No, no. That's just wrong, the C6 needs a dark exterior. Grey paint (like you posted), beige leather interior but with black steering wheel and dash. It'd need a retrimmer letting loose on the inside, but so worth it.
I use to do a 90 mile commute daily, I mixed it up by finding the cross country route. Doesn't help much with fuel economy as the road tends to be clearer.. hehe! (I averaged 18mpg yes 18, but shaved 40min ) The S80 is a boat, a comfortable boat but dropping to the S60 gets you the same engine and less weight to pull along, along with virtually the same comfort level. The C6 is just sex on wheels (remember when it came out), that back window is beautiful. Legendary citroen ride and french diesels have always been tank like. However if your commute involves high mileage pick a car as common as sin. If you need a windscreen same working day a C6 will present a problem when compared to a ford or VW just down the the shear amount of them on the road, same rule applies for any car part really. +1 for snow tires, I've never had any as I've never got the car stuck even in deep snow, but I have seen a lot of modern diesels struggle due to the shear amount of torque at low RPM. Snow tires would be more cost effective than a 4x4. And when they get close to legal limit after a few years, stick them on the car mid summer, the soft compound gives you a bucket of grip for laughs!
I like French cars too, but the C6 is indeed a minger. The C2 GT (I owned one from new until a few years back) was a great little tin can and nicely chuckable, but it was pretty pants on the motorway - like all 1.6 petrols you're pulling 4k rpm at sensible motorway speeds.
That's the problem with it, it's alright as far as speed to be honest, but it's a bone rattler at the best of times and really not economic whatsoever.
I used to get about 42mpg when I was commuting 60 miles a day, driving like an old man - but that kind of defeats the object of the chassis. On a more "involved" journey it was closer to 25mpg (redline in every gear etc.). Would have loved it even stiffer and turbo'd to bring it closer to the hot Clio et al, but for the money it was a solid little thing and bulit pretty well for a no-frills French warm hatch. Biggest drawbacks were lack of equipment (although that was kind of the point), a bit of a spongy gearshift and the car literally devoured suspension components. But it was kind to the tyres and brakes and had plenty of lateral grip. Then you drive a lazy diesel saloon or big hatch and realise you are getting a lot more car and in-gear pull for your money, not to mention better economy. Also, whilst they feel a bit wafty by comparison, the wider tyre profile can usually generate equivalent grip, just in a slightly less pin sharp way.
I'm going to be boring here and suggest a Golf TDi or A3 TDi. They have good economy, good for tearing A roads and the motorway, comfortable, and hold their value well (incase the bosses decide you can work at home again). Either of the two will also not put you to shame in the car park as they are nice cars. There is no point buying a bigger car or with a bigger engine, the second hand prices on these cars have dropped massively because people don't want to run them for cost reasons and I can only see this trend continuing in the future. A smaller car (like my suggestions) would be better to run and also to sell should you want to, while ticking most of your boxes. My $2 anyway.
interestingly , its the mid sized diesels holding the value the best - focus > mondeo size , smaller diesels tend to be non turbo and a little slow , whilst the big ones - whilst wafters or really quie sporter get jumped on for having bigger engines.
I'd suggest a Ford Mondeo. I've had a Titanium X for a few days test a couple of years ago and it was very nice, apart from the heated seats meaning while your derriere would be nice and toasty, there wasn't as much padding and subsequently it wasn't too comfortable a ride.
I was even more boring, I went for a 2004 Nissan Primera 2.2 DCi. It's bland as hell, but it goes pretty well (mapped up to 173bhp & 374Nm), I get about 45mpg combined, it's built properly, it's spacious and it's ridiculously cheap to insure. Good equipment too, at least on the SVE I got.
What are the Ford diesel engines like these days? Last time I drove a diesel Mondeo (probably a '04/'05 model) it was horrible. The seating position was much too high for my tastes (this is probably a non issue for many though). But it was the engine that was of more concern. It was loud, rough and a little sluggish. I didn't have my BMW at the time, but for a similar age car (mine is a 52 plate) there really is no comparison with the BMW 2l lump feeling much more refined, and in a different league power wise.
BMW > Ford. BUT BMW = a fair bit more expensive than Ford A fully loaded Mondeo would have cost you a lot less than a mid range 320d in 2002 just as it does now.
Certainly, but as the OP has 10k to spend, that is easily enough to get a low mileage 3 series. The OP brought up the fact that he lives in a hilly area with snow in the winter being an issue. BMW's are useless in the snow, due to being rear wheel drive. So I'm not sure a beemer is the way to go here. Any diesel, quattro Audi's in price range? Edit. Had a quick look on Autotrader. There are plenty available (A3's, A4's and possibly A6's), but doesn't look like anything with less than 50k on the clock (not sure what the OP would be aiming for in this regard), and a lot of them seem to be auto's (again not sure on the OP preference). Some of them were a little low on the spec front, with cloth interior etc. But I'm sure there's a good one out there to be found, and it's my recommendation.
Thanks for all the opinions guys. I'm really not sure what I want so it's hard to be specific. I want something with a semblance of prestige, with comfort and economy in mind. I know my budget is fairly small as it goes, but I'm not really a petrolhead so i've no idea what to look around for. I've always liked the idea of an Audi or BMW, or even a Merc or Jag but they seem to be out of my price range and often not economical, which got me looking at Mazda 6, Volvo S60 etc. For instance is 50mpg far too much to ask for? I don't want to be stung on petrol over time as all it does is go up in price. Not overly concerned about mileage as a lot of the cars are so well built nowadays, wouldn't want anything over about 60k I guess.
Haha, I've had literally every suspension spring replaced twice! Starter motor has gone twice on it too. I think lack of equipment is a problem too, i know they were stripped down to bare minimum for a purpose, which was initially great, but now it's just annoying.
Haha, well, not quite obviously, but they were missing a fair few standard bits and pieces for weight reduction and air intake.
They really aren't out of your price range. My BMW 320d set me back £4,500 with 87k miles on the clock. It's done 107k miles now, and is still a lovely car, despite being 11 years old now. For 10k you can get something German (or similar) that's <5 years old, and low(ish) mileage. You'll easily get 50mpg from a diesel, and it's why most have recommended diesels. Considering your 70 mile daily commute, you'll want the extra efficiency and longetivity of a diesel imo. My car computer is telling me I've averaged 47mpg in my 320d, but this is from entirely short trips to and from the supermarket, and foot to the floor stuff whenever I'm on an open road, so it's pretty much worse case. If I was doing longish trips on motorways or good a-roads, I'd get upper 50's, if not tip 60mpg. You could possibly get close to 50mpg from a 3.0l diesel lump, such as that in a 330d. With a re-map, you're then looking at 260-270bhp, which also makes it something a little more fun when the moment takes you.
