i need a boring car..

Indeed, but it's nigh-on £20k...

 

why spend 10k when 1k - at most - will do just fine for the stated purpouse. i.e. bimbling about and an old beater car.
use the remainder to buy hi-fi, go travelling, pay off a chunk of mortgage, buy your kids a pension, whatever.

 

Can't disagree julian, but I was just answering the question the OP asked.

 

True. Forgot there'd be none on the used market yet as its new.

 

Is this big enough though?

 

There's only one option I can think of and I have one - A Citroen Ber lingo - Diesel Of course - not fast, not pretty but goes and keeps on going, excellent fuel consumption and very versatile - Mine even pulls my 19 foot keel boat out of the water each year and I have even used it to tow the caravan - It helps out during furniture removals - - I like it so much that when it rusts out which wont be for some time yet as it is partially galvanised -- I'll rplace it with one the same!!!

 

Skoda Fabia as Isaac says ...or.... how about a Fiat Multipla (the 1.9 diesel) - quirky and reliable / economical, although the boot space may not be as big as you'd like.

 

Another vote for the Fabia, my other half's Dad has got a TDi one, he's a stationery rep and it's amazing how much will fit in that boot. He's done 100k in the last two years and it's been faultless so far AFAIK. Great economy too.

BTW it also feels well made, plasticky, but solid plasticky, and has a firm but comfortable ride.

 

i really like my alhambra which has the pd tdi engine in it. they are great engines from a performance perspective but make sure that it is in top condition and has been serviced regularly and correctly. i had some cooling problems which i caught late which resulted in mine needing a new cylinder head. also their turbos are variable geometry and due to some environmental gizmo that recycles partially burnt exhaust gas back into the combustion cycle the variable geometry mechanism can accumulate soot and goop over time and stop working. this results in poor performance, poor economy and really needs a new turbo to fix it. there is a simple tweak to the ecu which reduces the agressiveness of the egr valve (the enviromental gizmo) and prolongs the life of the turbo.
lastly some tdi engines have a problem with their maf sensors again poor performance and economy are the symptoms.
all in all i'm not sorry i got my 'bamma or that i've had to spend a chunk of change on it to fix it up as i intend to keep it for a long time yet but be aware that there are some issues with the engines in the vw group. best find one that's had the problems and been fixed with reciepts for the work. then you've got yourself a bargain.

 

Honda Jazz. Much bigger inside than you would think...

 

Midlifecrisis are you sure you have done the maths on this one?

Unless I have misunderstood, your reason for buying a new car is the high fuel consumption and resulting costs

Doesn't make sense to then have two cars as you will pay twice for maintenace, road tax, insurance etc and suffer double depreciation and a 10K capital layout to top it off.

As someone has already poitned out, will be much more economical to convert your exisiting car to lpg if you need a large car.

Otherwise, perhaps sell up and buy a large car that is also fuel efficient (although i'm not sure there is such a thing) - one that springs to mind is the Lexus hybrid car ( that is currently congestion charge exempt as well)

 

....what boat is that dreftar...?

(hope you dont mind me asking)

 

...bangernomics might appeal to me but my wife has to pull up outside my son's prep school in it amongst all the Porsche Cayennes and Range Rovers.. it has to be safe and respectable (at least not noticeable!), and reliable. it's replacing my Elise, which was fun but which she won't drive and doesn't really fit our lifestyle any more. with two kids at different schools and loads of sporting activites we do need two cars (in fact at some future point I might well also stick something fun like an early XKR in the garage for weekends:MILD: and screw my carbon footprint!).
The Skoda Fabia looked a bit small in the boot (Octavia should be alright but I havent seen one yet), but on screen I quite like the Mazda 3 and some of the Toyotas like the Verso and Auris.

 

Mazda 3 diesel is another very efficient choice... The 3 (aka Focus, C30) is a class up from the Fabia in size. The outgoing corolla and incoming Auris are less good to drive than the mazda, but otherwise should be similarly reliable and the oil burners are economical too (although I'd personally have the 3 1.6D over the Corolla 1.4 D4D... haven't looked into the Auris).

Here's another one you haven't thought of, although it's probably beyond what you want to spend: Mitsubishi Grandis DI-D. It's a rather smart people carrier that manages to pull off looking like a large estate car rather than the rather ship like sharagalahambra, C8/807, Voyager etc competition. The 2.0 DI-D engine is supplied by VW, and is the latest 2.0 TDI with 136bhp. 55 plate DI-Ds are coming in around £14k asking price at the moment (they were only released a year ago). However, this thing will make the T5 seem cramped (although maybe it could replace the T5 and keep the Elise... ) and is probably massive overkill.

Here's another idea... How about a NEW (yes, brand new) Mitsubishi Lancer estate? 1.6 Petrol... it's not quite as efficient as diesels but it's pretty good (40mpg combined, 48 out of town, 32 in town), but you won't find as large and well-specced a car new from anywhere but Korea. It's a proper Japanese built Mitsubishi (unlike its dismal predecessor, the Carisma, which was built in the netherlands) so should be reliable (my Galant has 111700 miles and has never broken down, and only failed to start one time when I knew it had a weak, old battery and I went on holiday for 3 weeks. One jump-start later and it was fine). They're well-equipped (fogs, alloys, aircon, CD, keyless) and for £10500 new, on the road, I can't think of many better deals.

 

Have a look at the Seat Altea.

 

...how it ended up..

well, had a look round - the most attractive models (Auris, new Civic) are too new to be in budget, and Seat dealers too far away for convenience. So today went and bought an ex courtesy car Peugeot 307 hdi s 110bhp. not an emotional purchase this - more like buying a lawnmower, and this hit all the right buttons - looks decent, pulls well, has an amazing amount of room in it given how small it looks, quiet inside, good boot, comfortable seats - and excellent fuel economy and running costs . was still a wrench watching my Elise drive away in the sunshine with the hood down on Saturday however

 

When it goes it's great - I've got a 307SW and the torque, economy well spaced gears, and in the case of the longer wheel base SW, great handling, make it an absolute joy to drive (with six passengers or a boot full of furniture from IKEA)

BUT
having just gone outside the 3year warranty, It decides every 3-4 weeks to flash up 'Antipollution Fault' and go into limp-home mode (possibly not quite as bad as it sounds since limp-home is 2500rpm, which in top gear is still 80mph)

And diagnosing and servicing these things are slightly beyond the local garage, however able and car-intelligent they may be. Main agent servicing, here we come

The 1st time, my local garage man sucessfully identified and topped up the reservoir which continually feeds fuel additive into the engine. The 4 litre tank is set to be inspected at 48000 miles and topping it up costs £25/litre just for the fluid. I'd taken it down to the 'min' level in 42000 miles.

Subsequently it takes about 800 miles for the warning to come back on again. Been reset twice so far and just come on once more. Local garage man has suggested main agent as it's beyond the standard engine management diagnosis tools.
...oh yes and a friend of mine with a 3 year old 807 has only ever had about 2 months driving from it between taking it back to the dealer. The main control unit's been replaced twice. It seems their earlier cars with multiplexed wiring were/are particularly troublesome.

Not that I'm saying there are any problems with Peugeot, mind you ... Just that at the current point in their production capability I'd think very very hard before buying another one.

Chris

 

ouch - sounds quite similar to problems I had with the control unit on my Volvo, which eventually had to be replaced at vast cost... the 307 I've just got is early 06, so fingers crossed that its a wrinkle theyve ironed out. before all cars got so damn complicated, Peugeot used to be really reliable work horses. I lived in Algeria for a year and met lots of French guys who would get a pay-for-itself adventure trip by buying old 504s and driving them thru France and Spain, then in convoys across the deserts of Algeria and Mali down to the west coast of Africa, where they would sell them for a big mark up- they were reliable and very easy to fix so basically could be kept running forever.

 

I was seriously tempted to do that very thing with my first car during college - a big 504 estate.
But it blew up well before any plans got realised...
First job out of college was in Libya so I still got my Sahara fix...but in Landcruisers instead