best mpg for lowest budget?

[mylittletony]

if it's only a few miles, then steer clear of a diesel. The time taken to get up to temperature means it will be running on warm up the entire time.

Either go for small EFI petrol engine, maybe a Starlet or micra, or (in all seriousness) a bike - nothing cheaper than pedal power! I cycle 14 miles each way a couple of times a week and I flipping love it.

[wodge]

Isuzu engined corsa di/dti y17dt engine code.

Mine still does 48mpg avg despite utter abuse and ragging it to hell, it will sit at a ton all day - nearly a genuine ton got caught doing an alleged 99.6 last month.

Still on same oil/filters from when I bought it 4yrs and 80k ago. I reckon it's a 65mpg car all day long with some maintenance and <70mph cruising.

Now on 190k the only thing it's needed in my stewardship is a starter motor and tyres.

Not cool but the most economical and reliable car I've ever had including several brand new ones. Bx 17tzd turbo ran it close for economy but nowhere near for reliability.

*Edit forgot to say I've had 205s, fiestas and a citroen ax before. The corsa feels much more substantial, refined and comfortable on long journeys. I have driven it to just north of Glasgow and back in the day twice ~1000miles for the return trip.

Found a pic of the slag bag

[taurus]

The Corsa C (as above) is a damn good car. Avoid the Corsa (ie FIAT) 1.3CDTi like the plague though.

My experience is that if you're not doing huge miles petrol is cheaper than diesel, and easier to live with in terms of servicing.

The Corsa C 1.2 & 1.4 with the Suzuki derived chain driven engines are good, just make sure they've had decent oil changes or the chains will wear. They rattle but don't snap too often. One weak point is the timing cover seal behind the water pump, oil & coolant mix if that fails. Otherwise they're very solid. They also eat air flow meters and crankshaft sensors, but easy to fix and parts are cheap.

We have two 1.0 Yaris - they're brilliant. Make sure it's the 4 cylinder version, not the 3 pot. And get a Japanese built one rather than a French one. You'll soon tell the difference from build quality. (And the Japanese ones have a 'Made in Japan' sticker in the windscreen.)

The Corsa is cheaper to buy but a bit less reliable. The Yaris isn't totally bulletproof - sumps rot out, anti-roll bar ties fall to bits routinely, but it's pretty damn good at not breaking down.

[waveman1500]

If it's only a few miles to work then stick with the car you have!

[thorne]

Well work and back is only a few miles but I probably do 50 or so miles some weeks with general running around, would just like something that's cheap to run while we're a bit skint, something that doesn't need another £20 in the fuel tank every few days lol

[joem83]

Last gen of Toyota Starlet or K11 1.3 would be fine for what you need.
Nippy but frugal, avoid the 1.0 Micra, it's painfully slow - Even my 63 year old mum said they are to slow (I blew clutch up in mine trying to go faster lol)

[THE_Liam]

To be fair, 50 miles a week in my 190 wouldn't even be a full tank a month and a full tank is £60, probably about £55. In my 306 DT it would have been just under half a tank, so £35 roughly. Not a huge difference even though my 190 is awful on juice.

[thorne]

Cheers for all the suggestions guys, much appreciated,

little update-the mrs did in fact loose her job yesterday and like an absolute legend went and found herself a job that pays more and she can start tomorrow, so she can get her own crappy little sensible car, I'm off to eBay again to look for something with a big V8

[THE_Liam]

Result!