Help choosing a cheap Diesel commuter (BMW/Merc)

[StuVT]

Hi all,

I'm losing my company car and am looking for something comfy and cool to commute 50 miles a day in.

I have a small budget, basically whatever my sportsbike sells for so around £1500.

Looking at the following and would appreciate feedback, suggestions, and issues with the cars I'm looking at that would be a pain. I'm quite a competent home mechanic so the general running and servicing isnt a concern.

Edit: - Also interested in opinions of the Jag X-Type diesels. 2.0 and 2.2 I think.

I'm looking at 2002 Era

Merc E220 D
Merc C220 D
Merc C270 D
Merc ML270
Merc 190D
BMW 330D
BMW 530D (E39)
BMW 525D (E39)

Thanks in advance.

Stu

Edited by StuVT on Friday 18th May 09:17

[Shiv_P]

Why does it have to be BMW or Merc?

[Integroo]

Shiv_P said:

Why does it have to be BMW or Merc?

Presumably because he likes them?

[rxe]

Left field choice - Alfa 156 JTD 2.4. I bought a 2001 plate car for £300 - it had 6 months MOT, so I serviced it and drove it for 6000 miles with no issues at all. Of course the bug has bitten and I’ve since spent, er, quite a lot on upgrades - it now has a remap, coil overs, GTA brakes and wheels, limited slip diff and meth injection. I still regularly commute to work in the beast and it give me 45 - 50 mpg when driven sensibly.

If you’re competent with the spanners, these early cars are simple, nothing is really expensive, and the technology can be mastered to dealer levels with a 50 Euro piece of software. Just make sure you check the floor pans, some are rusty.

[StuVT]

Shiv_P said:

Why does it have to be BMW or Merc?

never had one and fancy an auto cruiser.

[StuVT]

rxe said:

Left field choice - Alfa 156 JTD 2.4. I bought a 2001 plate car for £300 - it had 6 months MOT, so I serviced it and drove it for 6000 miles with no issues at all. Of course the bug has bitten and I’ve since spent, er, quite a lot on upgrades - it now has a remap, coil overs, GTA brakes and wheels, limited slip diff and meth injection. I still regularly commute to work in the beast and it give me 45 - 50 mpg when driven sensibly.

If you’re competent with the spanners, these early cars are simple, nothing is really expensive, and the technology can be mastered to dealer levels with a 50 Euro piece of software. Just make sure you check the floor pans, some are rusty.

Thats a good call. Stylish, interesting and frugal. Cheers

[521EK9]

StuVT said:

Issues with the cars I'm looking at that would be a pain.

I'm looking at 2002 Era

Merc E220 D
Merc C220 D
Merc C270 D
Merc ML270
Merc 190D
BMW 330D
BMW 530D (E39)
BMW 525D (E39)

Thanks in advance.

Stu

Asside from mechanicals, your biggest problem with all of those Era Bmw/Mercedes will be rust, finding a clean example will be your biggest challenge in my opinion.

Check MOT history online for anything you're going to look at for any mention of rust or corrosion on previous MOT's.

I've had a couple of 2004 E46 330D manuals (auto is common for gearbox failure) and they've been a brilliant car to drive especially on the daily commute.

[valiant]

S60 or S80. (Or any largeish Volvo for that matter)

D5 if you can.

Not the most dynamic when compared to BMW but a comfy place to be when hammering the motorways.

[steve-5snwi]

Out of that list the 190 but could you find one in budget ? the mercs would have rusted and some of the BMWs would have been pimped and abused.

Something that wouldn't be abused but would meet your criteria would be ....

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

or even one of these if you didn't need 4 doors

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Phil Dicky]

For a motorway cruiser id be looking at Volvo or Saab. The older BM and Merc would worry meat that age.

[StuVT]

I'm liking the Volvo and Saab ideas.

Also, the Jag. The S type may be out of my price range, but has anyone any opinions on the X-Type Diesel?

[RSTurboPaul]

The X-Type basically rusts from the bottom up, IIRC.

I've looked at them for myself (as I'm also thinking about diesel barge territory on a low budget) but there seems to be too many stories of massive MOT failures for rust.

Perhaps if one is so cheap that you could run it for a year and throw it away if it failed an MOT...