I NEED a diesel!!!

Soldato
Joined
16 Apr 2007
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I HATE diesels but it looks like I have no choice but to get one now.

Not only am doing a round trip from Bristol to Yorkshire every couple of weeks (about 600-700 miles) but I am also likely to be seconded to a job in Swindon for at least the next 3-4 months which means an additional daily round trip of 90 miles (compared to previously walking to work).

Thus:

90 miles x 5 days x 4.5 weeks x 11 months = 22,275 miles p/a (work)
700 miles x 2 x 12 months = 16,800 p/a (leisure)
total = a whopping 39,000 miles p/a (assuming the secondment continues)

Even if the secondment only lasts 3 months, I'm still going to be doing about 25,000 miles p/a

So basically, I need a comfortable, economical car that is also reasonable to drive around town and park. I can get about £3.5 for my 323i and can probably throw in another £2-3k taking the budget to about £5-6k.

Is there anything else other than a 320d, TDCi or noisy VAG tractor? What would be the best bet out of those? No Skodas please.
 
golf tdi is your best bet

they run forever, and do about 55mpg when brand new, so second hand your looking at somehwere around 45 i reckon if its about 4 years old
 
If you are expecting 40K miles per year, then you ideally would want to look at service intervals etc.. and keeping the car size down to a golf/focus/astra size should help consumption a bit with not being so heavy..

The Ford Diesels are 12.5K service intervals (Focus/Mondeo 1.8 TDCi)
The Bimmer's are ~15K Miles
VAG TDi's are variable..

One of the longest service intervals is the VX 1.9 unit, 20K Miles..

£6K would just about get you a 1.9CDTi Astra with 20K mile service intervals
e.g.
Astra Elite CDTi

Just a thought..
 
MPG fairies get bored and run away as the car gets older.

Weird really becuase on the one hand they run for ever yet on the other lose 10mpg every 4 years.

After 13 years surely they simply refuse to move given they would return 0mpg.
 
golf tdi is your best bet

they run forever, and do about 55mpg when brand new, so second hand your looking at somehwere around 45 i reckon if its about 4 years old

rrrrrrrrrrrright! Actually there have been several threads on OCUK about brand new car owners bemoaning the fact that the quoted MPG for their car is not being acheived. It does seem to take some time for the engine to "wear in". A properly maintained used car should still achieve the same MPG unless there is something wrong with it.
 
golf tdi is your best bet

they run forever, and do about 55mpg when brand new, so second hand your looking at somehwere around 45 i reckon if its about 4 years old

I couldn't get 40mpg (let along 55mpg) out of a Golf V GT 2.0 TDi, when I had one for the weekend....

It felt nice and thrusty on the motorway though ;-)

Alfa multijet.


As the Ricky Gervais character from 'Extras' would say, "Yer 'avin a laff, Yer 'avin a laff." :D

The JTDm 16v is a fairly decent engine but its not quiet and the rest of the car simply won't cut the mustard on long journeys - too loud, too much vibration, too uncomfortable. Don't forget that I've driven my sister's twin sparky from one end of the country to the other and used to own a 156 'back in the day'. Not only are 147s/156s unsuitable for multiple sustained 80mph+ long journeys but they'll fall to bits as soon as you touch them. The words "wouldn't touch" and "bargepole" spring to mind.... :p

I need a car that, after a long journey, doesn't make me feel like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards, and doesn't result in me having to take out a second mortgage. The S60 could be a suitable car but I'm a bit wary about the replacement cost of injectors (£1000+).

Also I might have to adjust my budget downwards - doing the sums last night, I could be spending £4,500 -£5,000 in the next twelve months just on diesel alone (or about £6,200 if I was doing the same distance in my 323i). Taking into account maintenance costs, its an huge expenditure.

Would it be more cost effective for me to buy a £2,000 diesel for example and run it into the ground!? I could just throw it away if it goes wrong, or is that a false economy?
 
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I've just bought an 03 reg TDCI focus with admittedly high mileage for my girlfriend for under £4k. If you are gonna be putting high mileage onto it, why bother spending to put lots of miles on, just get one with relatively high mileage already and add to it. Once its tipped the 100k mile barrier, the price will plummet anyway as people get scared so no point in losing lots in depreciation.
 
For that sort of mileage I would seriously consider putting a vegatable oil conversion kit on your diesel. I have seen prices start from £599 and with veg oil (rapeseed oil) currently available from 56p a litre if you look in the right places, you would save a fortune.
 
hmmm no skodas


Seat Leon/Toledo Tdi :)

and lol dervmobile loosing 10mpg after 4 years BULL

my octavia is returning better mpg now she's 2 years old and has 100k on it than when she was brand spanking
 
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