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At that sort of age and mileage they are all looking at major spends such as cam belts,clutches etc.you may be lucky but I doubt it.
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I found a couple of Mondeos and a Saab 9-5 for £4k or under with half the mileage of those! Not as fancy as an Audi but then you get almost the same kit in most of them - aircon, CD player etc.
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If you're lucky you might get another 160,000 out of the Audi PD, and you may have to fit a new cam belt, it may have been misfuelled, it might have been a taxi, it may have had a lead footed rep driving it, someone may have had driving lessons in it, added to that there are so few 1.9PD engines around, barely anyone has thought of making aftermarket bits for them.............. there again it might be a sweet little peach:)
Why go for a SAAB, why not go the whole hog and get a Vectra?
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'so few 1.9PD engines around' You sure?? because almost every VAG group car has some form of that engine in it, passat, superb,golf,seat leon etc etc......
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03 Audi A4 1.9 PD130 - £3700 with 92k on the clock
Highly sought after engine but £3700 is too much for an 8 year old car. Nothing is completely bullet proof.
Edited by unthrottled on 08/06/2011 at 19:51
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03 Audi A4 1.9 PD130 - £3700 with 92k on the clock
Highly sought after engine but £3700 is too much for an 8 year old car. Nothing is completely bullet proof.
For a sub-100k example that's a good price - these are fetching £3k+ at the auctions all day long, let alone a normal sale.
Popular car with popular engine type means high demand and solid prices.
None of these cars are completely bulletproof which is why they are sub-£4k and not the £25k they were when new. You can't have it all ways - if you want bulletproof pay £25k and get new, if you don't, pay £4k and take a punt you might get a £1k bill every now and again.
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i
Edited by davmal on 08/06/2011 at 20:22
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I was trying to say:
irony.
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92k..................................., pah still only being run in,
assuming oil & coolant kept topped up and changed as appropriate
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...But the rest of the car is still 8 years old.
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I currently drive an 02 plate mazda 6 - which is 9 years old - absolutely no problems whatsoever and stil running perfectly - passed it's MOT yesterday with no probs.
If a car has been well maintained, then I dont think 8 years is that bad. This is just my take on things
The problem is that I need a reliable car - the saab 9-5 has vauxhall diesels which arent the most reliable.
The engine which consistently gets mentioned to me is the VAG PD engine as being an economical workhorse - if well looked after
I could always buy a passat for 3k with the same engine - but the old shape passat is too common and also quite ugly in my eyes
I need a car to keep for 2 years with few problems, then I would have saved enough money to buy my 'ideal' car which is either a IS220D or mazda6 2.2D
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What about another Mazda 6? I drive an 05 plate 1.8 TS petrol and I do 17-20k miles a year in it. I love it. It's reliable and comfy, and it's got a bit of power.
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...But the rest of the car is still 8 years old.
Oh come on, yes you might have the odd bill, but you should get 3 years and 75k out of it without too much trouble.
You pays your money and takes your choice - yes such a car is 8 years old and done 92k but it is under 20% of its original cost with probably 50% life left. It's only £3700 to buy - the OP will use £3700 of fuel a year at 25k pa even at 45mpg.
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I bat up and down the motorway in a fifteen year old car (from an 'unreliable' manufacturer) at that. But there's a key difference: I know the history of that car and that counts for a lot.
The fact is that AWX engines are good but they've attained some mythical status and are now vastly overpriced. You could pick up a much newer PSA diesel for £3700-and it has a much higher chance of comparitively cheap motoring.
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Not all cars from vauxhall etc.. are unreliable - but take a new astra and a new golf - treat them both the exact same and I would think the PD engine in the golf would be in much better shape.
The history counts for a lot, yes - but unless I know the guy who I buy it off, and he/she has had it since new - there's still a risk being taken.
Yep, PSA group make wonderful diesels but often the cars they are used in suffer electronic issues. I was looking at the mazda 3 1.6D with the PSA diesel engine - and getting it 'tuned' to 136bhp - thoughts?
Edited by balleballe on 10/06/2011 at 13:00
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The PD engine is a reliable workhorse. Nothing is bulletproof and if you use a car you must expect to have to to the odd thing to it. That is part of the budget of running a car.
You must also decide if newness and miles are more important than looks. You'll get a newer and lower mileage PD engined car if you go for the "less fashionable" homes for it which means cars like the Bora, Toledo, older Passat etc. rather than a Golf GT TDI.
You pays your money and takes your choice.
If you want "risk free" buy new and get a 3 year warranty. On the other hand, pay 20% of new and accept the odd thing will go wrong. You don't get something for nothing.
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Well, buying new isn't an option with a budget of £4k. The question is what'll give the best motoring for the budget. If the Audi works without any failures-it's wonderful. I just think that buying an 8 year old car for the purpose of doing 25000 miles p.a. is unnecessarily risky. For £4k you can probably get a car with a bit of warranty left. It's not just the engine, but all the other components in a car that add up to reliability. There's a simplistic 'it's got a PD (no Siemans!) therefore it'll go on forever' mentality and it just isn't sensible.
I think the french electronic 'problem' is overstated. VAG started having electrical problems when the bean counters started substituting cheaper components.
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You could get a car for £4k with a bit of warranty but whether you'd want to do 25k a year in it is another matter. In any case, at that rate of mileage, any warranty will be very short.
The fact is 25k a year will cost, both in terms of wear and tear on any car and in terms of fuel.
There really isn't much about for under £4k which is economical and nice to drive unless you go high mileage and/or older. In the current market everyone wants to chop in their 30mpg car for one which does 50mpg and spend nothing....they can't but it is this demand which is making anything sensible and nice expensive.
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I'd go for an Octavia, with the brilliant PD engine like one the A4 has. For your budget you'll get a newer, lower mileage car. Hatch/estate are both more spacious than the A4. You'll get few people have a go at you, so just tell them it's an Audi underneath! :) If people can't get past the badge, it's their loss.
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Or better still, undercut the Octavia with a Mk1 Superb. The same money will buy a better Superb than it will an Octavia.
Desperately unfashionable, the old Superb is Passat based with a LWB and can be had with an AWX engine. If you can find a good one and it is right for your job (not a town car) it's a bargain.
Mine has given an outstanding quotient of performance, economy and comfort and has been reliable. Run it to the ground though, you'll never shift it second hand.
659.
Edited by 659FBE on 12/06/2011 at 22:05
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I have both an Octavia and the A4 you describe - ie a 1.9TDI PD from 2003. I've had it for 6 years and taken it to 101000k so far. I've looked after it well, got it regularly serviced and used the right oils and it gas been stellar. My only repair bill was for a broken spring thanks to some dodgy roads.
I love it. It is still so refined and quiet - much more so than our Octavia which is 5 years younger. And I don't care about badges.
If the car has a good service history and has had the necessary done at the right intervals, eg cambelts, then go for the car that's got the most comfortable environment for your annual 25k.
Good luck…
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GET THE 1.9 ENGINE. .
I own 2 volvos, pre-2004 before fords ownership....i upsets me to say avoid the 2005 2.0 d is basically a focus underneath, without the volvo D5 engine (Thats fitted to the s60/s70/v70 etc)...my brother in law has a v50 2.0d (the estate version of your S40 your looking at. its now covered 75k, its has, 1 complete electrical failure, egr failure, alternator failure, etc etc and soon its will require its particulate filter oil topped up...kiss goodbye to almost 1000 for that service....his car has been owned by him from new, and has a full dealer history...but its not been a good car for him....also my local volvo indie, said since the ford takeover they have found steering rack failure is also comon in cars as little as 3 years old......
the s60, i was tooking at these to replace my aging v40. and as you have found the eco3, in 2003/2004 is the one to go from (chrome bezels around the speedo etc) but dash failure is also common, and the dash is linked to the ecu, requiring it to be replaced by the main dealer and programmed to work with that car...costs £700....
paul....
have a look around for a leon cupra / LR diesel....1.9 - 150hp made up to 2005.....grin.....
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.1.9 - 150hp made up to 2005.....grin.....
...and a nasty little camshaft wear problem [not grin]. This is why everyone wants the AWX 130-and prices reflect this.
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Volvo dashboards can be fixed for about £100 - not the £700 a main dealer charges.
You're right though that the Volvo D5 engine is a hell of a lot more reliable than the 2.0d Ford/PSA engine and in most circumstances more economical too.
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