Looking for a small comfortable cruiser

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Looking for a small comfortable cruiser

Sonic74205

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Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
381
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Location
Tamworth, West Midlands
As of yesterday ill be doing a 280 mile round trip mainly on the motorway every other week. Also i'm changing my job so instead of traveling 4 miles (there and back) to work 2 days a week ill be traveling 20 miles (there and back) 4 days a week.

My budget is only about £800. £1000 MAX

I'm looking for something that is gonna be quite quiet, comfortable and be fast enough to cruise at 80mph easily and not cost too much on fuel or insurance. Id prefer an automatic but not all that bothered because of fuel prices etc. Oh and prefably have Air Con too.

And ideas?

These are some of the cars ive seen on autotrader:

1996 Vauxhall Astra 5dr 1.6 (100) GLS Auto AC £495
Astra1.jpg


1997 Vauxhall Astra 5dr 1.7 TDS GLS £800
TDSGLS-1.jpg


1999 Fiat Punto 5dr 1.7 TD70 SX £900
PuntoTD70SX.jpg


1996 VW Polo 5dr 1.6 GL
Polo1.jpg


1997 Honda Civic 3dr 1.5 LS AC (rare for under £1000)
civic1.jpg


They're a few of the cars ive thought about
 
I thought about diesels but i did some calculating and it wouldnt work out to be much better if i got a diesel.

I got a Punto 1.2 8v now
47L Tank
£53.58 - Full Tank
423.50 Miles on Full Tank (approx)

If i switched to a 1.7 TD 70 and ran it on 50% diesel and 50% veg oil it would be:
47L Tank
£51.22 - Full Tank
464.85 Miles on Full Tank

41.35 Miles Extra per Tank
£2.36 Cheaper per Tank
 
Nah my punto needs alot of repairs and looses too much fuel at anything over 80. I need something faster to be able to handle it.

I'm thinking of a Mk3 Golf 1.9 TDI GL 5dr for £850. Its the top of the range (other than gti), it also does 49 mpg and 0-60 in 12.4 seconds with 149lb-ft tourque at 1900rpm!

I worked it out switching to that ill get:
£6.38 More per tank
286 Miles more per tank

and insurance is a whole £1.41 more expensive haha
 
fiat bravo should be on your list, and considering your low budget it should be top of your list because value for money is what the bravo really does well.

get HLX spec and its a very nice car. i guess the 1.6 would suit you best.

for example
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1999-FIAT-BRA...4000&_trkparms=39:1|65:7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

although the 1.2 is still very capable on the motorway and cheap as chips to run so maybe that would suit you better
here's an X reg with 79k for a grand http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-X-FIAT-B...9791&_trkparms=39:1|65:7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
 
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I've seen quite a few old Merc C-Class' around for £900. Even some E-class but they prob a bit expensive to run on petrol (unless you go LPG)

Or how about a mazda 323 or a MX-3, 1.8l V6 (smallest ever V-engine made when new, not sure about now), cracking little cars though

To be fair though, £1000 can get a whole lot of car and the choice is almost endless.
 
Get a matiz, didnt you want one of those at one point?

Not the first time we have had threads reg. car changes/upgrades from OP

All cars shown above are min. 10 yrs old just about, i wouldnt class them as 'comfortable cruisers' their best days are probably behind them.

Like the top astra - it is showing rust on rear wheel arch, a car for £1000 will probably need as much work doing down the line as current punto, repair current punto properly and dont try and take easy cheap option out because it will cost more in long run 9 times out of 10

Your figures above offered are complete b*llocks IMO, i cant see a diesel punto just doing slightly more miles than a 1242 and having the same size fuel tank.

Also getting 460 miles+ out of diesel they must be driving with a heavy foot.
 
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my dad has one of the 1.7 td vauxhall astras with the pajero engine, it's one of the slowest cars i know of, insurance isn't great either. i think the rover 200 td is quicker and more economical too.

as jug has said a bravo will probably be perfect. cheap insurance, cheapish to run, cheap to buy.

pretty much any medium sized car should be more than capable of cruising at 80 nicely enough. for this reason and also comfort it's usually best to avoid small cars which are designed for city use.

there's loads of cars that fit your requirements so you shouldn't find it too hard to find one.
 
How about a Rover 420 diesel, cheap to buy and a tankful seems to last forever. Or if you don't fancy the cost of diesel fuel just now then theres the 416, but check expansion tank and oil for mayo!
 
The bravo/brava 105jtd elx/hlx was on the top of my origional list. They were the most economical and fastest out of all my list but at the min there arent any for sale under £1000 so i took it off the list. I used to have the 80 sx and that was the best car i ever had. The rover 200 diesel is almost as economical and i admit they do look good in dark blue...
and yeah i used to want a matiz. You know there is still something i really like about them!

I did that trip i was talking about 2 days ago in my punto also another thing i realised is the acelorator is really high in it so anything over 40 min in it and my foot hurts! Since then there are 4 new noises coming from the car they dont exactly sound healty :(
 
Would it be better if i looked for a car with FSH? Or would it not really make that much difference in reliability?

How much do you think i could get for my punto part exhange?
 
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