Advice req pls

Hi, I'm thinking of changing my car and would like to know if anyone can
recommend a make and model in the UK that has power steering,
air-conditioning in and plenty of head room.

Thanks

John

 

Citroen Berlingo Multispace can be got with all of those, plus they're very
economical if fitted with the HDi lump.

 

Maybe a 1.4ltr that isn't a tin-can and not too pricey? (Vauxhall?)

John

 

Hmm. 1.4 as in 1.4 Fiesta / Punto / Corsa sized thing, or 1.4 Focus / Astra
sized thing? TBH, a 1.4 Focus sized car will be fairly slow. As I said, you
can get air con on anything . You could get a Skoda Fabia with air con and
pas (I wouldn't be surprised if both were standard).

 

1.6 Astra will use no more fuel than a 1.4, and possibly less fuel on
motorways. In any case, I've found the1.6 astra to be far more economical
than any 1.4 I've ever driven. 1.6 Focus should be a safe bet too.

Astra's seem solidly built, bar a few engine management niggles. They're
dirt cheap to buy privately or at auction as the fleet industry floods the
market with 1-3 year old examples. Dealers inflate the prices dreadfully
though.

The best bet is to buy one privately, less than 3 years old and less than
60,000 miles. Its a very safe bet as vauxhall are extremely good at
honouring their factory warranty, which is one of the most comprehensive
I've ever seen. Do check the service history is complete, because in the
event of an expensive warranty claim they may want to see whether it's been
serviced properly.

Avoid smaller cars as they tend to be of lower build quality (notable
exceptions being japanese), and worse value for money as they depreciate
less. And don't believe that small cars are always more economical either.
For example, the Dervman achieves an average of about 39mpg from the Ford
Ka. I averaged 42mpg with the Astra.


--
The Dervboy

Reply-to address is valid as required by my news server, but is a spam box
and is never read.
My real e-mail address is thedervboy{at}btopenglobe{dot}com
(substituting "globe" with "world").

 

That's got a lot to do with the Ka's stone age engine though.

 

No, not really; it's got a lot more to do with the fact that we live in York
and spend a lot of time in the city boundaries.

Outside of the city, on longer trips, we typically record 43 - 47 mpg,
ranging from 41 to 49 mpg.

So, not really a like-for-like comparison.

 

I forgot about that factor, sorry. So not a good comparision.
On longer trips, I recorded a max/min of 45-49mpg though, so that's perhaps
a better comparision

The Dervboy

 

1.4's are cheaper on tax

 

I'm not an expert, by any means, but I really would consider an older,
larger car. What you'd save in mpg with a newer, smaller car, you'll make
up in purchase price. It's worth noting here that a _huge_ amount of the
average energy used by a car goes into it's manufacture, so getting a new
fuel efficient car every year is far from energy efficient in the long
run.

I've been driving a Citroen XM 2.0i Turbo for ages, it's just been the
runabout. It's worth nothing now, but it's done 200k or so, and no signs
of dying (despite a bit of abuse from me ). Basically 0 repairs (one
electrical thing, fixed 3 years ago), etc either. The only thing about it
is the turbocharger's gone very loud now (whines a lot), but only when
accelerating. Heh, to be honest, I've grown to love the whine. Mine's
not got air-con, but lots do have. The XM diesels are apparently more
desirable, but there isn't anything wrong with the petrols. Have a look
at Lexus's too, I've not had direct experience of these, but they're cheap
as chips when you compare them to newer cars with the same features.

 

Figures from Autocar:-

Test MPG Touring route MPG

Astra 1.4 Envoy 33 39

Ford Ka 33 50

The fuel consumption on any car depends a lot on driving style, so you
need to compare like for like.

 

the tax difference only apply to the newer cars the older ones still go
under the old style of pricing.