In the market for a diesel car that is toddler/bike friendly!

Ive been looking at VW Golf, Audi A3 for reliability – but one under 100k are rare, briefly looked at Pug 307s too but think the german cars are a lot nicer!

5K probably gets me a nice 05/06 plate – is there anything else I should be looking at – I will be doing 20k pa.

Cheers

I’ve got a Civic, great car and very practical. You’ll find one for that sort of money.

I’ve got a Civic, great car and very practical. You’ll find one for that sort of money.

I was actually looking at those this morning would you recommend the 2.2 diesel? I hear they are good for 50mpg

where are you looking? 2 yrs ago i paid 6k for an immaculate A3 tdi quattro with 60k on the clock.

its not immaculate now…

looking on ebay mainly and auto trader

20k a year business milage ?

i certainly wouldnt be paying for the badge of VAG group. – not unless you want to spend a fortune on maintaining an old clapped out car.

people pay way over the odds to have a VAG car on the drive.

didnt even find the interior of our golf owt special.

look at toyota & honda.

I was actually looking at those this morning would you recommend the 2.2 diesel? I hear they are good for 50mpg

50mpg around town, nearer 60mpg on a long run. Highly recommended – they take a remap rather well too…

look at toyota & honda

I am starting to think this way now!

How about an 04 BMW 320D with 71k miles?

lovely car but want a hatchback to stick my muddy bike in the back!

Im liking the Civic – lovely interiors – VAG cars look quite bland by comparison!

Clever rear seats on the Civic – you can lift the bases up & get large a load area behing the front and rear seats. Just after I got mine I took it to the lakes with my dog in the boot and all our gear for the week (including my bike) in the space between the seats. Also, the rear seats fold down fully, leaving a flat load area.

I’ve got a 1.9 Turbo diesel Opel Astra. the 150BHP model, six speed.

It’s a pure get me to work car as I have a fair old commute.

Good on fuel, comfortable, large enough, got the extras you’d want.

Nice enough car to drive. Maybe not as “impressive” as the VW’s and Audi’s, but if you want something that will get you from A to B in comfort, cheap enough to run and just gets on and does the job, you could do worse. They seem to have many “extras” as standard.

only issue with opel/vauxhall is

seat and pedals and steeringwheel have never lined up on any ive driven – a fair share of their range in hire cars with wheels on both sides and currently own a frontera.

I’ve got a 1.9 Turbo diesel Opel Astra. the 150BHP model, six speed.

I currently have a Zafira which I have had to live with for 2 years – I hate it – I have no need for it as it was primarily used to taxi my ex g/fs kids about – Im single now so I don’t need a mini bus. BTW I really do not like Vauxhalls. Sorry.

IMO, don’t stick to a particular make/model. Go and look at stuff in your price range and just get something well maintained with few owners and give it a thorough check (including checking for known problems).

On the Astra for instance, put the clutch down when cold at idle if theres a noise, its the DMF going. Check the swirl flaps, if the rods come off, it’ll need a new inlet manifold otherwise they can break off and go in the engine. Check for whining noises as the gearboxes are know to break. (this is all for the 1.9 cdti 150bhp – don’t know about others)

Push the acclerator & brake pedal down then turn ignition to ‘2’, this will show up all the registered error codes.

I know all this because i own one. Maybe i got a duff one and all the others have been great, but its been non-stop expensive problems with mine.

Yeah. A Frontera is enough reason to put anyone off ever buying a Vauxhall again. Hateful things.

I like the Civic 2.2 CDTI lovely looking cars – are there any pitfalls owning one?

tbh as far as vauxhalls go – its been the best ive had to live with.

good strong (low pressure turbo) engine, fairly economical for a tall SUV on ATs , pretty impressive for traction when in 4WD as far as road orientated SUVs go (from someone who spends occasional sundays playing in mud with land rovers) and tows more than 2 tonne while not moaning about it.

but its chronically small inside (MK2 3door) . Cheap to buy and run though.

my collegues zafria on the other hand – had to drive that once and it felt like it was carved out of balsa wood.

I wouldnt buy one for 5k. i bought one because it was the cheapest thing i could get my hands on that wasnt fecked for a second car

my buddy has the 2.2 CDTI civic breadvan shape. – isuzu engine i believe and his has taken a tune nicely. He has nothing but good things to say about the motor. Changing the suspension bushes is a bit of a mare he says though.

Do you need a car as big as a Golf/a3/Civic.

£6k would get you a decent Fabia vrs or an Ibiza FR TDi. Same car underneath. I was doing >32k miles/yr in my Ibiza, but am now down to low 20’s. Very little has gone wrong in the time I’ve had it. Bought it 3yrs old in Sept 06 with 24k miles on. It’s now almost up to 206k miles.
Worst failure was the air-con compressor, which admittedly was quite expensive; £500 fitted.
Apart from that I had a wheel bearing done at 38k miles (weird) and one of the turbo pipes failed, but that was only £45 fitted.

Still on original clutch, exhaust, dual mass flywheel, turbo etc.

It’s plenty big enough for a bike in the back with seats down.

Do you need a car as big as a Golf/a3/Civic.

I dont no, I may have a look at the Ibizas not many 5 doors about though

we have a fabia estate, hit all the branches falling out the ugly tree but it goes well and has a big boot for a small car.

If you like the VW tdi then look at the Jetta. 5k will get you a decent one with less than 100k on the clock.

I’ve got the same engine as the Civic in my Accord. Can drink a bit of oil. Needs an oil and filter change to schedule. Exhaust manifold can crack on the welds (not sure if this is specific to the Accord or the engine). The clutch can be a little weak and slip.

To put it into perspective my clutch has slipped twice in three years of ownership. I assume it’s still on the original (no receipt for a replacement) and it’s just coming up-to 100k.

I had the cracked manifold and replaced under extended warranty (up-to 100k) about 6 months ago.

i certainly wouldnt be paying for the badge of VAG group. – not unless you want to spend a fortune on maintaining an old clapped out car.

Myth. They are overall good but had a spell of significant issues a few years back that put people off. Should all be fixed or warrantied by now mind.

Im having the same dilemma. started a thread the other day on this. Looked at civics, A3 and jetta/golf. A good forum to go on regarding the civic is http://www.civinfo.com . Seems like there prone to the dual mass flywheel going, which is a costly job. this was what i was looking at but a few peeps were saying that the economy isnt that good compared to others if your doing short journeys. cheaper to tax than the competition also. Ive got an audi A2 just now and love the build quality and although they are a bit ‘boring’ the A3 seems to get better real world mpg and is well put together. Also looked at the seat altea tdi.. you’ll get an 06 plate one for that money.

+ I love our 2.2 diesel Civic – nice to drive, quick (ish) but good on fuel. The clever seats are great. The clutch has been an issue though – just had mine changed after 72k miles. Honda where good enough (it’s a known issue) to give me £500 towards the new flywheel / clutch (and the part is now upgraded) but it still cost me 1k. Overall still very positive though.

I like the Civic 2.2 CDTI lovely looking cars – are there any pitfalls owning one?

I’ve had mine for 3 1/2 years and it hasn’t missed a beat. Usual wear and tear items but no faults. I replaced the drop links in the front suspension at about 75k, which is about normal. Clutch went a while after first remap so now has an uprated one. The only other issue is they still have a bit of an ‘old giffer’ image, if that bothers you.

The clutch issue is bothering me now!

Maybe stay safe with a Golf or A3?

“Maybe stay safe with a Golf or A3? “

i think this is where i insert laughter.

nieve people think like that hence price is high. there is nothing safe about the clutch on a golf or an A3 unless your going to get a petrol one.

am i being naive….. enlighten me please!

golf and audi still have a dual mass fly wheel.

dual mass flywheels by nature are heavily affected by the way people drive

diesels are nice and torquey and dont like to stall – hence you see alot of clutches being dumped to attempt quick exits from junctions. car starts to wheelspin and jump etc etc – DMFS hate this treatment and will start to break up. Driving smooth makes a huge difference to how long a DMF will last – how ever you cannot account for how the previous owner treated it . Golfs and audis are popular lease cars – dont know about you but i find hired cars the fastest cars in the world……

looking at the thick end of a grand to replace the DMF at an indy

Civic pitfalls.

The inability to see out of the rear window.

The go-kart type driving handling/position

ok thanks everyone!

Joined the Civic forum et some more advice

Another one thats worth a look is a seat ibiza 1.9tdi fr.. good economy,all the toys, decent build quality and £135 a year tax.. 😉

Do you need a car as big as a Golf/a3/Civic.

Big? Are you serious? Have you been in a the latest Golf? I’ve Golf hire car atm, and it’s tiny inside.
So much so I’ve just bought a Golf Plus (06 for 4.5Kish from the auctions), as the new shape Focus (et all) estates are laughably small, so I wanted something with a bit of room, but not a mondeo/passat (bus) size.
TBH the Golf + is still expensive compared to others, but less so than the std Golf & has very similar handling (ok it’s never going to be ‘as’ good, but they aren’t bad), but bags more room.

What about a Ford Mondeo?

You can just about get a new shape model for £5k, and it’ll be a bit more comfortable than a golf on a long journey I image.

A lot of the newer shaped models with higher miles will have been done on motorways more than likely, which is probably better than getting a car with lower miles that’s just been used for shorter journeys.

OP no diesel thats 7yrs old will be under 100k. Possible yes but no one buys a 1.9/2.0D and drives it year in year out at under average annual mileage.

BMW/Golf/A3 interiors hide miles Very well.

Theres plenty of diesels out there that are 06 plates that have done less than 100k… 😕

http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=ms-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&q=diesel+mileage+correction+service