I certainly understand the allure, at the current prices they make very tempting purchases.
I've had mine since sept 2009. I used it around 6 days a week up until august last year when my mileage tailed off dramatically following the end of my placement year. 5 days were commuting and the 6th was generally a day of driving local b-roads or trips with me in the car and my friend on his bike. I think I did around 13k in that time. Would average anywhere between 18mpg when I first got it (
) to highs of 30-32 (which I think was higher than the book figures? unless i continually worked it out wrong
) once I dropped my cruising speed to and form work. economical enough for me given it is the 180. This wasn't all driving like a saint I'd have the odd bit of fun on the A46 to and from work, and my weekend blasts.
Clutch bearing doo dad failed recently but had been on its way out for a while apparently as that was the cause of the judder when pulling off, which was present when I bought it but only under certain revs. Only other problems were a wet passenger foot-well and no speed 1 and 2 on the fans, both easily fixed after searching on here.
Brother wasn't so lucky with his, as he has had numerous issues with his clutch cylinder brackets, and did a fraction of the mileage. he's currently selling it now he's got it all sorted as he doesn't want to worry about it any more having also went back to university.
So to recap, was it a problem being my daily? nope it was a godsend, put on some music and head home at a steady rate of knots or cruise effortlessly doing everything in 5th I found it suited what ever driving style I wanted. Reasonable economy all things considered and stood up to everything i threw at it without skipping a beat, well until the clutch :P but that was no longer when it was my daily and how often will clutches fail? not often.
If you don't mind the economy for 20k or more a year then I'd say go for it, you know what they are like to drive and how much fun you can have. Find a sorted one like you intend to do and I really don't see it being a problem.
Best of luck with your car hunting.
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