Car choice: An economical car for the motorway

Keith Spackman needs a large car that is cheap and ideal for long journeys. He has around £2,000 to spend

The Passat is certainly economical enough... but is it a tad too boring for our potential buyer? (VW)

A car for the head

Keith needs a good old-fashioned saloon to do a very simple job, tear up and down motorways in a frugal and businesslike fashion. There are lots of candidates for such a role, but the most obvious and best suited could be the Volkswagen Passat. These are stylish and subtle cars that don’t draw the wrong sort of attention. A 2.0TDI is the best engine for this and it will return around 47mpg overall. We saw a 2006 example in Sport trim with 138,000 miles with full history. At £2,280 it seems like good value.

Would Keith be prepared to trade economy for the S-Type’s style? (Jaguar)

A car for the heart

I know that Keith likes Jaguars and could find the diesel Passat just a little bit boring to look at. For that reason we can look a little further afield at the now rather dated, but still quite striking, S-Type. The diesel model with a 2.7 litre engine could work, though it is not as economical as some rivals, at around 35mpg overall. We found a 2004 in Sport trim and an R styling kit. It had leather trim, ancient touchscreen sat nav, cruise and climate control. All this from a dealer with a warranty and 135,000 miles for just £2,290.

If you would like James Ruppert to help with your car choice, email james@freecarmag.com. For more motoring views visit freecarmag.com