Think i need a diesel, new commute 14k~ a year - not including personal mileage. £4kish, options?

B@Th*nG

B@Th*nG

B@Th*nG

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I'm currently grinding my old vectra into the ground, due to the amount of work required for it to be road worthy it's not worth the money to maintain with impending MOT (near christmas), so I'm looking for a new car.

I'm in the process of moving at the moment and having done a bit of maths i've worked out my yearly commute alone to be a bit above 14k, i do a couple of thousand (at least) business miles a year plus whatever personal mileage so i'm fairly certain i'm well into diesel territory now as the total figure will be somewhere up near 20k miles.

I've probably got about 4k to spend max, hopefully on something which returns very good MPG (50~+) and not totally god awful performance wise - please tell me something like this exists? I'll be doing a lot of motorway miles so would like something comfortable and preferably where parts don't cost a fortune.

Any ideas?

B@
 
Something with a VAG 1.9 TDI PD 130 engine is probably the best compromise between pace, economy and more importantly reliability. Go much newer and you get into the horrible world of DPF's etc. The PD engines are not as refined or smooth as commonrail engines but they are more reliable and frankly at this end of the market thats what matters more.

This also gives you plenty of choice over the sort of car you want - anything from a massively over-rated Fabia to a Passat or Audi A6 is available with this engine in it making it easy enough to find the right compromise between comfort, equipment levels and parts costs.

A good place to start would be something like a Seat Toledo which I'd imagine is going to be by far the best value car with this engine in it.
 
Mine is exactly that engine, my comuter car, I was deciding between what I have in my sig and a Skoda fabia vrs

I went for seat, not the best handling.. Heavy front, but it pulls well and has amazing fuel eco for its engine.

I went for the seat cause it was a bargain at 2800 with 60k 54 plate and has just had its major service, the next cheapest was into the 3.5k with 80k miles

I have done 12k miles since March in it, nothing wrong with it.
 
ive rated the 1.9 pd for years now. i would recommend against the a4/a6/passat because f the engine orientation and the complicated suspension

get a bora, octavia etc they are golf chassis based, far simpler to overhaul suspension or change a clutch (about the biggest costs youll face)

freakishly simple engines to live with. sort the egr, clean out the intake manifold and itll be ace. i had one back in 05-06 when it was only a few years old and even then it suffered from egr issues so by now i expect theyre very screwed
 
ok, this has to be brought forward as the car has one foot in the grave. I'm just looking at my options and it seems the Ibiza is probably by far the cheapest option which ticks the boxes, but if i can extend the budget is it worth getting something with a bit more life in it handling wise? IE. is it worth going to 5k and getting something like a Golf over an Ibiza with this 130bhp engine?

B@
 
Get something on LPG

i have 2 lpg cars and commute about 25k a year. best option for anyone doing reasonable mileage. plus you can drive something with a bit of power.
 
@OP

I've recently been given a 2002 VW Passat 1.9TDI SE (130bhp) a couple of weeks ago and from what Fox said above, it's a superb car for my commute.

Granted my commute is only about 40-45minutes, but it returns 46-55mpg (even if you boot it), massive space/boot and is very comfortable. It's done ~170k now and is so reliable and been in the family for a while.

It's a perfect commuters car in my opinion.
 
LPG is no more expensive to buy and maintain than a diesel car. Just go for something that has been converted already and stay away from the more complex cars like range rovers etc.

you can get an E90 BMW 320d for 5k , just go for an ex company car and buy something with decent service history. dont be scared for mileage as most of it will usually be motorway and those cars can handle it.

alfa 156 diesels are great cars too and cheap. but being an alfa reliability is an issue.
 
p1RATE said:
LPG is no more expensive to buy and maintain than a diesel car. Just go for something that has been converted already and stay away from the more complex cars like range rovers etc.

you can get an E90 BMW 320d for 5k , just go for an ex company car and buy something with decent service history. dont be scared for mileage as most of it will usually be motorway and those cars can handle it.

alfa 156 diesels are great cars too and cheap. but being an alfa reliability is an issue.
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Did you just suggest a £5k e90 diesel? That will only end one way.
 
Peerzy said:
Did you just suggest a £5k e90 diesel? That will only end one way.
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ignore this comment. You cant go far wrong with a BMW diesel, they will sail up to 250k if looked after. Make sure the gearbox is smooth and the suspension isnt worn. most of them are bog standard company cars that have just been up and down the motorways under no stress. for 5k you are looking for something with about 100-130k on it with full bmw stamps in the book. the equivalent E-Class on the other hand will cause you trouble.
 
p1RATE said:
ignore this comment. You cant go far wrong with a BMW diesel, they will sail up to 250k if looked after. Make sure the gearbox is smooth and the suspension isnt worn. most of them are bog standard company cars that have just been up and down the motorways under no stress. for 5k you are looking for something with about 100-130k on it with full bmw stamps in the book. the equivalent E-Class on the other hand will cause you trouble.
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You are wrong.
 
p1RATE said:
a 5k e-class of the same age and mileage is much more likely to have issues, Particularly electrical problems.
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Please elaborate, as i do not agree. I am not up there with BMW problems, but i am told that the E90 models are fairly terrible for reliability. The W211 however is an excellent car which actually does not suffer terribly from anything other than isolated SBC issues and body rot on the pre 2004 models.
 
An E class is a completely different class of car, there is no comparison

I wouldn't be buying a £5k e90 diesel either - had they sorted the swirl flap issue by the time the e90 came along? Either way its a fairly significant risk, if you encounter terminal engine problems what value is there in the shell etc? Probably not a lot I would suggest. The money you'd spend getting and fitting a replacement engine would have bought a lower mileage / newer e90 in the first place.

Surely a lower mileage E46 with the swirl flaps removed would be a safer bet, if the OP wants to pay a premium for a BMW at all that is.

Personally I'd be taking a 1.9pd every day of the week
 
Jez said:
Please elaborate, as i do not agree. I am not up there with BMW problems, but i am told that the E90 models are fairly terrible for reliability. The W211 however is an excellent car which actually does not suffer terribly from anything other than isolated SBC issues and body rot on the pre 2004 models.
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Im a big fan of the mercs myself, im just saying i wouldn't buy a cheap one. a friend of mine recently bought a w211 for not a lot of money and it hasn't been kind to him. my w210 has had countless electrical faults which was a shock as i had been use to the reliability of 80's and early 90's mercs.

personal i would buy go for an e46 but from experience e90's are no less reliable than anything else
 
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