Diesel Car - £3-4k | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sat 15 Jan 2011 21:48

Diesel Car - £3-4k - B747

Dear all

You will have to forgive me, as this is my first post on this forum and I would appreciate some help and advice.

This is the situation: I currently own a 2007 Vauxhall Vectra 1.8 VVTI XP, with 58k on the clock. This is the model with the VXR kit and the 19" snowflake alloy wheels. Anyway, I bought the car in October 2009 with 23k on the clock. Typically I do between 25-30k miles a year. I work in Buxton and so the conditions can be very icy and we have snow for a good 2 months of the year. The car, as far as I am concerned is absolutely useless in the snow - no doubt due to the 19" alloys with the ultra low profile 235mm tyres all the way around.

The simple fact is that the performance of the car in the snow plus the cost in fuel is untenable. Accordingly, I am looking to sell my car and spend between £3-4k on a diesel. Before posting, I made sure that I read all of the previous posts on this subject but many of the views and opinions seem so conflicting. If my interpretation is correct, there seems to be two sides to this - the 1.9 PD TDI VAG engines and then the ones used in the japanese cars. Given my high yearly mileage I am not sure what to go for.

I have seen 1.9 TDI 130 engines with huge miles but the issue I have is that I don't want to buy a money pit. It's all very well having a great engine, but it is of little help when everything else is falling apart. To me, the lower mileage japanese models may be better? I guess the sensible choice would be a Toyota Avensis, but I just can't get myself to like them - they just look horrendous.

As an aside, before my Vectra I took a 1.6 golf mark 4 up to 158k. Absolutely nothing wrong with the engine when I turned it in, but lots of things starting to go wrong - hence my point about the integrity of the whole car rather than just the engine.

I would very much appreciate some opinions on this - thank you.

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 00:18

Diesel Car - £3-4k - Boulder2k9

There are not many diesels that you could buy for 3-4k and put 20-30k on them each year to be honest as most will have high mileages. At this price you could also be looking at turbo failures etc. It might end up being cheaper to sell the wheels on the Vectra get smaller ones and keep the car. Remember the engine is chain driven so shouldn't give you much trouble. The lack of trouble could pay for the fuel.

However here are a few suggestions

Skoda Octavia with the PD engine some ok ones for around 4k available

VW Golf mk 4, you already had one why not another with diesel. For example http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2357207.htm. This seems like a good one with the 130bhp engine it should run forever.

159man

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 11:27

Diesel Car - £3-4k - pd

Sorry, but how on earth can you decide whether an engine "will not give much trouble" because it has a cam chain? Are you suggesting that the only thing which goes wrong with engines is the method of driving the timing gear?

All you have to do with cambelts is change them on time - which these days can be at very, very high mileages. That done, there is absolutely no potential difference all other things being equal neither is likely to give more trouble than the other.

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 12:34

Diesel Car - £3-4k - Steven Quas

At that price range I would go for a Mondeo diesel, or perhaps an Octavia. As you suggest avoid big wide wheels if you want traction in snow and ice, or better still buy a second set of the smallest wheels that will fit over your brake discs and put winter tyres on them to run from Nov-Mar. If you're planning to keep the car for years then this doesn't really add to the running costs as you are only wearing one set at a time.

You may need to wait until summer to buy the winter tyres though as the Germans have bought them all this year. Sorry about that....

Steven Quas , Hamburg

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 13:26

Diesel Car - £3-4k - busdriver

I have a Skoda fabia 1.9 tdi estate. Elegance. I am sure you would find a good Octavia. Skoda's are built to work in northern and eastern Europe. Mine has started first time despite being left for 3-4 days in heavy frost. Heater goes into recycle when reversing useful if you have to back up some distance. Seat warmers make for comfort and also good for easing back ache. Fittng winter tyre would be an advantage. Have fun

Brian Grainger

Kington Herefordshire.

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 15:07

Diesel Car - £3-4k - B747

Many thanks for the replies. The cars that I can think of are:

At between £3-4k I would be looking at the early versions of say the Octavia. Part of me wonders about the quality/durability of the previous generation passat and the previous generation A4. On the japenese side, I was looking at the Mazda 6 and Toyota Avensis but the Avensis is as ugly as sin whilst from what I have read the diesel Mazda 6 can suffers from some issues.

Really I just want something that is going to reliable given that it will already have a high mileage. I don't want to change and then end up with an absolute money pit.

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 15:30

Diesel Car - £3-4k - Steven Quas

Really I just want something that is going to reliable given that it will already have a high mileage. I don't want to change and then end up with an absolute money pit.

The difficulty I see here is that there is always going to be some uncertainty about a £3-4k car. Every make has its lemons and if you buy with no warranty there is a risk. It is pretty hard to be sure that a car in that price range will cover upwards of 50k miles without a major problem.

One alternative idea might be to buy a £2k car and if it suffers a major failure then buy a £2k replacement. There are plenty of Mondeos around for that sort of money and very high mileage isn't a major issue if it has been done on the motorways. I am working on the principle that the cumulative expected life of two £2k cars is probably greater than the expected life of a single £4k car.

Steven Quas , Hamburg

Edited by Steven Quas on 16/01/2011 at 15:33

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Sun 16 Jan 2011 19:05

Diesel Car - £3-4k - corax

Really I just want something that is going to reliable given that it will already have a high mileage. I don't want to change and then end up with an absolute money pit.

If you just want something that is reliable then you shouldn't be concerned about looks. The Avensis is a good all rounder and the looks grow on you! And they are capable of high mileage. Everyone on a budget has the same problem - will they be exchanging their reliable high mileage steed for a lemon? For your budget, all you can do is find a car with the best service history you can and bite the bullet. Or do as Steve Quas says and buy a cheapie.

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Mon 17 Jan 2011 01:43

Diesel Car - £3-4k - woodster

B747 - there should be absolutely no reason why the Vectra is no good in the snow and ice. Why should a Diesel be better? The Vectra's front wheel drive so I certainly don't mean to cause offence but I suspect a slight lack of know- how in the snow. For sure most people are not used to driving on snow and tend to take it very steadily indeed, but driven correctly there's no reason why any front drive car can't make good progress. It's all down to technique. In truth, you can go as fast as you like, you just can't b***** well stop! What about a set of winter wheels and tyres and a bit of tuition? probably safer and cheaper than changing the car and any new found skills go everywhere with you, whatever you drive.

Ask Honest John

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