High Mileage Commute Lease, Used or Existing Car?

[BigM]

Hi collective mind,

Due to an upcoming change of jobs I'll be going from everyday commuting to London by train to two 200 mile round trips per week for a total of about 20,000 miles per year. Aside from commuting I do around 6,000 miles per year with normal life.

Currently I've a 6 month old BMW 440i with c. 3,000 miles which is owned outright. I don't want to put big miles on it and I want to keep it for weekends, holidays and the long trips away. This will be the fun part of my driving life.

The question is what to get for the commuting miles? By dropping the train I've got £400 per month, the new job also comes with a mileage allowance of 45p/mile (for first 10,000 miles, then 25p/mile) and if needed I've got £10k of savings. Ideally I want to minimise commuting spends and keep as much of the £10k as possible.

As I see it the options are:

1) Lease/PCP on something new and unexciting.
2) 3 or 4 year old used car.
3) Cheap car to run into the ground.

As for requirements it needs to be a decent place to spend a significant proportion of the week and reliable as possible. My thoughts were Golf, Focus, Astra, Civic? I’d like Bluetooth for calls and Spotify streaming as a nice-to-have. Not too bothered by the brand but would like something that is vaguely interesting to drive.

Apart from that anything goes!

[steve-5snwi]

For 20k per year I would possibly look at buying a banger, however there were reasonable lease rates on Focus diesels. Apex Easy fleet rent out new fords, its slightly more expensive but then you can tie yourself in for 1 month not 24. I guess you need to see how you cope with traveling before spending or committing to something new

[codenamecueball]

Golf GT TDI 2003. Some poke, comfortable, economical PD engine that will not complain about miles being put through it and so old that parts can be found anywhere for pence. When it breaks, just buy another. Use the £3000 a year savings on the train (deducting £1000 to pay for the car) enjoy the 440i a bit more when you want to, drive across Europe, have a holiday in the sun that kind of thing.

[kiethton]

Volvo S60 D5 of ~2005 vintage (look for a manual as the autoboxes are a known weak point)

Uber comfortable with a decent stereo, should eek ~45mpg, available for ~£1,500-£3k for one you'd want to spend that amount of time in and (beyond the autobox point above) they're pretty reliable with enough poke to not be purgatory.

[markirl]

I'd carefully consider the sums and use the 440i, you'll get far more enjoyment out of your money than leaving it on the drive. I dailied my 335i and while at times it felt like I was "wasting" the car, I got the enjoyment of the exhaust note every day!

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say get a Mercedes C270 no DPF auto box they eat up the miles & are low cost to maintain around 3k gets a good low mileage example.

2003 C270 Avantgarde SE 71k FSH

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2004 C270 Avantgarde SE 64k FSH

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2003 CLK270 Elegance 60k FSH

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The low purchase price & mileage means you'll have it for a good few years before the mileage gets to silly, I sold my CLK270 with 170k on the clock & I couldn't fault it.

If you do buy one make sure you change the fluid & filters on the gearbox.

[wemorgan]

The soon to be replaced 5 series is great value.

https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/car-leasing...

BMW 5 Series Diesel Saloon
530d M Sport 4dr Step Auto

Personal Lease Deal
£334.54 Per Month, INC VAT
Rental Profile 9+23
Annual Mileage 20k Miles p/a
Initial Rental £3,010.86
Additional Fees None

[Bungleaio]

That 5 series looks great but do they really come without bluetooth for calls as standard?

[TonyF55]

Personally, I would pocket all the trains fares, cost of buying/insuring/taxing/maintaining another car, use the 440i for another 12 months and sell at 18 months old with 29,000 miles and look to maybe change then or keep the car until 30 months old and sell with 55,000 miles.

Failing that, if you insist on a cheapie, then I recommend a 2008/2009 revised 1.6 petrol Ford Focus for 2-3k.

[barryrs]

Does the new company have any stipulations on vehicle age?

I'm in a similar situation and the Vauxhall insignia vx-line or Astra GTC appear to be well spec'ed and pretty cheap for just a couple of years old.

[wemorgan]

Bungleaio said:

That 5 series looks great but do they really come without bluetooth for calls as standard?

It's listed in the option:

Auxiliary point for auxiliary devices
Bluetooth audio streaming
BMW professional radio/CD/MP3
DAB Digital radio

[BigM]

barryrs said:

Does the new company have any stipulations on vehicle age?

No I'm in the clear here, car is solely for commuting.

Some interesting options, think I'm going to be busy this weekend looking at various showrooms and dealers

[ZX10R NIN]

wemorgan said:

The soon to be replaced 5 series is great value.

https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/car-leasing...

BMW 5 Series Diesel Saloon
530d M Sport 4dr Step Auto

Personal Lease Deal
£334.54 Per Month, INC VAT
Rental Profile 9+23
Annual Mileage 20k Miles p/a
Initial Rental £3,010.86
Additional Fees None

The thing is if you take the C270 as an example to run it for 4 years (around 80k) I've thrown a couple of variables into the mix so you can take some of those of but it's decent indicator of costs, I've used my costs over a 130k period when I owned my CLK270.

2004 C270 Avantgarde SE 64k FSH

£3500 Purchase price (less if you haggle)
£300-500 for a decent Stereo with streaming etc
£375 for a thorough Service & Gearbox Service
£800 for two services over the next 80k
£400 for a set of Disc & Pads all round x2
£550 for a complete Suspension refresh at around 100-130k
£520 For an Alternator
£225 New Injector Seals

£6870 Total cost over 4 years including purchase price you'd probably get between £1000-1500 if you sold it at the end of the 4 year period.

Lease wise you the 5 Series would cost you £21410.56

[wemorgan]

For sure, I never said it was a cheap option

[ZX10R NIN]

no you didn't but that 14k saving could be spent on some worthwhile AC Schnitzer upgrades like a more efficient intercooler suspension set up etc to make your 440i that little bit more special when you drive it.