Your second cars

Post by **wolfgang** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:59 pm

Apologies if this has been before.

I desperately want to keep my RS4 for as long as I can. It ticks every single box and I love the car to bits. However, as it's my daily driver and I do around 15,000 miles per year, it's extremely heavy on the wallet with two £88 fill-ups per week at the moment!

So, i've decided that I will buy a cheap runaround in the next 2-3 months. I've got my eyes on a SMART ForTwo as these go for £5K to £8K with a full SMART dealer warranty. You get a quirky, reliable car with great fuel economy and very low running costs. I'm not bothered about practicality as i've got my Avant for that.

Two questions really: is a used SMART ForTwo a bad idea as a general runaround? And what cars do you guys have to keep the miles down on your beloved RS4s?

Post by **daytonamc** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:05 pm

2.0TDi company car helps!

Post by **andre3k** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:21 pm

Not sure exactly where your based but a Smart is a city car well-suited for somewhere like Central London, I don't think they're nearly as effective elsewhere.

If it is that sort of terrain and you want a car in the mould of the Smart I'd go for a used Aygo if it were my choice. But like daytonamc, a VAG diesel isn't a bad choice at all.

Post by **sonny** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:43 pm

The Ex had a Smart, she used to commute from SE London to Bournemouth in it (for a 4 month period) and had no dramas. She actually made a profit from her work fuel allowance (From what I can remember they gave her 60p per mile, it cost her like 30p per mile in the Smart) So was added bonus, plus free congestion charge was a no brainer for her.

I seem to remember ChippedUK chipping one to 70bhp.

Failing that you can always opt for the.....

Post by **iR8V10** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:21 pm

I bought a golf mk5 1.9tdi for this reason for only £5k with 70k on the clock. Mega mpg, cruise, all electrics, lumbar, auto mirrors, lights and wipers and enough poke to feel like I'm not compromising like a microcar.

Post by **Danbo** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:48 pm

We have a 2.0tdci S-Max as our second car.

Post by **Christiaan** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 5:16 pm

I got a Citroen C1 to keep the miles of the RS4.

Picked it up new on March 2nd, so full 3yrs warranty.
It'll be used to do the boring short trips to and from work.

Rough calculations suggest that if it does half my usual mileage, after 3 yrs it will have paid for itself (total running costs included) with fuel and tyre savings from the RS4.

Post by **PetrolDave** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 8:26 pm

Christiaan wrote:I got a Citroen C1 to keep the miles of the RS4.

It'll be used to do the boring short trips to and from work.

Rough calculations suggest that if it does half my usual mileage, after 3 yrs it will have paid for itself (total running costs included) with fuel and tyre savings from the RS4.

I've also got a C1 which I use for the daily commute 4 days per week, my sums worked out pretty much the same as Christiaan's.

Not heard great things about Smarts, comments about turbo problems, oil leaks and gearbox problems seem pretty common on the web.

Post by **Ian_C** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 8:53 pm

My 205

Post by **neckarsulm** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:25 pm

Corrado VR6 at the mo, not much better on juice but not so mileage sensitive

Post by **gdavison** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:32 pm

IMHO get a second hand Smart For Two Brabus .. Mrs D runs hers as a go to work car and loves it (seems more the the Boxster S she also has)..

She has a "cross country" run of about 15 miles to go to work .. she used to Do Wokingham to Brentford (down the M4) in it and was more then happy doing a Motorway commute in traffic as well

Reason I say get the brabus is its leather interior, Air Con, Uprated Engine Spec and cool as cucumber

.... If you can get the Cab as well

Post by **Steve_C** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:38 pm

I don't have a 2nd car but if I were to get one it would be an old 2.0 VAG diesel with an MRC remap.

Post by **gdavison** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:38 pm

PetrolDave wrote:Not heard great things about Smarts, comments about turbo problems, oil leaks and gearbox problems seem pretty common on the web.

Our data point on our Brabus is in 3 years and 20,000 ish miles .. we have had to replace two headlight bulbs !! .. Which is JUST Outrageous

Worst cost was we did decide to replace the 4 alloys which had gone "20p like shaped" after numerous Pot Holes .. To be honest most Smart drivers "bang them out" as the Alloys are so soft .. we replaced them.. our choice

This is her http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... p?t=154594

Post by **PetrolDave** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:00 pm

gdavison wrote:
PetrolDave wrote:Not heard great things about Smarts, comments about turbo problems, oil leaks and gearbox problems seem pretty common on the web.
Our data point on our Brabus is in 3 years and 20,000 ish miles .. we have had to replace two headlight bulbs !! .. Which is JUST Outrageous

I have 3 friends with Smarts that have all had major oil leaks needing engine rebuilds, plus 2 of them have had blown turbos - so they have been very expensive cars for them to run.

Post by **RSinclair** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:20 pm

My fun car paint work should be finished this week...
Can't wait to see it when i'm home in april

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