Just my opinion but compared to many VAG owners on this forum you've done well to have owned so many cars and not had enough bad experiences to put you off buying another. At your budget condition is everything so I'd broaden my search to include other marques but generally speaking you'll be looking at high mileage diesels well out of warrranty and with the potential to hit you with a big bill for amongst others injectors, dmf, dpf and turbos. As you've spelt reliable in caps I'd respectfully suggest you consider a petrol car and a Japanese one, Honda Accord, Mazda 6, Toyota Avensis, Subaru Legacy, and buy the best condition with best history. This is what I would do and I'm a fan of diesels but I'd be too worried about a big failure looming so I'd go petrol and miss the driving characteristics and mpg of a diesel.

If it has to be a diesel then an Octavia is good value and roomy especially the boot. An early Superb even more so but few good ones about. A well looked after Passat would be economical and roomy but they have issues with floor mounted ecus that get wet and seized front suspension joints both design flaws and not easy to fix inexpensively. I don't know how good or bad Seat Leons are. A Mondeo or Vectra would be bigger but both have known diesel specific problems as do just about every mainstream manufacturer especially with high mileage examples.

I think I'd go for an Octavia, a B5.5 Passats or the equivalent Audi. My old Passat PD130 served me very well for over 5 years. Parts are easily available, relatively cheap and most of the foibles are known.

I'd also consider a Seat Leon if one came up.

Personally I'd go for a 2L 90bhp Peugeot 307, as close to the facelift model as you can.

I've had a few cars and always go back to this model 307 because they've been absolutely spot on.

Sadly people will always slate Peugeots because they're French (depsite having lots of components made by Siemens and Bosch!) , but I've bought good condition models with service history and looked after them and never had any major problems. The people who do end up with problems are the ones who buy tatty models with no history. My last two have been one-owner-from-new with full service history, and they've been absolutely mint.

Their gripes and niggles of the cars are very well documented, and cheap and easy to fix yourself, the Peugeot owners community is very friendly.

Go for the LX, GLX or SE models as they have all the nice toys (folding mirrors, all round electric windows, climate control etc.) and front arm rests. The 90 bhp model won't win any land speed records, but is excellent on fuel and doesn't have the DPF or a dual mass flywheel clutch.

The facelifted model looks nicer at the front but from my experience are pretty basic inside.

What mileage will you do, and how - daily commutes / week-end long trips? Town/M-Way?This forum is full of people advising diesels only for 15,000 miles per year upwards.

Don't be put off by higher miles per year than average (e.g. 100,000 in 4 or 5 years is better than 75,000 in 15).

At £3,000, I'd focus on the previous owner (ideally only one or two) as much as the vehicle and what sort of a person they are. Are they careful, did they get regular car services at good garages, are they straight?! Why are they selling? What are they buying to replace it?

Agree that Asian vehicles should not be overlooked, esepcially the more recent Kia / Hyundai for value.

Thanks for the replies. I've had a think and I'm thinking I might go petrol. Basically I do only 15 miles a day commuting; but we do tend to do a lot of excursions. I had in mind that mine will be the "weekend and excursion" car too which I thought would call for a good mile muncher.

Anyway I'm thinking of turning Japanese... I really like the look of the 2003-2008 Honda Accord, the 2.0 petrol. I've never owned a Japanese car before.

Do you think I'd get a decent Accord for under £3k? What sort of things should I look out for? What kind of mileage can they do before they fall apart? Will I get three years of relatively pain-free motoring out of it?