I will shortly need to make a 150 mile round trip to work for up to 7 days a month. I need a cheap diesel car which will eat up these miles and deliver good mpg. As these will be mostly motorway miles I'd like somthing no smaller than escort size. I'm going to get rid of my current car and only run the diesel until at least the summer when I may get a second, nicer, 'weekend car'so I'd like something which is not too embarrasing to drive. As I will be piling on the miles I don't want to spend much on the car- under £1000 and preferably around half that. A tall order I know!
I've read previous posts recommending Montegos and Maestros but I'd rather get something a bit newer looking. Most people I know recommend Citroens and Peugeots but I'm worried about reliability and parts costs also some of the prices seem a bit on the high side. On Autotrader's website there are a number of Rover 218/ 418 diesels and turbo diesels eg M plate 218 TD with 130k and 7 months ticket for £600. This seems very cheap and appears to fit the bill exactly- why are they so cheap though? Don't they have Peugeot engines? Has anyone got one of these, if so what are they like, is the TD much better? Alternatively can anyone suggest anything else.
Thanks 9000
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They are so cheap partly because the Rover has a relatively high insurance group, and partly because most people STILL run a mile from anything with a 6-figure mileage!
There are a couple of Rover 218 TD's as cabs around here, seem to be reliable enough. I had a P-reg Peugeot 405 estate TD you could have given me £800 for up until yesterday...
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After looking at some truly dire motors I've settled for a 93 L Astra non turbo diesel estate. Does anyone have one of these, what mpg could I expect?
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Used to have one of these, the 1.7 with the GM lump. Not exactly fast it required a lot of nerve to overtake in it sometimes but it was very reliable. Cambelt every 45k oil and filter change every 5k went to 100k with only the waterpump packing up just after a cambelt change at 93k. As I recall 45mpg was not too hard to achieve.
as ever
Mark
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Yup it's certainly not the fastest car around. This one's done over 200k so someone must have looked after it over the past few years. What's should I expect to pay for a timing belt?
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Does anyone have one of these? Well HF does (hers is a 92J), which means there are loads of posts on the car in the archive and will continue to be if you keep checking back.
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I have absolutely no idea of the mpg I get, so I'm sorry I can't be of any help.
HF
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I had a L reg 1.7d estate until recently when I sold it within the family. Extremely reliable and never less than 49MPG, my average was about 53MPG. Make sure you clean out the rear wheel arches properly when you wash the car and clear out any muck that accumulate on the folded metal lip that runs round the arch.
The cambelt should be changed every 36K miles. I think I paid about £90 at my local independent garage, but this included a new roller, which also doubles as a tensioner. Might be a good idea to change the tensioner as well as the belt.
The diesel return pies from the injectors can start to weep diesel (the braided hoses that run between each injector on the fron of the engine) so check those are ok. Replacements are available cheaply from most motorfactors.
If you look after it, it should serve you well!
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The diesel return pies >>
Mmmmmmm, pies.......
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oops, I should have read that back to myself! I of course meant diesel pipes. Don't go looking for pies on the engine, they'll be rather overcooked if there were any!
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