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Guys,

I'm about to start a new job and will look to put on 500 to 1000 miles per week so will be looking to buy something to drive into the ground. The job is for 1 year so max mileage will be around 60k miles. So far the choices are...

Budget £4-5k MAX for the purchase.

BMW 320d (100k miles ish for £5k)
Ford Focus (90k ish for £4k)
Kia C'eed (70k ish for £4k)
Vauxhall Vectra (60k miles for £4k)
VW Passat (100k miles for £4k)

This is the sort of thing I'm looking at - would really appreciate some expert opinion! I've left out the A4 as I own two of them and just need something reliable but a bit rubbish.

Thanks!

Mondeo instead of the Focus? Mondeo Ghia/Ghia X loaded with rep luxury for motorway miles. I ran one for 6 months along side an older S4 - put 10k on it and it didn't miss a beat. Sold it for £250 less than I paid for it (less 1 service and a set of tyres).

I've had 3 Mondeos, just thought they'd be too expensive - will have a look thx

Yep. I did that sort of mileage for a few months.

Forget looks and badge

You want comfort, toys and economy.

Even if the cost of fuel isn't an issue, you want range.

Fully loaded Mondeo is the one

Another vote for the Mondeo (My Dad had 4, used to do around 80K per year without fault)

however have you considered the Subaru Legacy if your not looking for another Ford

Will look at the Legacy but it seems that I might have to restore my faith in the Mondeo - but it will be my 4th Mondeo!

Will have to deal with the rear light leaking issue again but if only for a short time I guess you can't go wrong...

Any particular year/style?

I've had a 2.0L, ST24 and ST220.

Diesel I'm afraid for that sort of mileage, modernish diesel with 140/150 bhp is reasonably capable, anything from 2006 upwards Titanium X level gets you most of the toys. Nice chip takes you upto or around 200bhp level.

Have you considered 330d BMW / 3.0D Audi A4 both quick cars with lots of comfort and toys, my mate has a 330d BMW and upto 60ish + can hold my Audi coming off a roundabout with him in front leading (ridiculous amount of torque) after that he has no chance !!

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I had a 55 plate Mondeo tdci, and it was awful.

They are common for eating injectors and fuel pumps when they get to 80k+, mine started with a rough idle and ended up with 4 reconned injectors £800 later. All was well, until metal shards were in the fuel filter, a sign the pump was now eating it's self. I scrapped it at this point, as all 4 injectors were now showing signs of wear again due to the pump failure (which was perfectly fine when injectors were replaced!), and it was looking like a 1.5k fix .

Had the dreaded cam chain crankypulley wobble, it ate through 2 tensioners. The crank pulley I replaced I with (the apparent OEM quality) had more play than my knackered one, apparently only ford ones are any good, with a nice price tag to match!!), so it was scrapped with a wobbly pulley.

DMF, started to make some funky noises and rattles and slips, replaced it with a Luk item, 20k later the noise and knackered symptoms came back.

Of course, that's one car out of thousands, but every common fault happened to mine! It was a lovely car when it worked

Thanks Jay & NJM - I know that all of these high mileage cars have issues - my Passat at 90k had the parking brake 'lock on' snag and rattles all over - I wonder whether it's worth a punt at a BMW or to just bite the bullet with costs and go for the high miles Mondeo.

Going to look at a mates Passat but the seats just kill me...

Just to flip it on its head, do you need something big/full of toys?

Not sure on how you feel, but I now have a Fabia VRS for my daily. Whilst the interior isn't fantastic, the quality is good, I get 70mpg sitting at 70, and the engine is brilliant.

I've had it 7 months now, and apart from replacing suspension bits which I did as I'm anal, it's needed nothing but oil changes.

Of course, you could have anything with the VAG PD-TDis (golf, polo, a3, Leon, Ibiza etc etc), as they are generally very good, and you can pick them up for a couple of grand. If your not bothered about speed or refinement, then the sdi is a solid little engine, and has next to nothing to go wrong (no turbo etc). Just another couple of options.

Jay - thx for letting me know about the SDi engine, looking at Mk5 Golfs now, slow but solid 74 bhp apparently!

You want refinement if you do mega miles

The sort of car where you get out after a 2 journey feeling fresh

A Fabia does not do that.

When I was commuting mega miles I bought a tDI A2. Great on economy but the ride was shocking, 3 cylinder engine loud and underpowered and just generally just crap for motorway

Cheap older a8 oil burner. Waft along, solid enough a d lots of them to choose from.

HYFR wrote:You want refinement if you do mega miles

The sort of car where you get out after a 2 journey feeling fresh

A Fabia does not do that.

When I was commuting mega miles I bought a tDI A2. Great on economy but the ride was shocking, 3 cylinder engine loud and underpowered and just generally just crap for motorway

I do 50-60k miles a year and the fabia does me perfectly fine! I get out perfectly fine the other end, it's almost as comfy as my mondeo, just minus the armrest. The engine is brilliant and perfect amount of power for the journey (130-150hp), and the ride is fine. Although it is a VRS so not a standard fabia. For £2000, it's the perfect car for what I do.

Of course, it's not as good as an A4/Passat etc, but it cost me £2000!

Get the Passat, this is what they are made to do and most wont break down. Good cars.