Newer Diesels...

[Toms306]

Hello,

Some of you may know I made a complete cock up last week with choosing a newer car...while it filled the eco and simple engine credentials, the ride comfort was so bad it was making me feel ill on the country roads near my house, obviously not ideal lol.

Anyway, it turns out all small cars have this shit solid ride (I thought they were for old people, no wonder they get arthritis!)...so I'm looking at larger 'midsize' cars again for the ride comfort, but for similar economy/tax and sensible power (around 10-12 seconds to 60 is fine) I've gotta look at diesels...which I was avoiding due to turbos/DPFs etc.

So I want sensible opinions on newer, eco'ish diesels (no, Piggy, that doesn't mean a vegged XUD lol). Is the 1.6HDi/TDCi really as bad as it seems? How about the VAG 2.0TDi? Any others? Ruan mentioned a HDi (2.0 iirc) in Volvos but there aren't any locally or in budget so that's off lol.

And should I be worried about DPFs? Being honest, I drive like an arse most of the time, always rushing about and majority of my driving is on B roads between 40-60 so I doubt a DPF would get clogged like that?

Anyway, I'm sure this will fill up with '306s are da best' but hopefully not.

Cheers
Tom

[ConorTRG]

Vag 2.0tdi are decent, most have had there problems sorted out with recalls. Dpfs generally only give trouble for slow drivers. What is your budget? Mk5 golfs are pretty comfortable and most have the bulletproof pd engine.

Dmf are another thing to watch out/budget for.

[Toms306]

Bulletproof PD!? I just hope the 2.0 is better than the 1.9 I had lol.

Budget is undecided currently, but Mk5 Golfs are high on the list tbh, but they seem to have held value well! Was also tempted by 308/Focus 1.6s.... But yet to actually try any so far.

[ConorTRG]

Yea they are imo, give no trouble once theyre maintained good. Just dont get a bxe engine code.

mk2 leons are basically the same aswell, firmer seats in them though.

[toseland]

1.6 focus TDCi, not the newest version, the "power bladew" or whatever is shocking.. so go for the one before if you can

nice pokey engine, nice ride if you dont get the "Sport",

go for a titanium trim, and its nice.. zetec is the poverty spec, 16inch alloys with the nicer ride tyres..

[sweeney1987]

if you thought the 1.9 is bad then the 2.0 wont suit you, its much less reliable.

What happened the Vectra? thought itd suit you fine...

To be fair i find most problems occur with cars is the previous owners, although irish people are notorious for neglecting cars.
Also using the wrong oil not specced highly enough for a car causes engine probs down the line (know for a fact of a local garage that puts 10w40 semi synth in everything) despite whats specced.

The 1.6 tdci/hdi problems seem to develop from incorrect oil and servicing, clogging the whole system and starving the turbo from oil, people replace the turbo but new one soon pops because all breathers and lines havent been cleared and new trbo is starved the same way.

to be honest though any new car i buy id be ripping out the dpf and mapping it out at the first sign of trouble, they seem to cause more hassle for engine and emissions savings arent that much greater imo

[Ruan]

I would strongly advise against anything VAG with the 2.0pd - the 1.9 wasn't bad, even if it's intensely agricultural and has a few problems... But the 2.0 is terrible, porous heads, cracked heads (BKD especially, leaks coolant into inlet), snapped oil pump chains - the list goes on. Go for a 170 and you have possibly the most unreliable DPF system.

IMHO - don't really go for 1.6HDi/TDCis - they're a bit unreliable, shame really, great engine... Injector problems and that pesky oil problem, soon as anyone puts the wrong oil, the turbo is headed for failure. They essentially can ONLY take the Total Low SAP oil specified by PSA - I don't know what Ford recommend, but I'd tend to stick with the oil that the engine manufacturer proved/developed the engine on in testing - which will have been the Total stuff.

IMHO - the 2.0 16v HDi is is a pretty damned good engine without DPF, don't hear of many DMF failures - at least, mine's done 110k now, no rattly DMF as of yet - but you can guarantee that the clutch will need doing at 130-140k and the DMF will need doing then also - no surprises there. You can also get them in Focus' - and they come *really* late without a DPF which is always good - seen one on a 57 plate with no DPF. V50/S40s got them around 55/06 plate. Only real fault you see with these engines is the air doser valve warps and jams on shutdown, causing bad starting, I think it's about £60 for a new part and it's on the front of the engine, easy to replace.

[Piggy]

I can speak for the 2.0hdi 16v a bit too...been servicing a couple for friends for a while. Decent motor, only issues I found was on the 407, the weird PAS system where previous owners have put normal oil in it and knackered the pump.
Not sure if similar system on same engine/other cars

[Dum-Dum]

BMW 116d in the comfiest spec with the smallest tyres you can find?

Or an old shape Hyundai i30 (like 12 plate or older) although the gearboxes and dmfs go on the Hyundai sometimes in less than 10k if abused.

[1616six]

BMW 116d in the comfiest spec with the smallest tyres you can find?

Or an old shape Hyundai i30 (like 12 plate or older) although the gearboxes and dmfs go on the Hyundai sometimes in less than 10k if abused.

116d is painfully slow. I was gonna say 120d, the older ones can occasionally have swirl flap issues but it's not hard to get the £50 odd kit to fix them open.

[C.A.R.]

MK2 Focus TDCi 2.0

Has the 16v HDi engine that Ruan talks about but no horrible DPF thing (earlier ones certainly don't). I think it's the Euro 4 emissions thing you need to watch for, as that's either the cutoff point or the point at which they were introduced.

The handling is actually rather excellent, driving position heaps better than the Peugeot 307 (with the same engine) and all-in-all they're not a bad looking car IMO.

My boss gives his all sorts of abuse. At 70k miles it needed a new clutch and DMF which cost him around £500 from an indy garage. Otherwise it's just needed regular service items. Oh and an alternator fault, but that cost less than £100 to put right too.

I hate this search for a more-modern car too, everything seems to have potentially ruinous un-serviceable (from a DIY perspective) time-bombs on board in the form of anti-pollutant rubbish which the government have made illegal for you to remove. It's why I've set my sights on a BMW 320d instead of the other offerings out there, since it's something I don't think I'd get bored of too quickly, looks nice, is swift, and has no dirty, stinking DPF on it!

Good luck with your search bud.

[Toms306]

if you thought the 1.9 is bad then the 2.0 wont suit you, its much less reliable.

What happened the Vectra? thought itd suit you fine...

To be fair i find most problems occur with cars is the previous owners, although irish people are notorious for neglecting cars.
Also using the wrong oil not specced highly enough for a car causes engine probs down the line (know for a fact of a local garage that puts 10w40 semi synth in everything) despite whats specced.

The 1.6 tdci/hdi problems seem to develop from incorrect oil and servicing, clogging the whole system and starving the turbo from oil, people replace the turbo but new one soon pops because all breathers and lines havent been cleared and new trbo is starved the same way.

to be honest though any new car i buy id be ripping out the dpf and mapping it out at the first sign of trouble, they seem to cause more hassle for engine and emissions savings arent that much greater imo

In 3 months of a 1.9PD (130 as well, not even 150!) I had a turbo pop, DMF get incredibly noisy and before I had a chance to replace that one of the lifters smashed through....those together basically wrote the car off! The 2.0 can't be that bad surely? I had been told on a VAG forum a while back that the porous head thing was only earlier models and will have been found and done under warranty by now...but obviously they may have a biased view hence asking here as well.

I do agree that its the previous owners causing issues though (for example, bought my HDi with a snapped belt due to complete failure of the crank pulley...how can you not notice that starting!). Which is why this time I bought something which was technically new and had only been owned by the dealer...but after seeing how much things can get ruined in just 9 months I've lost all faith in people tbh!

The Vectra is a bit of a sore point lol, I sold it and bought a cheaper 306 to unlock some funds for a plan that didn't go ahead in the end....massive waste of time and effort. However I never 'liked' it tbh, always felt like a luxury car that theyd ruined with cost cutting everywhere, and the ride in that was too far the other way, hit a bump and the rear end was still bouncing a mile down the road. Plus I never could trust it after the snapped springs, and finding some of the previous owners bodges (3rd injector plug 'fixed' with insulation tape and cable ties! for example).

I can speak for the 2.0hdi 16v a bit too...been servicing a couple for friends for a while. Decent motor, only issues I found was on the 407, the weird PAS system where previous owners have put normal oil in it and knackered the pump.
Not sure if similar system on same engine/other cars

Hmm, not heard of a weird PAS system, I'd guess it's just a French thing though, and Ford would use their own pump, will have to look into it though.

BMW 116d in the comfiest spec with the smallest tyres you can find?

Or an old shape Hyundai i30 (like 12 plate or older) although the gearboxes and dmfs go on the Hyundai sometimes in less than 10k if abused.

116d is painfully slow. I was gonna say 120d, the older ones can occasionally have swirl flap issues but it's not hard to get the £50 odd kit to fix them open.

Don't like Hyundais, somehow they make the ride awful in all of them that I've been in (Getz, i10, i20, i30, Matrix) so they're off completely.

I haven't seen a single 1 series while looking, with any engine, either they're way above my budget, or people round here don't really buy them maybe. Infact the only Bimmers I'm fininding are 320d's that have done stupid miles...one quite local, 2011 that's done 150k miles! Obviously a company car but 50k a year still seems a lot lol.

[ozonehostile]

I'm going to suggest a Renault laguna 2l dci, although they're possibly out of the price range you're looking at, but alot of car for the money, talking 56 plate sort of age, the ones that have blackmasked headlights

First of all its a big French car so comfort is king, 150bhp 2l diesel, really nice place to be inside

My old man has had loads of lagunas now, this is probably the best Renault made before they started cheaping out bigtime on build quality like the newer ones. Put 60k on it so far after owning it about a year and a half, drives all over the UK and Europe usually with 200kg of tools in the boot and has never missed a beat, only thing so far was the vanes on the turbo stuck open for a couple of days leading to having no power pulling away from traffic lights and then all of the power resulting in wheel spin and coal but that sorted itself lol

Never had an issue with any emissions stuff, think just driving it and getting everything warmed up properly is key, I'm sure exclusively driving around town it probably wouldn't be so good.

Main thing it's had done was the 120k service by Renault where they replace every bush in the suspension front and rear and regas the aircon etc

Big thumbs up from my perspective anyway, I'll be looking at getting something like that to use as a tow car in a couple of years

[1616six]

Prius? Not joking.

Ps. I know it's not derv.

[lolsteve]

L series?

Why not petrol? Do you really need the torque of a diesel? A small engined petrol can be very good on fuel too. what is the car even going to be used for?

Rover 45/75? Yes they're getting on a bit now but damn cheap and parts are easy to replace. 45 is somewhat large with a double wishbone suspension setup and hydraulic clutch whereas the 75 is partially a bmw and no doubt very soft ride with lots of creature comforts. plus 75 has a bmw diesel engine so take from that what you will

(yes I am fighting the rover corner )

[Fooby]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

[Toms306]

I would strongly advise against anything VAG with the 2.0pd - the 1.9 wasn't bad, even if it's intensely agricultural and has a few problems... But the 2.0 is terrible, porous heads, cracked heads (BKD especially, leaks coolant into inlet), snapped oil pump chains - the list goes on. Go for a 170 and you have possibly the most unreliable DPF system.

IMHO - don't really go for 1.6HDi/TDCis - they're a bit unreliable, shame really, great engine... Injector problems and that pesky oil problem, soon as anyone puts the wrong oil, the turbo is headed for failure. They essentially can ONLY take the Total Low SAP oil specified by PSA - I don't know what Ford recommend, but I'd tend to stick with the oil that the engine manufacturer proved/developed the engine on in testing - which will have been the Total stuff.

IMHO - the 2.0 16v HDi is is a pretty damned good engine without DPF, don't hear of many DMF failures - at least, mine's done 110k now, no rattly DMF as of yet - but you can guarantee that the clutch will need doing at 130-140k and the DMF will need doing then also - no surprises there. You can also get them in Focus' - and they come *really* late without a DPF which is always good - seen one on a 57 plate with no DPF. V50/S40s got them around 55/06 plate. Only real fault you see with these engines is the air doser valve warps and jams on shutdown, causing bad starting, I think it's about £60 for a new part and it's on the front of the engine, easy to replace.

2.0 170 PD's are still out of budget tbh, it was the 140 I was looking at. Hadn't heard about the oil chains though, might have to look into that!

Hmm, I keep reading the same about the oil in the 1.6s, and you obviously cant tell by looking whether its been serviced on time with the right stuff of not. Seems a bit daft to make an engine so delicate it cant cope with a bit of human error these days. Really is a shame because they're in the £30 tax with a good mpg book figure as well!

Sounds like the 2.0 16v is the best for reliability then, but is in a high tax band iirc and less mpg book figures as well...how hard can it be to make an eco car reliable!

MK2 Focus TDCi 2.0

Has the 16v HDi engine that Ruan talks about but no horrible DPF thing (earlier ones certainly don't). I think it's the Euro 4 emissions thing you need to watch for, as that's either the cutoff point or the point at which they were introduced.

The handling is actually rather excellent, driving position heaps better than the Peugeot 307 (with the same engine) and all-in-all they're not a bad looking car IMO.

My boss gives his all sorts of abuse. At 70k miles it needed a new clutch and DMF which cost him around £500 from an indy garage. Otherwise it's just needed regular service items. Oh and an alternator fault, but that cost less than £100 to put right too.

I hate this search for a more-modern car too, everything seems to have potentially ruinous un-serviceable (from a DIY perspective) time-bombs on board in the form of anti-pollutant rubbish which the government have made illegal for you to remove. It's why I've set my sights on a BMW 320d instead of the other offerings out there, since it's something I don't think I'd get bored of too quickly, looks nice, is swift, and has no dirty, stinking DPF on it!

Good luck with your search bud.

Driving position cant be much worse than a 307, they really are awful, seems to be a Peugeot thing tbh!

DMF and clutch at 70k is a bit worrying though, was the same on the Vectra, mine had one at 75k, and quite a few did when I was looking at the time. I know I moan about the PD Golf one failing but that had done 130k lol.

There are actually quite a few without DPFs even up to about 6 years old....but as in the OP, I'm not even sure if I should be worried about those given my driving style...

320d's are nice, but the parts prices put me off should something major fail.... Especially if its a dealer only part.

[1616six]

320d's are nice, but the parts prices put me off should something major fail.... Especially if its a dealer only part.

I never have understood the whole "Corr wouldn't have a BMW, parts will cost loads if it breaks"

I've now had:

E36 compact.. wishbone was £48 IIRC, 90 degree water pipe went on back of the block, was a dealer part, £3.94 inc VAT

E46, Water pump seized & disintegrated.. £28 for a water pump, 4 bolts (aux driven).. changed within 30 mins.

Other parts I've seen are no more expensive than any other marques.

Just for your reference Tom, E46 320D's & early pre LCI E90's the main issue was swirl flaps but there is a kit where you can fix them open in the right places for circa £50 & it's a perfectly safe fix. Later E90s with the N47 engine (Same as mine) the only real issue can be the timing chain stretches & becomes rattly, again it sometimes happens but more often than not is fine.. if it starts rattling it's a case of getting it changed before anything happens.

The E90 forums are busy ones & I see almost no knackered EGR threads compared to most other forums [read vectra-c forum] & the DPF, again, I don't understand where everyone has this huge worry about blocked DPF's.. Use & maintain the car properly & it'll be fine. I've driven almost 60k in the past 2.5yrs in a modern diesel and never had a single issue with a DPF.

I still personally think you ought to keep the moonstone HDI, you've replaced most major parts to a good level so it should stay reliable, you'd also save a lot of money, but you do seem to just want a new car which is fair enough - I was the same.


Without knowing your budget, just going by the 107 add for price...

This is what 30 miles from you? low mileage, nice colour, nice spec.


This is cheaper, higher miles but still not crazy.. Lovely looking, nice colour..


This if sticking to a much lower budget..

I fully expect you to say they are too far away but you've got to compromise somewhere, either stay local & spend more, travel a LITTLE further (Can't you get a lift with family who understand the situation re health to get you there safely?)


I still think this should be a possibility, look at the spec.. MPG, cheap tax, OK 0-60.. spacious.. will hold it's money as everyone is going more green..

[Toms306]

I'm going to suggest a Renault laguna 2l dci, although they're possibly out of the price range you're looking at, but alot of car for the money, talking 56 plate sort of age, the ones that have blackmasked headlights

First of all its a big French car so comfort is king, 150bhp 2l diesel, really nice place to be inside

My old man has had loads of lagunas now, this is probably the best Renault made before they started cheaping out bigtime on build quality like the newer ones. Put 60k on it so far after owning it about a year and a half, drives all over the UK and Europe usually with 200kg of tools in the boot and has never missed a beat, only thing so far was the vanes on the turbo stuck open for a couple of days leading to having no power pulling away from traffic lights and then all of the power resulting in wheel spin and coal but that sorted itself lol

Never had an issue with any emissions stuff, think just driving it and getting everything warmed up properly is key, I'm sure exclusively driving around town it probably wouldn't be so good.

Main thing it's had done was the 120k service by Renault where they replace every bush in the suspension front and rear and regas the aircon etc

Big thumbs up from my perspective anyway, I'll be looking at getting something like that to use as a tow car in a couple of years

I only know of 2 Laguna's...both have left their owners stranded because of that stupid key card thing!

I did actually look at them, but they're too big tbh, high tax bracket (£175 a year) and not overly good mpg figures.

There is a Megane DCi near me, but its a Renualtsport one which probably means its uncomfotbale lol.

Prius? Not joking.

Ps. I know it's not derv.

They get terrible mpg tbh. You're using a 1.8 petrol most of the time lol, think its only battery powered under 30mph....that's about 5% of my drive.

L series?

Why not petrol? Do you really need the torque of a diesel? A small engined petrol can be very good on fuel too. what is the car even going to be used for?

Rover 45/75? Yes they're getting on a bit now but damn cheap and parts are easy to replace. 45 is somewhat large with a double wishbone suspension setup and hydraulic clutch whereas the 75 is partially a bmw and no doubt very soft ride with lots of creature comforts. plus 75 has a bmw diesel engine so take from that what you will

(yes I am fighting the rover corner )

Not petrol because at the size I'm looking at for road comfort, they're just not economical any more, which mean high tax as well. Plus they're unbelievably slow to get an 'eco' petrol in a midsized car. I'm not fused about top speed, but I forget how often I need overtaking power round here until I don't have the option. Driving the 107 was actually not bad, it didn't feel slow or like I was holding anyone up...until I came against a cyclist or some farm machinery (every few minutes on this road lol!). It was genuinely dangerous trying to overtake in it.

Whats the car going to be used for - probably as a driveway ornament most of the time. Just to pop to the shops twice a week (30 mile round trip lol), visiting Nan etc. BUT the idea of getting something newer, more reliable (hopefully!) and cheaper to run is that I can afford to drive it more and trust the car to go out further. However the 107 obviously didn't have the right effect...and tbh I'm doubting that any car will. Personally I'd stick with the HDi and just not go out much, but apparently it's not helping me (which I must admit is correct lol). I've kinda been pushed into this but that's not really relevant for this thread.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

15 seconds to 60....how is that even legal...?

The economy figures look amazing though...too good to be true surely, is that yours?

---

Christ, the 120d's are in the £180 tax band with book figures of less than 50mpg!? That's them out then!

And you are right, they're too far away. It's the distance, it's not who takes me lol, though a passenger ride would actually be worse, especially seeing as Mum drives a small car with a shit ride lol.

[sweeney1987]

2.0 170 PD's are still out of budget tbh, it was the 140 I was looking at. Hadn't heard about the oil chains though, might have to look into that!

Hmm, I keep reading the same about the oil in the 1.6s, and you obviously cant tell by looking whether its been serviced on time with the right stuff of not. Seems a bit daft to make an engine so delicate it cant cope with a bit of human error these days. Really is a shame because they're in the £30 tax with a good mpg book figure as well!

Sounds like the 2.0 16v is the best for reliability then, but is in a high tax band iirc and less mpg book figures as well...how hard can it be to make an eco car reliable!



Driving position cant be much worse than a 307, they really are awful, seems to be a Peugeot thing tbh!

DMF and clutch at 70k is a bit worrying though, was the same on the Vectra, mine had one at 75k, and quite a few did when I was looking at the time. I know I moan about the PD Golf one failing but that had done 130k lol.

There are actually quite a few without DPFs even up to about 6 years old....but as in the OP, I'm not even sure if I should be worried about those given my driving style...

320d's are nice, but the parts prices put me off should something major fail.... Especially if its a dealer only part.

Its not human error, its laziness, complacency and mainly greed. not forking out the extra for the right oil, even seen problems with these engines serviced by the main dealer, seen another case where a transit engine failed and when brought to the ford dealer it came back as not covered as wrong oil was used, the customer promptly produced receipts for every oil change supplied by same dealer and they eventually had to replace it.

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

Thought about a little seat ibiza? Mother got an 08 1.4tdi ecomotive one for 2700 last year, 99g/km so free road tax and easily does 60 mpg, ride isnt bad either, even on our irish roads!!
And on motorways it sits at 100mph easy while only doing 3k rpm

[Fooby]

not mine, but im looking into getting one for my brother. Doesn't need to be fast. It fits everything else.. and fairly cheap

[C.A.R.]

How many miles do you actually do Tom?

I'm just trying to figure out if you would be better off with a lower-emissions petrol car. Less to go wrong, cheaper tax, cheaper servicing and slightly increased fuel costs.

[1616six]

How many miles do you actually do Tom?

I'm just trying to figure out if you would be better off with a lower-emissions petrol car. Less to go wrong, cheaper tax, cheaper servicing and slightly increased fuel costs.

Isn't there a rule of thumb that if you do less than 15k a year, diesel is a false economy against a reasonably small petrol engine? I may be wrong.

[Midnightclub]

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

Jesus christ, where was he buying them from?! You could buy a full complete car set of powerflex for less than £450 delivered.. and they'd never need replacing

[Alan_M]

Christ, the 120d's are in the £180 tax band with book figures of less than 50mpg!? That's them out then!

07 onwards they're £110 a year. BMW 120d 07-09

I used to have one on a map, and went extremely well. Will do 50mpg under a watchful eye and easy pedal.

But, if you've already an HDi then I'd keep that. Eats the miles up and isn't particularly expensive to run.

[Toms306]

2.0 170 PD's are still out of budget tbh, it was the 140 I was looking at. Hadn't heard about the oil chains though, might have to look into that!

Hmm, I keep reading the same about the oil in the 1.6s, and you obviously cant tell by looking whether its been serviced on time with the right stuff of not. Seems a bit daft to make an engine so delicate it cant cope with a bit of human error these days. Really is a shame because they're in the £30 tax with a good mpg book figure as well!

Sounds like the 2.0 16v is the best for reliability then, but is in a high tax band iirc and less mpg book figures as well...how hard can it be to make an eco car reliable!



Driving position cant be much worse than a 307, they really are awful, seems to be a Peugeot thing tbh!

DMF and clutch at 70k is a bit worrying though, was the same on the Vectra, mine had one at 75k, and quite a few did when I was looking at the time. I know I moan about the PD Golf one failing but that had done 130k lol.

There are actually quite a few without DPFs even up to about 6 years old....but as in the OP, I'm not even sure if I should be worried about those given my driving style...

320d's are nice, but the parts prices put me off should something major fail.... Especially if its a dealer only part.

Its not human error, its laziness, complacency and mainly greed. not forking out the extra for the right oil, even seen problems with these engines serviced by the main dealer, seen another case where a transit engine failed and when brought to the ford dealer it came back as not covered as wrong oil was used, the customer promptly produced receipts for every oil change supplied by same dealer and they eventually had to replace it.

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

Thought about a little seat ibiza? Mother got an 08 1.4tdi ecomotive one for 2700 last year, 99g/km so free road tax and easily does 60 mpg, ride isnt bad either, even on our irish roads!!
And on motorways it sits at 100mph easy while only doing 3k rpm

I have thought of Ibiza's/Polos with the 1.4 TDi, though it's not an engine I know anything about! There's a Polo TDi Sport near me which looks alright, tempted to look at but seems expensive for what it is, theres also a 207 with a 1.4HDi I think at the same place, not sure what the ride on either of those is like though. Also not sure what their midrange torque will be like.

And I don't do 100 cos that's naughty. 99 is more than enough.

not mine, but im looking into getting one for my brother. Doesn't need to be fast. It fits everything else.. and fairly cheap

I'm not looking for fast, but 15 seconds to 60 is dangerously slow imo tbh! I'd call anything under about 7 fast. 10-12 about 'sensible' compromise for economy and
B road overtakes.

How many miles do you actually do Tom?

I'm just trying to figure out if you would be better off with a lower-emissions petrol car. Less to go wrong, cheaper tax, cheaper servicing and slightly increased fuel costs.

Sod all because the HDi costs too much to run.

Used to easily do 12-15k a year, which I would if I was working (the hopeful eventual outcome again) but right now its probably less than 6k. I try and limit it to a tenner a week but it always ends up more, and as said that's really limited with just 2 round trips to town and one to Nans.

The difference between 50mpg and 65mpg is actually very noticeable even at that low mileage....hence the 107!

I would be better off with a small petrol supermini than a midsize diesel, that's a given, but my stomach cant deal with them!

[C.A.R.]

How many miles do you actually do Tom?

I'm just trying to figure out if you would be better off with a lower-emissions petrol car. Less to go wrong, cheaper tax, cheaper servicing and slightly increased fuel costs.

Isn't there a rule of thumb that if you do less than 15k a year, diesel is a false economy against a reasonably small petrol engine? I may be wrong.

Certainly is! It varies depending on who you ask, but I have been trying to justify a petrol and I do approx. 17k pa - it just doesn't work.

I reckon anything sub-15k should be where it levels out, with savings by going with petrol anywhere under that. Certainly these dickwads who lease a new diesel car and do 6000 miles per year are just asking for trouble!

320d makes sense for me. I considered a Vectra or Saab 9-3 but both are just a bit bland and are a league below in terms of quality. £3.5k will get me a 320d with ~ 100k on it, but I'd still rather that than a sub-70k Saab / Vauxhall as they just don't hold their value. There's BMWs out there with 160k+ on them still selling at over £3k!!

Rust concerns me but if I get one without any then I'm confident I can keep it at bay by removing the arch liners and giving them a damn good clean / treatment.

[1616six]

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

£1000 on bushes? That's an exaggeration surely? I've replaced bushes on Bimmers before & unless you had custom made ones, that's categorically incorrect.. unless you got screwed over by a garage?

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

Jesus christ, where was he buying them from?! You could buy a full complete car set of powerflex for less than £450 delivered.. and they'd never need replacing

This.

But, if you've already an HDi then I'd keep that. Eats the miles up and isn't particularly expensive to run.

This. Keep the bloody HDI!

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Sod all because the HDi costs too much to run.

Tom, seriously? Listen to yourself.

You'd happily spend 5k+ on a car that does 60mpg, why not keep the <£1000 car that does 50 odd MPG & spend a couple of hundred making it pefect.. it sounds as though it's just about there, why not replace the timing belt, pay out for some consumables you know are common to go on them if not already replaced.. then you know you've got a solid car for less than £1500. You've also then got a healthy bank balance.

Why would you want to spend £5k~ on a car you're not sure of because it might have 'problems'

I just can't work it out. You said you liked 1 series, theres one on the link I posted earlier, the grey one - it's 30 miles from you so what half hour/40 minutes.. surely you cant expect closer than that? That seemed like a good car if you're set on having something new?

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http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/a...?logcode=p



Fault find?

[Alan_M]

Sod all because the HDi costs too much to run.

I hope they aren't! I bought one for covering 15-20k a year and just finished rebuilding the suspension, brakes, clutch for under £1500 inc. buying the car.

For the mileage you do, why not buy a petrol 306? I've been bumbling about in a 1.4 306 for the last year or so and it's cost me pennies. It may be slow but a) you don't give a shit about it, b) it's cheap as you can get and c)I don't owe any money for it. It's been a great servant and I'm finding it hard to get rid for the soon to arrive 330.

Or, could you not have the HDi remapped for economy?

[sweeney1987]

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

Jesus christ, where was he buying them from?! You could buy a full complete car set of powerflex for less than £450 delivered.. and they'd never need replacing

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

£1000 on bushes? That's an exaggeration surely? I've replaced bushes on Bimmers before & unless you had custom made ones, that's categorically incorrect.. unless you got screwed over by a garage?

Honestly if i were you id stay well away from bmws, very expensive to repair, friends old e46 needed 1000 spent on suspension bushes each test time.

Jesus christ, where was he buying them from?! You could buy a full complete car set of powerflex for less than £450 delivered.. and they'd never need replacing

This.

Sorry, forgot ye lot are english, was quoting in yoyos, and it regularly needed the bushes, there were always other bits too and €1000 rarely seen him out of the test (he was and still is a hard driver though)
also powerflex stuff does wear aswell, saying they never need replacing is far from the truth

honestly get an ibiza, good value for the money and run on smell of diesel, ex had an 05 one aswell and went great, never gave any problems although i think the gearbox is knackered now because d/shaft seals went meaning no oil and she never bothered getting it looked at, but again thats owner negligence

if youre only doing 10k or less a year i do think you'd be better off with a petrol though, especially as you seem to drive in eco mode the whole time..

other option is just buy an old car for sub 400 quid and run it on red, then if you get it lifted or it breaks down you dont care, just strip it for parts and buy another cheap arse motor

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other options for you, buy a petrol with an lpg conversion, be very cheap to run!

or just stick with the hdi you have, spend money on it and get a VNT fitted and mapped in, should see an mpg increase...