Thanks for the good advice. I know nothing about cars and have a phobia of car dealers.

I thought some engines were bomb proof? Of course they have to have been well looked after well. I have read many times on this forum of people raving about how good VAG engines are.

I also read on this forum of a skoda okatvia that had done 600,000 miles. I am really keen to get a diesel that does 55MPG as I resent spending so much £ on fuel.

It is a good idea to go Japanese but all the super reliable cars are petrol so you end up spending your repair cost savings in fuel bills. There is always the Nissan Micra but I'm not sure it is comfortable.

Cheers.

Edited by tarifa on 24/08/2010 at 11:27

Get somebody to help you with this if you don't have specialist knowledge.

At around the year 2000, most VAG cars (VW, Skoda and Audi) changed the 4 cyl diesel engines from a conventional type with an injection pump, to a later "unit injector" design called PD.

On your budget, get one of the earlier units as they are far less prone to expensive damage by mis-treatment such as the use of the wrong engine oil. The economy of the earlier engines is also excellent although they lack the performance of the later units.

The Octavia changed to the PD engine relatively late in its model life (about '04 I think). Get the best one of these you can afford - but get advice.

A friend of mine has just bought an '04 Octavia diesel estate for buttons - and it's a cracker.

659.