140 mile/day commute which car?

[GixerK5]

I'm trying to sort out a car for my son. He has a daily commute of 140 m/way miles so a diesel is the only choice.
At the money he can afford (£3k - £4k)most of the cars are around 100k miles and this seems to be when most of the problems with modern diesels start.
Is there a site which shows when a particular model went DMF, DPF etc. as these seem to be the common problems.
Any suggestions would be welcomed! 50-60 mpg is a must. Thanks.

[Ved]

S60 Volvo diesel. Ultimate comfort

[Condi]

Pug/Citron etc HDi engines are good til almost forever. Similarly some of the VAG 1.9tdi's as long as you avoid the ones with known turbo problems.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Ved said:

S60 Volvo diesel. Ultimate comfort

And ridiculously good economy so I hear?

[Krikkit]

Ved said:

S60 Volvo diesel. Ultimate comfort

100% agree. The bigger the miles, the more important being comfortable and relaxed is over saving a few hundred quid a year. S60/S80 with an auto box and heated leather.

[SystemParanoia]

Camper van.. Tell him to only come back on weekends

[interloper]

Long term would he not be much better off moving closer to were he works? A 140 mile a day commute doesn't make much sense and just sounds like a recipe for misery to me.

[eltax91]

Anything fitted with the vag 1.9tdi. Specifically the PD 130 version.

The engine, if services regularly, is completely bombproof. Get it in the Octavia for maximum car to cash ratio.

[Dan_1981]

I do a slightly longer daily motorway commute.

I chose a Saab 9-3 estate.

Its stupidly comfortable with heated leather, sofa like seats and a nice BOSE stereo, returns 54 mpg at present at a steady 75mph.

Would recommend.

[Disco You]

eltax91 said:

Anything fitted with the vag 1.9tdi. Specifically the PD 130 version.

The engine, if services regularly, is completely bombproof. Get it in the Octavia for maximum car to cash ratio.

Exactly what I was about to post. 1.9 PD110 or PD130 in whatever takes your fancy/ is cheapest.

It isn't great in the A6, though...

[Willy Nilly]

interloper said:

Long term would he not be much better off moving closer to were he works? A 140 mile a day commute doesn't make much sense and just sounds like a recipe for misery to me.

Oh yes.

My Jazz is doing mid 50's around town, all short journey's. It's not in budget, but won't have diesel related issues either.

[Type R Tom]

Lupo 1.4 Tdi - Fun go kart style though possibly a little small for a long commute. Goes like stink with a remap.
Fiesta TDCi Zetec S - not as good on the fuel but more comfortable and quite sporty with bucket seats etc.

[Dan_1981]

Type R Tom said:

Lupo 1.4 Tdi - Fun go kart style though possibly a little small for a long commute. Goes like stink with a remap.
Fiesta TDCi Zetec S - not as good on the fuel but more comfortable and quite sporty with bucket seats etc.

You've never done a long commute have you?

[Potatoes]

Krikkit said:

Ved said:

S60 Volvo diesel. Ultimate comfort

100% agree. The bigger the miles, the more important being comfortable and relaxed is over saving a few hundred quid a year. S60/S80 with an auto box and heated leather.

I'd agree with this apart from the box, if you want reliability it has to be the manual.

I had an S60 (manual, leather, winter pack...) for 1 year and did 44,000 miles in that year. It was fantastic, completely bullet proof

I've moved onto a V40 (2003) 1.9d to do my 112 mile commute - again bullet proof but with a slightly more convenient boot. All good so far.

ETA - Comfort is as important as MPG in this choice as he'll be spending a lot of time in the car

Edited by Potatoes on Monday 24th February 20:35

[Type R Tom]

Dan_1981 said:

You've never done a long commute have you?

Apart from the 120 mile round trip into london every day no mate, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm afraid when you're paying for your own fuel, economy come first.

How old is the lad?

[andy-xr]

I did this in a diesel Rover 25 and later a 307 HDi, both were good although a bit high revving. To be fair they revved higher on the way back because I wanted to get home quicker, above 90 was getting noisy.

Despite being relatively small, the Rover was quite comfy and handled the trip fairly well. The clutch went on me so I bought the 307 as a replacement. 307 felt bigger and more comfy, but was leggier @ 147k. To be fait, nothing really went wrong with that either, I had to put a new MAF on it for peace of mind and the ABS sensors needing cleaning up. If going Peugeot avoid the 110 HDi if possible, the 90 is alright

[Matt UK]

eltax91 said:

Anything fitted with the vag 1.9tdi. Specifically the PD 130 version.

The engine, if services regularly, is completely bombproof. Get it in the Octavia for maximum car to cash ratio.

Agree 100%.

My body choice was a B5.5 Passat Highline. Octavia is a good shout, but could the unloved small saloon Bora offer even more potential for a bargain?

[Dan_1981]

Type R Tom said:

Dan_1981 said:

You've never done a long commute have you?

Apart from the 120 mile round trip into london every day no mate, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm afraid when you're paying for your own fuel, economy come first.

How old is the lad?

In which case you'll understand that bucket seats, go-kart handling and a remap that makes it go like stink are the last thing on the list to be considered.

[dkatwa]

buy a diesel and get an after market warranty - to top price should cover the major components

[Studio117]

140 miles a day....

Utter stupidity imo.

Tell the son to move closer to work.