Help me see some sense...somehow?
Discussion
Hi,
I'm a long time lurker/occasional poster on here, but its time that I asked for some advice from the PH collective.
Unfortunately the question revolves around the petrol vs. diesel debate so those of you not interested in/fed up of that please navigate away from this thread now. It also involves low budgets and cheap cars so again for those of you interested in expensive stuff feel free to not read on.
I need to give you a Purple Tom's potted car history rundown in order to help you help me make my mind up, so here goes.
I'm 28. My first car was a 1978 1098cc Mini Clubman in 2002. Owned it for 8 years in total and from 2005 onwards it was a second car and went through various incarnations before I dropped a Vauxhall lump in it and had it as a weekend/Nurburgring toy.
Here it is:
From 2005 onwards I owned a few more cars as daily drivers, including a 1.8 mk1 Focus (nice but a poor example so sold on quickly), 3 mk3 Polo GT's (including one that I did a Golf engine conversion on)and an Audi A3 1.8 20V (non-turbo - shockingly bad).
In 2008 I bought a 2.0 8V VW Corrado. I'd always liked the Corrado and had wanted one for a while but I couldn't quite afford a decent VR6 and the fuel economy/insurance costs put me off. However, I was 25 in 2009 so I sold it and bought a Corrado VR6 which offered the performance that the 2.0 8V could never have done, and it looked awesome. It went well after some engine work and brake upgrades etc.
However in early 2010 I managed to get involved with a girl who had the benefit of being amazing in bed but unfortunately also suffering from a massive case of the mental. Undettered and probably blinded by her bedroom techniques I decided to move out of my parents and started renting a place with her. So the VR6 had to go and I ended up buying a £450 Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDi which I spotted lurking around locally. The first diesel car I'd ever owned.
Unsurprisingly, things with the lady didn't work out and she moved out in late 2010, leaving me in the place on my own. I could afford it, just, and didn't want to move back in with my parents but it meant that things with cars had to go on the back burner. However, a stroke of luck saw me selling the Ibiza to a mate and buying my old Corrado 8V back for a cheap price, which I ran through the winter of 2010 into 2011.
It gets a bit complicated now but basically I'd been a little bit transformed into a dieselhead (such a word?) and wooed by the fuel economy/mid range torque of the little Ibiza. In comparison, 30mpg and piss-poor performance in the Corrado just didn't feel as good.
However, I've always liked "interesting" cars, so using some money which I'd managed to make by breaking a cheap VR6 that I bought, I decided to put a 1.9 TDi into the Corrado 8V, using a Passat B4 donor. This was duly done in spring 2011 and I ended up with a really nice, economical Corrado TDi which pretty much ticked all of the boxes for me in terms of looks/economy/practicality if not performance. I averaged 55mpg and while it was only 90bhp I had plans to get it up to about 130/140bhp with 250 lb/ft which would have been nice. Here's a couple of pics anyway:
I spent some of the summer 2011 rebuilding a Mini for a friend then bought a cheap Golf TDi as a bit of a project with the intention of selling it on for a profit. However to save the Corrado having to undergo another winter I decided to run the Golf as a winter daily. Incidentally, the Golf was a HUGE project in the end and a classic example of what can happen to cars that don't have any love for 5 years yet miraculously just keep going!
So, the Corrado languished in the garage through the winter of 2011/12 and I used the Golf. Spring approached and I suddenly decided that the Corrado was a bit of a compromise. In hindsight I wish I hadn't done this but I managed to sell the Golf for a decent profit and also the Corrado. I suddenly had a fair bit of money sat in the bank so I decided to scratch a bit of an automotive 'itch' that I'd had for a while and bought a 2004 E46 330Cd:
I said to myself "THIS is the car that the Corrado TDi never could be....practical, reliable, refined, fairly quick, economical". And it was all of those things (apart from needing a turbo after 3 months but I got it so far below book price that I didn't mind paying for that) but guess what it also was....BORING!
It just did everything so well that it didn't interest me. It went round corners well, it stopped well, it went well, it started in the morning, it didn't need anything doing to it (other than the turbo) and it didn't really have much of a soul. Plus I kept seeing other E46 Coupe's being driven by unsavoury looking characters which put me off a bit!
So I sold it. For a quite hefty profit so I couldn't complain and I put some of the money towards paying off some debt that I had accumulated while living on my own.
It left me with about £2000 with which to find myself a nice car and to cut another long story short I ended up buying a 2002 VW Golf V5. Here it is:
Its great - it's a Highline so fully specced up with heated Recaro leather, auto wipers, climate etc. 2 owners from new, 101k, full VW service history and I got it for £1600.
However (and I was aware of this when I bought it) as good as it is, it lives up to the reviews of the car by being not particularly fast and not particularly great on fuel. 0-60 in 8.2s and I'm averaging 29.6mpg. It sounds lovely though and is a nice place to sit.
Sorry for the long thread but that is my car history and brings us up to today. There have been other cars in amongst the ones mentioned but I think I've covered the important ones.
The thing is, I like interesting cars. I like unusual cars. I live on my own and don't have a massive amount of disposable income. I work on my own cars and they only go to the garage for tyre fitting and the MOT. I'm happy to get stuck in and don't mind a project. But fuel ecomony is an issue for me. I like cars to be economical and interesting to drive, without costing the earth to buy.
The Golf V5 is brilliant and ticks lots of boxes, it has a really good spec but its just thirsty. I'm really leaning towards selling it and putting the money along with a bit of savings (not a lot) towards something diesel. However I know that cheaper diesel cars can be a liability!
The TDi in the Corrado was so simple that I had no issues with it. It had done 170k and I did 10k more without it using a drop of oil. I also spanked it around the 'Ring three times and it just lapped it up without breaking a sweat. Probably because it was so understressed tbh.
Conversely, the diesel lump in BMW was a bit scary. It became a little less scary when I did the turbo, and swirl flaps, and cleaned the EGR/inlet manifold etc, but it still had a lot to go wrong that could potentially have been expensive.
So, PH, what do I do?
Do I keep the V5, enjoy the noise, bask in the rarity of it (not many V5's around), thank the gods that I've got a pretty reliable N/A petrol lump, remap it and just put up with the poor economy.
Do I sell the V5, find a good example of a mk4 TDi and put up with blending in with the 452986956319463195 other mk4 TDi's on the road while saving £100-ish a month on fuel. By the way - I like the mk4 VW platform because I've just broken a V5 so have lots of spares lying around should things not be quite right, and I know them like the back of my hand so helps keeps the costs down should repairs be required.
Or..something else?
I need a bit of inspiration and probably have a maximum of £3k to play with. I can only afford to run one car so it needs to be a practical daily. No kids but I do the odd tip run, give my parents lifts etc so something like an MX-5 doesn't really fit the bill.
Sorry for the long thread but any advice would be appreciated!
Cheers
Tom
I'm a long time lurker/occasional poster on here, but its time that I asked for some advice from the PH collective.
Unfortunately the question revolves around the petrol vs. diesel debate so those of you not interested in/fed up of that please navigate away from this thread now. It also involves low budgets and cheap cars so again for those of you interested in expensive stuff feel free to not read on.
I need to give you a Purple Tom's potted car history rundown in order to help you help me make my mind up, so here goes.
I'm 28. My first car was a 1978 1098cc Mini Clubman in 2002. Owned it for 8 years in total and from 2005 onwards it was a second car and went through various incarnations before I dropped a Vauxhall lump in it and had it as a weekend/Nurburgring toy.
Here it is:
From 2005 onwards I owned a few more cars as daily drivers, including a 1.8 mk1 Focus (nice but a poor example so sold on quickly), 3 mk3 Polo GT's (including one that I did a Golf engine conversion on)and an Audi A3 1.8 20V (non-turbo - shockingly bad).
In 2008 I bought a 2.0 8V VW Corrado. I'd always liked the Corrado and had wanted one for a while but I couldn't quite afford a decent VR6 and the fuel economy/insurance costs put me off. However, I was 25 in 2009 so I sold it and bought a Corrado VR6 which offered the performance that the 2.0 8V could never have done, and it looked awesome. It went well after some engine work and brake upgrades etc.
However in early 2010 I managed to get involved with a girl who had the benefit of being amazing in bed but unfortunately also suffering from a massive case of the mental. Undettered and probably blinded by her bedroom techniques I decided to move out of my parents and started renting a place with her. So the VR6 had to go and I ended up buying a £450 Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDi which I spotted lurking around locally. The first diesel car I'd ever owned.
Unsurprisingly, things with the lady didn't work out and she moved out in late 2010, leaving me in the place on my own. I could afford it, just, and didn't want to move back in with my parents but it meant that things with cars had to go on the back burner. However, a stroke of luck saw me selling the Ibiza to a mate and buying my old Corrado 8V back for a cheap price, which I ran through the winter of 2010 into 2011.
It gets a bit complicated now but basically I'd been a little bit transformed into a dieselhead (such a word?) and wooed by the fuel economy/mid range torque of the little Ibiza. In comparison, 30mpg and piss-poor performance in the Corrado just didn't feel as good.
However, I've always liked "interesting" cars, so using some money which I'd managed to make by breaking a cheap VR6 that I bought, I decided to put a 1.9 TDi into the Corrado 8V, using a Passat B4 donor. This was duly done in spring 2011 and I ended up with a really nice, economical Corrado TDi which pretty much ticked all of the boxes for me in terms of looks/economy/practicality if not performance. I averaged 55mpg and while it was only 90bhp I had plans to get it up to about 130/140bhp with 250 lb/ft which would have been nice. Here's a couple of pics anyway:
I spent some of the summer 2011 rebuilding a Mini for a friend then bought a cheap Golf TDi as a bit of a project with the intention of selling it on for a profit. However to save the Corrado having to undergo another winter I decided to run the Golf as a winter daily. Incidentally, the Golf was a HUGE project in the end and a classic example of what can happen to cars that don't have any love for 5 years yet miraculously just keep going!
So, the Corrado languished in the garage through the winter of 2011/12 and I used the Golf. Spring approached and I suddenly decided that the Corrado was a bit of a compromise. In hindsight I wish I hadn't done this but I managed to sell the Golf for a decent profit and also the Corrado. I suddenly had a fair bit of money sat in the bank so I decided to scratch a bit of an automotive 'itch' that I'd had for a while and bought a 2004 E46 330Cd:
I said to myself "THIS is the car that the Corrado TDi never could be....practical, reliable, refined, fairly quick, economical". And it was all of those things (apart from needing a turbo after 3 months but I got it so far below book price that I didn't mind paying for that) but guess what it also was....BORING!
It just did everything so well that it didn't interest me. It went round corners well, it stopped well, it went well, it started in the morning, it didn't need anything doing to it (other than the turbo) and it didn't really have much of a soul. Plus I kept seeing other E46 Coupe's being driven by unsavoury looking characters which put me off a bit!
So I sold it. For a quite hefty profit so I couldn't complain and I put some of the money towards paying off some debt that I had accumulated while living on my own.
It left me with about £2000 with which to find myself a nice car and to cut another long story short I ended up buying a 2002 VW Golf V5. Here it is:
Its great - it's a Highline so fully specced up with heated Recaro leather, auto wipers, climate etc. 2 owners from new, 101k, full VW service history and I got it for £1600.
However (and I was aware of this when I bought it) as good as it is, it lives up to the reviews of the car by being not particularly fast and not particularly great on fuel. 0-60 in 8.2s and I'm averaging 29.6mpg. It sounds lovely though and is a nice place to sit.
Sorry for the long thread but that is my car history and brings us up to today. There have been other cars in amongst the ones mentioned but I think I've covered the important ones.
The thing is, I like interesting cars. I like unusual cars. I live on my own and don't have a massive amount of disposable income. I work on my own cars and they only go to the garage for tyre fitting and the MOT. I'm happy to get stuck in and don't mind a project. But fuel ecomony is an issue for me. I like cars to be economical and interesting to drive, without costing the earth to buy.
The Golf V5 is brilliant and ticks lots of boxes, it has a really good spec but its just thirsty. I'm really leaning towards selling it and putting the money along with a bit of savings (not a lot) towards something diesel. However I know that cheaper diesel cars can be a liability!
The TDi in the Corrado was so simple that I had no issues with it. It had done 170k and I did 10k more without it using a drop of oil. I also spanked it around the 'Ring three times and it just lapped it up without breaking a sweat. Probably because it was so understressed tbh.
Conversely, the diesel lump in BMW was a bit scary. It became a little less scary when I did the turbo, and swirl flaps, and cleaned the EGR/inlet manifold etc, but it still had a lot to go wrong that could potentially have been expensive.
So, PH, what do I do?
Do I keep the V5, enjoy the noise, bask in the rarity of it (not many V5's around), thank the gods that I've got a pretty reliable N/A petrol lump, remap it and just put up with the poor economy.
Do I sell the V5, find a good example of a mk4 TDi and put up with blending in with the 452986956319463195 other mk4 TDi's on the road while saving £100-ish a month on fuel. By the way - I like the mk4 VW platform because I've just broken a V5 so have lots of spares lying around should things not be quite right, and I know them like the back of my hand so helps keeps the costs down should repairs be required.
Or..something else?
I need a bit of inspiration and probably have a maximum of £3k to play with. I can only afford to run one car so it needs to be a practical daily. No kids but I do the odd tip run, give my parents lifts etc so something like an MX-5 doesn't really fit the bill.
Sorry for the long thread but any advice would be appreciated!
Cheers
Tom
It depends how badly you need to save the £100/month.
£3k - can buy any number of 1/2 decent diesel cars. But as you say, you will doubtfully standout in a £3k car.
Sometimes a car is just a A to B item and just needs to do a job - maybe this is one of those moments.
Save the cash by running a diesel then buy something more entertaining when you can afford it.
Saab 9-3?
£3k - can buy any number of 1/2 decent diesel cars. But as you say, you will doubtfully standout in a £3k car.
Sometimes a car is just a A to B item and just needs to do a job - maybe this is one of those moments.
Save the cash by running a diesel then buy something more entertaining when you can afford it.
Saab 9-3?
Nice summary of your car history and girlfriend woes, i enjoyed reading that!
The V5 golf is as a great car but will always be thirsty regardless if you map it.
If you want diesely weasely, my money would go on a nice golf mk4 tdi pd 150 - pokey, bags of tourque and within your budget.
err
that was an interesting corrado conversion btw 
The V5 golf is as a great car but will always be thirsty regardless if you map it.
If you want diesely weasely, my money would go on a nice golf mk4 tdi pd 150 - pokey, bags of tourque and within your budget.
err
that was an interesting corrado conversion btw I'm not missing the £100/month however it'd be nice to have it if I'm honest! Mind you, I'd only end up spending it on something else.
I've considered a 182 before and I imagine they'd make a fairly good commuter with a bit of fun on top. However, they're French and I've never owned anything french before so I guess its a bit of a fear of the unknown in that respect! Might look into it a bit more though...
The PD150 doesn't appeal, especially with its tendency to not be very fond of its camshaft. I think if I were to go VW TDi then it'd be a 130 to be honest - I've got an eBay search set up but nothing appealing has come up yet!
The Corrado was indeed interesting! One of only a few in the UK and while it might seem a bit sacrilegeous I did fit VR6 widetrack running gear and a decent engine (if low power) to a car that previously had 115bhp of rubbish under the bonnet. I consider it a job well done
The Polo was just an ABD conversion with GT Digifant engine management and a front subframe/wishbone conversion along with bare shell rebuild. There's a thread on ClubPolo - link - http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopi...
Regarding the remap on the V5 - apparently it takes it to about 190bhp and improves economy a bit - that might improve the performance vs economy situation a bit.
Thanks for the advice so far - it's appreciated!
I've considered a 182 before and I imagine they'd make a fairly good commuter with a bit of fun on top. However, they're French and I've never owned anything french before so I guess its a bit of a fear of the unknown in that respect! Might look into it a bit more though...
The PD150 doesn't appeal, especially with its tendency to not be very fond of its camshaft. I think if I were to go VW TDi then it'd be a 130 to be honest - I've got an eBay search set up but nothing appealing has come up yet!
The Corrado was indeed interesting! One of only a few in the UK and while it might seem a bit sacrilegeous I did fit VR6 widetrack running gear and a decent engine (if low power) to a car that previously had 115bhp of rubbish under the bonnet. I consider it a job well done
The Polo was just an ABD conversion with GT Digifant engine management and a front subframe/wishbone conversion along with bare shell rebuild. There's a thread on ClubPolo - link - http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopi...
Regarding the remap on the V5 - apparently it takes it to about 190bhp and improves economy a bit - that might improve the performance vs economy situation a bit.
Thanks for the advice so far - it's appreciated!
Fair play for squeezing the TDI lump into soething it wasn't intended for.
I forgot the 150pd has a tendancy to eat its own camshaft.
How about one of these although prob no better fuel consumption that the V5
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...
Interestingly, a quick PH search for sub 8 sec to 60mph, diesel under £3k only threw up a load of leggy 330d's and 530d - one with 275,000 miles on - which you have had before...
I forgot the 150pd has a tendancy to eat its own camshaft.
How about one of these although prob no better fuel consumption that the V5
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...
Interestingly, a quick PH search for sub 8 sec to 60mph, diesel under £3k only threw up a load of leggy 330d's and 530d - one with 275,000 miles on - which you have had before...
I actually have considered an Italian car. An ex of mine (not the one mentioned above, although to be fair this one was touched with a dose of mental too) had a Fiat 500 when they first came out which I quite liked, and my Mum currently has a 1.6 Mito diesel...I have been offered a quite cheap 2004 147 JTd (I think?) in red, 3 door, and its very nice, however its not really been very well looked after by the previous owner and while that wouldn't bother me too much with a Golf, it kind of does with an Alfa! I might look into it a bit more though.
I've thought about Fabia VRS's too and they're a possible. I'm not particularly snobby when it comes to the badge either but I think if I were to go VAG TDi then I'd probably stick with the Golf tbh.
Nice thinking on the S3...again I may look into those but I know that it would definitely not be any better on fuel than the V5! I like the idea of the Haldex but I know it probably wouldn't make a very practical daily...I'll look into it a bit more!
I think its probably going to be an unanswerable question, there are so many choices that it doesn't really have a definitive answer. Couple that with the fact that my criteria is subject to variation then I doubt it'll be easily solved!
Thanks for the suggestions so far though and keep them coming, you never know!
I've thought about Fabia VRS's too and they're a possible. I'm not particularly snobby when it comes to the badge either but I think if I were to go VAG TDi then I'd probably stick with the Golf tbh.
Nice thinking on the S3...again I may look into those but I know that it would definitely not be any better on fuel than the V5! I like the idea of the Haldex but I know it probably wouldn't make a very practical daily...I'll look into it a bit more!
I think its probably going to be an unanswerable question, there are so many choices that it doesn't really have a definitive answer. Couple that with the fact that my criteria is subject to variation then I doubt it'll be easily solved!
Thanks for the suggestions so far though and keep them coming, you never know!
Nice write up!
TDI are really not my thing so, personally I would opt for an Alfa GT and as you seems to know what you are doing you should be able to get something below your budget to keep you busy tiding up or, and older BMW ( bit of a barry boy immage maybe) http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
Golf MK4 is a good shout but plain and common, Fabia VRS is a good car and with abigger turbo and re map can see you just over 200bhp with high torpue figures offering some fun.
Older Volvo or Saab as an alternative?
TDI are really not my thing so, personally I would opt for an Alfa GT and as you seems to know what you are doing you should be able to get something below your budget to keep you busy tiding up or, and older BMW ( bit of a barry boy immage maybe) http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
Golf MK4 is a good shout but plain and common, Fabia VRS is a good car and with abigger turbo and re map can see you just over 200bhp with high torpue figures offering some fun.
Older Volvo or Saab as an alternative?
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