Ok guys and girls,

my old clapped out T reg fiat brava is on its last legs.

My commute has piled 40k on the clock in the last couple of years, and is currently costing me between £300 and £350 a month in fuel just to get to work and back (72 miles per day).

I need the most fuel efficient car I can afford, with a sub £4k budget (prefer £3k...).

I do mostly motorway miles, so a tiny petrol engine will get breathless and stressed (and I also like more than 1 ft of crumple zone... - so no smartcars please) so I'm thinking smallish diesel? Not interested in LPG, as there are no garages round me, and I know I;ll get lazy taking the trip to them.

I've done some research and think the citreon c3 1.4HDI ticks the boxes, not toooooo small, but delivers 70mpg on the motorway... thats double what I get out my 1.8 petrol bus now, so I;d halve my fuel bill! (I;ve read there are two version, lower power 8v, and a higher power one 16v...does anyone know if the 70MPG applies to them both?)


So the locost challenge is to dazzle me with a range of cars with similar MPG for similar money....

So any other options I should consider?

Thanks folks

The Citroen C3 is a brilliant car, my mates got one.

Anything with the 1.5 diesel renault engine would be pretty economical.

[Edited on 3-7-11 by speedyxjs]

I'd buy a 406 HDi for <£1000 and then spend the other £3k on a holiday and some bits for my Locost. I can't see the point in spending £4k on a car that will be ruined with 40k miles per year and end up worthless.... might as well start with a worthless car. Mine does 55+ MPG, is practical comfy and generally a perfect motorway cruiser, all for £700.

My little 106 1.5D should return 70mpg ( i hope)

Only cost me £300 with a little bit welding new beam and rear brakes all for just under a ton.

Just need to get rid of that damned Shogun now.....

Below 1.6 litre diesels don't really make any economic sense particularly as most recent models have expensive to maintain particulate filters

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Originally posted by Doctor Derek Doctors
I'd buy a 406 HDi for <£1000 and then spend the other £3k on a holiday and some bits for my Locost. I can't see the point in spending £4k on a car that will be ruined with 40k miles per year and end up worthless.... might as well start with a worthless car. Mine does 55+ MPG, is practical comfy and generally a perfect motorway cruiser, all for £700.

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I had a C3 1.4 HDI 8V version (70hp) for 3 years. Yes 70mpg was achievable and that was mainly motorway miles. The downside -Citroen servicing is terrible - mine developed a ticking noise - was told it was a loose engine cover. You can access the Citroen service website and sure enough there was a technical bulletin for leaking injectors. Got quotes from an independent Citroen specialist - £500 to change £5 worth of seals. Did it myself but took a good 12 hours of work under the bonnet as it is very cramped under there and you have to remove lots of stuff.

Second problem I had was clutch slip at about 105K - had the clutch changed then lost all drive on the way home. Turned out the drive gears into the diff are shrunk on and this fit failed. Citroen wouldn't touch it and a new diff was £1600. Because only a limited number of the 70hp models were made secondhand items are difficult to track down - took me a month and a half to track down a new gearbox - and even then I had to strip the two boxes to put the correct gear linkages in it. Ran the car with that box for a year before it started making grinding noises in first - by then I had had enough and part-ex it agaisnt and MGZR - fortunatley the garage never drove it before making a deal!

Apart from the problems it was a great little car - went well, was comfortable and capable of a spirited drive when required

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Originally posted by Dangle_kt
So any other options I should consider?

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i love my astra 1.7 cdti estate, practical spacious comfy and never drops below 45mpg on my 2 mile trips to work and gets over 60mpg on a motorway trip at 70+ mph

thanks for the comments so far everyone

Some stuff to investigate further!

There's a guy opposite me selling a Y-plate 306hdi, it's big enough, probably a 1.9 (I got mid 40's beating hell out of my mum's slightly older one) and it looks to be in rather fine condition for the age. Iirc he's asking £1500 (might be 1.8k), I can take some pics tomorrow if you like

I was going to reply with BigRich's car as an example Andrew, but he's already piped up...

I'm currently running a 1.9TDi Audi A4 estate on a R plate (1997) and it will get over 30mpg whilt towing stuff and up to 70mpg if really really really taking it steady on a run etc.

When you consider that I went from a Golf 4 motion doing 220 miles to an extra large tank and now 500/800 miles to a tank, its an amazing difference...

Granted it would feel good, but since I still haven't been able to find work, I may have to get rid of it pretty damn soon!

If you do go the 306 route, keep some spare cash for consumables, which seems to include just about everything (or I got a "really" bad one).
In my 18 months ownership, mine has had;

Interior
4 wheels
2 wheel bearings
4 discs
Pads all round
Rear calipers
2 drop links
Rad fan
Bonnet hinge
Wiper motor
Crank pulley
Windscreen
2 track rod ends
Brake pipes
Rear quarter window
2/3 of the exhaust
Abs sensor
2 bottom balljoints
clock/temp display.

To say nothing of the electrical niggles..
The MPG is nothing special either, although almost all my driving is short trips in town.

I think you got a really bad one, or you've been consistently parking it in the most stereotypical street in Liverpool!

I don't think I've had that much work done on all the cars I've ever had

Surely the correct answer to the question is either a Citreon AX or a Peugeot 307/8.

The AX had the world record for effecientcy in a road car until it was over taken a few years ago by the pug. I Don't think AX is something you'll be considering but a 307 diesel would be worth a look.

My mate just sold his red Skoda Fabia vrs for just under 4k.


lovely little car with loads of torque and pretty economical.

1.9 diesel and 130 bhp

Audi A2 TDI. Job done ;-)

Don't bother with the 1.2 tdi version though.

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Originally posted by sebastiaan
Audi A2 TDI. Job done ;-)

Don't bother with the 1.2 tdi version though.

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Originally posted by morcus
Surely the correct answer to the question is either a Citreon AX or a Peugeot 307/8.

The AX had the world record for effecientcy in a road car until it was over taken a few years ago by the pug. I Don't think AX is something you'll be considering but a 307 diesel would be worth a look.

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Originally posted by MikeRJ

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Originally posted by morcus
Surely the correct answer to the question is either a Citreon AX or a Peugeot 307/8.

The AX had the world record for effecientcy in a road car until it was over taken a few years ago by the pug. I Don't think AX is something you'll be considering but a 307 diesel would be worth a look.

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The AX is never the correct answer if you are doing 72 miles per day. The 307 and 308 are revolting French turds with poor reliability, poor dynamics and worse looks.

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I'd also go for an Audi A2 - quirky, and 1.4tdi's should be silly economical for motorway miles.

They are surprisingly comfy - kind of like an A4 with a slightly more upright seating position.

I must admit the AUDI A2 gets my vote. I think they look pretty cool as well.

I also have a GOLF GT TDI 150 for sale at the moment. It'll do 55mpg to 60mpg on a run and it goes like stink. I get 52mpg on my daily 15 mile trip to work. Just bought a Seat Ibiza 1.4 petrol and its made me realise how brilliant the golf is.

bora/golf tdi

I also have a Astra 1.7 cdti. It's been a great car over the last year and a half. Only costs are tyres and a service. It's only 80bhp but plenty powerful enough and gets good economy too. Mine's a 2005 Club model.

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Originally posted by McLannahan
I also have a Astra 1.7 cdti. It's been a great car over the last year and a half. Only costs are tyres and a service. It's only 80bhp but plenty powerful enough and gets good economy too. Mine's a 2005 Club model.

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