Buying a car help

[Cletus Van Damme]

My Focus 1.6 petrol, , 57 plate would struggle to do 45 mpg when i drove like a saint, ridiculously carefully.

Astra 1.6 SRI, petrol, 2010, easily do 45 mpg, currently doing 51 mpg with care, comfortable, quiet, relaxed, more refined (TBF it is a better spec than the Focus), but the boot is pokey.

I am amazed that can you get 45 mpg out of a newer Focus, however you drive. I have obviously been away from newer petrol cars for too long. I used to have a 1999 Honda Civic 1.8 VTI-S MB6 170 BHP that was tuned slightly. Due it's long gearing I could get 40 mpg out of it if kept out of VTEC and very low revs. I thought this was exceptional for a moderately powerful car, was a great car until some shitbag ran into it.

I consider 45 mpg out of a medium sized petrol engined car very good and honestly expected to achieve around this I would need to get a little city car like my parents have (Hynudai i10, Peugoet 107). Great cars for what they are but not really what I want. The Astra sounds really, really good. Maybe worth taking a look at them as they do not hold their value so I am guessing that there are some good used bargains to be had. My mothers fairly new Corsa was only garbage because of issues with the automatic gearbox, and nobody having a clue how to fix it. The plastics also seemed cheap inside it to me, but I can live with that and I would not buy an auto even though I have grown to like them a lot.

Thanks for sharing that though as I was considering a common rail diesel car, but if petrol cars can achieve that kind of economy I really do not see any point bothering with potential costs if injectors fail, high pressure fuel pump, dual mass flywheel failing, also the extra price of fuel and the extra cost of the car in the first place, make these sound like a total waste of money given the amount of miles that I do

 

[Custom24]

http://www.motors.co.uk/

I have no affiliation to it. It is a used car search engine, and unlike every other one I've seen, you don't have to specify the make(s) or model(s) you are interested in, but you can search by actually useful parameters like performance, doors, MPG, tax, etc...

 

[gbb]

I should say Cheeseney, I have developed a very economical style of driving. My commute helps, mostly A and B roads, all with a 50 mph limit and mostly straight roads. On shorter sections I tend to roll up to junctions and often don't even bother reaching the speed limit if I know there's a junction up ahead. I've also learned to understand at what speed the car is most economical, I know that sometimes to increase your speed by 5mph can increase the economy in a big way...I guess it's finding the power bands, or best torque at different speeds.
. I suspect many would not achieve those figures by driving 'normally'.

I literally drive by the computer display, the current mpg is always displayed in my car.

 

[DCLane]

Like @bof my wife has a Honda Jazz, which I borrow for bike events. It's the 2009 1.4 EX, which has a glass roof, cruise control, aircon etc. and would be in your price bracket by now. And yes, a bike fits fine with the seats down.

 

[biggs682]

just picked up a 58 plate Ford C Max for around same money bikes seem to fit in well not as easy as old picasso before it . on the plus side c max does better mpg