Had a 1.9tdi passat that was just a fantastic car took it from 85k to 225k over 10 years. I do all my own work and can tackle pretty much anything. That 1.9tdi engine was just bullet proof in my opinion with oil changes every 6000 miles it never put a foot wrong. Shure it had some silly electrical problems and water leaks but was so reliable it was incredible. Only didn’t make it to its destination once in 10 tlyears and that was only a turbo pipe that blew off andbit was too dark to find it.

Probably a 69 plate 2.0 tdi Passat.

Well Kias and Hyundias are the most reliable cars nowadays, Passats are down in the bottom 20% I think!

Should have said I am after something with roughly 80k miles that I can run again to high mileage. Purchase price 4 to 6k. Needs to be a big estate.

Just get another Passat. Sorry if that’s a dull answer!

I had 3 in a row (only changed when others drove into them). Decided to have a change, got a volvo xc60. It’s very nice, but I miss the passat. Just a no nonsense does everything you chuck at it motor.

My previous car was a 2013 Peugeot 508 estate (don’t laugh) which was actually a brilliant car. Load space was huge , great on fuel and pretty good to drive, your budget would get a newer one than that. I would have got another one but I got lured by the Kia 7 year warranty and got the Optima estate….another braw car so far, despite buying it from Arnold Clark!

1.8 Petrol Avensis Estate either auto or manual. Auto is CVT box with no DMF issues.
An incredibly reliable capable but dull to drive Estate. Mazda 6 2.0 petrol if you want a bit more driver involvement.

Seat exeo?
Mine has been faultless

Skoda Superb?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2012-Skoda-Superb-2-0TDI-CR-170ps-Elegance-L-K-LUX-PACK-GREY-ESTATE-DIESEL/273931514151?hash=item3fc7973127:g:3S4AAOSwlYlcw0MQ

Should have said I am after something with roughly 80k miles that I can run again to high mileage. Purchase price 4 to 6k. Needs to be a big estate.

Our V70 fits the bill.

Last of the 5cyl, downsized and detuned to 2.0lt and 135bhp. Very well proven old skill(ish) engine and oily bits.
Cheap Mondeo brakes, bushings and bearings etc.
Easy servicing.
It’s a D3, manual 2012/13 with stop start so £20 annual tax, 50mpg on a run/45mpg around town.

I’ve seen that V70 more times than I’ve seen my own car.

And btw, Volvos should never be red.

I have spoken.

href=”http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201906219263465?atmobcid=soc3″>Octavia estate

I’d go for something like this that has the newest 1.9pd with no dpf. Elegance is a good spec too.

The later 105bhp 1.9 tdi’s had a habit of throwing a con rod through the side of the block every now and again for no reason. May have something to do with the oil pump drive shaft stripping the hex on the end of the shaft. Earlier higher powered engines didn’t have this problem.

I’m not sure there is a modern equivalent of those engines, they were pretty much the reliability pinnacle of the technology/regulation curve.

My brother sold on a Skoda Fabia with that engine a number of years ago. He thought it was getting on a bit and was worried about reliability/big bills. He’s on his third car since then, and still sees the Skoda out and about, working fine 😀 Says it hurts every time he sees it!

We bought a 1.9 13obhp 54 plate passat estate with rusty wheel arches 4 years ago with 99,000 ish miles on and its passed all its MOT’s since with very little work required and no breakdowns.
As mentioned though, it pops indicator fuses and has intermittent central locking, it also leaks water through the Ns door seal. Pulls like a train though 🙂

I really don’t think there is one. Vw did put the pd engine in the new shape passant
So a 56 ish plate 1.9 passant is probably as near as you are going to get. No dpf to worry about
Electric handbrake will fail at some point thsy all do
I would look at Honda accord cdti, merc E220 cdi blue motion, although the injector seals will fail and rust can be an issue
Maybe a v70 I own one, massively underrated or perhaps a V50 edrive

I suppose anecdotes regarding vehicle reliability are not really very useful (lots of love for the B5 Passat in posts above; mine, over 12 years never managed more than 6 weeks without something needing replaced). A Skoda Superb (for example) is much less likely than a Passat to go wrong yet clearly individuals have had the opposite experience. You’re better looking at reliability surveys rather than folk’s individual experiences.I think German manufacturers for the last 25 years have not made much effort to make their cars more reliable, the fact that their cars feel well engineered does not mean they are. But there is no incentive for them to change things when punters continue to buy their cars anyway.

I’d get one of those kia optima or the equivalent hyundai with 1.7 crdi

These are the latest airport taxi of choice

Plug your budget into auto trader, sort by age – newest don’t worry about mileage

Try and find one privately owned that they are about to trade in, and catch them before they do

Don’t buy a taxi

So you do 14k a year which = petrol over diesel (which let’s be honest is dead). Skoda Octavia, Volvo V70.
That said diesels are dirt cheap at moment so maybe a Mondeo estate?

Big old diesel estate you can drive to the moon and back?

Decade old V70?
Or, leftfield suggestion, maybe a 61 plate Merc E220?

No longer a VAG fan myself, but the octavia is probably not a bad option really…