good cheap daily commuter hack WITH ADDED RANT/VENT..
Turbo Mini Forums

Well i maybe starting a new job in the new year and rather than the 4 miles to work its now more like 25/30 miles (from lowestoft to norwich) so 50/60 miles a day 6 days a week 300+ miles a week.. there is no way im putting my alternating fleet of minis i normally use for that commute, not sure the 200sx is gonna be very fuel friendly either... so ive been looking at clio diesels £30 tax 60mpg group 2ins. And stuff like diesel mondeos purely cos my dad has one, cam chain n if looked after extremely reliable n just ticks over on a run... this is with a budget upto £2000. But other idea is theres tonnes of cheap clean ford kas about for £600 round my area.. apart from the rusty ones ive only known them to be cheap n reliable but being petrol is it not even worth thinking about? Anyone else got some suggestions? Please consider running costs and repair costs etc.. thanks in advance

Edited by D4VE on 1st Dec, 2014.

Ford KA?

Don't do it Dave....

Haha i know but what could be just a throw-away car and purely just for work? I have the mrs car for when we go out, and my minis for fun and shows..

Personally I would go for something that will do 50mpg but also has lots of toys. A shitbox hatch that does 60+mpg is all well and good but the reality is you may be spending up to 2hrs a day in it.
So for me especially with the winter months it would be something with heated front and rear screens, heated seats, a good stereo, cruise, etc
Then spend £250 on a top spec bluetooth phone kit and you can make some use of some of that time to phone your mates or family whilst doing the commute.

Thats what i'd do anyway.

Lol... you have to show other people your a heterosexual male when sat at the lights next to eachother..

Mondeo sounds much better... That's my opinion haha

I wouldn't touch a £2000 Mondeo to be honest, good cars in the main but plagued with too many common faults that pretty much every single one I have ever heard of suffers from. Those being, injector faults leading to smoke like a battleship, variable turbos crapping out, and not to forget the dual mass flywheel failing, which also usually takes the starter motor out with it, for a brucie bonus extra £100 to put right.

Personally I would look for something with the VAG 1.9 TDI PD motor.
Fabia, Golf, A3, A4 etc.
Or a Volvo D4 or D5 or similar that has all the toys but more importantly will chew through big mileage without too much drama.

All good points.. now off for quick search for the said cars

Fiat 500?

I have a 2003 1.4TDCI Fiesta mk6 for a daily £30 tax 55mpg all day long, cheap to tax and has a few toys.

I had a ka and it wasn't great on fuel. My 1.5 dci megane never dropped below 52mpg even in town and I would happily have kept it however someone wrote it off for me. I now have a golf tdi. I can definitely tell im driving a vw, everything is solid and drives lovely. Cant comment fuel wise yet as not had it long enough. If you go 1.9 tdi make sure the cam belt is done as that alone cost me 360 quid

mine: http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=570945

Not unless you want to spend most days picking up the bits that fall off. I know I had one.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

Focus

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

These have popped up in the search also.. i understand the quality of these vag 1.9tdis but so do obviously everyone resulting in struggling to find descent ones in budget.

what every one else has said, and dont dismiss the volvo because its an old mans car, i was rather impressed by mine it just did everything, i would have kept it but couldnt keep up with its drinking habits lol but that was a T5

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

No chance of me dismissing volvos for old man car reasons... at much disgust to my mrs i love estates!? No idea why? Maybe summin to do with my dad always having estates good old volvos amigas montegos etc or just cos i like driving the big old things? I used to love shanes old bmw touring n probably would of had that off him if it hadnt of been hit by that drunk driver on the showdown weekend

I've just got a 07 civic 2.2 diesel. Fair few toys, fast and Eco. A bit far from your budget. Although the older shape diesel ones can be picked up in your budget easy!

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

B6 A4 tdi 130. I chopped my 53 plate in at 200k miles having done 150k miles in it with no majour faults. Pissed 50mpg on a run, se has cruise, DIS etc etc so good for a comuting wagon.

Jonny has a good idea with the civic !

My petrol Mondeo does 37-40 mpg on a run and that's with 230,000 on , brilliant car lol especially in winter with the proper heated front screen.
Deisel vw's have been nothing but annoying money pits for me but some love them.

Generally i'd go with a derv vag group car but what about an early bini?

Id love to nick my dads mondeo its a 51 plate 2.0 turbo diesel with cam chain.. he got it for 800 2 years back and has been mkst reliable ever! Is this one of the bad mondeos you guys on about?

Id like a early bini diesel but one for 2k!?

I absolutely LOVE the new 2.2 diesel civics we had at work.. tonnes of torque n ran forever on the tiniest drop of fuel.. would the older ones be anything like this?