Buying an old diesel estate - which is best?

I am looking to buy old diesel estate, that’s around eight to ten years old. I know all will have some issues, but I'm on a tight budget. I have whittled my list down to a Volkswagen Passat 1.9, a Honda Accord 2.2 TDCI, a Toyota Avensis 2.2D and a Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCI. Which would you buy?

Asked on 1 October 2013 by Joe99

Answered by Honest John
The B6 Passat is better than the 2005-2011 Passat that has a list of faults as long as your arm. Mondeos were good but seem to have been built to a life of around nine years. The Avensis would be a belt cam 2.0, not the chain cam 2.2 that did not arrive until 2006 and had some cylinder head problems.
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Long load bed. Good Japanese build quality, all chain-cam engines.
Solid car. Sophisticated multi-link suspension deliberately unstressed for long life. Quite quick T180 diesel from July 2006.
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