Looking to buy a Volvo diesel as a medium distance commuter

[mannyo]

I am looking at buying a cheap Volvo to use as a commuter vehicle with the odd run to the rubbish dump. The car will be in addition to my other car, an Audi A8 3.7 V8 which due to low 20s MPG is not really up to 50 miles a day at my new work location.

Looking for something around 2002, budget is max £1K, I've seen a few V40s and S60s cropping up below 1K. The V40 being the 1.9 diesel engine, and S60 is the 2.4 diesel engine. Prefer it to be manual rather than auto, if only to improve the economy.

Any pitfalls in the 1.9 or 2.4 diesel engines to be aware of, or general faults in the V40/S60 of the 2002 to 2004 era?

[mannyo]

I went to have a look at a local S60 D5 Manual diesel today and decided it really needs to be an S60, but not that particular S60.

This S60 photographs well, but in the flesh it was a mess, and the MOT history check suggests its been neglected a lot. So decided it was way overpriced and despite having less than 100K on the clock it was a right state. The car I drove there in (2000 A6 2.4 V6) with 175K miles on the clock has better paint.

Lacquer peel on the bonnet, the gearstick gator heavily worn, the cup holder cover damaged etc..

This is the one I looked at, and its one to avoid if anyone else does.
http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Edited by mannyo on Saturday 12th March 18:46