Hello all, Just to give you some background before I throw any questions around, my last few cars have been on finance and that must end soon as I plan to buy my first house and need to save for a deposit. As I still have my student loan until 2017, car finance is not doable with house and mortgage plans. So, I currently own a 2014 Ford Fiesta ST-2 and the agreement ends in April 2016 so I will hand the car back. Running costs are very reasonable and I tend to have a mixture of steady driving and driving with a lead foot which sees low 30's mpg. Driven harder sees high 20's mpg. The VED is £99 for 6 months.
My budget in March next year is projected to be £2k-£2.5k max and I'm happy to go lower than £2k if the right car comes along. I have been looking on autotrader at both the Impreza wagon or saloon in 2.0GX guise (I don't want the beastly versions) and the Legacy saloon 2.0. The legacy comes out slightly better than the Impreza on VED. My thinking here is a nice reliable car with the bonus of 4WD (I used to own a 4x4 and I like the benefits of 4WD).
My main concern is the MPG and I need your advice please. I only do 70 miles per week commuting to and from work so big time economy is not needed. However, are the models I am interested in absolutely atrocious on fuel or can you get them into the 30's with steady driving?
Any big concerns reliability wise with known faults on these models? I know Subaru have a good reputation overall.
Cheers