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If you were to buy a diesel car with a budget of £2500 to £3000 which one would you pick from these 3 and why? Mazda 626, VW Bora and Seat Toledo. Reliability and running costs are the most important factors. Looks and badge don't matter at all. Thanks!
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Havn't you got one yet? How's the 40 mile each way commute panning out?
The Bora and the Toledo are the same engine, perhaps even the same chassis. Does the 626 share/have any Ford bits?
My guess is that the Bora could be cheap - it's a Golf with a boot, but not at all sought after compared to the Golf. You could have a party in the boot.
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I personally chose the Toledo over the Bora. I didn't consider the other one.
No problems at all except leaks - to which the Bora is just as vulnerable.
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I've got Volvo S40 TD but to be honest I'm not getting as good MPG as I was expecting from a diesel car. It just about gives me 40mpg for motorway miles.
I think Mazda 626 shares few bits and pieces with mondeo and in fact I think their chasis are the same as well. But Mazda uses its own engines, gearboxes electrics etc..
Anyone knows how good or bad Mazda diesel engines are?
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My dad always had 626's but that was 15 years ago! He loved them though. I do remember someone posting on here recently about a 3 year old Mazda he'd bought which needed a new clutch with dual mass fly wheel(?). He was astounded when he got the bill. May be worth checking out.
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What age is the 626? I don't think they used any Ford bits, but Ford used some of theirs', I think it became a Mazda 6 when it started to use more Ford parts. The 626 is a pretty terrible car underneath the innocent looks, horrendously expensive parts and not very reliable.
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Why are you restricting yourself to these makes? We have a Vauxhall Astra 1.7 tdi, estate, which regularly returns 56mpg on a 200 mile motorway law-abiding run. It's never gone below 50mpg just knocking around. It's had a few small problems but nothing major and it's done 95,000 miles.
My mechanic tells me that the engine, though badged Vauxhall, is actually an Isusu.
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>>> My mechanic tells me that the engine, though badged Vauxhall, is actually an Isusu.
Yes it's also used in the Vectra as well.
By the way it's Izuzu.
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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But it's an Izuzu engine, therefore it's destined to blow itself up at some point.
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I've heard bad stories about those Isuzu / Vauxhall 1.7 diesel engines - the ECU on top of the engine can go haywire, cambelts need doing at 70,000 and they have some kind of complex alternator combined with vacuum pump device that is expensive to replace.
Are you that keen on diesel to just get good MPG figures? With your budget you are at risk of buying a high mileage one that has lots of big bills just round the corner. You could get a more recent and lower mileage petrol for the money then do your sums re cost per mile and total ownership. It will cost more to swap your current car again for another diesel model. One big bill on a diesel can wipe out any savings in fuel.
If I had to get something that age and was thinking long term and on a restricted budget I would go for a Japanese model, even better the models without cambelts that can snap - ie petrol Nissan Almera or Primera. Parts are not too expensive and many available at motor factors. Check the spark plugs, change the filters and oil regularly and you have no problems and would get the better side of 40mpg on a run. Watch out for Toyota, Mazda or Mitsubishi where you can end up at the main dealers for something simple like a suspension to get through an MOT and get charged an arm and a leg.
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I have been running a Bora for 5 years (160,000 miles) if you can get the tiptronic 130bhp SE you will not be dissapointed. 43mpg and drives beautifully
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The 1.7 Izuzu is fine as fitted to the Cav and Astra in '92 and light years ahead of the old GM n/a 1.7 at the time, better in the Vectra than the later 2.0 Dti, not fitted to the latest ('02 on) Vectra though is in the Astra in CR form, it is the 3.0 V6 Izuzu as used in the Vectra, Signum and 9-5 that has had some issues.
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Yep, you could each be right. My previous Astra, an M reg Izuzu 1.7 diesel, sprang an oil leak at 136000 miles which made it uneconomic to repair.
We also have an S reg, 1.4 petrol Almera, and it's been pretty good to 76000 miles. Only two wheel bearings and a set of corroded brake pipes have spoiled the picture. On the aforementioned motorway run, it easily tops 40mpg at cruising speeds but this drops to about 33mpg otherwise.
My experience of diesels is that they lose their fuel efficiency bigtime if you thrash 'em. So perhaps one's driving style should play a part in choosing a car.
I must say that I'm not sure about buying most modern diesels. The common rail system seems to be fraught with incipient problems which makes them a bit of a lottery. But I know someone in the parts dept of my local Volkswagen dealership and he tells me that he can't remember selling a PDI injector pump. (Or whatever it is on each cylinder). But he and his wife drive Ford Focuses............
Best, Bumbler.
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The reason I'm not looking at Astra 1.7 Diesel or other Vauxhall cars is their troublesome sensors. My brother in law had a 53 plate 1.7TDi and he had some terrible sensor issues with it. For me the RELIABILITY and running costs are the most important factor when buying a car. The reason I'm after a diesel car is because I'm going to do at least 25k miles in a year so a diesel car would make sense. I like Mazdas because of their reliability reputation and according to Parkers Mazda 626 diesels return over 54mpg.
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If badge isn't important then you may as well look at the Skoda Octavia, it's the same engine and chassis as the Bora and Toledo. When it comes to that, you may as well look at older Passats as well - plenty of pre-common rail engines around for low money. Can you get an older Ford Focus/Mondeo diesel for your budget? Probably more reliable than the VAG options and cheaper parts than the Japanese options. As a sweeping generalisation, Japanese cars tend to go wrong less often but often seem to be quite expensive to sort out when they do. Older Toyota/Mazda choices will be relatively underpowered and/or unrefined though. However the Nissan Almera could be a great option for you - not bad to drive and had diesel engines with pretty good poke and decent economy as well. Volvo-beating crash safety too, check the Car by Car Breakdown link to the left. Certainly seemed to be a hidden gem up until a few years ago, and likely to be less troublesome than any of the options you're looking at.
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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I would recommend a VAG PD type diesel in whatever body does the job/fits the budget. Choose from VW, Audi, Seat or Skoda. I have the big Skoda version and have been gratified to see that the standard of assembly is generally better than some of the other VAG cars with different badges.
All the VAG design cockups remain however, from the idot details such as having the spare wheel screwed down the wrong way up so you can't check the pressure, to the more significant ones like the well known water ingress problems. It seems the clone-makers are not empowered to put these things right when their versions are produced.
As the man in the parts dept says, the PD system is intrinsically very reliable - just as well in view of the cost of the injectors. Just watch the cambelt change intervals and make sure that the correct oil is used at all times. The odd MAF sensor failure will occur - easy to change and fairly cheap. Performance wise, it's a winner. This engine will do what the makers say it does in terms of output and economy. Not all the others do.
659.
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I would like to know how reliable Boras are? Has anyone had one? Either a Bora, Toledo or a Golf? I've heard some horror stories on the build quality of newish VWs. Thx
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A friend of mine bought a 1998 Passat TDi 110 about 18 months ago with 90k on the clock for £3500. The car now has about 125k on the clock and he has had no major problems whatsoever. The only problems he's had are the radio packing up and the climate control can sometimes be temperamental, but so far it's been very reliable, drives very well, pulls like a train and he's had over 650 miles from a tank on long steady motorway runs.
One of my work colleagues is thinking of selling her 1999 Golf 110TDi, with 80k on the clock and full service history for around £3k, which seems a reasonably fair price to me, so I'm kind of tempted to take her up on the offer, as a replacement for my elderly 200k 306TD.
Martin
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My 110TDi SE Toledo was fantastically reliable over three years and 46k, no issues at all. Consistenly returned over 47mpg and over 50 on an 80mph motorway run. All the toys too...climate, cruise etc.
My friend has a Bora although it's a Petrol. The plastics and fabrics inside are classier, but it's less well equipped and they are significantly more expensive to buy. Why not consider the Seat? If you don't mind a boot, given the unpopularity of the saloon in the UK, they are a bit of a bargain. I got £4900 for mine in P/ex last September, when it was 3 and a bit years old with 46k.
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I would not hesitate to go for a late Rover with L TDi lump. 25 or 45
They are reliable cars (British /Japano/ German car really), probably 0 cred (but do you really care?).
We run ours for 5 years now and the only problem is some loose interior fittings.
Our's do 640 miles out of every £46 of diesel when using with Miller's diesel+, you do the math.
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