't sure if she would prefer the 1.5 Kuga or 2.0 Superb... quick test drive later and there was no debate the Skoda was (in our opinion) just massively better