# Thoughts on running a daily run about?



## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

Thinking about spending a very small amount of cash and buying a cheap car to do the work commute.

The last car we bought the missus was a rover 25 and it cost £800. 
We've had it over 6 months, it uses piss all petrol and has never needed any work.

Love using the TT everyday, but it's getting older and trying to keep it top condition is turning expensive. Sorting paintwork, repairing boost leaks/turbo problems, not to mention the comparably low mpg.


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## shell (Feb 1, 2008)

Definately do it.

I've organised a Pug 306TD for Shell as her day to day car, getting MOTd next week hopefully. Cheap & cheerful, keeps the miles off her TT so keeps the running costs to a mininum!!

I've got a VW Bora TDI that I use daily, touch wood its NEVER let me down yet and still going strong at 208k miles! LOL! I've then got my other toys for weekends, trackdays etc

Lee


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

That's whatI've been thinking mate, very small petrol or maybe a diesal. I use £40 a week in fuel and I reckon that I could reduce that alot as sitting in traffic I was getting less than 25mpg last time I checked.

Any recommendations?

Thought something clio, pug206 size?


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## conlechi (May 6, 2006)

Yep , get a little diesel Matt .

Our little A2 cost hardly anything to run 

even better with an APS remap :roll:

Mark


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## Guest (Jan 29, 2010)

On the flipside......

I wouldn't want to be spending this amount of money on my favourite car if i wasn't enjoying it EVERY DAY!

I get satisfaction from seeing the fruits of my labour reflected in shop windows, the office windows as i park every day, the looks people give it on the way to work..... If i wasn't getting that every day it wouldn't be worth it to me..... and you've spent a crapload more than me !!!


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

It's not a fun drive though mate. It's sitting at sub 30mph, sitting at traffic lights, queuing for islands or driving down rat runs avoiding them.

I don't want this to turn in to who's spent what thread as I would like opinions on a possible car to look at but...

From memory I've changed

Maf
N75
All Coilpacks
Pads on front 3 times
Rear pads once
Small manifold hose
TIP
All big forge hoses bar the turbo one
Several faults relating to the cats
services
new clutch
full new suspension
new bushes
Thermostat + temp sender 
Hazard Relay
New cambelt and watermpump
New afterrun coolant pump
several other small fixes and various bit's I'm sure I've forgotten

That's on top of the mods, which always cause some teething problem. headlights that need resealing/resprays that take 2.5 times longer than the quote etc

The toyota we sold a year ago (in the same time period), had 1 set of brake pads. And that's it....
Didn't even service it :roll:


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## Guest (Jan 29, 2010)

Well if you don't get the same kick out of driving day to day, then go for it!

and my last car was a toyota celica, compared to that the TT is absolutely crap, quality wise....

The TT is a badly made car unfortunately. Fact.


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

I'm kind of with Manphibian on this- though still not sure.

I've been considering the same thing for a year or more now as I've been watching the mileage steadily climb and worrying about the longevity of the car. I was thinking that if I still wanted to be driving it in 10 years time I couldn't continue to put 15k on the clock every year. I was thinking of getting something like an MX5 as an extra toy and for the run to work.

But the real sticker is that the tax and insurance on the TT is nearly £1k a year before I even take it off the drive. How do you justify that expense without using the car much?

However, I never stop thinking about it. I want to keep the car and take it to classic shows when it's well and truly considered as such - so the last thing I want to do is drive it into the ground. So I expect that I will get something else before too long, but only once I've got nothing else demanding my money.


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## elrao (Apr 19, 2005)

If you are thinking of starting a family soon Matt then you will need 4 doors and a big boot! Depends what you are looking to spend, but something like an old A4 Avant would do you well once you have a little one!


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## Andywarr (May 14, 2009)

i run a little Fiesta 1.4 tdci, cracking little car, £40 will do 500 miles in traffic and towns, will probably do more but i have a big fat driving school sign on the top that must increase drag abit


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

I run the JCW, hadnt touched the M3 in 4 weeks until Thursday. Also, you mention caring for your main car, having a runabout means I can take a week over cleaning the M3 when I feel like it. Ive had it sat on the jack/axle stands for a couple of days whilst I touch in the wheels and wax them. Saaaaaad!


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## SimonQS (Jul 21, 2008)

manphibian said:


> The TT is a badly made car unfortunately. Fact.


Are you kidding...

I have done nearly 70,000 in two TTs now, current QS has 66k - only breakdown I have ever had is a coilpack which cost me £27. Believe me my car is no garage queen, it has it neck rung on a very regular basis.

Compared to its rivals, SLK, Z4 etc etc its bulletproof (if you look after it).


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

SimonQS said:


> manphibian said:
> 
> 
> > The TT is a badly made car unfortunately. Fact.
> ...


I think you've been lucky mate, and I'm the opposite end of the spectrum.


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## forest (Mar 17, 2009)

Hi Matt

I bought mine as a weekend/holiday car and up until recently ran a VW Bora as a daily. It was only a 1.6 petrol but used to return 40-45 mpg on the daily commute and racked up 146k. Similar to the golf with a huge boot. Used the TT for a couple of days commuting last week and I just don't get the same feeling as just getting in and driving for the sake of driving, although it doesn't get used every week, it gives more time to keep it clean for when you do use it and it somehow feels a whole lot better. Just my six penneth


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## Guest (Jan 31, 2010)

Hark said:


> SimonQS said:
> 
> 
> > manphibian said:
> ...


Compared to the Jap cars i've had before this, it is badly made imo....


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

Hark said:


> SimonQS said:
> 
> 
> > manphibian said:
> ...


Ive had 2 and covered a total of 50K+ miles in them and never had a single problem.


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## shell (Feb 1, 2008)

I am quite excited to get my run around, we went down to Derby yesterday and picked up some half leathers for it and Lee ended up stripping half of another 306 for bits for mine 

I just know i will miss the TT with a passion but least i know she will be in mint condition and not putting miles on her haha

Shell


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## Charlie (Dec 15, 2006)

I have considered this more than once. The problem for me is that it's not so much the cost of buying the other car that is the issue, rather the cost of running it - tax, MOT, Insurance, fuel - + the inevitable running costs of an old cheap car.

I prefer to put my available money into 1 car, keeping it running as well as I possibly can and enjoying it everyday 

Charlie


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## E (May 7, 2002)

When I first got my current TT I had another runaround, thoughts were i'd keep the mileage down on the TT but in the end like Charlie says your paying 2 lots of tax and insurance which can work out expensive.

I decided to get rid of the runaround and after buying a low mileage TT, 45K on the clock after 7.5 years by one owner, i've put 35K miles on it in the last 2 years, figure I will keep it for another 2 or 3 years and am currently doing 20K a year so the miles could be up to 140K but from posts on the forum it should still be going strong.

And it's much more fun using the TT daily.

E


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## jbell (May 15, 2006)

Charlie said:


> I have considered this more than once. The problem for me is that it's not so much the cost of buying the other car that is the issue, rather the cost of running it - tax, MOT, Insurance, fuel - + the inevitable running costs of an old cheap car.
> 
> I prefer to put my available money into 1 car, keeping it running as well as I possibly can and enjoying it everyday


Seconded, can't see the point in running 2 cars


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

I suppose the thing to do is work out how much the other car will cost a year and then try and ascertain how much less the 'good' car will be worth if you were putting extra miles on it.

The only things realistically that double up are tax, insurance and MOTs though. If you're only driving one car at a time, then you're only using one set of tyres and consuming one tank of fuel.

I would have happily paid the tax and insurance on our TT to be able to keep it in the garage if we didn't need the money to fund buying a car we actually used. :?

With a young daughter, we only did around 3,000 miles a year in our TT during the last 2/3 years we had it.


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## jbell (May 15, 2006)

Kell said:


> With a young daughter, we only did around 3,000 miles a year in our TT during the last 2/3 years we had it.


Thats more than I do


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

jbell said:


> Kell said:
> 
> 
> > With a young daughter, we only did around 3,000 miles a year in our TT during the last 2/3 years we had it.
> ...


That's why you can't see the point then mate. I'm doing 13k + I think.


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## shell (Feb 1, 2008)

My miles have been building up due to me and Lee living 60miles apart and i was hating the miles going on the TT................I actually cried when she hit 50k...............i have always liked low miles  weird i know :lol:

Just insured the 306 Pug for £500 and now i am waiting till i am 25 to insure the TT as being under 24 its riducluous with the mods 

But fingers crossed i have found a few companies who are really competitive for the TT's insurance

and i am happy in knowing the TT will be locked away and nice a comfy in a garage :mrgreen:


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## scavenger (Jun 25, 2002)

We still have a 1.8TDCi Focus I use for daily commuting; which ironically I replaced 2 years ago with a diesel ST Mondeo! I ended up driving all sorts of free work mileage accumulation vehicles so didn't use the Mondeo and the wife likes it so she drives that now.

The free cars have gone so back in the Focus now. 150,000 miles on the clock and so far it has only let me down once with a water pump.

Costs £200 a year fully comp and tax is about £110 IIRC. Returns 50+ mpg and best thing is we just don't care about it. It rarely gets cleaned and as it spends its life mainly on the motorway, trips to the supermarket, tip, shopping, leave overnight in the pub carpark ....

It's a worry free car. Having a cheap, daily driver is well worth it in IMHO, but then I rack up 800 miles/week commuting so I have what I consider a justification to have a cheap throw away car. Kids @ uni make it an easy decision not to buy expensive daily drivers :roll:


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## Dotti (Mar 9, 2003)

Get yourself a small Ford KA! If your after just a car to get you to and from work the KA sport is brilliant and very cheap to run and really zippy to drive, easy to park and funky. I used to drive one years ago.

As for my TT if it's any consolation, it is the second car in our house, hubby gets allocated 2 company cars through his job, one of which is our family car and the other goes to his mum and dad because I decided to have a TT. MY TT is only driven by me. I do approx 20 miles per week in it. £50 per month on petrol. It is garaged. Has a little daily run of the school run or social use or driven very local mid week. Hardly used at weekends also unless I see friends or a TT meet or nip out to the shops on my own or with one of our son's. Never had any problems with it being a 52 reg either. But equally it has no mods, so nothing for it to go wrong I suppose. Once a week it has a big blast down the A127 to Sainsbury to blow the dust off etc and more so on a sunny day. All I have spent on my TT is insurance, MOT's and good services when needed and any general maintenance like tyres, you know the obvious things that need replacing really. Over 4 years ownership I have done 10k miles in it. I enjoy my TT more knowing it is our second car, paid for and puchased at a sensible price when I bought it and used for the purposes I use it for with a permenant grin WHEN I do drive it. A mk2 at the moment would be completely wasted on me as I don't do enough mileage and would seem a pointless extravagance right now. Unless they dropped in price considerably. Then I could possibly make the justification for such a car that I passionately adore.

Thing you have to remember though, is do you go out enough in the evenings and weekends to then go back to using your TT? If the answer is no, then stick with your TT, enjoy it and swollow the price it can cost to run and the incidentalls that could potentically go wrong. You've made it your hobby like most of the men's on here, hence all your mods etc.


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## Gone (May 5, 2009)

I'm in the TT game for the long run and want to keep her going for another 10 years or more, when most of the others will have been scrapped or written off or just look like pretty wrecks or something. I can't carry on doing 12k + per year and hope to acheive that and I always intended to buy a run about for the commute (well most days) etc - the first thing I need is a driveway to take 2 cars. I have the luxury of being 31 with an immaculate driving record, so the insurance isn't too bad.
The plan would be to buy a small cheapo car for the mrs to use at the weekends and I'll use it to commute in the week, then if babies come along the cheap car gets replaced by a hatchback. I'm thinking of buying whatever I can find on Autotrader when the time comes, for under £500 and then when it breaks down just scrap it and get another. My mate did this, he went through 2 F plate fiestas and a pug 306 estate in 18 months.


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## roddy (Dec 25, 2008)

i can certainly empathise with he OP, as i am puting far toooo many miles on to the TT,,, fortunatly i also have a Pug 306 hdi (diesel for those not in the know !! ) which i try to use around town and local , it is a great wee car and goes and handles great, being electric inj ,it can be chipped up to 150 bhp a full stainless and a bit of upgrading on the suspension makes it a fun cheap car,,,,,, it is prob not worth any more than £ 800 now on the market... i would recomend it to anybody wanting a run around.... ( black 2 door of course !! )


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## gcp (Aug 8, 2002)

Bought a £750 Passat as a stop gap car last March/April

£170 to insure plus usual tax and mot costs. 2 cv boots and a thermostat have been needed plus a service.

11000 miles later still have it, most of them for business so 40p/mile, its been to Germany and some big trips in the UK when I'm going places I don't want to take the M3 too.

December M3 went in the garage and will stay there until the weather improves and the salt has gone.


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## Eiphos_1830 (May 27, 2009)

See i think this idea is awesome and a brilliant way to keep the TT in perfect condition. I also have been thinking about this as i have started taking my Girlfriend to work and that at least racks another 50 miles a week onto my journey as i work out of my home town. Been looking into a second car or even a van as they are dirt cheap and last forever but i am another one who just cant afford to be paying Tax,Mot etc on another car when the TT can be expensive on its own specially wen im only 19 so insurance is a nightmare. Luckily for me my GF will be getting a car of her own soon so we will probably end up using that as our run around and keep the TT for the weekend.

I was looking at Skodas fabias etc decent enough diesel engines that go forever and are pretty cheap enough to buy.
or old golfs or polos were not badly priced.

i would look at borras - golfs - polos - jettas - octavia's - pug 206 hdi - megane 1.9 diesel - ford KA - Van


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## p1tse (Sep 20, 2004)

thoughts on running a second car is far too expensive in my eyes, unless your main car is like a m3 and doing 20k+ a year for commute.

byt the time you buy, mot, tax, tyres, make sure it runs, insurance and then add on depreciation you've spent £1k+ already

i sold the TT as needed a bigger car for a new family. I ended up buying a hot hatch type car which the wife drives, as she needs the space more during the week and does less miles, and i've ended up with the ka.

the TT was doing circa 300 miles from memory on £50-60, while the ka can do almost double the mileage on the same amount of money.

how many miles do you do in a year?

i can see your list of issues, but mechanical ones seem to be sorted so should run fine.


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

About 13k a yeari get 250-275 miles from £65.


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## bigsyd (Jul 9, 2008)

the QS was the wifes daily drive and to be fair she treated it with kid gloves, but then she started to get paranoid about damaging the paint/wheels ect ect...so we decided to get her a cheep run around so the QS could be my car and just come out when the weather is fine, so i got her a ford Ka cheep...detailed it and she then decided she did not like it :roll: but did like the street Ka..so sold the 1st Ka for a nice profit and got the street Ka  all good yes.....No [smiley=bigcry.gif] she said she missed driving a TT [smiley=bomb.gif] so got a nice roadster...and of course she wants all the bits on it...bloody women (but at least i have the QS all tucked up safe over winter)

so yes save the TT m8 and get a run around for the daily grind, and trust me m8, when you get back into your TT at weekend it feels sooooo good


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## shell (Feb 1, 2008)

Well my daily runner is now up and running and i love it ..................and knowing my pride and joy is all comfy and warm in a garage but i will miss her [smiley=bigcry.gif]

Lee is making the 306 as comfy as possible he even bought me half leathers for it too which makes alot off difference i just need a cd player now haha 

Shell


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## Bikerz (Aug 23, 2008)

The lupo SDI does 63mpg for us and a great tool. Might get a Lupo TDI 1.4TDI as nearly same fuel economey and performance.
SDI is a 1.7 and has a 16 sec 0-62mph time, but is quick enough to 40mph when you need it to be


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

We are thinking of getting a cheap runaround for the summer like a MkI roadster


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

wallsendmag said:


> We are thinking of getting a cheap runaround for the summer like a MkI roadster


Is this to stop the seats sagging over time in the mk2?


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## roddy (Dec 25, 2008)

shell said:


> Well my daily runner is now up and running and i love it ..................and knowing my pride and joy is all comfy and warm in a garage but i will miss her [smiley=bigcry.gif]
> 
> Lee is making the 306 as comfy as possible he even bought me half leathers for it too which makes alot off difference i just need a cd player now haha
> 
> Shell


good choice,, in my opinion it is the best buy for the money in that class, just like theTT in its class ,,    is yours a series 2 or HDI,,, i have a disk rear axle if you want it , gti6 ( ?? )
is it standard , eg suspension, ride hight etc and injectors pump, ???,, do they have a forum !!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## shell (Feb 1, 2008)

i think its a mk1 maybe, Lee bought a rear axle to replace the drum brakes with disks so i have new brakes on but we have a little problem with the fuel pump so looking into one of them at the min, a BOSCH one i think, suppose to be better than the lucas one

Its standard as far as i am aware, i'm not that clued up on them, it has 15" cyclone alloys on, so looks the part but i need to purchase a new front bumper as the previous owner bumped it

:mrgreen:


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## roddy (Dec 25, 2008)

shell said:


> i think its a mk1 maybe, Lee bought a rear axle to replace the drum brakes with disks so i have new brakes on but we have a little problem with the fuel pump so looking into one of them at the min, a BOSCH one i think, suppose to be better than the lucas one
> 
> Its standard as far as i am aware, i'm not that clued up on them, it has 15" cyclone alloys on, so looks the part but i need to purchase a new front bumper as the previous owner bumped it
> 
> :mrgreen:


Ser 1 Turbo D, has got square fogs front body panels eg wings, bonnet, bumper, headlight units, do not fit ser 11 or HDI Ser 11, D Turbo, has got " eyebrow " fogs and rounded front 
HDI has got round fogs
the bosch pump from ser 1, along with the injectors can be fitted to the ser 11 for tuning purposes,,,,the ser 11 , Lucas , pump cannot be opened up for tuning,,,


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

Hark said:


> wallsendmag said:
> 
> 
> > We are thinking of getting a cheap runaround for the summer like a MkI roadster
> ...


That boat has well and truely sailed.


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## shell (Feb 1, 2008)

roddy said:


> Ser 1 Turbo D, has got square fogs front body panels eg wings, bonnet, bumper, headlight units, do not fit ser 11 or HDI Ser 11, D Turbo, has got " eyebrow " fogs and rounded front
> HDI has got round fogs
> the bosch pump from ser 1, along with the injectors can be fitted to the ser 11 for tuning purposes,,,,the ser 11 , Lucas , pump cannot be opened up for tuning,,,


Heres a pic..

Its a Ph1 1996 but with an engine out of a Ph2 so unfortunately has a troublesome Lucas pump! You can adjust the fuelling on the Lucas unit but cant swap internal parts etc.


















Lee


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## roddy (Dec 25, 2008)

yes the phase 1, square fogs and lower / squarer bonnet line, ( different header tank ) a bit older and not so easy to get body pannels for,, and black 2 door, with the HDI wheels,, the best,,, enjoy ,,    ,, i also have a pair of Max (   :lol: :lol: ) front struts about 2 " down if you should ever need them ,, and a rear bumper,,,,, seems that you already know about the pump and injectors,,, you should manage about 50mpg, driving aunt sally !!!


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## Bikerz (Aug 23, 2008)

SCREW MOD


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