Need a cheapish derv :-(

Reality Bites · 19 Apr 2012 at 14:56

Circumstances have changed an i need to start driving into work instead of the train now. It's around a 50mile round trip with some distance travelling in between. I reckon my mileage will from from 8k to 18k for a year. I can't afford to do this in my ST220 so need to swap it for something which will run on fumes.

I have around £1000-£1500 on top of what my ST is worth (which isn't much). It's an 03 facelift with 110,000 on the clock. I need a new rear cluster which I'll get and the paint has light scratching/marks so could do with a machine polish really. I was thinking around the £2200 to £2300 mark so giving me around £3500 to get a replacement.

I've seen a couple of older golf TDI's (02 plates with plenty of miles on) for around £2300-£2600. Even 05 plates at around the 4k mark....again moon miles (130k)

Anything of concern with these? I'm hoping as long as the engine has been serviced and looked after, it should do me for another 60-80,000 more.

Firestar_3x · 19 Apr 2012 at 14:59

Buy a Bora you will get a newer car for your money.

Frozennova · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:06

Plenty of sub 80k mile octavias on auto trader for similar money as well.

Reality Bites · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:07

Firestar_3x said:
Buy a Bora you will get a newer car for your money.

mmm....there's 2 or 3 bora's within 30 miles of me. The 02 plates are around £3k with 100k on the clock.

I know I didn't mention it, but I could do with a hatchback if possible but would have considered them had they been much cheaper/newer

Imy · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:13

Audi A3 1.9? Maybe slightly over budget for a decent one.

andrewdodd13 · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:41

ManLoveRulesOK said:
Plenty of sub 80k mile octavias on auto trader for similar money as well.

This would be where my money would go as well - or a Toledo if you could stretch to a saloon for this. Leons can be had for similar moneys, they're hatches like the Octavia -- although this one is 90PS, you might want to look for the 110PS; they're all going to be slowww coming from an ST though.

GinG · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:43

Without wanting to sound like a broken record...could you not put the £1500 towards petrol in the ST220? Should give you around 6k miles worth of fuel...

The savings of not having any potential big bills on a diesel and also not needing to throw any money at the car for another persons enjoyment will also go towards the extra few k worth of miles.

10k more miles @ 25mpg = 400 gallon of fuel

400*4.546 = 1,818l of fuel

1,818 * £1.41 = £2,563 worth of fuel extra

£2,563 - £1500 = £1,063 to find extra to what you were going to put towards the car + fuel anyway

£1,063 / 12 = £88 per month or £20 per week extra to run the ST220

Or £2563 / 12 = £213 per month to run the ST220 (+tyres servicing etc)

New Car:

Costs £1500 extra
18,000 miles @ 50mpg = 360 gallons of fuel
360 * 4.546 = 1636l of fuel
1636 * £1.49 = £2437 worth of fuel
£2437 of fuel + £1500 lay out for car = £3937
£3937 / 12 = £328 per month (+tyres, servicing etc)

Please tell me if I am wrong but it will be a bad decision to try get a cheaper car.

andrewdodd13 · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:52

GinG said:
Without wanting to sound like a broken record...could you not put the £1500 towards petrol in the ST220? Should give you around 6k miles worth of fuel...

The savings of not having any potential big bills on a diesel and also not needing to throw any money at the car for another persons enjoyment will also go towards the extra few k worth of miles.

I don't think this advice applies as much at this end of the market currently. Once the fancy modern engines start filtering down then sure because they do have the potential to throw huge bills.

The ST220 I'd imagine will have high running costs stemming from big tyres, big brakes, etc. The 1.9 TDI PD we're recommending is fairly agricultural and there's not really much to go wrong with it; servicing will likely be roughly the same cost if not less than that of an ST220.

GinG · 19 Apr 2012 at 15:56

andrewdodd13 said:
I don't think this advice applies as much at this end of the market currently. Once the fancy modern engines start filtering down then sure because they do have the potential to throw huge bills.

The ST220 I'd imagine will have high running costs stemming from big tyres, big brakes, etc. The 1.9 TDI PD we're recommending is fairly agricultural and there's not really much to go wrong with it; servicing will likely be roughly the same cost if not less than that of an ST220.

Please see calculations above...let me know if I have worked out wrong.

andrewdodd13 · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:06

GinG said:
Please see calculations above...let me know if I have worked out wrong.

Urgh, ninjedit.

I work out that he'll spend ~£4500 on fuel in the ST and £2500 in the Toledo at 50mpg. That's £2k per year, before you add in the £150 difference in tax. Then there's the huge difference between the price of tyres for 15 vs 18" alloys (I don't know what the ST will get, but the TDI should get 30-40k out of a single set if they're rotated).

Depends how much he loves the ST, but fiscally the diesel is a better choice in the long run.

Edit: Actually, your calculations are wrong as you calculate the fuel usage of the ST as the extra fuel required, not the entire fuel required (I think you got your wires crossed half way through editing)

rodenal · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:16

The purchase price should also be spread over the ownership term, not just the first year. If he buys something like a toledo he wont even need to spend any of the available budget over and above selling the mondeo.

Reality Bites · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:17

GinG said:
Without wanting to sound like a broken record...could you not put the £1500 towards petrol in the ST220? Should give you around 6k miles worth of fuel...

The savings of not having any potential big bills on a diesel and also not needing to throw any money at the car for another persons enjoyment will also go towards the extra few k worth of miles.

10k more miles @ 25mpg = 400 gallon of fuel

400*4.546 = 1,818l of fuel

1,818 * £1.41 = £2,563 worth of fuel extra

£2,563 - £1500 = £1,063 to find extra to what you were going to put towards the car + fuel anyway

£1,063 / 12 = £88 per month or £20 per week extra to run the ST220

Or £2563 / 12 = £213 per month to run the ST220 (+tyres servicing etc)

New Car:

Costs £1500 extra
18,000 miles @ 50mpg = 360 gallons of fuel
360 * 4.546 = 1636l of fuel
1636 * £1.49 = £2437 worth of fuel
£2437 of fuel + £1500 lay out for car = £3937
£3937 / 12 = £328 per month (+tyres, servicing etc)

Please tell me if I am wrong but it will be a bad decision to try get a cheaper car.

I know where your coming from, but I know there are things which are going to start going wrong on my st. I had an accident in it last year, nothing major, but it needed a new strut, hub, bearings, wheel etc and it's never been the same since.

My calculations were as follows

18k a year in the ST would cost me £3850 in fuel alone (assuming 30mpg from driving like a fairy). A diesel would cost me around £2350 (assuming around 52mpg and I'm confident of 55 the way i drive). I would imagine that tax, insurance, servicings and servicable items like tyres would be around £300 a year less.

I would prefer not to spend more than £1000 to change, which it looks like I can do. I know there are potential costs to an old diesel, but when the car costs me around £2000plus a year less to run, it's got to be worth it.

Reality Bites · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:19

andrewdodd13 said:
Depends how much he loves the ST, but fiscally the diesel is a better choice in the long run.

I do love it and it will really hurt going from a car like my ST to some old derv :-(

but, needs must. If it means me getting back home on time to pick my boy up from nursery, I'll drive anything to a degree. I even considered getting a 125cc bike and keeping the ST, but I would only be able to use the bike confidently for around 6-8months tops of the year.

Reality Bites · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:24

i saw this close to me. It's done 147K if I can read the clock right but it looks tidy and shouldn't cost too much to swap.

http://www.edgecarr.com/used-cars/volkswagen-golf-1-9-gt-tdi-130-5dr-cardiff-201216465019758

they also have this one.....

http://www.edgecarr.com/used-cars/volkswagen-golf-2-0-gt-tdi-5dr-cardiff-201211456319168

but £4k opens up a whole host more options. I saw these before opening this thread. The other VW options suggested are valid, as is the skoda option. They have a vectra with 80 odd on the clock for £3k but my gut is telling me to avoid for some reason.

andrewdodd13 · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:50

If you don't mind putting up with the high milage examples, then the first one isn't a bad deal for a GT TDI. Check that it's had *two* belt and water pump changes though, most VW garages will do these every 60k miles / 4 years so I would want two done, otherwise factor in £500 into the purchase price.

Don't buy a 2005 2.0 TDI, there's another thread floating about here about A3 TDIs, the 2.0 TD PDI was a completely new engine at the time (the 1.9 TDI had been around in various shapes and forms for over a decade) and it had a good share of faults - a batch of faulty injectors affecting parts of the entire VW range (£3.5k for a fix, apparently, there's another thread in here about that) and dodgy oil pumps.

Unless you're really set on a Golf (and let's face it, a lot of people are, hence why they're usually a bit more expensive) then I would seriously consider the alternatives offered in here.

Cookeh · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:51

Completely irrelevant but I love how appropriate your name is

+1 for Ocativa, really quite decent

andrewdodd13 · 19 Apr 2012 at 16:57

Reality Bites said:
but £4k opens up a whole host more options. I saw these before opening this thread. The other VW options suggested are valid, as is the skoda option. They have a vectra with 80 odd on the clock for £3k but my gut is telling me to avoid for some reason.

I missed the part about the Vectra. My dad has a 2.2DTI and other than it rattling and falling to pieces, it's not actually that bad although I have a feeling he gets his repairs a lot cheaper than Vauxhall because we use an indy. Some of the sealed unit parts are stupidly expensive as well. The 1.9 CDTI isn't meant to be as bomb-proof (common-rail is generally regarded as unreliable) but there are a lot of taxi drivers with them at 250k+ so take that with a grain of salt.

I would say that the Vectra C isn't anywhere as nice as a Mk3 Mondeo to be, my grandad actually used to always buy Vauxhall (and has done again with his new Meriva, lol) but he owned a Mk3 for the best part of 10 years just because it was so much better.

Edit: Speaking of grandads... my other grandad has a Rover 75 petrol which blew up, but the mechanic mentioned the 2.0 CDT is meant to be pretty reliable. I link this particular one because it's the same age and automatic, just like my grandad's, although his has cream leather... yuk.

rodenal · 19 Apr 2012 at 17:00

If you're happy to put up with high miles then you'll find the likes of that first 2002 GT TDI a bit cheaper - I would be wanting to buy from a private seller where I can actually talk to the guy that's owned it too.

You'll get a younger car from Skoda / seat so make sure you have a look. If looking at octavias the first thing i'd do is check the back doors arent falling off their hinges - ex taxi is the last thing you want.

[TW]Fox · 19 Apr 2012 at 17:10

A Golf is probably the worst choice really, with a budget this small you want maxmum value and that doesnt come from a Golf. Bora, Toledo, Octavia - something people don't want for entirely immaterial reasons.

Everyone wants a Golf.

Tinders · 19 Apr 2012 at 17:22

Buy a £700 306 Dturbo, still a respectable and reliable car and put the savings towards a nice weekend toy!