Fuel efficient 2nd hand car for commuting

noshankus

Hi Guys,

I thought you might have a good idea for a car which I'm looking to purchase. Currently my situation is that I have to commute daily from Athlone to Blackrock (checked using trains and buses, but not feasible as I have to be flexible in my arrival and departure times).

Currently, I'm driving a 01 Renault Laguna 1.4 petrol and it's between 1 hour 15 mins and 1 hour 30 mins each way. This seems to be costing me between €25 and €30 each day on petrol, which right now seems a little excessive (or perhaps it isn't?). As it's mostly motorway all the way (N4 and M50), my average speed would be around 120kph on N4 (~50 mins to an hour) and 80-100kph on M50 (~20 mins).

So my question is, were I to buy a 2nd hand car to replace my current car, what would you suggest so as to cut the price of my fuel costs down by a reasonable amount? A reasonable amount could even be €5, as per year, even this would add up to more than €1000!

Many thanks for your help on this issue and unfortunately car-poolign isn't an option as I need to be very flexible with coming and going.

R.O.R

Ford Focus Diesel
Opel Astra Diesel
Ford Mondeo Diesel
Opel Vectra Diesel

Any of the above should be cheap to service and save you a fortune on fuel (€25 a day is ridiculous), but you are unlikely to get any sort of decent trade in on your current car.

robtri

have you a budget on price? also what about engine size for insurance and tax purposes, what are you willing to look at??

Henry Ford III

That's a heavy commute. Over 850 miles a week according to your figures!!!

1/. Buy a diesel. Expect a 40%+ decrese in fuel costs.

2/. Consider renting a room somewhere nearer work.

Fuel expenses are not the end of your motoring costs. You'd be looking at regular servicing at frequent intervals, changing tyres every 6 months maybe, and wearing out a car in a couple of years.

3 hours driving to/from work daily will take it's toll eventually too.

Stevie Dakota

Have you considered a motorbike. I was in your position, bought a bike an never looked back. Cheap as chips and your commuting times will be slashed.

noshankus

robtri wrote: »

have you a budget on price? also what about engine size for insurance and tax purposes, what are you willing to look at??

Of course, given the current climate I'm lucky to have a job at all. To this end, I could probably only go as high as maybe €5000, max if I felt it was worth it €6000.

Of course, I would prefer a 4 door if at all possible as I do lug stuff around with me from time to time. That's kinda why I liked the Laguna cos of the massive boot, but I really don't need something that big.

As for engine size, I'm not sure to be honest. I expect that would affect the efficiency and fuel consumption too?

noshankus

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

Have you considered a motorbike. I was in your position, bought a bike an never looked back. Cheap as chips and your commuting times will be slashed.

To be honest, traffic isn't the issue, it's the distance. I try to arrive and leave earlier to avoid that, so a motorbike wouldn't get there quicker. Anyway, I don't think I'd be confident to do that much travelling on a motorbike daily, especially once the winter kicks in!

noshankus

Henry Ford III wrote: »

That's a heavy commute. Over 850 miles a week according to your figures!!!

1/. Buy a diesel. Expect a 40%+ decrese in fuel costs.

2/. Consider renting a room somewhere nearer work.

Fuel expenses are not the end of your motoring costs. You'd be looking at regular servicing at frequent intervals, changing tyres every 6 months maybe, and wearing out a car in a couple of years.

3 hours driving to/from work daily will take it's toll eventually too.

All true. Si I guess it'll have to be a diesel anyway. As for the room idea, it's not something I could consider at the moment as I have an old parent I must look after in the evenings.

My only hope is that this won't become a very long term issue and eventually after a while I may even be able to work from home. That would suit me down to the ground, but as this is a new job, I can't just mention that straight away

R.O.R

Did you say you need boot space?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/200929194629563/advert?channel=CARS

30,000km between services, good economy and if serviced to schedule good for 250,000km (had some MK1 Octavia's back with that mileage).

But don't go anywhere near this one:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/5DR-TDI-/200927194509548/advert?channel=CARS

noshankus

R.O.R wrote: »

Ford Focus Diesel
Opel Astra Diesel
Ford Mondeo Diesel
Opel Vectra Diesel

Any of the above should be cheap to service and save you a fortune on fuel (€25 a day is ridiculous), but you are unlikely to get any sort of decent trade in on your current car.

Yeah, I bought the Laguna for less than €3000 some almost a year ago, so I'm not expecting anything near that amount. These are some good suggestions and I'll look to see what's best value for money on them and which year to get for my budget

maidhc

R.O.R wrote: »

Did you say you need boot space?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/200929194629563/advert?channel=CARS

30,000km between services, good economy and if serviced to schedule good for 250,000km (had some MK1 Octavia's back with that mileage).

But don't go anywhere near this one:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/5DR-TDI-/200927194509548/advert?channel=CARS

One of those smells of scam!

noshankus

R.O.R wrote: »

Did you say you need boot space?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/200929194629563/advert?channel=CARS

30,000km between services, good economy and if serviced to schedule good for 250,000km (had some MK1 Octavia's back with that mileage).

But don't go anywhere near this one:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/5DR-TDI-/200927194509548/advert?channel=CARS

That looks good! You really think it would reduce my costs? Obviously as it's diesel it would be cheaper and since it's newer I would think it's probably also more efficient?

R.O.R

maidhc wrote: »

One of those smells of scam!

Whoops

Didn't really look through the ad, but it does look like it might be based in Liverpool and payment to be made by Western Union.

Perhaps a MK2 is outside of budget, but you can't go wrong with a MK1 Octavia.

OP, make sure whatever you buy has an armrest and lumbar support, A/C if possible for when traffic is heavy and it's sunny. Spend as little as possible as your car will be worthless within a year.

I've been doing similar time commute to your's for the past 6 years. Trying to keep costs down is all well and good, but if you are spending that length of time in a car everyday you want to make sure it's as enjoyable as it can be and above all, comfortable.

noshankus

R.O.R wrote: »

Whoops

Didn't really look through the ad, but it does look like it might be based in Liverpool and payment to be made by Western Union.

Perhaps a MK2 is outside of budget, but you can't go wrong with a MK1 Octavia.

OP, make sure whatever you buy has an armrest and lumbar support, A/C if possible for when traffic is heavy and it's sunny. Spend as little as possible as your car will be worthless within a year.

I've been doing similar time commute to your's for the past 6 years. Trying to keep costs down is all well and good, but if you are spending that length of time in a car everyday you want to make sure it's as enjoyable as it can be and above all, comfortable.

Agreed! Thank you all very much for the help. I should have enough now to go on to at least limit my searching. Thanks again. I'll let you know what I decide on

Zonda999

An Octavia really would the bill very nicely. Was driving one a couple of years ago and i remember when cruising, the trip computer said i was doing 65mpg!:). The 1.9TDI will go for a long time too!

spank_inferno

I get 45mpg average easily in my 1.4 vvery underpowered skoda fabia
Thats on 300miles per week usage for a 70%highway 30% urban commute.
My fuel costs are about €35 per week.

Before considering the cost of changing vehicle, try to see how efficient you can be with your existing car.

if you want to change then diesel is the way to go
& an octavia ftw

JHMEG

Also worth considering maybe would be a Civic IMA. Quite comfortable (all leather) and should do 65 mpg on that run (mine does). Currently disadvantaged by the higher tax on petrol which is making petrol about 10% more than diesel but that could change in the next budget. On the upside the motor tax is about half what a typical diesel is.

noshankus

spank_inferno wrote: »

I get 45mpg average easily in my 1.4 vvery underpowered skoda fabia
Thats on 300miles per week usage for a 70%highway 30% urban commute.
My fuel costs are about €35 per week.

Before considering the cost of changing vehicle, try to see how efficient you can be with your existing car.

if you want to change then diesel is the way to go
& an octavia ftw

Yeah, I have tried with my car, but it's a heavy old car (1.6 liter - I originaly thought it was 1.4) and just seems to eat petrol. My commute according to maps.google.com is around 730miles per week. Currently it's costing me around €125, so the thoughts of this dropping to around €80 per week (according to your figures) would be fantastic! That works out around €2340 savings a year. This definitely would be worth it.

One more question which may sound silly, but would having a lower liter engine be more efficient? I.e. were I to purchase a 1.4 diesel, would that be better than a 1.9? I know the liter measure is a measure of how much air it can displace and as such fuel it can burn, however, I'm unclear as to whether this is a factor when it comes to efficiency?

R.O.R

noshankus wrote: »

Yeah, I have tried with my car, but it's a heavy old car (1.6 liter - I originaly thought it was 1.4) and just seems to eat petrol. My commute according to maps.google.com is around 730miles per week. Currently it's costing me around €125, so the thoughts of this dropping to around €80 per week (according to your figures) would be fantastic! That works out around €2340 savings a year. This definitely would be worth it.

One more question which may sound silly, but would having a lower liter engine be more efficient? I.e. were I to purchase a 1.4 diesel, would that be better than a 1.9? I know the liter measure is a measure of how much air it can displace and as such fuel it can burn, however, I'm unclear as to whether this is a factor when it comes to efficiency?

I'd say if a lot of your journey is at motorway speed it's unlikely that a smaller engine will save more fuel (but will save on tax costs). I've not really spent any time with smaller diesel engines, but would presume the rev's on a 1.4Tdi would be higher than a 1.9Tdi sitting at 120 km/h.

A few years ago I took my wife's 1.2 (petrol) Ibiza to work a couple of days. The on board computer on that showed fuel consumption of around 32mpg. For the same journey my 1.8T (petrol) Octavia would usually return around 35mpg. Most of the Journey was Motorway so the engine in the Ibiza was buzzing at 4,500rpm a lot of the time. The same speed in the Octavia was achieved with rpm of 3,750.

noshankus

R.O.R wrote: »

I'd say if a lot of your journey is at motorway speed it's unlikely that a smaller engine will save more fuel (but will save on tax costs). I've not really spent any time with smaller diesel engines, but would presume the rev's on a 1.4Tdi would be higher than a 1.9Tdi sitting at 120 km/h.

A few years ago I took my wife's 1.2 (petrol) Ibiza to work a couple of days. The on board computer on that showed fuel consumption of around 32mpg. For the same journey my 1.8T (petrol) Octavia would usually return around 35mpg. Most of the Journey was Motorway so the engine in the Ibiza was buzzing at 4,500rpm a lot of the time. The same speed in the Octavia was achieved with rpm of 3,750.

Aha! I see. Thanks for all the help R.O.R. (and others!), I'm slowly coming around to understanding my needs. I think I'm going to go for a Skoda Octavia 1.8 or 1.9 TDI.
Now I just have to figure out exaclty how much I can and want to spend. This is potentially a commute I'll be doing for some time as it's hard (next to impossible) to find a similar type job in the midlands. So I might save up a little longer and splash out for about €10000 or thereabouts. It might be better in the long run to get a more recent car and pay more initially so it will last longer.

noshankus

JHMEG wrote: »

Also worth considering maybe would be a Civic IMA. Quite comfortable (all leather) and should do 65 mpg on that run (mine does). Currently disadvantaged by the higher tax on petrol which is making petrol about 10% more than diesel but that could change in the next budget. On the upside the motor tax is about half what a typical diesel is.

To be honest, I'm trying to shy away from a petrol car, purely because of my current bad experience. Unless they do diesel versions too?

EPM

noshankus wrote: »

I might save up a little longer and splash out for about €10000 or thereabouts. It might be better in the long run to get a more recent car and pay more initially so it will last longer.

Get a car even a couple of years older with low mileage and a full service history and it will be as good as a newer one with the same mileage/history. You could wind up paying the extra €5k for the number plate to be honest.

+1 on the Octavia 1.9 TDi

BrianD3

I also have a 1.6 Laguna and economy does drop off a lot (by about 20-25%) at motorway speeds compared to N road speeds. I also drive a Megane 1.5 diesel, it is a very economical car in general but it also suffers a bit on the motorway. Although I haven't done any measurements to see what it does.

Dunno about the 1.9 TDi either, it produces 105 bhp which is not much for a car the weight of the Octavia also there are some smaller capacity diesels from other manufacturers that produce the same or more power.

noshankus

BrianD3 wrote: »

Dunno about the 1.9 TDi either, it produces 105 bhp which is not much for a car the weight of the Octavia also there are some smaller capacity diesels from other manufacturers that produce the same or more power.

So in general I should be looking for something with more bhp and less weight? There's a lot more to this than I had imagined!

I could get a 2007 or 2006 Octavia for in around the €10k mark:

http://www.carzone.ie/search/results?nParam=4294910889%2B200590&searchsource=browse&cacheBuster=1248090511468121#nParam=4294910889%2B200590%2B102456%2B287%2B328&sortby=Make|0&channel=CARS&currency=EUROS

But if I'm willing to go that high on price, is there something else which might be even more efficient I should be considering, like an Audi A3 or A4 2004 which would weight in around the same price for example?

JHMEG

noshankus wrote: »

is there something else which might be even more efficient I should be considering, like an Audi A3 or A4 2004 which would weight in around the same price for example?

Audi are going to be more expensive, not more efficient.

EPM

The 1.9 tdi is fine in the MK1 Octavia (up to 2004). The 90 brake version is a little dead but the 110 should be fine. In the newer shape the 105 brake is again fine for the car.

OP, for what you intend on using the car for the Octavia is probably the best choice. The Audi A3 is in fact the same car as an Octavia but with a different body and interior.

noshankus

JHMEG wrote: »

Audi are going to be more expensive, not more efficient.

Ok, I think I'm over-complicating things for myself. I should probably just focus on the Octavia TDi.

Thanks again!

noshankus

EPM wrote: »

The 1.9 tdi is fine in the MK1 Octavia (up to 2004). The 90 brake version is a little dead but the 110 should be fine. In the newer shape the 105 brake is again fine for the car.

OP, for what you intend on using the car for the Octavia is probably the best choice. The Audi A3 is in fact the same car as an Octavia but with a different body and interior.

Unfortunately I don't quite understand the whole "90 brake version" bit. But you recommend a 2007 or 2006 Octavia? I know you meantion the MK1 Octavia up to 2004 is fine, so I may look at a 2004 as well which would of course be a little cheaper which is more than fine!

aidanco

The Renault Megane 1.5 diesel is super efficient. Prob the best I've driven. Should get up to 750km a tank if you drive it reasonably easy:D