Car Thread - £2-3k Most Efficient Car?

Damian Brown

Damian Brown

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Say you wanna spend £2-3k on a car (I don't but I'm curious to know for a friend) (Though I might let the info motivate me at a later date too!) but you wanted it to be efficient, aka cheap on fuel, insurance, maintenance etc.... What would you get?

Clearly the price limits the options and the possibility but I'm interested in what you car buffs think...
 
That's a great reply. But I'm wondering what people think would be most efficient, fuel/insurance/maintenance.

I could buy an old porsche, which would be awesome, but I doubt it'd be cost effective :)

edit: that was to the first post. You other two got in dead quick before I hit enter.

Nice ideas though. Steering away from the micra though I fully hear what you say and can't disagree from what I know about micra's too! Actually I will and should rightly put that on my friend's list. Googling the punto now too thanks
 
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well you are looking at 2nd hand for a start, obviously..............

My 55 plate punto diesel will be out of the price range........... but on a run gets 65 to the gallon, and is about a group 4 I think. Obviously insurance has many factors that determines price.........

Maybe something like an 02-03 plate will fit the bill............ by the way, should your friend also live in Brum, ins will be much higher than rural norfolk
 
Nissan Micra.

Cant beat the reliability, mileage, maintenance etc... For 2-3k in my opinion.
 
My Dad's just bought a 03 plate Smart ForTwo Cabrio for £3500. Bought it for his 5 mile journey to work. Gets him 55MPG and costs him £30 to fill it up and he gets to feel the wind in his hair. What he wanted it for mainly. Lovely cars too. Cost him £200 for the year insurance and would have been £30 road tax but it's got wider wheels so it's £90 lol
 
Skyline On Fire said:
Nissan Micra.

Cant beat the reliability, mileage, maintenance etc... For 2-3k in my opinion.
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For that price your looking at a petrol K12 which would do you approx 47mpg, not bad and would be 03-04 plate, not bad and reliable :) older diesel would be better mpg but not as reliable
 
A small diesel, Micra, Polo, Skoda, Fiesta. A Ford Ka is pretty good.

A motorbike.
 
db247 said:
That's a great reply. But I'm wondering what people think would be most efficient, fuel/insurance/maintenance.
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Sorry, I just love 'budget' cars, and 2-3k is a hefty budget in my book. Unfortunately I get between 15 and 17mpg so I know sod all about fuel economy, otherwise I would have provided a more informative response :)

My point is though, aside from the new hybrids, and rapidly improving cars in regards to fuel consumption, you can pretty much take your pick. Have a look at the Parkers car price guide, they usually cover all the basic details like fuel economy, reliability, etc.

Short Journeys? Long journeys? A diesel will excel at the former. Even some of the big ones. For the latter, you can't really go wrong with something like the Micra.
 
I think you've got your former and latter mixed up ;)

The most cost effective would, as mentioned above, be a C1/107/Aygo Diesel. I've heard of some people getting up to 90mpg from these on runs. I personally wouldn't want to do any large amount of driving in one however. They're good in town, but a bit dismal on the motorway.
 
George7 said:
I think you've got your former and latter mixed up ;)

The most cost effective would, as mentioned above, be a C1/107/Aygo Diesel. I've heard of some people getting up to 90mpg from these on runs.
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Which matches my former ;)

The question is, what would you be happy with. The Aygo could potentially make a great city car (though I'm not sure it would be that much better than its petrol counterparts round town), but if you're on the motorway, would you prefer to be in that, or getting 60+mpg in something like a Volvo, which would be a lot more comfortable all round.
 
I had a Fiesta 1.8TD which was a great compromise between fuel economy and still having a bit of go in it
 
Citroen C1...drove from Coventry to Manchester Airport and back a couple of weeks ago and used less than a quarter of a tank in mine :)
 
Lynton said:
My 55 plate punto diesel will be out of the price range........... but on a run gets 65 to the gallon, and is about a group 4 I think. Obviously insurance has many factors that determines price.........
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Some of the more recent Fiat diesel engines have been pretty good motors. You could possibloy pick upo a Stilo for 2-3k, and if you get a good one they're lovely cars...that said, they can be be very hit and miss. I had one for 4 years without incident (apart from the flood that destroyed the engine) but others I knowon a Fiat forum had theirs in the garage on a monthly basis.

I paid 3k for Suzuki Grand Vitara...I'd avoid it, it's a guzzler :lol:
 
I've always found the WhatCar website useful when comparing cars, a great help when trying to find the best bang for buck. www.whatcar.com
 
Lynton said:
My 55 plate punto diesel will be out of the price range........... but on a run gets 65 to the gallon, and is about a group 4 I think. Obviously insurance has many factors that determines price.........
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My Mondeo ST TDCi is capable of that, but out of the £2-3k price range and Group 13 insurance too. A hell of alot of fun though.:)
 
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