Help me choose a diesel car please – bangernomics edition

[Quote]trail_rat – Member
Yeah but unless he buys it in infancy like iirc you did …. He has no idea how the previous owners have treated it.[/Quote]

Mine was 3 yrs old when I got it, so not new but nowhere near bangeromics, either.

But I was responding to the view from another poster that older VAG diesels are unreliable. That’s not necessarily the case.
Service intervals are 10k for that engine and I’ve been servicing it at 15k instead since 140k miles. And that includes oil change….I do 400 miles/week in it commuting alone and I don’t treat it with kid gloves by any stretch.
My Wife often asks if I shouldn’t drive it more sympathetically given it’s age, so it’s not like I panda to it’s age or mileage.

ming ming

wilburt – Member
Remember that whatever you buy, you’re going to have to tax it, nothing will come with free tax.
clearly not true.

VED tax can no longer be sold with a vehicle – The new keeper must tax it and the current keeper must claim any remaining tax back from the DVLA.

Government Tax Website

Neither car in my drive is taxed.

You don’t get “free” tax any more but you might get tax free.

Well whoever suggested I use the Civic is due an almighty hoof in the slats. 43.5mpg, which is great. Avoiding some helmet on my side of the road going round Ullswater and consequently shredding the p/s front tyre beyond repair however… Of course, Civic’s have a Stan’s NoTubes repair bottle and not a spacesaver, so now I’m stuck waiting on a recovery truck.

The whole idea of this exercise is to *save* me money, not have me spending more.

FWIW, the wife looks the idea of a Pug 306. Just need to persuade her the estate isn’t all that granddad-ish.

Tax free. Bangernomics.

Pick one. We’re not at the point to have both yet.

My banger £1500 mk4 golf estate 1.9tdi has cost more than I wanted.
Had 140000 when got it now on 165000 leaks diesel from the tandam pump serveral oil leaks and now has pissed power steering fluid from the seal on the end of the rack.
Dmf rattles liken mad but it still works
Only a 46 mpg average though
Had a few electrical issues and more rust than I would expect on 11 year old car

It had good history and I’ve serviced it every year or 10000 miles

Get a MK3 Mondeo, great cars and plenty about. Just gone from a 55 plate Mondeo Titanium X to a 62 plate Octavia VRS. Mondeo was a much more comfortable place to be than the Octavia. I had no problems with mine and now my mate owns it and makes me regret selling it each time I see it.
Mine was 2.2 tdci and had been tuned. Up to 40mph the Octavia leaves the Mondeo behind mainly due to the DSG gearbox after that the Mondeo soon catches up and leaves mine behind. The Mondeo would return around 38mpg on short mixed road journeys, on the motorways up to 60mpg fully loaded.
Bangernomics, it’s a lot of car for not much money.

We’ve just bought a Citroën Xsara VTR 2.0 hdi for £200 this evening, 52 plate and full service history upto 120k miles, 129k on the clock. Goes like a bat out of hell and should run and run without a dpf or dmf.

Xsara is a Peugeot 306 underneath but can be bought for more cheaply, watch out for rear axle bearings and that’s about it. Galvanised body shells tend to mean they only rust when accident damaged.

I really like my mondeo but tbh once they drop below a grand diesels are often well into potential sudden death territory- turbos, injectors, dmf and clutch hanging over them a bit. None of which are insurmountable but, that’s the bangernomics dilemma isn’t it.

squirrelking – Member

Tax free. Bangernomics.

Pick one. We’re not at the point to have both yet.

Sure we are, just buy something pre ’75.

FWIW, the wife looks the idea of a Pug 306. Just need to persuade her the estate isn’t all that granddad-ish.

You know what, I had one of those once, when I started commuting distance. Cheapest car I ever had. Bought it on 60k sold it 3 years later with 140k on. Lost £1500 on the car and it had one £500 failed mot. So £2000 in 3 years, I’ve lost more than that per year on every car I’ve had since…

Did sell it cos I wasn’t happy commuting and working on the road in a car that old though, but it never put a foot wrong!

The diesel that went in it was well under a quid a litre then too… 👿

In response to a few posts above, I was not suggesting that all VAG diesels are mince, I was countering an earlier post that trotted out the incorrect ‘Ignore everything else, buy a VAG, besest in the whole wide world’ statement.

As was mentioned in another post, at that price choose any car that looks to be in good condition with history. You might get a good one, you might get bad. The badge on the front will have very little impact.

“Sure we are, just buy something pre ’75.”

I know your having a laugh but good luck with getting 40+ mpg out of it….. and good luck getting much more than a v5 and an ID for 1500 quid on a pre 75.

Fwiw my reputible unreliable french diesels both went through their MOTS first time with no advisorys again this year…. 102k/9 years old and 99k/11 years old……

trail_rat – Member

Fwiw my reputible unreliable french diesels both went through their MOTS first time with no advisorys again this year…. 102k/9 years old and 99k/11 years old……

ssshhhh… Everyone knows they’re all awful awful cars and hopefully it stays that way so we can buy ’em for pennies 😉

Mk3 Mondeo 2.0 TDCI. Comes with loads of toys. Easily 50mpg.

More imporatantly chain driven so no having to do the cambelt.

I did 90k miles in one and never had any issues.

“More imporatantly chain driven so no having to do the cambelt”

Almost as relevent as ensuring the rear window demist works.

FunkyDunc – Member

I did 90k miles in one and never had any issues.

Mine did 100000 with nothing but routine book servicing (well, and lots of front discs), shit got real at 100001 though 😆