What diesel car would you get for £6000-9000

dean_ham · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:05

Hi guys,

I currently have a fiesta st which i should get about £8000 for it. Im doing about 300-350 miles a week which is costing me about £35-40 in petrol.

I fancy a diesel car now, but is it worth the extra expense for the milleage that im doing?
I also fancy i nice smooth car which is nice to drive but also has a little poke in it aswell. Also must be sporty good looking car.

What would you recommend?

First thing that comes into my head is a seat leon cupra but they seem to hold their value well and with high milleage.

Things i wouldnt want....

Seat Ibiza (mate has just bought one.....)
Skoda Fabia VRs
Skoda Octavia.

Your recommendations?

MarkDavis · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:06

Not worth the extra expense based on your mileage, but if you want diesel then....

330d.

End of thread.

Mr Jack · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:08

Fabia vRS. I really like mine; it's a good drive, it's comfortable, it's small and it gets great mileage. You can pick up a 2 year old example for that kind of money, no problem.

Downsides: they get a lot of road noise, and the visibility ain't great.

dean_ham · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:14

I dont mind the VRs but it would be much nicer in 3 door form... and i dont need a 5 door car as i dont have kids yet

Lol i just been looking on autotrader just found this mini D which includes this family....

No hot-linking images

LOL

Tomsk · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:43

£30/1000 miles is a very rough estimate of how much a diesel will save in fuel costs over a petrol car.
eg. 10000 miles a year = £300 saving.

dean_ham · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:54

Tomsk said:
£30/1000 miles is a very rough estimate of how much a diesel will save in fuel costs over a petrol car.
eg. 10000 miles a year = £300 saving.

Hmmm when you put it like that i wouldnt really be saving much.

Just feels im forever filling my car up for £40. Which is lasting me 300 miles.

Wheres my mate puts in £44 and hes getting 500+ miles out of his 1.9 TDi

thecremeegg · 8 Apr 2008 at 17:57

dean_ham said:
Hmmm when you put it like that i wouldnt really be saving much.

Just feels im forever filling my car up for £40. Which is lasting me 300 miles.

Wheres my mate puts in £44 and hes getting 500+ miles out of his 1.9 TDi

To be honest ignore rough calculations etc, if you can get 500+ miles from the same money then its a reasonable enough move.

Tomsk · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:23

thecremeegg said:
To be honest ignore rough calculations etc, if you can get 500+ miles from the same money then its a reasonable enough move.

Yep. It is a very rough estimate. If you do the maths with various cars the savings are bigger for smaller cars.

Rosbif · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:24

I based my car research on MPG .. I found it to be a mugs game in the end .. it seems a better idea (to me anyway) to set a price per mile you're willing to pay, for all car costs, then find a car that fits, as opposed to looking at things like MPG, because I found you lost sight of the larger picture and goal in the end (lower costs)

Oh yes 50mpg but hey its only going to cost me so and so to achieve it, which I could have spent on petrol in the first place maybe?

OpenToSuggestions · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:30

300-350miles a week is just borderlining needing a deisel tbh.
You wont see any savings unless you get something like a TD 306 or smaller.

[TW]Fox · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:33

thecremeegg said:
To be honest ignore rough calculations etc, if you can get 500+ miles from the same money then its a reasonable enough move.

No it's not, do rough calculations then you can buy a car using fact not hearsay on an internet forum.

If he's doing 300 miles on 40 quid his car isn't doing too badly at all and a diesel isn't going to make him considerable savings.

clv101 · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:37

15,600 miles a year? Diesels are certainly worth it.

For £6-9k? You're looking at a 2-3 year old VAG 1.9 or 2.0 TDI. If you want a 3 door Fabia vRS go for the Seat Ibiza.

[TW]Fox · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:39

clv101 said:
15,600 miles a year? Diesels are certainly worth it.

What, when his current car is doing 350 miles on £40 @ 105.9 = 42 litres = 9.3 gallons = 37mpg?

He's getting good economy out of his petrol car - a similar diesel engined car is going to be older for the same value as his current car, slower, and have that annoying vibratey rattle at every set of traffic lights that exhuasts in every small diesel despite owners attempts to swear blind its as smooth and quiet as a petrol.

It's not worth the negative aspects for what will be a very little saving - infact, possibly no saving at all considernig the costs associated with a change of vehicle.

clv101 · 8 Apr 2008 at 18:55

If he's getting 37mpg from a petrol it won't be great performance - spending £9k on a 2 year old VAG diesel will not only decrease fuel bill by close to 50% but also provide much better performance in a much nicer car... Better car and reduced running costs? Would you rather do 15k a year in a petrol Fiesta or a Octavia 2.0 TDI? Even if it costs the same – it's still well worth doing.

[TW]Fox · 8 Apr 2008 at 19:07

clv101 said:
If he's getting 37mpg from a petrol it won't be great performance

He has a Fiesta ST. Ok it's not blistering but it's reasonably fun warm hatch.

spending £9k on a 2 year old VAG diesel will not only decrease fuel bill by close to 50% but also provide much better performance in a much nicer car... Better car and reduced running costs? Would you rather do 15k a year in a petrol Fiesta or a Octavia 2.0 TDI? Even if it costs the same – it's still well worth doing.

It's only worth doing if he wants to change his car for reasons other than pure fuel economy. If he wants a more comfortable car, or a bigger car, then it makes sense to change and there is a school of thought which says he may as well chose a diesel option. This is fine.

However, if he's changing purely to save money on petrol, whats the point? The saving isn't big enough to warrant the hassle and having to put up with the awfulness that is a small engined diesel car.

233 · 8 Apr 2008 at 19:11

borrow a LCR for a week and then realise how great your fuel economy really is

37mpg I'd give my first born for fuel economy that good

[TW]Fox · 8 Apr 2008 at 19:13

Is there a single unrelated thread you can't get 'I drive an LCR' into Foxtrot?

clv101 · 8 Apr 2008 at 19:14

Oh I didn't see the ST bit, I was thinking more along 1.4 lines! In that case 37mpg is pretty amazing, to get 37mpg average from the ST you must have to drive it like a granny in which case there's not much point in having a reasonably fast car.

Rambaud · 8 Apr 2008 at 20:10

[TW]Fox;11459406 said:
What, when his current car is doing 350 miles on £40 @ 105.9 = 42 litres = 9.3 gallons = 37mpg?

Not sure I follow the maths.

Using £1.059 per litre, you are never gong to get even 40 litres from £40.00 let alone 42 litres . It's nearer 38 litres. But this makes the fuel consumption an even more impressive (but unlikely?) 42 m.p.g.

300 miles still gives ~36 m.p.g.

Ed · 8 Apr 2008 at 20:12

[TW]Fox;11459675 said:
Is there a single unrelated thread you can't get 'I drive an LCR' into Foxtrot?

Says someone with a picture of a BMW 530i and the text 'BMW 530i Sport' in his signature.

A colleague has recently gone from a ST Diesel Mondeo to a ST220 and even on that jump he reckons the fuel costs are no different given his mileage. It has to be thirstier, sure, but not that you'd notice. I do wonder why people buy diesels when saving money is a factor. Surely it's better to buy a smaller/cheaper car if that's the case.