Recent diesel workhorses - the good, the bad, the ugly?

[Matt UK]

Hi all,

I'm shopping with £5k for a daily workhorse, 100 miles a day, mainly motorway.

We've still got a trouble free 1.9dti 130 on the fleet, but I need a newer car.

I like the idea of a newer car with high miles on it and a manual 'box - there are plenty of 5 year old / 100k+ mile VWs out there.

Question is, what engine do I seek out / avoid? Options seem to be 1.6, 1.9 and 2.0 in various guises.

I want reliability and good motorway - power and performance not too bothered, it'll just hum along at 70mph whilst I listen to the radio / make calls.

[scotty0189]

2.0 TDI PD engines would be ones to avoid. The CR varients are ok (2008 onwards I think) normally come in 177 tune in A4 upwards raher than 170

[va1o]

Yeah the CR 140 will be the answer here, and they are just starting to come into the £5k price bracket. I recently sold my Mk6 Golf with this engine and it consistently averaged MPG in the mid 50s doing a similar amount of miles daily. Was a 2011 car with 105k miles so really had spent its life on motorways. Would suggest going for the DSG box if possible as it matches the engine well and makes for a relaxing drive.

The MQB chassis cars (Golf MK7 etc.) are better still but you'd need to double your budget given they are still very new. At the other end of the scale, the Pump Duse engines are now too old so wouldn't recommend.

[phil y]

You could get a SEAT Exeo, all diesels are common rail 2.0 engines, there are a few on autotrader for under 5k. Caveat is most are over 100k

Nice motorway cars, well spec'd, for relatively little outlay

[Matt UK]

Great, thanks chaps.

Is there an easy way to spot the common rail engines in and around the cross over years if not mentioned in the ad?

Also, any thoughts on the 1.6 Tdi engine? Appreciate it will be slower, but at £5k a lot of the newer cars have it.

I've no problem with higher miles if they are proving capable.

Would ideally like to buy and 100k and sell in 3-4 yrs at 200k.

Valo, interesting you mention the DSG,. My local trusted VW Inde advised to steer clear, says he is getting a worrying number of calls with cars getting past 6 years with 100k-150k. Says he wouldn't put his own money into one, speaks volumes IMO.
He actually said if he wanted to reliably run a diesel up to 200k+ he'd look at Mercs, which he quickly added he could service for me no problem

[Matt UK]

phil y said:

You could get a SEAT Exeo, all diesels are common rail 2.0 engines, there are a few on autotrader for under 5k. Caveat is most are over 100k

Nice motorway cars, well spec'd, for relatively little outlay

Interesting you say that, I was looking at a 2010 SE Tech on AT, it's the old A4 if I remember rightly?
Interior dash certainly looks like an A4 I used to run.
Could be a contender.

Cheapest / most unpopular variant seems to be the Golf Estate. It's a bit ungainly so I can see why there's not much love. Still, suits me just fine for a commuter box.