Apart from it being as ugly as sin (beauty in the eye etc), it seemed a nice enough package to me.

Your research should be directed at the common faults of the model, and you need a rock solid service history with this engine especially, if you find one with a recent new turbo walk away very fast.

Edited by gordonbennet on 12/10/2015 at 15:12

Might I suggest you deciding for yourself if cabin space, handling, etc. are what you require out of a car.

You must recall that, a lot of the times, the only time motoring journalists will actually drive a car is during a test - so they may be giving it some hammer around a track, where any handling deficiencies might get shown up. In normal driving, it might handle perfectly well.

Regarding the petrol/diesel debate, the usual swapover point is viewed as 15,000 miles a year. Less than that, go petrol. More, go diesel.

As others have told you, yes, diesels (and especially older diesels) are more likely to have expensive-to-fix faults lurking. For example DPF, DMF/clutch faults. A petrol car doesn't have a DPF to go wrong, and a petrol clutch is subjected to a lot less torque, so doesn't need a DMF. Furthermore, though both petrol and diesel cars have EGR valves, petrol-engiuned ones are far less likely to have problems.

Do you really need a diesel? Unless you are going to be doing well over 20,000 (and probably over 25,000) miles a year, its really not worth the bother, factoring in the extra mpg and lower VED on one side against the lower purchase price, normally lower fuel price per litre (for lower mileages this will make a big difference) and better reliability of (less complex than modern diesels - less to go wrong) standard petrol-engined cars on the other.

Even if you do a large mileage, all it'll take to wipe out any financial gains of getting a diesel over a petrol is one major fault on the engine, which on some can be quite common. I would also pay great attention to the 'good and bad' sections of HJ's 'Car by Car' reviews, at least as much (if not more) as the rest about how good (or not) they are to drive, practicalities, comfort, etc, and for £3k cars, reliability/condition and known problems are key outside of safety issues, which, to be honest, aren't too much of a problem if you buy a car that is from about 2000 onwards and NCAP rated 4 or better.

Forget the VED (don't go mad the other way though) and just concentrate on condition, reliability and what meets your other essential needs. Its no good buying a flashy looking, great handling but unreliable dud that spends more time at the garage than on the road.