What car do i use to commute?

[Stevie9]

Just got my first job since graduating from university and will be commuting 60 miles a day when i start. I am really struggling to work out what to do it terms of what car to use for the daily drive. My current options are:

1) Use my 172 which i am aware is gonna cost £££'s in fuel/service/tyres etc.
2) Use my brothers 1.2 Clio as he is going to university soon himself and is not taking it with him.
3) Buy something like a Clio DCi/Peugeot 206 or 306 HDi/Smart car and run that as my daily drive while keeping the 172 for fun as a 2nd car.

Interested in everyone's thoughts to try and help me out as im not sure which option to take.

Cheers, Steve.

 

[Beef-Mc]

Pug 306D, there absolute beasts of cars.

 

[cat171]

I'd use the one I was least worried about for commuting. The 'shed' diesel route is a good idea imo, that way if it picks up a few car park dings & scrapes i'd not worry about it.

 

[Stevie9]

Im starting to think a diesel is the way to go as well to be honest. Hoping to change the 172 for a V6 255 after a few months anyway so i reckon a cheapo 306 for daily drive might be the best thing to do.

 

[Mells]

Use the veyron? Non?

 

[Russ_16v]

Id use the 172, they are made for driving, iv done 34k odd in mine now, still loving it at 132k

 

[gaz44]

Depends on how you drive and what kind of driving you will be doing. The 172 can be quite economical but I guess if you are thinking about a V6 then there is no point keeping it - diesel is the way forward. There are plenty of options out there.

 

[R20 CWH]

172 will be fine on daily lark. what is worth considering is that if you buy a 2nd car you have the tax, insurance and running costs of it to recoup before your actually 'saving' money.
2nd cars sound great, but unless your wishing to keep the miles down on the 172 then id seriously just run with it as on the mway in traffic at 65mph you will get 40mpg no hassle.

 

[Englebert]

Depends, how much is commute? I used to have a long one, so driving a banger was not an option for me because of a) reliability b) i wanted to leave work in a car that had justified a hard day's slog! I'm not very good at waiting until the weekend...

Now my commute is small, so i have a Smart which does a great job. I liked keeping the mileage of my main car so it could be kept 'special.'

 

[Stevie9]

Well probably about 45 miles of the 60 is motorway and is usually not too bad for traffic so i guess 40mpg out of the 172 is possible. Understand what people say about second car costing more in the short term though. Guess only way to find out is run the 172 for a few weeks and if im not spending too much then ill just keep doing that. Thanks for all the replies so far!

 

[CHUFFER]

I'd just use the 172, time uve paid the extra insurance tax etc you will hardly notice the difference.
I use my cup to get to work and back and things like the tip run etc.
I understand you want to keep it clean etc but at the end of the day its a car, a fun one at that so enjoy it fella.

 

[Stevie9]

I've gone full circle, originally i was thinking just use the 172, then the last few weeks been looking into getting a cheap second car and now i've gone back to thinking the 172 again haha! Maybe i'll just use public transport so i don't have to decide anything.

 

[Bazzon]

Over the summer i was on Placement and travelled 50-60mile commute everyday in the 182.

It was fine, returning 40-44MPG. Fair enough the mileage.

I think it will cost you more to run 2 cars.

If this is about saving money, you sell the 172 and buy a cheap diesel.

 

[Lou]

I'm kinda in same position. Just got a new job within my company and I'll be travelling over Scotland with furthest site being over 100miles away. I do get a car allowance built into my salary but not sure whether to run the 182 or buy a diesel!?!

 

[Martin_172]

i travel about 60 miles per day, i can afford to run my 172 every day if i want BUT i choose not to due to wanting to keep miles down on it, it has a loud exhaust and it gets 34mpg on my daily drive.

ive got the dci100 for every day, on my drive it gets 62mpg, it costs £35 a year to tax and £300 a year to insure so minus fuel it costs me £400 a year by the time i mot it. if i was to brake down what its worth and what it costs i probably dont save any money however id rather outset a big lump to buy, insure and tax a car for the fact that for a year it costs me nothing to run apart from filling up every 600 miles

 

[Jamie]

When I went easy on my old 172 I was seeing 42mpg on the m-way tbh. My wifes 1.2 does 48 like for like. Not a great deal of difference.

 

[Martin_172]

thats why i wouldnt bother with a petrol as a runabout, my mrs gets same mpg as my 172 in her 1.6 16v dynamique+

however dci mpg + £35 a year road tax + 150lb/ft of torque makes for happy cruising!

 

[Jamie]

I am currently knocking about in a diesel focus and only getting 45mpg. When you hoof it off a round about it says 9mpg. I am not kidding. s**t car, s**t fuel, s**t mpg.