[Closed] Spec me a diesel estate. (Giving up on life content)

Malvern rider calm down. Why are some people soo excitable?

BMW 530d tourer. Blue one with cream leather and 100k for £5k on auto trader. If you can, find an m-sport model and even better a 535d as its the twin turbo 3 litre. Regret not buying the one local to me before Xmas. Was greybm sport 535d with 90k and full black leather.

Thanks guys. All very helpful. Northwind, thanks for that post too. Mondeo is probably still top of the pile - if nothing else, I can probably find one.

hora - Member

Subaru with a 3.0 Engine and aftermarket warranty? OK OK!-

No NO!! I'm not buying another subaru until I can afford a Forester STI or a Levorg STI.

hora
Or a Audi A6 estate with either a 2.7TDI or 2.0TDI?

Would love one but I think I can only afford a shitter. Not sure about parts/upkeep.

Euro - Member

Yo JJ, have a gander at this.

I dunno Marty. I prefer them to Octavia's from a trim/build/noise point of view but there are so many horror stories about them I struggle to see how they justify higher prices than ford/jap etc.

andyl
BMW 530d tourer. Blue one with cream leather and 100k for £5k on auto trader. If you can, find an m-sport model and even better a 535d as its the twin turbo 3 litre. Regret not buying the one local to me before Xmas. Was greybm sport 535d with 90k and full black leather.

Would absolutely love one but I'm not sure I can afford to maintain one. if I saw a clean one at auction I'd be tempted. Along with the A6 it kinda seems a stretch. I might be living beyond my means having something like that.

It sounds like you are handy with the spanners? BMW won't cost much to service etc and I've always found them easy to work on.

Failing that BMW independents are easy to find and will often know their stuff.

Jimjam a STI is next on my Subaru list 😀

TBH Having come from big petrols and ended up with a diesel hatch you just have to accept that it just won't be the same - no matter what the diesel lovers say.

Vectra or Mondeo estate will do the job and for £6k you should be able to pick up a 2009 sub 50k - and as they've sold loads of them, probably any colour you fancy, and any spec.

FWIW I went from a load of V6's and V8's to a Vectra hatch 150. Not that much slower and twice the mpg. Ok, not as plush inside as the better cars I've had, but they cost two to three times as much when new.

andyl

It sounds like you are handy with the spanners? BMW won't cost much to service etc and I've always found them easy to work on.

Failing that BMW independents are easy to find and will often know their stuff.

I would honestly refer to myself as a mechanical numpty, but I'm okay doing oil changes, pad changes etc. In the past I've changed glow plugs, starter motors, brake calipers etc etc. In my experience things like alternators, clutches, flywheels, starter motors etc are all gonna go on used cars so I guess if these aren't mega money oil and filter won't break the bank. I'm just wary of them.

b r

TBH Having come from big petrols and ended up with a diesel hatch you just have to accept that it just won't be the same - no matter what the diesel lovers say.

I know mate.

Bit late to this, I've a mondeo mk3.5 estate (same era as northwind I suspect) 130 6 spd. 165K miles and only had to swop 2x wheel bearings so far and normal things like filters, tyres etc. Very large, coupled with a roof box means I don't need to pack the car properly.

Also had a focus mk1 estate thats very large but was not in any way shape or form "sporty".

Another option related to the mondeo is the jaguar X-type, shares a lot of parts with the mondeo (I know because the 2x wheel bearings I got were from Jaguar and cheaper then getting from ford), has the 2.2 diesel engine (~170 bhp?) and 4 wheel drive.

There's going to be a big diesel backlash soon. The Labour Shadow Environmental Minister recently admitted Labour **** up on diesel policy. Taxes etc will rise in the new parliament I bet.

Ford owned 41% of Mazda, floorpan & suspension & seat tech was shared but the engines are nothing to do with Ford, Mazda & Ford diesels both have some issues in different areas but no more than anyone else & due to the shared floor/suspension have class leading handling & ride.

whoops. sloppy research on my part .sorry all.

hora

There's going to be a big diesel backlash soon. The Labour Shadow Environmental Minister recently admitted Labour **** up on diesel policy. Taxes etc will rise in the new parliament I bet.

I think a lot of people are expecting something along these lines Hora, but I can't see it happening soon enough to effect me. The other thing is, if they are going to tax people out of diesels then are they going to cut tax on petrols and lower duty on petrol? Probably not.

The kind of bigger, older petrol cars I'd be looking at would get relatively crappy mpg, and cost a lot to tax.

Another Mondeo owner here Got a 2.2 TDCI ST.Big,comfy and quite quick. Swallows all our luggage and returns 50-55mpg. Owned for 5 years and done 90k in that time. Now on 141K. It had a clutch at 120K due to noisy release bearing,Never had any injector work and has been ultra reliable.

We may have the same problem as the OP as somebody has run into the back of it but if it get's written off then i will ask to buy the salvage or if all else fails i will buy another.

Another Mondeo owner. I've never kept a car as long as this one and would normally be on my third car by now. I keep getting the itch to change but after test driving various other cars the Mondeo still ticks all the boxes and more. No injector problems, self serviced and cheap to maintain. Only problems have been rear wheel bearings, drop links and battery. All mileage and age related than quality issues. Like Northwind I had mine decated and remapped. More than enough poke and better to drive than my wife's BMW and more economical too hence why it's been hard to replace.

Malvern rider calm down. Why are some people soo excitable?

PS Skoda diesels seem good, dad's goes and goes with awesome mpg.

I've been down this road..... Petrol head, changed to a diesel for economy reasons etc etc, you will hate it every time you start up and hear that terrible rattle, every time you feel the revs drop off at 3k you will hate it, every time you pull up to put fuel in and get that smelly greasy fuel all over your hands, you will curse the car.
It will turn you into a spiteful shadow of yiur former self.
Keep the petrol , I sold the smelly diesel and have a golf gti, powerful, smooth, non smelly, non rattly , you know it's what you want.Diesels first three letters say it all for me,

My diesel has more torque than a Ferrari 458

So does many a tractor. Torque makes for easy driving, bhp is for fun. I'm under no illusions and have had plenty of diesels too. At the end of the day a happy wife is more important, and hopefully less money spent on engines will mean more for the bike.

Here's what the power delivery on a 2.2 mondeo td actually looks like:

[img] [/img]

If you can show me the power dropping off at 3000 revs I will give you a mars bar.

bhp is for fun

Good job I have 231 of them as well then 😉

If you can show me the power dropping off at 3000 revs I will give you a mars bar.

Think you need to read that again chief

There's going to be a big diesel backlash soon. The Labour Shadow Environmental Minister recently admitted Labour **** up on diesel policy. Taxes etc will rise in the new parliament I bet.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR

Good job I have 231 of them as well then

Stop waving your mangina 😀

Think you need to read that again chief

My diesel has more torque than a Ferrari 458

Yeah but it's ugly 😛

[i]Torque makes for easy driving,[/i]

That it'd be great if the torque didn't come in with a great big bang.

I dunno Marty....there are so many horror stories about them I struggle to see how they justify higher prices than ford/jap etc.

The old shaped ones? Really well put together vehicle J. I may have lucked out but i gt 90k hassle free miles - radiator went at 120K and other than servicing, that was it really. Nothing special to drive but it wasn't boring. Cleaned up like new too.

I was for replacing it with the mazda but i think far eastern big isn't as groß as german big. Mondeo was a close second. I had a bit less than your budget though and couldn't find anything decent. Somehow, after the Focus estate fortnight of f***, i ended up in a skoda garage with my dad and we drove home in an octavia that was much newer, shinier and twice my budget. Cheers dad x 😀

DOn;t forget that Alfa, SAAB, Vauxhaul and I am sure another car maker, all use the same 1.9 engine, that is prone to swirl flap failure.

Not the end of the world though. The rod controlling them falls off, they don't get eaten by th eengine.

On my Saab 9-5 I turned all the flaps open with a screw driver, scrubbed that part of the engined with a long modified toothbrush and some degreaser, then liquid steeled the tops of the flaps so they stuck open.

The Flying Ox - Member

Yes, so the bhp doesn't start falling until the heady heights of ~3250 rpm (I'm assuming factory tune) but bhp isn't the whole story.

It stays within a hair of peak to 4000 and produces over 150 brake almost to the end of the run, and makes the same power at the redline as it does at 2500. That's a brammer of a powerband and if you think these cars are out of go at 3000rpm, you've not driven one frankly.

Torque will always tend to fall off as revs rise, that's just maths- the power and torque lines will always meet at 5250rpm.

t Alfa, SAAB, Vauxhaul and I am sure another car maker, all use the same 1.9 engine, that is prone to swirl flap failure

So are BMWs engines.

I've had my current mondeo for 1 year, a 2.0 ghia, only bought it for 1000 pounds with 100k on clock.So far nothing gone wrong.

Had another mondeo tdci 130 before hand for 6 years till the gearbox went. Bought that at 94k and got rid at 184k. Never had a problems with injectors tho.

Not pretty cars or super fast but super practical, I haven't got round to.fitting a roof rack. I just chuck tarp in the back and chuck the 29er 22 inch bike in the back without having to take it apart.

Someone one told me "horsepower is how hard you can punch, torque is how fast you can punch"

You've tried to prove the point and got the analogy round the wrong way.

Think of it like lifting bricks on a hoist. You got to lift 1000 bricks. Do it quickly 200 bricks at a time, there's your bhp or slowly with all the bricks at once, that's the torque.

(I know it's not exactly like that but, well, you know...)

So are BMWs engines.

DIfferent issue, BMWs killed the engine, the JTD engine just had a bar that fell off and cost a fortune to replace.

Reading your first post OP the first thing that sprang to mind was a Mondeo ST estate. I had a hatchback and it was a great car - the car I miss the most. 155bhp out the box but a few hundred quid on a Bluefin and you've got another 20/30 bhp IIRC and a load more torque (which it wasn't lacking in anyway).

Braking can be easily upgraded too - Focus ST calipers go straight on which is a cheapish upgrade too.

I did 30k+ in mine in a year and I can't think of a car I'd have rather done it in. Rarely did less than 50mpg, heated seats, loads of toys etc and even though it was massive on the inside, never felt that big in car parks etc. I'd have another, definitely.

Octavia... I had one of these too. An estate vRS. That too was a good car but you got a lot less for your money vs the Ford. The boots were extremely good though but it simply wasn't as nice a place to be vs the Mondeo. Mine had some suspension work done to it to make it handle superbly but it still wasn't the car the Mondeo was...

Does it really need to be a derv given that you don't do loads of miles?

There are some great petrol cars out there for not too much money - our 330 cost buttons compared to 320/330d's of the same vintage and so far hasn't been too expensive to run in the 12k its done under our ownership. It has the N52 6 pot which is a bit thirstier but considered to be more relaible due to the lack of HPFP.

Had a 330 diesel which wa as near to a petrol as I've had, but still not a nice noise when you boot it.
If you want performance buy a petrol, if you want nearly petrol performance buy a big diesel,
If you want a diesel that performs like a petrol, buy a petrol

mindmap3

Does it really need to be a derv given that you don't do loads of miles?

I think so. When I look at derv v petrol equivalents based on year/milage/spec and use online calculators as a rough guide the diesels seem to be, on average about £1000 per year less in fuel bills at 12,500 miles. To be even worth considering, a petrol alternative would have to half the price and still have similar spec/age/condition and that's not really the case. Most diesels appear to have about a £1000 premium on them.

The 330d vs 330i does seem a bit of an anomaly though. The diesels don't seem to command much more money, and the newer shaped petrols are almost as efficient as the slightly older diesels, but I don't think I'm in the market for one tbh.

The other factor is my wife who is highly skeptical of petrol cars, probably because her main frame of reference has been my subarus.

OK, to add another spanner in then, after the Mondeo above, I had the Octy. Then I went to a 330I M-Sport Tourer (E91, auto with the N52 engine) and it was bloody brilliant. No way was it anywhere near as frugal as even the Octavia but then that was to be expected given the noise it made on kick down and the way that things a long way away became very near very quick. At a guess, I'd say the Mondeo was easily twice as economical on average.

mindmap3 - Member

Does it really need to be a derv given that you don't do loads of miles?

You don't need to do a lot, if you want a biggish engine- the difference in fuel consumption's more exaggerated and you tend to get tax and sometimes insurance differences to. Like, it's a fairly extreme example but comparing an ST155 to an ST220, it's £180 tax vs either £285 or £485, and insurance group 26 vs 33 even before you put dinosaurs in it. My tuned 155 is still way cheaper to insure than a stock 220.

Touran tsi

Edukator
Touran tsi

I would have dismissed this out of hand but I did take a look, 140bhp 160lbs ft doesn't really suit. But then I noticed it has a potentailly massive boot and comes with the same 2.0 tdi as the octavia vrs / passatt. Might be worth a nosey. Driving position looks very van like, and the top engine model is rare but still, I'll take a look at one.

Lot's to think about. Appreciate all the suggestions.