What car - diesel econobox (sorry)

[Kozzy]

Within 1 month I need to acquire another car. My GF will take my e36 and I will need a cheap car to do a fair amount of miles over the course of 3-6 months (after which time I should have funds to upgrade).

Criteria:
Cost : around £500 - £900
Relatively cheap to insure : (28, 7 years NCB, 3 points)
Reliable from the off : will not have money initially to throw at it
Economical : will do around 90 miles a day
With as few miles/years on the clock

So far I have come up with the following list but I must admit I know very little about diesel cars and know even less about those in this list. (opinions on these much appreciated)

Fiat Punto 1.9 JTD
VW Polo 1.9
Vauxhall Corsa 1.7 Mk1
Vauxhall Astra 1.7 Mk4
Ford Fiesta 1.8 Mk4
Peugeot 306 1.9
Peugeot 106 1.5

All cars are very late 90's early 2000's. Are any of these definite no-nos? What others should I look out for? (preferably not too much 'outside of the box thinking'.

Not a very exciting 'what car' but any help much appreciated.

Edited by Kozzy on Wednesday 3rd November 12:25

[kwakus]

My dad had a punto diesel, usually got high 50's towards 60 mpg.
My focus tddi gets 50mpg. not sue if it is in your price range but might be worth a look

[Kozzy]

The Punto does seem very good, on paper MPG figures are impressive. I have no idea about the car itself and what to watch out for, such as common faults and expensive service items etc. I haven't seen many focuses/('foci'?) in that price range that haven't done intergalactic mileage (is that an issue?)

I should note that appearance isn't a major factor as long as it's mechanically sound.

Edited by Kozzy on Wednesday 3rd November 12:31

[Petrolhead_Rich]

why go for diesel, you will get similar mpg from a smallish petrol, plus petrol is cheaper.

Diesel cars are more expensive to buy & maintain.

look at 1.4/1.6 petrol engines in the cars you listed, they will be cheaper and will achieve similar mpg's if driven with care.

[tralph]

dont you think with the amount of miles being covered a diesel might be a better option? 90 a day is a fair few....

[halo34]

Petrolhead_Rich said:

why go for diesel, you will get similar mpg from a smallish petrol, plus petrol is cheaper.

Diesel cars are more expensive to buy & maintain.

look at 1.4/1.6 petrol engines in the cars you listed, they will be cheaper and will achieve similar mpg's if driven with care.

At 90 miles a day that might be a challenge?

I find small petrol engines really annoying and end up wringing them just to make progress which completely offsets any savings I might have made.

[vit4]

First thing that sprang to my mind was a Citroen ZX Volcane Diesel? Although it's a little bit older.

[halo34]

PS if you go for a non turbo diesel it will be slower than a slow thing thats taken some slow pills and gone to slow school.

But it will be more likely to be reliable and return good economy assuming thats all you want it for.

[excel monkey]

Rover 200/25?

[Kozzy]

I get the feeling that looking around 90k-100k miles and around 10 years old is about right for the budget? What to look out for with cars around this mileage?

I have kind of disregarded Rover/MG, i've heard/read quite a lot of negative comments regarding them and ownership in general not sure if this is warrented though.

I'd imagine non-turbo diesels would be bullet proof for reliability but as mentioned would indeed been painfully slow. I do think diesel is the way to go with this kind of mileage, I really doubt that I could get comparable MPG in a petrol.

[freakynessless]

halo34 said:

PS if you go for a non turbo diesel it will be slower than a slow thing thats taken some slow pills and gone to slow school.

But it will be more likely to be reliable and return good economy assuming thats all you want it for.

Very wise words. I covered abuot 60,000 in my 306 non turbo diesel, most of which were motorway work. It was like pulling teeth. Get yourself a turbo of some sort. 306 DTurbo would be a safe bet I rekon, I liked my 306 other than the fact it was so stupidly slow.

[halo34]

freakynessless said:

halo34 said:

PS if you go for a non turbo diesel it will be slower than a slow thing thats taken some slow pills and gone to slow school.

But it will be more likely to be reliable and return good economy assuming thats all you want it for.

Very wise words. I covered abuot 60,000 in my 306 non turbo diesel, most of which were motorway work. It was like pulling teeth. Get yourself a turbo of some sort. 306 DTurbo would be a safe bet I rekon, I liked my 306 other than the fact it was so stupidly slow.

We had a 306 HDI and apart from the electrics failing it was a good motor, nippy enough (90bhp) and never failed to return 55mpg.

Don't discount Rover though - I think the diesel engine in the smaller 25 size had a BMW background if not the earlier model I think was actually a Pug unit - not sure but they arent bad.

[Kozzy]

halo34 said:

freakynessless said:

halo34 said:

PS if you go for a non turbo diesel it will be slower than a slow thing thats taken some slow pills and gone to slow school.

But it will be more likely to be reliable and return good economy assuming thats all you want it for.

Very wise words. I covered abuot 60,000 in my 306 non turbo diesel, most of which were motorway work. It was like pulling teeth. Get yourself a turbo of some sort. 306 DTurbo would be a safe bet I rekon, I liked my 306 other than the fact it was so stupidly slow.

We had a 306 HDI and apart from the electrics failing it was a good motor, nippy enough (90bhp) and never failed to return 55mpg.

Don't discount Rover though - I think the diesel engine in the smaller 25 size had a BMW background if not the earlier model I think was actually a Pug unit - not sure but they arent bad.

Thanks for that, I had heard a few good things about the 306 DT, is there anything in particular one needs to look out for with these?

Also does anyone have any information (opinions) on the Punto JTD? These seem good value and I wondered if there was a reason.

[halo34]

Feck where to start with the Pug - actually if you do a search it was covered fairly recently on here so no point writing it all out again as I wont cover it as well as the thread did.

The main things are electrics, bushes and depending on the engine - headgaskets.

[patmahe]

How about the older Peugeot 406 1.9 Diesels, not terrific on mpg 45-50 but if using the right fuel pump (bosch I think) can be run on a diesel/used cooking oil mix.

ETA: Also consider Skoda Fabias, VW Lupos and Seat Arosas.

Edited by patmahe on Wednesday 3rd November 14:33

[frosted]

You didn't include the skoda fabia sdi , you would probably get a t reg for under a grand

Iirc it has 60-80 bhp but it does 60mpg constantly

[Kozzy]

Doing a bit of digging around now and getting mixed reviews of the 306 as expected but mostly good (apart from AC and other electrical gremlins).

The Fabias seem like good cars but I don't think I can get a good one for my limited budget.

[Ali_D]

If your doing 90 miles a day (presumeably a commute) I'd look at cars a little larger than your list. You don't want to arrive at work feeling tired & stressed (thats for work to do afterall!). Have you looked at old vectra's or mondeo's?

[frosted]

I bought one for my cleaner , 90k with tax n mot for 950 about 3 weeks ago . Well , she bought it herself but I went with her

[Kozzy]

Yeah commute will be Cheltenham(Glos) to Melksham(Wilts) so mostly A-road and dual carriageway.

I had not really thought of larger cars as I expected these to have significantly poorer fuel economy. Doing some quick searches seems to intimate 45+ is possible though.