cheap second car

M

mason storm

Active member
Am considering a cheap runaround for daily slog and winter use, to save putting too many miles on my Z.

I'm just after something cheap to run probably Diesel. The good news is Admiral won't hardly charge me any more for two cars :thumbsup:

I am considering

Golf TDI
Seat Leon TDI
Skoda Fabia TDI

I think they are pretty much the same just different brands

It will probably be about 8-10 years old with about 80-100K on the clock

anyone have any experiance with any of these cars or somthing similar or of similar age?
 
I had a gt tdi MK4 golf- was a fantastic car- in some ways better made tahn the z, Id get it from your list of choices.
 
Interesting topic. I'm also considering a second car but its the insurance which kills the idea for me. Is it a multicar policy?

I would go fabia BTW, very sold cars for the money.
 
tomTVR said:
Interesting topic. I'm also considering a second car but its the insurance which kills the idea for me. Is it a multicar policy?

I would go fabia BTW, very sold cars for the money.
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Move your Z to a specialist if you are on sub 10k milage, try a specialist like CCI or Richard Eggar - they will normally match your no claims when you start a new policy. Multicar policies save very little over a specialist, they are only useful if you don't qualify for them, sya if you are under 25 or have limited rear drive experience.

I ran 2 cars for 4 years and it was far cheaper, although my second car was a lot less usable everyday than the Z, I couldn't justify doing it with the Z personally

Or Admiral often come to an agreement if you are with them, in fact most companies will give you at least 5 years free if you are all ready on max no claims in my experience
 
i had a mk4 Golf.. which i owned from new.. from my experiance i would never buy another one again.. unreliable and expensive to fix (window regular, turbo, water pump and gearbox went on mine in 5 years.. and less then 30k miles).. and unlike BMW; VW dealers offer little compromise on out of warranty repairs.
 
I've recently bought an E46 320d for commuting to avoid putting too many miles on my zed. It's pretty economical, pulls well at motorway speeds, and is fairly indestructable. Admiral have allowed me to use all of my no claims (10+ years) for both the policy on my ///M and that for the 320 as I am the only driver on each policy.
My other other car is a Westfield, so extremely cheap to insure, reasonable economy (it weighs <600kg), fun to drive... it's just a bit drafty for winter use :D
 
I would choose the golf. back in the days of my long commuting I had the following:-

Golf GTI 150 1.8 Turbo 20v
I bought this cheap from the company car fleet were my mrs worked. bought at 93k and when I was finished with it, it had 129k on the clock. sold it within a week of advertising. only lost £500 on it.

Golf GTI 180 turbo
PX'd to get rid of my TT. didn't add many miles to it but an amazing car.

Golf GT TDI 130
again, I was doing 60 miles per day so bought it with high miles (90k) and added another 25k onto it within no time.

all cars were faultless !


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tomTVR said:
Interesting topic. I'm also considering a second car but its the insurance which kills the idea for me. Is it a multicar policy?

I would go fabia BTW, very sold cars for the money.
Click to expand...

yes Admiral quoted for multicar and came out almost the same cost as i am paying for my Z :thumbsup:
 
easty027 said:
I would choose the golf. back in the days of my long commuting I had the following:-

Golf GTI 150 1.8 Turbo 20v
I bought this cheap from the company car fleet were my mrs worked. bought at 93k and when I was finished with it, it had 129k on the clock. sold it within a week of advertising. only lost £500 on it.

Golf GTI 180 turbo
PX'd to get rid of my TT. didn't add many miles to it but an amazing car.

Golf GT TDI 130
again, I was doing 60 miles per day so bought it with high miles (90k) and added another 25k onto it within no time.

all cars were faultless !

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


That's encouraging, the more I think about this the more it makes sense (provided I can get a good one) as I could also put winter tires cheaply on a Golf meaning i can leave my Z tucked up in the garage and protected from the snow :thumbsup:
 
I sold my Leon 130tdi in August to fund the purchase of the zed. It was an 04 plate with 102k on the clock and it had been faultless for the entire 6 years of ownership. Fantastic car :thumbsup:
 
I've got a 56 reg Leon TDI Auto as it had the nicest interior vs the other 2. Ideally Id have an A3 but I just went for the Leon as price was best.
 
well after alot of research and consideration I ended up purchasing an X reg Ford Puma with just 27K on the clock and a full FSH. So far so good and it's really nice to drive for the daily grind to work. It will be interesting to se what the economy works out at compared to driving my 3.0si. I'm hoping for 34-37mpg depending on how I drive it as i use to own one a few years ago.

I also ordered some winter tyres for it so I am prepared for another winter like last time (just hope the snow holds off until after i get the tyres fitted :roll:
 
BMWZ4MC said:
I've recently bought an E46 320d for commuting to avoid putting too many miles on my zed. It's pretty economical, pulls well at motorway speeds, and is fairly indestructable. Admiral have allowed me to use all of my no claims (10+ years) for both the policy on my ///M and that for the 320 as I am the only driver on each policy.
My other other car is a Westfield, so extremely cheap to insure, reasonable economy (it weighs <600kg), fun to drive... it's just a bit drafty for winter use :D
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I also run a 320d E46 (Touring), and agree entirely - it's economical, practical, and with 150BHP a very nice drive.

Best of all, even when not driving the Zed, I'm still enjoying the "BMW Experience" (love them all) :thumbsup:
 
I run a 99 Octavia TDI Estate(Same mechanically as golf/leon etc) as well as the Z. Been in the family from new and has about a hundred 100k on the clock. The only failures on the car from new was the aircon compressor (which amused me as it was probably the only bit of the car to be made in Japan) and a link in the wiper motor which froze up and broke at -17 degrees in the alps.
It still tows a 1200kg boat a couple of times a week all summer and still returns over 50 to the gallon. Its not pretty but is worth about half as much as a golf with the same mechanicals. I'm going to look for a 4x4 in the spring so I can launch the boat nearer where I live on a beach rather than a slipway but I will be sad to see it go!

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If you can find one cheap enough, go for the BMW 320 TD compact. Excellent fit and finish Stonking car performance wise. Bags of torque and it just winds up and up and up. 150 horses, Handles beautifully. Obviously 3 door is a small handicap, but try one ......you'd love it!

It was intro'd in 2001 so prices may be beyond what you want to pay, but a high miler may fit the pocket?
 
Took the plunge and invested in a cheap runaround for the daily commute. An 03 Rover 25 1.4 to be exact :oops: Only paid 1k for it :D
I will say not driving the Z for a week then getting back into it after driving the Rover was an eye opener. Ok not a fair comparison but the difference is night and day X2! But it makes me appreciate how good the Z is! :)
 
Zed_Steve said:
Took the plunge and invested in a cheap runaround for the daily commute. An 03 Rover 25 1.4 to be exact :oops: Only paid 1k for it :D
I will say not driving the Z for a week then getting back into it after driving the Rover was an eye opener. Ok not a fair comparison but the difference is night and day X2! But it makes me appreciate how good the Z is! :)
Click to expand...

Been driving the Puma all this week and actually i am really enjoying it, but i bet when I get back in the Z this weekend I will just appreciate it even more especially as I won't have to use it for the journey to work :)
 
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