Would that be the 2.5 5pot I have in my V70?
It's done 178k, can't hear any obvious cam noise but,that said, it's so damn noisy at tickover it's hard to tell what's diesel clatter and what's wear & tear!
3 grand Audi/BMW diesels
- Thread starter Stormster
- Start date
Would that be the 2.5 5pot I have in my V70?
It's done 178k, can't hear any obvious cam noise but,that said, it's so damn noisy at tickover it's hard to tell what's diesel clatter and what's wear & tear!
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Aug 2012
- Posts
- 4,551
- Location
- Wales
Could get a nice, less than 100k mileage Honda Accord for that, seen plenty around on AT.
If you want a car that's going to last, look at what most taxi drivers are using
Ironically a lot of private hire taxis around my area are e90 and e60 four pot diesels!
Caporegime
- Joined
- 11 Mar 2005
- Posts
- 32,253
- Location
- Leafy Cheshire
The tragic reason someone will buy this car.
.
Would that be the 2.5 5pot I have in my V70?
It's done 178k, can't hear any obvious cam noise but,that said, it's so damn noisy at tickover it's hard to tell what's diesel clatter and what's wear & tear!
No. The 2.5 TDV V6 VAG diesel. Terrible woeful engines that are, at best, unreliable.
Yea, I don't know why people think German cars are reliable. Back in the 90s maybe, but not any more. The most unreliable car I've owned was a Audi A3 diesel. Plus Audi love to design everything so it's hard to get to. You have to pull the engine for a lot of repairs and that is ££££! :/
If you want a car that's going to last, look at what most taxi drivers are using
Sure back in the 80's and 90's they were some of the best for reliability. They usually are still reliable, if they are well looked after. Like any car now, as most of the other manufactures have now caught or even over taking the germans.
The problem is that everyone wants them these days but are not willing to look after them. They assume that because they have brought a Merc, BMW or a VAG that it will go on forever. They just want the badge, like a status symbol. My brother is bad for this, buys a nice car does not service it or any routine maintenance and then moans when it won't work.
I believe in Jap or German when it comes to cars and will break down further by saying Jap cars for petrol and germans for diesel. I would never buy a car unless it has a full service history or a wedge of receipts to go with it, from someone who has looked after the car them self.
You mention about looking at Taxi driver, well its a mixed bag around here. There is one firm that uses Toyota Hybrids, another that uses E classes and the other most common taxi around here is still a Skoda or Ford.
Disagree - I bought my A3 as an approved used Audi, serviced it with Audi, and generally did everything that I could to look after it. Even so during the 5 years I had it, it had the following issues:
- Air con pressure switch failed
- Glove box hinge broke
- Passenger Electric Window regulator failed
- Passenger exterior door handle wouldn't unlock - needed new lock mechanism
- Rear wiper motor corroded internally and failed
- The larger of the 2 fitted Radiator fans failed
- Rough idleing due to faulty PCV
- Excessive oil usage (largely cured when PCV was replaced and software updated)
- Having to replace the drivers side brake light bulb probably every 3-4 months for no explainable reason
- Exhaust heat shield rattling / needed to be refitted
- Rear Suspension Stone guards - rattling/broken - replaced both once during my ownership, and then removed both when they broke a second time.
edit:
- Replacement Rear suspension top mounts due to wear/play
Last edited:
Fair enough, mate that is a good list of issue's you had. But from my experience with my Passat, it never let me down and never failed an MOT over a 3 year period. My BMW 320I on the other had there common problem, like a leaking expansion tank and burned oil thanks to the faulty CCV valve. Its the luck of the draw, as a friend of mine puts it (its the car lottery).
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2015
- Posts
- 1,495
- Location
- France
You can't be a badge snob with a 3k budget.
The BMW is probably ripe for any of the following going:
Turbo,
Injectors,
Coils,
Fuel pump,
Swirl flaps,
Clutch (perhaps),
Oil level sensor,
Oil pressure sensor,
Coolant level sensor,
Lambda x 2 (pre and post cat?)
Camshaft sensor,
Crankshaft sensors, think there are two?
MAF,
DISA valve (or is that petrol only?),
Radiator,
Expansion tank,
Thermostat, I think the auto also has an additional gearbox thermostat or something?
Water pump,
Coolant pipes,
Vac leaks,
CCV,
VANOS, although it's OK to drive whilst it's poor apparently?
Alternator,
Oil pump? Not sure on this one.
Most of that above list is what I realised could go wrong when I was close to buying a petrol (where there is even less to go wrong) off a friend but every time I went to see it something else when wrong and I realised it's not for me, unless it was super cheap (it was already £1k). Buy with caution and expect to spend £ on upkeep, even on well looked after cars.
Turbo,
Injectors,
Coils,
Fuel pump,
Swirl flaps,
Clutch (perhaps),
Oil level sensor,
Oil pressure sensor,
Coolant level sensor,
Lambda x 2 (pre and post cat?)
Camshaft sensor,
Crankshaft sensors, think there are two?
MAF,
DISA valve (or is that petrol only?),
Radiator,
Expansion tank,
Thermostat, I think the auto also has an additional gearbox thermostat or something?
Water pump,
Coolant pipes,
Vac leaks,
CCV,
VANOS, although it's OK to drive whilst it's poor apparently?
Alternator,
Oil pump? Not sure on this one.
Most of that above list is what I realised could go wrong when I was close to buying a petrol (where there is even less to go wrong) off a friend but every time I went to see it something else when wrong and I realised it's not for me, unless it was super cheap (it was already £1k). Buy with caution and expect to spend £ on upkeep, even on well looked after cars.
Last edited:
I know somneone who bought a 170K mile E90 320i for £3K and then fitted fake M-Sport wheels and smothered it in LED's
He also goes around with his BMW key on show and mentions it at every available opportunity.
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2015
- Posts
- 1,495
- Location
- France
I know somneone who bought a 170K mile E90 320i for £3K and then fitted fake M-Sport wheels and smothered it in LED's
He also goes around with his BMW key on show and mentions it at every available opportunity.
Young and dumb!
Eastern europeans and asians love crap german cars too.
Eastern Europeans like German cars as labor is cheap (e.g. in Poland) whereas cars are relatively expensive commodities - they therefore buy them over here and then take them "home" to service/fix and/or sell.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 28,938
- Location
- Boston, Lincolnshire
They have to be black though. You will not see an eastern European in any other colour!
The ~30 yr old polish guy who lived next to me in Bristol had a silver Volvo S60 with LPG conversion 
As for OP, surprised at the Passat B5.5 recommendations: I've got a B6 and I'm sure you could get a tidy one for £3k. Those 5.5s are ancient. My B6 has been treated like **** for the 5 years I've had it and is still trucking at 150k.
As for OP, surprised at the Passat B5.5 recommendations: I've got a B6 and I'm sure you could get a tidy one for £3k. Those 5.5s are ancient. My B6 has been treated like **** for the 5 years I've had it and is still trucking at 150k.
Yep. Had some guys from Poland buy a mate's car on eBay a while ago, knowing it was knackered. We did think it odd at the time but like you say, labour is cheap there.
The car was a 4.6 V8 X5 for which he traded his Alfa 159 V6 in for a direct swap. The fact the 'dealer' was claiming to be doing this on the side as a favour for a friend still didn't ring any alarm bells and my mate went ahead with it. By the time he'd got back to work from where he'd driven to pick it up, it already had smoke coming from the bonnet and it was getting through coolant at an alarming rate.
He ended up spending 3k at a BMW garage while they did various bits and pieces - not sure exactly what - but after the second or third visit and the engine light coming on straight away he finally gave up. Garage wouldn't do anything for him and just told him flat out he needed a new engine, so he listed it completely accurately on eBay with a list of everything the garage had done to it.
The guys came over from Poland to pick it up and they paid up no problem. They called my mate a while later because they'd broken down on the M3 - about 5 miles away from where they'd picked it up from. Amusingly at that point the problem was that the aux belt had gone, not that the engine had done itself in. Since it was 6pm there was no hope of getting a replacement belt so I'm not sure what they did in the end as he never heard anything more from it.
Either way, I'm sure they ended up getting it back over there somehow, though how much of a market there is for RHD 4.6 V8 X5s in eastern Europe, I'm not sure.