6 grand burning a hole in my pocket...

[scottyman]

well, i should be hearing in the next couple of hours if I've got a new job out in sunny Newbury, but it means a commute from London.
At the mo, I work in the city, so have never really needed a car - but I've worked out that about 6 grand is reasonable to spend on a car, based on an hour's commute every day, and a 3 grand car allowance.
I figure of that 6 grand, about 600 should go towards hands free kit, upgrating stereo and amp, so around 5400 for car itself.
I quite like nipponese vehicles, given that I'm a kiwi, so just about all the cars on the road are nissan/honda or mitsi.. if they're not they're holdens (like a vauxhall which works)
I've trawled through autotrader, but nothing that floats my boat.
Where's a good place to start, or at least how do I tell if i'm looking in the right direction?
I do kindof need a 2.0 minimum as I don't think I've driven anything with a smaller engine (generally a 3.6 turbo diesel I find is an appropriate size for an engine) plus will be cruising the m4 for about 3 hours a day

so - where do I start?

[schmunk]

All together now...!

Ford Mondeo!

[scottyman]

j00 filthy, filthy man!
not getting a ford unless it's a falcon or a fairlane!

[schmunk]

here you go then

[J4MES]

hope you're getting fuel allowance too then... otherwise it's gotta be a diesel/lpg

[schmunk]

[Tax Adviser] Don't take a private fuel allowance unless you're doing a lot of private miles. The tax cost of the benefit outweighs the actual cost of fuel until you do approx. 10-15000 private miles per year. [/Tax Adviser]

[Tumble]

get a Series Shorty.. and then dump a 3.7 Nissan Truck motor into it use some of the money to get parabolic springs and some decent brakes and yer away

[Shad]

sunny Newbury

Lies

[hitman67]

A4 Makes a nice cruiser - 2.5 TDi for £4000 and it'd be a poweful machine.

[dave87]

I would avoid BMWs etc for that money, something like a Peugot diesel can be quite good mile munchers, 406 perhaps?

[davidstone28]

I know the W/SW London, Mortlake / Sheen / Barnes areas really well and doing a Barnes > M4 > Newbury commute can be a real drag - not because of this distance but because of mixed driving conditions (urban, A road, motorways, traffic jams). Once you're on a clean stretch of motorway you'll be alright but the bus lane section of the M4 can be a nightmare as is the area around the flyover and A205/M4 roudabouts, particularly after work.

I'd go with a car that's that has comfort as a main priority:-

1. Good driving position (no long arms short legs seating positions)
2. Comfortable seats
3. Quiet, so you're insulated from the humdrum traffic.
4. Air-con / climate so if you're stuck in traffic during summer you don't have to breath in the fumes
5. Fluid drivetrain with no driveline shunt (eg. what happens when you lift off in 1st or 2nd gear at 4k rpm?)
6. Decent ride quality

Here are my suggestions:-

1. BMW 320i Auto E46 - about £6k
2. Lexus IS200 Auto - £5k to £6k

I think the BMW is head and shoulders above anything else for this type of mixed journey simply because of the breadth of its ability - its just very fluid to drive and comfortable. The Lexus is actually quite a small car for its class so it wouldn't be bad for nipping through traffic. Both have big bills if things go wrong.

Alternatives could include the 156 with comfort pack (lumbar adjustment) but its still a flawed car in a way because it has no auto (the Selespeed is a licence to throw money away on repairs) and its dodgy reliability / constant need for replacing parts. Mondeo is a nice car but its pretty wide as well as long. The Nissan Primera (2002 on) is also an underrated car if you don't mind the way it looks and you're happy with arcade game steering. Honda Civic if you want something smaller though you might not find the engine/auto combination that suits you.

Unless you commute at strange times of day which completely avoid the rush hour, I'd say that an automatic would be preferable.

[scottyman]

that's true - thanks guys...
i like the nissan primera, i at least know their 4wd diesel engines pretty well, plus i used to have a skyline at home which was a blast (can't believe i sold it for 5k NZD, about 2k in UK money)
i was looking at an A4 the other day, and the insulation was shockingly bad - even compared to the new golf which I timeshare with my g/f - and that's the noisiest car I've ever driven (aside from my old datsun, which was missing a window - college banger, don't ask)

i've done the drive out there a few times, and during the times of day when i'd be working so it's not as bad as it could be - at least i'm not going the other way.

thanks for the advice guys - and i'll post back with the options i'll be looking at over the weekend. i suspect that when my g/f replaces her car (her golf goes into the company pool allowance in 6months) we may be able to get a deal from nissan, as she's getting the new x-trail, which is great to drive, so i might be able to swing a deal on a second hand primera.

[BenW]

Why not look into getting the train?

[5lab]

doing lots of milage on the m4, i'd look for the following stuff..

cruise control
diesel
comfy seats

2 brands ring a bell here - saab and volvo both have superb seats. i dont know saabs range of engines so well (all gm cars though, so should be alright) but what about an s60 d5? smooth, quiet comfortable cruisers. not the sportiest of cars, but ya cant have sportyness without compromise

or a 406 hdi coupe.

[99Flake]

How about a Lexus LS400? Nice big 4.0 V8. All the mod cons you could ever want, huge amount of space, one of the quietest and most comfortable cars on the road and bullet proof reliability. Oh and they go like a rocket.

[scottyman]

lol -
decided to be cheap at least until my trial period is over -
i'm going to carry on driving my 10-year old golf 1.8 (have to get the alternator repaired anyway) fit a new stereo, replace brake pads, new plugs and oil change.
should be fine.
I've got 160,000km on the clock, and I'll run it until it dies.
I looked at about a dozen cars at the weekend, and none really excited me. I think I'll see what the driving's like for 3 months and buy something better then.