Motorway commuting car recommendations

ST4 said:
I heard £150pm from Specialist cars VW Aberdeen. Couldn't believe it myself. Golfs are nice cars, but I'd want something a bit more bargey for the motorway and less performance based. Think A6 diesel ultra or something...
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Plus vat, yes that was true. It has gone up a little but considering it comes as standard with every single safety features as requested it is really good.

Standard suspension is soft enough. And when you put it in driver profile selection Eco mode it is super quiet.

Insurance is a great indicator on how the industry views them. Mine was £236 fully comprehensive with just £250 excess. And with £80 quidco cash back on top it was super cheap. Then again you couldn't crash it, just try and drive it into a wall or across the White lines.
 
dejongj said:
Plus vat, yes that was true. It has gone up a little but considering it comes as standard with every single safety features as requested it is really good.

Standard suspension is soft enough. And when you put it in driver profile selection Eco mode it is super quiet.

Insurance is a great indicator on how the industry views them. Mine was £236 fully comprehensive with just £250 excess. And with £80 quidco cash back on top it was super cheap. Then again you couldn't crash it, just try and drive it into a wall or across the White lines.
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It can be over riden, given its an expensive car, it doesn't fall into Barry Boi maniac lout wagon, and being 4wd and sure footed its an easy car to drive, not a twitchy thing like an M3 or C63amg.

What realistically does it do the gallon. I love them, but for my new licence I am a reformed man, so want something super bargey and comfortable. A performance car like that for me is out the question, but it has to be a very complete car for sure. I borrowed a MKV GTi. It was nice, but wasn't as super quiet on the motorway the way my E class was. I know the mk7 will have moved the game on, was a good car for the mway - just not exec car good where the loudest thing at err 100 no I mean 70 was the tick of the clock on a good surface.
 
Top spec superb is a nice car, also audi a6. Don't spend way too much because you'll soon want those electric cars like Merc B'class or BMW i3. £1 or less commute to work is hard to beat.
 
ST4 said:
It can be over riden, given its an expensive car, it doesn't fall into Barry Boi maniac lout wagon, and being 4wd and sure footed its an easy car to drive, not a twitchy thing like an M3 or C63amg.

What realistically does it do the gallon. I love them, but for my new licence I am a reformed man, so want something super bargey and comfortable. A performance car like that for me is out the question, but it has to be a very complete car for sure. I borrowed a MKV GTi. It was nice, but wasn't as super quiet on the motorway the way my E class was. I know the mk7 will have moved the game on, was a good car for the mway - just not exec car good where the loudest thing at err 100 no I mean 70 was the tick of the clock on a good surface.
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I agree definitely not as quiet and comfortable like an E class. Our main family car is a GL and I've had the E as a loaner. However the OP is talking about going from North London to Luton. I'm going from Whipsnade to central London and a Golf sized vehicle is perfect. On that journey it does realistically 34/35mpg. On an all motorway journey you can average 40mpg. Which is very very good for what is a petrol automatic 300Hp car :)

But plenty of other choices are available, albeit with the essential kit list the OP has listed the options could increase price rapidly and makes it hard to find second hand.
 
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daugirdas said:
Top spec superb is a nice car, also audi a6. Don't spend way too much because you'll soon want those electric cars like Merc B'class or BMW i3. £1 or less commute to work is hard to beat.
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Having been in a superb it's only superb by name. oddly the passats a lot better and the Mondeo the one to have unless going premium brand
 
CaveDweller said:
With cruise control you very rarely get to use it unless the roads are dead. How often do you actually follow someone who is staying at the exact speed all the time.
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I've had cruise control on my last 3 cars and I can honestly say I use it every day.
If the OP wants cruise control with crash avoidance, I'd go for the new Mk5 Mondeo which is about to come out, they maybe taking orders already. The system even notices pedestrians that may be about to step out into the road, the car emits a sound to warn the driver, if the pedestrian does step into the road, the car will bleep again and start to brake, if the driver fails to react the car will bleep again and brake heavier, if the driver totally ignores all this the car will brake to a stop before it hits the pedestrian. The diesels also have powershift paddle gear change too.
 
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Byker28i said:
We got a works golf with follow me cruise control and others love it but I don't like it. Hardly ever use cruise apart from in roadworks withs specs cameras.
What I do find amazing with the 2.0 golf blue motion is how economic it is even if you thrash it.

I've just done 500 miles in my mazda 6 sports tourer today


http://www.mazda.co.uk/assets/uk/ca...treior/2/mazda6-wagon-gallery_exterior_uk.jpg
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The OP is talking about automatic cruise control which is a very different experience. It is standard equipment in the Golf R. It also has front assist as standard which is an anti collision system. Combined with a DSG the car will do 0-...-0 all by itself. Combine it with lane avoidance and the car will also steer itself. Great for a nap on the motorway or checking your Facebook/elo etc. normal cruise control doesn't do it for me either, but this works really well. I've got mine set to keep and extremely close gap, and it still reacts great to van man and mondeo man trying it on.
 
Yeh t
nilagin said:
I've had cruisecontrol on my last 3 cars and I can honestly say I use it every day.
If the OP wants cruise control with crash avoidance, I'd go for the new Mk5 Mondeo which is about to come out, they maybe taking orders already. The system even notices pedestrians that may be about to step out into the road, the car emits a sound to warn the driver, if the pedestrian does step into the road, the car will bleep again and start to brake, if the driver fails to react the car will bleep again and brake heavier, if the driver totally ignores all this the car will brake to a stop before it hits the pedestrian. The diesels also have powershift paddle gear change too.
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Yeh that's the same with my bmw but I hardly ever use it, if at all apart from average speed cameras.
 
ST4 said:
Having been in a superb it's only superb by name. oddly the passats a lot better and the Mondeo the one to have unless going premium brand
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Passat is good, but so is superb (the top spec one only). You can get SE passat that is not so nice, and most mondeos (except titanium) are very grim indeed. LX or Style are so awful I couldn't believe. Top spec isn't fun (cheap) buying new. That's where audi trims out-shine many competitors.
 
daugirdas said:
Passat is good, but so is superb (the top spec one only). You can get SE passat that is not so nice, and most mondeos (except titanium) are very grim indeed. LX or Style are so awful I couldn't believe. Top spec isn't fun (cheap) buying new. That's where audi trims out-shine many competitors.
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The spec is good, but the sound proofing and suspension isn't at the level of a Passat or Mondeo. The basic car is what matters, and I am no Ford Fan, but the Mondy is the only mass market car that in terms of NVH can come close to a Mercedes Benz E class.
 
daugirdas said:
Passat is good, but so is superb (the top spec one only). You can get SE passat that is not so nice, and most mondeos (except titanium) are very grim indeed. LX or Style are so awful I couldn't believe. Top spec isn't fun (cheap) buying new. That's where audi trims out-shine many competitors.
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Fairly sure Ford haven't had an LX in the Mondeo range since the Mk3 wich finished production early 2007.

Here you go Mk5 Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Auto Titanium just over £27k without negotiating a discount, plus Ford are currently offering £1500 towards the deposit if you take Ford finance, you could pay it all off the following month if you wished. Optional extras fitted in that price include park assist (parallel and perpendicular) Active City stop, Adaptive cruise control with collision mitigation. I very much doubt you get a VW or Audi with that spec for that amount of money.
 
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Yes you can. And some some weedy little two litre diesel either. As per my suggestion earlier. A nice 300Hp four wheel drive five seat German family car. Well near enough.
 
dejongj said:
Yes you can. And some some weedy little two litre diesel either. As per my suggestion earlier. A nice 300Hp four wheel drive five seat German family car. Well near enough.
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Have you driven a 2.0 diesel they don't hang about. For about £1k more there is the 180ps version. More than ideal as a motorway cruiser and plenty of torque when you want to overtake
 
nilagin said:
Have you driven a 2.0 diesel they don't hang about. For about £1k more there is the 180ps version. More than ideal as a motorway cruiser and plenty of torque when you want to overtake
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:) and that my friend is exactly the problem many encounter on the motorway everyday. Owners who think theirs don't hang about. It all depends what one is used too and everything is relative.
 
dejongj said:
:) and that my friend is exactly the problem many encounter on the motorway everyday. Owners who think theirs don't hang about. It all depends what one is used too and everything is relative.
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I'd much rather deal with people who think their cars don't hang about than the usual "I'll hog the middle lane whilst doing under the speed limit even though there's nothing to overtake" people, which are the worst motorway drivers IMO.
 
dejongj said:
The OP is talking about automatic cruise control which is a very different experience. It is standard equipment in the Golf R. It also has front assist as standard which is an anti collision system. Combined with a DSG the car will do 0-...-0 all by itself. Combine it with lane avoidance and the car will also steer itself. Great for a nap on the motorway or checking your Facebook/elo etc. normal cruise control doesn't do it for me either, but this works really well. I've got mine set to keep and extremely close gap, and it still reacts great to van man and mondeo man trying it on.
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Yeah whatever it's called is what's in the works golf, but to be honest I'd rather drive the car. Not sure I'd want a driver thinking they could be distracted because the car will tell them if they are being inattentive.
 
CaveDweller said:
I'd much rather deal with people who think their cars don't hang about than the usual "I'll hog the middle lane whilst doing under the speed limit even though there's nothing to overtake" people, which are the worst motorway drivers IMO.
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That was actually my point ;)
 
wuyanxu said:
Any recommendations for a good motorway cruiser? I commute 60 miles a day, from N London to my workplace in Luton. Spending over 1:30 in the car every day, around 1 hour of which are spent on the motorway.?
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Thats not really cruising, I go from just outside london to Dorset in1hr 30 & that's 87miles dor to door.

We have just researched this and our short list is BMW 316, Audi A3 A1 & mini. All have massive mpg or low co2 as we will business lease it as a company car (personal tax of £100). Private lease is also good value if you don't want to buy. Remember you will loose about 50% of its value in 3 years.

We're drifting to the Audi S3 sportsback.
 
Byker28i said:
Yeah whatever it's called is what's in the works golf, but to be honest I'd rather drive the car. Not sure I'd want a driver thinking they could be distracted because the car will tell them if they are being inattentive.
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In practise it is really unobtrusive, it is very very cleverly done. Heck considering it is winning every review and even the ones from the sporting bias magazines should be a good indicator of how well this can work these days.
 
dejongj said:
Yes you can. And some some weedy little two litre diesel either. As per my suggestion earlier. A nice 300Hp four wheel drive five seat German family car. Well near enough.
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Whilst you might think that 2 litre diesels are weedy they certainly arent and in the UK a 2 litre diesel mondeo or similar will happily tail grab your ass all day long. It will probably wave at you too as you pull in to the services to fill up your gas guzzler 4x4 :lol:
 
stupar said:
Whilst you might think that 2 litre diesels are weedy they certainly arent and in the UK a 2 litre diesel mondeo or similar will happily tail grab your ass all day long. It will probably wave at you too as you pull in to the services to fill up your gas guzzler 4x4 :lol:
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Thank you. Nicely demonstrates my earlier point. Don't get me wrong. This is not about willy waving, but let's not kid ourselves either.
 
Kid ourselves at what exactly?
As for willy waving I dont indulge in that and from a car perspective i cant anyway as we dont own a car.
It is willy waving when almost all i keep seeing is Mercedes GL mentioned
 
stupar said:
Kid ourselves at what exactly?
As for willy waving I dont indulge in that and from a car perspective i cant anyway as we dont own a car.
It is willy waving when almost all i keep seeing is Mercedes GL mentioned
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Comprehension doesn't seem to be a strong point along with context.
 
stupar said:
Kid ourselves at what exactly?
As for willy waving I dont indulge in that and from a car perspective i cant anyway as we dont own a car.
It is willy waving when almost all i keep seeing is Mercedes GL mentioned
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Honest I think he was just trying to be helpful. I didn't pick up willy waving and he mentioned the GL Mercedes in context of other cars.

Why is discussing a Mercedes GL a bad thing although they're a little over the OPs budget but the golf with all the kit and big engine seems to fit the brief albeit its left field choice. I'd stray towards a larger car with a less powerful donkey like a posh diesel exec or Mondeo
 
ST4 said:
Honest I think he was just trying to be helpful. I didn't pick up willy waving and he mentioned the GL Mercedes in context of other cars.

Why is discussing a Mercedes GL a bad thing although they're a little over the OPs budget but the golf with all the kit and big engine seems to fit the brief albeit its left field choice. I'd stray towards a larger car with a less powerful donkey like a posh diesel exec or Mondeo
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Saying that, with going from a 170hp 2.0tdi passat to a 300hp 3.0tdi bmw I am surprised how well the bigger engines do with mpg. I worked out my average mpg properly (not by the on board computer) and I averaged 52mpg with combined motorway and A-roads over 600 miles.

Personally I'm not keen on large cars with small engines, but that might just be me. They don't do as well with the mpg and a lot more strain on the engine/parts. If I was going to get another big car, an Audi A6 for example then I'd look to getting the 3.0tdi quattro over the smaller 2.0tdi's.
 
CaveDweller said:
Saying that, with going from a 170hp 2.0tdi passat to a 300hp 3.0tdi bmw I am surprised how well the bigger engines do with mpg. I worked out my average mpg properly (not by the on board computer) and I averaged 52mpg with combined motorway and A-roads over 600 miles.

Personally I'm not keen on large cars with small engines, but that might just be me. They don't do as well with the mpg and a lot more strain on the engine/parts. If I was going to get another big car, an Audi A6 for example then I'd look to getting the 3.0tdi quattro over the smaller 2.0tdi's.
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I agree to an extent, I ran an E220cdi and E320cdi and the 320cdi did take less fuel. But now the newer small engines put out 180bhp plus, which lets be honest, is stacks of power for a mway cruiser and the output of a 530d only 12 years back.
 
dejongj said:
Lease a brand new Vw Golf R and add lane assist to it. Fantastic car and with automatic cruise control and front assist and in combination with lane assist it is impossible to crash. Heck you can post on this forum whilst driving and the car will do it for you if you get an automatic version. It is also fast, very fast and economical and has awd.

Very very very cheap to lease as well.
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The really cheap lease deals finished at the end of October, they're now over £400pm whereas it was half that in October :wideyed:
 
nilagin said:
I'd go for the new Mk5 Mondeo which is about to come out, they maybe taking orders already. The system even notices pedestrians that may be about to step out into the road, the car emits a sound to warn the driver, if the pedestrian does step into the road, the car will bleep again and start to brake, if the driver fails to react the car will bleep again and brake heavier, if the driver totally ignores all this the car will brake to a stop before it hits the pedestrian.
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The thing that worries me about all this technology, it could quite easily make drivers even less aware
of their surrounds, by allowing the car to make the decisions for them.
And as they become a little older and the possibility of a system failure......
 
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TopBanana said:
The really cheap lease deals finished at the end of October, they're now over £400pm whereas it was half that in October :wideyed:
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Ouch. There are still a number of dealers that have confirmed quotes with those deals. But yes a basic at that price won't be a decent option for the OP in my opinion.

How about a Mercedes GLA, I think they are lovely.
 
Cobra said:
The thing that worries me about all this technology, it could quite easily make drivers even less aware
of their surrounds, by allowing the car to make the decisions for them.
And as they become a little older and the possibility of a system failure......
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And when the system fails the driver makes an error and stacks it into day a parked car, barrier etc.

It's not hard to stay safe. Just look ahead and you'll be fine.

Lots of quiet comfortable cars have been suggested. OP needs to drive a few
 
dejongj said:
:) and that my friend is exactly the problem many encounter on the motorway everyday. Owners who think theirs don't hang about. It all depends what one is used too and everything is relative.
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If you are deluded enough to think a 2.0 tdci Mondeo can't hold it's own on a motorway be it cruising at 2000 revs at 70mph or accelerate from 50-70 more than quick enough just goes to show how little you actually know about cars.
 
nilagin said:
If you are deluded enough to think a 2.0 tdci Mondeo can't hold it's own on a motorway be it cruising at 2000 revs at 70mph or accelerate from 50-70 more than quick enough just goes to show how little you actually know about cars.
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I never said nor suggested it couldn't do that. But let's not confuse it with sliced bread. Just watch out for those visual indications behind you when someone wants to overtake.
 
Sticking with the BMW theme how about a 730d fantastic MPG, very quick 0-60, seven setting for comfort+ to sport+ drive sport Msport and 153 top end, go for standard wheels not 19's (can be a firm ride on them) £225 tax per year for 20K you should pick up a fully spec one with all the toys, great mway cruiser.

I have a F01 730d and just returned from a fantastic trip around the South of France.

Drives like a nuns behind the wheel :angelic: or the devil :naughty: depending how you feel.
 
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dejongj said:
I never said nor suggested it couldn't do that. But let's not confuse it with sliced bread. Just watch out for those visual indications behind you when someone wants to overtake.
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It's there in black and white for all to see.


dejongj said:
Yes you can. And some some weedy little two litre diesel either. As per my suggestion earlier. A nice 300Hp four wheel drive five seat German family car. Well near enough.
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dejongj said:
:) and that my friend is exactly the problem many encounter on the motorway everyday. Owners who think theirs don't hang about. It all depends what one is used too and everything is relative.
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CaveDweller said:
Especially at 70mph :ROFLMAO:
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A 2.0 TDCi is more than capable of accelerating quickly from 70mph in 6th and you don't even need to bury your foot into the carpet neither, you can do it on half throttle.
 
mercmanuk said:
Sticking with the BMW theme how about a 730d fantastic MPG, very quick 0-60, seven setting for comfort+ to sport+ drive sport Msport and 153 top end, go for standard wheels not 19's (can be a firm ride on them) £225 tax per year for 20K you should pick up a fully spec one with all the toys, great mway cruiser.

I have a F01 730d and just returned from a fantastic trip around the South of France.

Drives like a nuns behind the wheel :angelic: or the devil :naughty: depending how you feel.
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Your's will be the same engine as my E61 530D. Can't beat the 6cyl diesels and it tunes well as well:rolleyes: Also bullet proof compared to the 4cyl BMW engines.
 
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