Brain dieser

I need a car to commute about 400 miles per week with my job. I can only afford about £5k and want to buy something that is ultra reliable, comfortable with some carry space, economical, cheap to run with cheap and available spare parts. I have looked on a number of sites and most cars seem to have problems of some sort or another. What do you recommend? I see no point in buying anything expensive as I am going to pile on the miles. I understand that diesels are very durable, assuming they do not develop an expensive fault.

Asked on 29 August 2011 by BL, via email

Answered by Honest John

I advise against £5,000 diesels. Typical Ford dealer costs for an 85,000 mile Focus 1.6TDCI are £1,600 for a new diesel particulate filter, £2,000 for a new turbo, £1,200 for a new dual mass flywheel and clutch. It’s going to take a lot of mileage to make that up and by the time it does they could all fail again. So if you go for a Focus, go for a 1.6 petrol version.

Tags: petrol or diesel? used cars

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