Recommend a car for this lady please.

[neilrr]

A friend is starting a new, high powered job on May 1 which involves a 102 mile round trip commute (M4, M25, A1M). She will be racking up annual commuting mileage alone of 20,000 miles & wants a new (to her) car for the job.

Budget is £12K.

Mr Executive had suggested an SLK, SL, 350Z or one of those litle BMW 2 seater jobbies, mainly I suspect because he will drive it once in a blue moon & likes the image & looks of these cars.

After a little chat where we established it will be her car, she will be driving it 99.999% of the time & for about 3 hours every single working day she has found her Girl Power, put her foot down & writes:

[FONT=&quot]I definitely don’t want a two seater sports car or a convertible. In fact I want a spacious car that is comfortable to drive and has some mod cons which I have never had in a car before. The Type R was Mr Exec's choice and although I have enjoyed driving it, I think I want a change to include;[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A four door[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A diesel because of the miles I will be doing[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As low a mileage as I can afford as I will bump it up[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]air conditioning essential[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]would prefer leather seats[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Heated seats would be nice [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Don’t really want silver –not sure why.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have been looking at these cars on line this afternoon[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mercedes S320 and E280 and E320.[/FONT]


Both I & a member on here who deals in late model MB's independently came up with the same car to meet her requirements.

Her husband has now come back with this suggestion - [FONT=&quot]

He suggested the CLS 320 Cdi which has 4 doors and is a diesel. It does look quite nice – so I am checking those out at the moment[/FONT]

What car, MB or non MB, would you recommend for her? Please give reasons.


TIA.

 

[developer]

Elegance version of E or C - very comfy, especially the E if she wasn't fussed by the size of the CLS.

 

[Simon_M]

I would have said the 204 generation C, but she can't do much better than a CLS320 - my wife loved ours and it was a really comfortable motorway muncher.

S

 

[Scott_F]

With a 102 mile daily commute I can't see how a 3.2 litre engine (diesel or petrol) would make sense.

A diesel car of no more than 2 litres would seem a sensible choice. I'd start by looking at a nicely-specced VW Golf or Ford Focus.

 

[bolide]

A very high-powered job but a budget of only £12k? Is she running the car as a personal car and charging mileage?

With that mileage I'd want the most comfortable car available. Doing that mileage it'll have to be changed every year or driven into the ground otherwise depreciation will cost a fortune

What about the most comfortable newish Citroen - maybe a C5?
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/citroën/c5/first-drives/citroën-c5-tourer-2.2-hdi-vtr

Buy one at auction as cheaply as possible, throw the miles on it and see what happens. If she got three or four years out of it I think her total costs would be pretty reasonable

Personally I think a Mercedes will cost too much in depreciation due to the mileage being covered

Nick Froome

 

[Sp!ke]

With that mileage she'll be trashing whatever she buys pretty quickly.

With only a 12k budget I'd be looking at a Volvo S60 D5 SE - a real motorway mile muncher with all the toys, uber reliable and the most comfy seats of any car I've sat in.

 

[neilrr]

With a 102 mile daily commute I can't see how a 3.2 litre engine (diesel or petrol) would make sense.

I agree.

A very high-powered job but a budget of only £12k? Is she running the car as a personal car and charging mileage?

With that mileage I'd want the most comfortable car available. Doing that mileage it'll have to be changed every year or driven into the ground otherwise depreciation will cost a fortune.

Personal car. She's taking the position the car is a tool to do a job which will have very high miles & very little value after 3 or 4 years at 30K miles p.a.

I know she wouldn't consider a Citroen, or anything French.

 

[The _Don]

Cls55 AMG.
High powered car for a high powered job - sod the diesel.

 

[neilrr]

Cls55 AMG.

Are you Greg, her husband?

 

[kap02]

Is lease an option?

If so the new cls250cdi ... it looks great, great engine and mpg. I would also assume it would be comfortable!

 

[neilrr]

Is lease an option?

Dunno much about leasing but I'd have thought the annual mileage would make it unattractive to the leasing co. & expensive for the punter.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Circa £12k should buy her a 3 year old good spec Skoda Superb diesel with lowish mileage.

Nice to drive, 60mpg and won't suffer as bad with depreciation because a lot of buyers expect them to be high mileage at 6 year old.

 

[Scott_F]

I know she wouldn't consider a Citroen, or anything French.

Ain't that a bit racialist ?

 

[Howard]

Nope , I like French bread , but would never drive A French car

 

[Alps]

deisel something, i would say MB 211 , 212 or a 5 series BMW.

no point having a small 2 seater if its going to be on the motorway, comfort and cruising is the key to this one

 

[Sp!ke]

Nope , I like French bread , but would never drive A French car

You mean... like an A class?

 

[Charles Morgan]

French cars can be horrible and they can be superb, however, if they are ruled out, then so be it.

SPX's suggestion of a Superb is not a bad idea. They have a lot of kit on them, are very comfortable and roomy, and have the VW turbodiesels which are torquey and economic. I'd rather be horsewhipped than have one, but that's just me.

Now their build quality is good, why not a lovely Alfa 156? Either the 1.9 or 2.4 turbodiesels would do a good job, they look lovely inside and as it's going to be worthless at the end, at least have some fun looking at one of the sharpest cars on the road. Like this beauty with lovely leather rather than some tedious black interior, 50mpg too.

 

[gIzzE]

E220cdi would be my choice instead of 320cdi.

Why spend £470 a month on fuel when you can be spending £350?
As she says, it is a tool and comfort is everything.

Or you could argue that, what is another £120 a month on fuel when you are loosing £250 in depreciation and another £100 a month in maintainance.


Or a post 57 plate 520, 525 or 530d.

 

[bolide]

These threads are entertaining but pointless. The buyer always ends up getting a company car or something completely random "because they liked the colour"

But I'll give one more suggestion: BMW E91 320d Touring Efficient Dynamics manual. Touring because it looks nicer and is far more useful

3,000,000 company car drivers can't be wrong

Nick Froome

 

[SportsCoupeRich]

I'd lease something on a high mileage lease? C250 CDI or similar?