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[Closed] Should I buy a diesel car?!

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So, a friend of mine is selling his 2007 Audi A6 estate, its the quattro se model and has been very well looked after. Only him and his uncle have been owners. It has done 106,000 miles and has a full service history, he wants £5000 for it. It would be perfect for camping and biking trips away and if I was to buy it would plan on keeping it for a good few years. However, is the Diesel car market going to go up in smoke over the next few years?


 
Posted : 20/01/2018 11:32 pm
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I’d say that car will be great for a few years, then a good deal in a diesel scrappage scheme.


 
Posted : 20/01/2018 11:58 pm
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Annual mileage?


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:03 am
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Might be a good time to buy if you had a crystal ball as they are pretty cheap at the moment.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:08 am
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Annual mileage at the moment around 10,000 though likely to increase over the next few years; Probably to around 15,000


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:02 am
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Which engine / spec ? ( se, sline etc )

£5000 is prob a tad overpriced, but the knowledge of knowing the history is good, not sure they’d get 5000 for it...

Offer 4 and see what he says ? What’s the value on we buy any car out of interest?? Not much I’d imagine


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:10 am
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Has it had a new clutch or turbo yet?


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:15 am
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My 2.7 tdi Avant Quattro was valued at £7k trade in in 2014. It had 110k miles and felt like a new car. I should have kept it. It was an SE with leather interior and auto with paddles.

What engine does it have ? You can have it serviced at a non dealer specialist.

It could be a bargain, go and see it. Parking sensors are very useful as its a big car esp in a multi story car park. It suits auto box well. I drove mine up and down UK and Europe a lot hence mileage. The boot isn’t as big as some others but its superbly comfortable for 4 adults

Diesel will be a problem if you want to drive it into major cities, eg London etc. Otherwise IMHO you’ll be fine.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:38 am
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Webuyanycar value it at £4000...
It's the 3.0 SE Quattro model, automatic with paddles. I've been in it plenty of times and trust him not to sell a piece of junk (He's pretty clued up with cars).
Will neer be driven into London, in fact I'll probably never drive into a city centre again.
Being swayed towards a yes decision!


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 4:54 am
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Negotiate price down - £4k tops; aim for £3.5k - then buy.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 4:59 am
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Negotiate price down - £4k tops; aim for £3.5k - then buy.

Do you often try to rip off your mates?


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 6:20 am
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Webuyanycar value it at £4000...

until they see it and drop £500 cos they see a scratch here and there...

cant hurt to offer 4500, beauty is you know the history and that's worth piece of mind

Buy it you'll love it ! ( ex owner)


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 10:46 am
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Maybe people would find other threads on the subject they want to talk about if the forum search wasn’t so abysmal.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 11:54 am
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buy it dude, you will be in a better position in few years time for a scrappage scheme when they sorted the technology of charging points and batteries and can full charge a car battery in 2 minutes time or less and modify all residential house to have charging points and also figure outs how to make all batteries recyclable


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:04 pm
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WBAC undervalue everything so don'y take a price they give as any indication. £5k is however more than I'd give for most 100k+ cars but condition is all so go with your gut.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:15 pm
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Put the reg number into WhatCar’s valuation page and get trade / private / dealer prices

What engine, could well be the 3TDI if so they swallow the mikes with ease ?

Do you have a good Indy service place local to you specialising in German cars ?

My wife doesn’t like estate cars and an A6 Avant would be too big for the underground carpark we have to get into otherwise I’d be seriously tempted myself


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:23 pm
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Speeder 15yo Rav 4’s go for £3k and a friend sold a 1.6D Golf with 150k on it for £2.5k amd if the Audi is in good mechanical order then £5k is a great deal imho. To buy that car new today would cost more like £45-50k (excluding current discount as there is a new model soon)


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:26 pm
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I see it as 1k overpriced but knowing the genuine history is easily worth a lot of that 1k.
What price peace of mind, as far as used cars go?
I’d give 4.5k and feel that both parties were happy.

Edit; I’d be ok with paying 4 - 5k for a diesel right now.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:27 pm
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Two scenarios's for me:

a) I have a 120d on PCP which ends in October. I travel all over south UK for work, and travel; about a lot for Bike races. My bike fits in it, or on the roof. Its £30 tax, and does 55mpg. Its mainly m,e or me and Jnr in the car so I don't need a big one. When the PCP is up in October I shall get a bank loan for the balloon payment to keep it, unless they offer me an equivalent auto car for the next 3 years.

b) We have a 2008 Ford Kuga 2.0 diesel family car which although its been through the mill with 2 kids from babies has served us well and works fine for a family of 4, and has Haldex for those Rugby Pitch/Gorrick car park exits should we need it but it mainly does school runs and about 6/7 motorway trips per year. Its got £68k miles and we'd like a new car. With this, we are waiting for a decent nearly new Petrol Hybrid SUV to appear in nearly new car market and we'll swap it out for that. At this point I'm watching the market for the X1/3008/XC60/Kadjar Hybrids to appear and settle in for reliability reports.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:28 pm
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bavariangaz - Member

So, a friend of mine is selling his 2007 Audi A6 estate, its the quattro se model and has been very well looked after. Only him and his uncle have been owners. It has done 106,000 miles and has a full service history, he wants £5000 for it. It would be perfect for camping and biking trips away and if I was to buy it would plan on keeping it for a good few years. However, is the Diesel car market going to go up in smoke over the next few years?

How much would you expect it to be worth after a 'good few years'? It's 10-11 years old now, what do it expect a 15+ year old car to be worth when you sell it?

Are you worried about the price right now suddenly dropping off a cliff (and thus paying 'too much' for it when you could pay much less in a couple of months), or how much it might be worth in 5 years time? If it's the latter I wouldn't worry specifically about that. £5K isn't much for a car like that, and what you would get out of it over 5+ years. I'd be much more worried about the inevitable repair and maintenance costs of a car that age.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:46 pm
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squirrelking - Member

Negotiate price down - £4k tops; aim for £3.5k - then buy.

Do you often try to rip off your mates?

+1, it's a mate, not a dealer.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 12:48 pm
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Just price match it against equivalent on autotrader within 50miles and see where this one sits. I wouldn’t care too much about the future of Diesel in the next 10yrs, enough to make we not want one - and I just have.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:27 pm
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Buy it, sounds like a decent car.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:33 pm
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The only thing that might happen with diesels is that there won’t be as many coming into the 2nd hand market in 3/4 years time from company car leases. I work for Defra and they aren’t ordering any diesel cars now at all from now on. So a few leases will be ending in the next couple of years but after that I reckon the diesel/petrol mix of cars will slew back to petrol or hybrid petrol cars.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 1:42 pm
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Should I buy a diesel car?!

No.
They're noisy, rattly, unrefined, polluting and shite to drive. 🙂

The Audi specifically is dull to drive and with Audi's ultra-conservative styling will date very quickly. 😀

Have you considered a horse? 😆


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 2:58 pm
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+1, it's a mate, not a dealer.

Except this 'mate' most certainly isn't selling it at mates rates


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 3:04 pm
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Except this 'mate' most certainly isn't selling it at mates rates

Not so sure about that

OP if you don’t want it can you send me some more info on the car


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 4:33 pm
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Potential expenses at that age/mileage

- injectors
- manifold flaps
- turbos
- gearbox ( I think it’ll be the multitronic. Which is better than the tiptronic. Still, worth budgeting for an oil change)
- dpf (although may be just pre dpf?)
- suspension and bushes. Lots of bits to wear and creak, clunk and generally be a pain

Also, check the VED bracket.

If it’s a good one and you maintain it, great.

If it’s a dog and you’re not prepared to keep on top of things, it could be ruinous.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 4:44 pm
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ruinos

Max downside is £5000 less scrap value


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 5:51 pm
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No Diesel engines were invented 100 years ago, lets wait until manufacturers catch up with WW2 uboat technology which is only a mere 70 years old


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 8:27 pm
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The downside is the alternatives for diesel are not fit for purpose yet.....

How ever diesels are not the car if you are using it to drive into city centres....

Cross country trips into remote areas are a different story.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 8:43 pm
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trail_rat - Member

The downside is the alternatives for diesel are not fit for purpose yet.....

What?


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 8:45 pm
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Got a specific question or is your inner daily mail coming out and your gast is truly flabbered ?


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 8:49 pm
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Heard of this stuff ?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 8:52 pm
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Aye it use to be good then they refined it and started making shit engines.

They need to sort out battery tech more than developing petrol engines. It's just robbing Peter to pay Paul that one.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 8:56 pm
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trail_rat - Member
Aye it use to be good then they refined it and started making shit engines

😆


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 9:03 pm
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Based on identifying the vehicle that suited my needs then test driving both petrol models available.

One woefully under powered and more noxousous than the diesel and the other needed lots of revving with people in the car - I dread to think how it would be once loaded up. once you took it off city streets - where the fuel economy plummeted. It's a shame because on paper barring my worries about longevities it seemed like it would be a great engine for the car.

And I'm not all about power either the vehicle it's replacing had 68bhp. It's about drivability

So I'll buy the car that's suited to my usage.... Long journeys with bulky loads- try to stay out of town. Take the diesel bus instead since it stops a gentle 10 minute walk away fairly often (which is nice for a rural location)


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 9:16 pm
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I don’t think you need to worry about diesel prices crashing at the 5k point as if you run it for a few years the value of the vehicle will have nowhere to crash. I wouldn’t buy a newish diesel unless it was on pcp but think this would be fine.

Wouldn’t go on webuyanycar prices as they low ball. As mentioned, get a whatcar valuation then offer him what that says.

My biggest worry would be buying a car that will be expensive to maintain with that sort of mileage. Couple of work lads had A4 estates with 100k + and both were money pits. Every part that went wrong, of which both had many cost loads, even with free labour from our mate. I’d be looking for something a bit cheaper to fix myself.


 
Posted : 21/01/2018 9:23 pm
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Thanks for your own experiences and advice! Knowing that the car has been well looked after and has a full servce history, including regular oil changes etc I offered below what he was asking for and he accepted (Not £3500!). Hopefully there will be no big bills and it will keep running for the next 10 years!


 
Posted : 22/01/2018 11:14 pm
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🙂

Keep us posted. I was deadly serious when I aksed for details as I quite fancied it. My 2.7tdi was great and the 3.0 is supposed to be even better.


 
Posted : 22/01/2018 11:56 pm