I think that my current daily is about to die soon, gearbox is making lot of noises and bodywork is rusting away, so I'm thinking of new daily, but it is not so easy.

For starters, I'm getting now 4.4-4.3l/100km of diesel consumption and I'm hoping to get less consumption from next daily. Budget is going to be under 2000 most likely.

Only thing meeting criteria is perhaps Renault Megane, 1999 or older in turbo diesel Coupé form, which I know to be able to run for 3.5l/100km, need to have under 300 000km driven too, much better to be closer to 200 000km, so other models and brands seem to be more driven.

But it is again french and stupid fwd, however there is perhaps not much of options?

Peugeot 205 1.4.
Loads of room, since ive had it its averaged 48.mpg. 0-60 is 8-9 seconds.
Galvanised so 0% rust.

But it IS french and FWD.

How about an audi/vw from the late 90s? It's what the other pizza boys used to run before I quit. As far as I know they're still going and will do 60mpg happily forever. First gen octavia?

old merc smoker?

volvosneverdie wrote:old merc smoker?

Not brilliant on mpgs, but they will go forever. 220D? I think are a bit rubbish apparently.

Speedy88 wrote:

volvosneverdie wrote:old merc smoker?

Not brilliant on mpgs, but they will go forever. 220D? I think are a bit rubbish apparently.

Learn something new every day. I thought they were meant to be awesome on black. Mustnt have been paying attention..... n

Have to be a diesel, with turbo, I drive 100-500 miles non stop, so that puts some requirements for a car too.

Opel/Vauxhall is no option, 205 are gutless noisy and too small with rust holes in here, our Mercs are really expensive, also those are always driven 600 000 or more.

VW/Audi will destroy my back on first trip, rock sledge comes to my mind

Sorry, it seems that I demand too much for the price, especially I have gone soft at old age, I like from comfy and quiet ride, current vehicle might be enough good if it would not be falling to apart

4l/100km is around 70mpg and 3.5l/100km is around 80mpg, with my mileage economy makes quite big difference.

Lupo diesel, Seat Erosa, erm Arosa diesel, Audi A2 diesel (although the latter will probably break your budget). They're all very economical.

Or a frugal petrol car, converted to gas? Opel Corsa 3 cylinder.

God, they're all nasty cars though. How much are you really saving per month compared to a car which gives you at least a little bit of pleasure to drive?

Tom

Have you considered a conversion on a comfortable. Modern diesel transplanted into a 360/940/Ford Granada?

Why not just buy another ZX/306, it seems to meet the criteria and is frugal and comfortable enough

SteveP wrote:Why not just buy another ZX/306, it seems to meet the criteria and is frugal and comfortable enough

That is of course one of the options, finding one without rust issue and low mileage is only problem. It really seems to be ZX/Xsara, 306 or Megane I which are options, when you exclude, Ford, Opel/Vauxhall and VW.

Remember that Finland is pretty odd place, new tax was issued that put gas price to same level than petrol or that is what I heard, anyway there is no places to fill up gas when you have to travel all over the country, also our car prices are bit odd, french crap are really low price compared to anything else, VW/Audi have quite high price tags for what they are, also ton of miles put to them.

30 000 - 40 000 miles in a year, so small savings end up as a big money during the year, also every mile is paid mile, so with lowest possible cost per mile I get better income. Next year we get more taxes and fuel price gets up again, currently petrol is around 1.6€/l and diesel is 1.4€/l where I have been driving. With my current fuel saving style of driving and ugly aerodynamic mods I'm saving over 1000 euros each year.

Saving additional 1l/100km would give me almost 900 euros of savings in a year if I have to drive that 40 000 in a year, that is car's price in 2-3 years.

Speedy88 wrote:Have you considered a conversion on a comfortable. Modern diesel transplanted into a 360/940/Ford Granada?

This is Finland, east-germany of modern EU, when it comes to car mods, our roads are also covered in salt so much that any car I use will be ruined in few years and I really don't like ruining good cars

Ford Mondeo TD!!!

I had a mk3 1.8 Fiesta diesel. It was a hateful thing but it was uber reliable, did 55mpg and never broke down. It wasn't that uncomfortable either, I used to do 100 miles a day in it. AFAIK its the same engine up the line to the mondeo TD so a mid-90s fiesta/scrot/mondeo diesel 1.6/1.8 will do you good.

So what sort of money do you have to play with, and what would that get you?

Over here if you don't care what you drive you could buy a fairly modern, boring family/shopping mobile for less than £500 fully T+T and ready to go. So just wondering what your options are really?