Waving bye bye to 'the appliance'

[Viral_Jim]

New job beckons in a month or so, meaning the company is reclaiming the id3 after only 6 months and 11,000 miles.

As its 2022 and the world is currently mad, no new company car is going to be available this side of Doomsday, so I will be purchasing myself a new car. The question is what exactly.... I will be doing close to 20,000 miles a year, which at £2/litre is no joke in any car. Electric maybe??

Answers on a digital postcard 

[Doctor Gollum]

Does it have to be a new car?

A well maintained older car would make for a more cost effective purchase than nearly new.

One of theses, for example... for half the price of one of these, and it's still a 13year old car...

And even at £2.00 a litre, £3,000 buys ALOT of petrol...

[Viral_Jim]

No, no requirement for new, just that it has to be well maintained and not look like a shed (ok, not what their policy says, but it's what it means).

Problem is, £3000 doesn't actually buy all that much juice. @£1.90/l a 45 mpg car burns through £3k in just under 16,000 miles, or about 10months.  .

I'm waiting on an answer as to whether there is free ev charging onsite, as that might swing things considerably. Alternatively a facelift w211 220 cdi can be had for well under £5k, which is an option.

[Doctor Gollum]

That's fair, the Camry suggestion was intended as a vfm choice rather than jumping straight to the default Mercedes option.

Not sure that the 220 would be my first choice or the W211 for that matter, but for that sort of budget, you've a fair choice

[Viral_Jim]

To be fair, a 3.0 V6 diesel would be much nicer, but I've seen reviews with people getting as low as mid-high 30's on the motorway, which isn't suitable for my needs at all.

[Doctor Gollum]

The Alabama Mumsybus has averaged 29.5 over the last 6,000 miles. Which isn't too far away from its extra urban book figure.

My W212 E220 wasn't much better unless you were sat at a constant over a decent journey. Best I ever saw from that was 47mpg on a run to Darlington. But that was the five speed auto. The seven speed should be better.

The more powerful six should be more economical at a given speed because it doesn't need to work so hard... So motorway inclines don't cripple the economy so much.

Obviously, if you use the extra performance everywhere, it will still be more economical than thrashing the four pot, but the difference will be less.

[LC0112G]

C180 2012-15 W204 Estate. £6-8K ish and 45MPG on a run, and still 40MPG ish at 80MPH. Correct wheel drive, Euro 6, no DPF nonsense to worry about. Ok, only a 1.6 petrol turbo engine, but still 170 odd BHP so you can overtake grandma in her Nissan Micra.

[Viral_Jim]

Interesting, I hadn't considered a petrol given the miles and the closing gap in cost (in percentage terms at least). But 45mpg is very good indeed.

[Doctor Gollum]

Manual may also help, but not in Sport trim as the ratios will be tighter

[Viral_Jim]

True, but I am a lazy 2 pedal lover!

330d (non x-drive) is a possibility....

[Andy B]

True, but I am a lazy 2 pedal lover!
....

Nowt lazy about 2 pedals 

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

Barge time.

Cheap.old 730 or something similar. And a load of money left for fuel.

No, before you ask, I'm not actually Martin Lewis.

[VXL V6]

Thing is, at 20K a year and needing something that doesn't detract from the image of the business you are immediately looking at the currently overpriced sector of the used car market in my opinion

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

True, but I am a lazy 2 pedal lover!
....

Nowt lazy about 2 pedals 

It does hammer the em pee gees though. 

[Doctor Gollum]

Barge time.

Cheap.old 730 or something similar. And a load of money left for fuel.
I would go S Class rather than a BMW 7 though... The Beemer may have more toys, but budget to replace all the coolant and breather parts and Vanos, and camcovers and oil seals the day you buy it

Especially with your BMW track record...

No, before you ask, I'm not actually Martin Lewis.