Economical cars for daily commutes

Wondering what kind of cars you guys drive. I’m not bothered by flashy cars, I just want a cheap reliable one that’ll survive the variable commutes we experience during training.

Reply 1

JeffTheSloth

Affordable or economical cars:
Toyota Yaris
Toyota Prius
Ford Fiesta 1.0
Ford Fusion 2013+
Skoda Octavia
Skoda Fabia
Volkswagen Polo/Golf
Volkswagen Up
Kia Cee’d
Citröen C3

This is only a few. Hope this helps

Reply 2

ForestCat

I would also add though, make sure it is actually comfortable as well. Yes, you want it to be practical, but if you're going to be spending 1-2 hours of your day in it you also might want some of the little extras. E.g. air con makes a 1 hour, stop start, rush hour drive a lot more tolerable.

Reply 3

Helenia

Original post by ForestCat

Especially at the end of the day when it's been sat in an open unshaded car park for 8+ hours!

Mind you, I drive an old (MkII) MX-5 to work so can't really talk about comfort or fuel efficiency. I'll be getting something a bit more sensible when it dies.

Reply 4

asif007

VW Golf is a popular choice. I know a lot of doctors who drove them as medical students, kept them for FY and never had a problem.

On the other hand, my friend in GP training drives an Aston Martin. I guess it’s up to you which end of the spectrum you want to come down on. :tongue:

Reply 5

Anonymous #1

I drive a second hand Citroen C1 which I've had since med school. Never had any issues with it and I've driven it all over the country to placements, jobs, exams, house moves, visiting friends, concerts, etc.

It's very economical - I drove it up from London to Scotland just a few days ago and only filled up once when the tank was half full, and even that was because I wanted to avoid the possibility of having to fill up at an expensive motorway service station. I'm sure I could have made it all the way without needing to fill up at all, but I was probably being overly cautious. The tax is cheap, something like £25 per year and it doesn't attract the new ULEZ charge (if you're thinking about moving to London). It fits into surprisingly tight spaces.

Downsides: the acceleration is really poor, especially if you have the air con on. Going uphill is a struggle. It's functional but not especially comfortable, and it's clearly not a flashy car. French cars also don't have the best rep for durability and quality.

Reply 6

nexttime

Original post by Anonymous

I drive a second hand Citroen C1 which I've had since med school.

Same.

I've had it 6 years now and never had a single problem, passed every MOT.

With its fuel efficiency and ability to fit through gaps/into parking spaces other cars can't, I really can't see why anyone would want another car. I guess I'm limited to an 8ft Christmas tree unless I want to start strapping them to the roof (?).

Reply 7

Anonymous #1

Original post by nexttime

Yeah, despite what I said about durability it's seven years old and has also passed all its MOTs. That's not bad at all.

The acceleration does kind of suck though, especially when you get ********s on the motorway tailgating you. FFS, I just want my air con on, is that too much to ask? :tongue:

Reply 8

nexttime

Original post by Anonymous

Not something i suffer from! On the flat i can get it up to 80-85 without too much trouble? Uphill with a full car it can be hard to stay above 60 though and it is a bit slow out the blocks, but not for long enough for someone to be able to 'tailgate' me? Normally i can enter a motorway above 60-65 without trouble?

Possible explanations: 1) your engine has lost more horses to the ravages of time than mine 2) you like your car REALLY cold 3) you weight 500lb 4) all of the above.

Reply 9

Helenia

Original post by nexttime

Have you tried going away with the baby yet? :wink:

Reply 10

nexttime

Original post by Helenia

Have you tried going away with the baby yet? :wink:

Thrice, including a week in Snowdonia! I've carried baby up Snowdon! Plus we had to give a lift to a friend, so we had 4 in the car AND stuff for a week AND his huge bag. Now ok that was a bit like tetris and i could see nothing out the back and was generally uncomfortable for all except the driver (hehe), but once we got rid of him there was loads of spare space! Loooadss*

Admittedly, if number two happened, that would be the answer to my query. Then you would need an existent boot. I'd still hope to use a small efficient car day to day though!

*An existent amount

Reply 11

Helenia

Original post by nexttime

Sounds like you are way more efficient than me - I'd just about got travelling with the toddler down to some kind of routine and then #2 threw everything out of the window! We filled our Mazda 6 with just #1. Probably doesn't help having a massive travel system though.

I'll still go for something smaller and fuel efficient if/when the MX-5 dies, because I'll be commuting 80 miles a day for the next 3+ years, but I like the space of the family car too.

Reply 12

nexttime

Original post by Helenia

We did take our travel system and that just barely barely fits (when the 4th person was in the car their legs were between the bars of it - probably not the best for safety). However, we didn't use it on the holiday, and in 9 weeks I think we've only used it 3 or 4 times. Just sling everywhere or carry car seat by hand short distances.