Suggest a car; a tricky one!

[ginge191]

Budget is ~£1.5k

Must be diesel, economical, good for long journeys

Must have cruise control and be comfortable 

Must be an estate 

What would you suggest...?

[zx_volcane]

how economical? mid 40s?

[ginge191]

how economical? mid 40s?

Extra urban 55+

It's for my brother; he already has a E60 535i which gets 40 on motorways, but needs a real commuting car

[bigcheez2k3]

406 Executive?

[1616six]

Passat.

This is not tricky in the slightest! A diesel estate with cruise.

Niall will reply saying Saab, Ruan will say Volvo. Someone will say 306 HDI Estate then someone will reply saying it doesn't have cruise, Cully will say he knows of a retrofit

May as well close the thread now.

[Just Sean]

Lol! Nail on the head!

[ginge191]

Haha JJ an absolutely brilliant response!

[Jonny81191]

Passat.

This is not tricky in the slightest! A diesel estate with cruise.

Niall will reply saying Saab, Ruan will say Volvo. Someone will say 306 HDI Estate then someone will reply saying it doesn't have cruise, Cully will say he knows of a retrofit

May as well close the thread now.

You forgot my secret love of the 406 executive. I'll wave that flag now. Properly comfy and well equipped barges that still manage to feel french enough to enjoy a hoon.

EDIT:

406 Executive?

Beat me to it. What he said.

[Iceman299]

Passat.

This is not tricky in the slightest! A diesel estate with cruise.

Niall will reply saying Saab, Ruan will say Volvo. Someone will say 306 HDI Estate then someone will reply saying it doesn't have cruise, Cully will say he knows of a retrofit

May as well close the thread now.

Pretty much spot on how these 'what car' threads end up lol

[Toms306]

Megane? Thought everyone was buying those these days...

For £1500 you won't get an estate new enough to do 55+ fully loaded at motorway speed imo.

[MY95]

Id go 406 if cruise is a must, great value for money!
Or if I didn't need cruise id go 306 estate
Anything non French for that money will be high mileage/not looked after very well, and as Tom says you wont get anything new enough to do 55mpg+, 406 probably best bet.

[THE_Liam]

Another vote for a 406. £1500 will buy pretty much any 406, they make amazing cruisers, comfy enough to drive all day, after the amount of Cornwall trips I've done I can draw a comparison and the only car more comfortable for it was my mates XJ6. My 90 will do 60mpg+ on a run despite needing a service and being on 162k and a bit of a shed, and will even do 45mpg towing a caravan, many have cruise but even on the basic ones a £20 stalk off eBay and 10 minutes on PP and you have it, the estates are HUGE, and while electrics can be dodgy as with all French cars the mechanicals are rock solid.

[Jonny81191]

Megane?  Thought everyone was buying those these days...  

For £1500 you won't get an estate new enough to do 55+ fully loaded at motorway speed imo.

Yes you will you can get a lot for £1500, my cheap crap HDi90 blue 406 shed got something like 70mpg on a long run at 60

[Toms306]

Only if you got the mpg calcs wrong.

I've driven plenty of fully loaded hatches and estates at 70 (ain't nobody got time for 60 ffs ) and nothing got over 55mpg, well except the 106 but you can't get much in those lol. Even the Golf's would only do 60+ empty, soon as they were filled that dropped to about 50. Full Vectra would only do 40!! Granted an empty estate probably will do 55, I'd go for a PD Audi if that was the case, but why buy an estate if it's not used?

[Grant]

Jaguar x type diesel. Or Mondeo. Depends which way you want to look at it.

[THE_Liam]

Only if you got the mpg calcs wrong.

I've driven plenty of fully loaded hatches and estates at 70 (ain't nobody got time for 60 ffs ) and nothing got over 55mpg, well except the 106 but you can't get much in those lol.  Even the Golf's would only do 60+ empty, soon as they were filled that dropped to about 50.  Full Vectra would only do 40!! Granted an empty estate probably will do 55, I'd go for a PD Audi if that was the case, but why buy an estate if it's not used?

64mpg on a run at 70mph, it helps that the HDI has no DPF. I'm surprised but I've done it a few times, its amazing to me. You know what I say, if it does over 30mpg its economical

[Nathan1305]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...ID=EBAY-GB 


Looks decent

[Toms306]

Only if you got the mpg calcs wrong.

I've driven plenty of fully loaded hatches and estates at 70 (ain't nobody got time for 60 ffs ) and nothing got over 55mpg, well except the 106 but you can't get much in those lol.  Even the Golf's would only do 60+ empty, soon as they were filled that dropped to about 50.  Full Vectra would only do 40!! Granted an empty estate probably will do 55, I'd go for a PD Audi if that was the case, but why buy an estate if it's not used?

64mpg on a run at 70mph, it helps that the HDI has no DPF. I'm surprised but I've done it a few times, its amazing to me. You know what I say, if it does over 30mpg its economical

Focus is the only car I've had with a DPF though - which admittedly does ruin the mpg on it, partly because it uses the crappy old French Eolys one rather than the modern coated ones, 2 hours at a solid 70 from a warm engine on cruise and it couldn't hit 60 mpg! But then it doesn't have enough gears and the engines too small to maintain 70 efficiently imo.

Golfs, Vec, HDi's etc never had DPFs which is what I was using to compare, empty mapped golf would average 65mpg at 70, but not fully loaded or with the trailer which should be comparable to an estate.

I have noticed filling up at different stations or from different amounts changes the MPG calcs massively though, so if you're filling up at different stations or levels it's probably not overly accurate which could explain some of the surprising figures on here. Mine was 5mpg BETTER this weekend filling up from a half tank having done mostly town than from empty with a lot of 70 and B road lol. So tbh the MPG computer may be more accurate than trying to do it manually with pump clicks now I'm not using full tanks and the same pump.

[THE_Liam]

Only if you got the mpg calcs wrong.

I've driven plenty of fully loaded hatches and estates at 70 (ain't nobody got time for 60 ffs ) and nothing got over 55mpg, well except the 106 but you can't get much in those lol.  Even the Golf's would only do 60+ empty, soon as they were filled that dropped to about 50.  Full Vectra would only do 40!! Granted an empty estate probably will do 55, I'd go for a PD Audi if that was the case, but why buy an estate if it's not used?

64mpg on a run at 70mph, it helps that the HDI has no DPF. I'm surprised but I've done it a few times, its amazing to me. You know what I say, if it does over 30mpg its economical

Focus is the only car I've had with a DPF though - which admittedly does ruin the mpg on it, partly because it uses the crappy old French Eolys one rather than the modern coated ones, 2 hours at a solid 70 from a warm engine on cruise and it couldn't hit 60 mpg!  But then it doesn't have enough gears and the engines too small to maintain 70 efficiently imo.  

Golfs, Vec, HDi's etc never had DPFs which is what I was using to compare, empty mapped golf would average 65mpg at 70, but not fully loaded or with the trailer which should be comparable to an estate.

I have noticed filling up at different stations or from different amounts changes the MPG calcs massively though, so if you're filling up at different stations or levels it's probably not overly accurate which could explain some of the surprising figures on here.  Mine was 5mpg BETTER this weekend filling up from a half tank having done mostly town than from empty with a lot of 70 and B road lol.  So tbh the MPG computer may be more accurate than trying to do it manually with pump clicks now I'm not using full tanks and the same pump.

Tom I know how to calculate mpg correctly, I just don't often bother because I can afford to run a car. It does 60mpg+, fact.

[Toms306]

I'm saying it's impossible to calculate correctly! I can make mine better just by using a different pump and filling up sooner... And I do bother checking it everytime also, have spreadsheets and everything.

[THE_Liam]

I'm saying it's impossible to calculate correctly! I can make mine better just by using a different pump and filling up sooner... And I do bother checking it everytime also, have spreadsheets and everything. [emoji14]

Not if you do it on litres used its isn't, its only gonna be out by maybe 1mpg maximum at most.