Low cost diesels under £2000

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Sat 30 Jun 2012 21:24
Low cost diesels under £2000 - nemit
I have been looking for a economical, reliable diesel for under £2000. It has to be a good motorway muncher as i do about 25,000 miles per year. I have seen Vectras going very cheap but have heard bad things about them. Currently I am looking at the 2.0 diesel Xtype jaguar as I have seen 100k 03 platters going for around my budget. Any other cars I should think of looking at?
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Sat 30 Jun 2012 21:31
Low cost diesels under £2000 - unthrottled

This is PSA territory. The HDi engines are pretty economical, although not very refined. I think VW's 1.9 PD engine is better, but £2K doesn't buy much from VAG.

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Sat 30 Jun 2012 22:02
Low cost diesels under £2000 - Avant

I agree with Unthrottled: also think about a Ford (Focus or Mondeo) - the 2.0 diesel is I think the same engine as in the Jaguar X-type, and you should get a newer Ford for your £2,000 than a Jaguar.

Another possibility is a Honda Civic diesel. Avoid the Mazda 6 - a very good car as a petrol, but the diesel has expensive problems.

But at this end of the market condition is more important than make or model.

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Sat 30 Jun 2012 22:01
Low cost diesels under £2000 - GavoTheSane

Mk1 focus/mondeo?

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Sat 30 Jun 2012 22:28
Low cost diesels under £2000 - nemit
I have had a look at the focus and the mondeo, and like both of these. Is there anything I should avoid and maybe something I should keep a eye out for especially?
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Sat 30 Jun 2012 23:15
Low cost diesels under £2000 - unthrottled

Mk 1 Mondeo? Weren't those diesels awful-unrefined and littele more efficient than a petrol.

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Sun 1 Jul 2012 00:52
Low cost diesels under £2000 - daveyK_UK
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Sun 1 Jul 2012 11:52
Low cost diesels under £2000 - pd
25k pa is a big ask for a sub-£2k diesel. You'll have to realistic and expect to have to spend some money on it every now and again.
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Sun 1 Jul 2012 16:22
Low cost diesels under £2000 - nemit
I know it's not a lot of money to pay for a car that's going to do the mileage I'm asking, that's why I want to make sure I have the right car. The car will be properly maintained and be serviced every 6 month, plus I don't drive excessively and thrash it. Infact my partner called me a grandad driver the other day.
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Sun 1 Jul 2012 17:39
Low cost diesels under £2000 - unthrottled

I don't think it is a lot to ask from a £2K car. I do long trips in a car that has a market value less than the tax disc and I have complete confidence in arriving safely.

You do need a bit of luck in getting a good car though. You can create your own luck by buying unfashionable cars-don't try to be clever and get an ageing high spec Audi with a gazillion miles on it because it has the AWX 1.9 PD which is the 'best' because your chances of getting a good example are much, much smaller than a comparably priced Citroen.

I'd look at late examples of Citroen Xsaras with the 2.0 HDi, or pug 406s with the same engine. Lots of reasonably priced ones around.

Does your £2k budget include a repair fund? You need to have £500 aside in case an expensive component fails. Most people make the mistake of spending too much on the purchase of the car and leave too little for running costs and unexpected problems. Reduce your budghet to £1500 if you need to.

Avoid cars that appear to be bargains. It might be a bargain, but chances are the vendor knows something you don't.

Good Luck!

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Mon 2 Jul 2012 12:09
Low cost diesels under £2000 - pd
Would certainly agree with going for something unfashionable, although you will still need to budget a decent amount for maintenance. 25k pa is always going to cost you a fair chunk of money no matter what you buy or how you do it.

I've got a Civic diesel (which is mentioned above) in at the moment - great car in lots of ways and VERY well looked after but looking through the records in the first 100k has still needed a new turbo (£900), new oil pump, new diesel pump, new aircon compressor etc.

A lot comes down to luck. You can buy a car with 100k on it and take it to 180k with nothing but servicing. On the other hand you could buyt the same car and need a turbo, intercooler, clutch, DMF, slave cylinder, injectors, radiator, condensor etc.

If you could guarentee that a £2k car could do 80k without going majorly wrong everyone would be buying them.
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Mon 2 Jul 2012 12:37
Low cost diesels under £2000 - daveyK_UK
I thought the honda 2.2 diesel is a time bomb after 5 years of age?
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Mon 2 Jul 2012 12:50
Low cost diesels under £2000 - unthrottled

e first 100k has still needed a new turbo (£900), new oil pump, new diesel pump, new aircon compressor etc.

Well, you could buy a second hand turbo for much less. I don't think that is impressive durability at all-especially for a Honda!

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Mon 2 Jul 2012 15:32
Low cost diesels under £2000 - pd

Decent (as opposed to cheap because they'll go again in 1200 miles) refurbsihed turbos for many models are £400 or so. Add fitting, Add VAT then add the usual other bits which need to be done and the total bill is frequently £800+.

I see loads of ex-lease 3-4 year old cars and the maintenance prints make interesting reading. It is rare to come across one in the 80-100k bracket which hasn't had at least one large bill for a major component failure.

The Civic in quesiton, incidentally, was one of the very last of the older shape with the 1.7 litre unit not the 2.2.

There is a very good reason why several manufacturers are VERY reluctant to extend their warranties above 60k/3-year!

Edited by pd on 02/07/2012 at 15:32

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Fri 6 Jul 2012 09:58
Low cost diesels under £2000 - Bigdaveg

It depends on what size of car you want, I have a 1.4 tdci 03 plate Ford Fusion, yes it's as dull as dishwater BUT, it only costs £30 a year to tax and on long runs it easily does 60+mpg, it can easily carry 4 six footers and their luggage, by no means perfect you'd be hard pressed to find a car that's as reliable and frugal, yes the Jazz is renowned for being ultra reliable, but when it goes wrong, and they all tend to do so as the years pass, they ain't cheap, e.g a cam belt was replaced on my ex-1.7cdti civic, cost £350, Ford Fusion; £150, ford spares are two a penny, honda spares are expensive.

Sadly anything below £2000 diesel wise is going to have history and there is no gurantee that whatever you buy will be reliable, what you can do though is consider repair costs,i.e is it better to have an 8 year old jag or an 8 year old vectra ?.

Me personally I'd be looking at something like a primera or avensis.

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Mon 9 Jul 2012 21:50
Low cost diesels under £2000 - Bluffski

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/skoda-octavia-1-9-tdi-110-slx-estate-88k-diesal-new-mot-and-tax-till-end-8th-/110909611776?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item19d2ba5f00#ht_500wt_1202

Something like this would be an idea. It's all VAG running gear

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Tue 10 Jul 2012 00:25
Low cost diesels under £2000 - Wulbert

You could look for a Non Turbo deisel, if there are any still out there. I had a 1995 Citroen ZX which had a very reliable 1.9 deisel engine. I used to run it on a 30% sunflower oil mix, back when a litre of cooking oil was only 70p.

Less mpg but much less servicing and complexity to go wrong. I think the Citroen shared the same engine as Peugeot.

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