Diesel Estate - 3 years or 10 years old?

[l354uge]

Hello all,

My trusty 2006 octavia is on its death bed, and it's got to the point where any repair over £200 will kill it.

I need a diesel Estate still, but something abit nicer that my other half won't refuse to drive.

It needs to be octavia size or bigger, average over 45mpg, have android auto (or can easy have it installed, like my octavia) and most importantly - be dependable.

I have two lines of thought, something 10 years old for around £3k, or something 3 years old that still has a few years of warranty.

The former means things like accord tourers, superbs, passat, 320d, mazda 6 etc. The problem I have with this is these all carry early common rail diesels with DPFs, and all have various horror stories of injector/dpf/turbo/dmf/engine failure, and whilst I'm happy with spanners I don't have the time or inclination to work on my daily. The daily should allow me more funds and time for my track car.

With this in mind I'm seriously tempted to spend £10k on a 3 year old kia optima instead. But once I'm 4 years down the line I'll have lost £4k atkeast in depreciation. And I don't know anyone that has owned one so no idea how decent it is.

Any thoughts? Are 10 year old diesels really a money pit? Is the kia a good idea?

[SlowV6]

I think i would be investigating Mondeo Mk IV estates with a manual gearbox and the 2.0TDCi engine. Minimum Titanium or even better Titanium X spec. Note they need a timing belt change at 10yrs or 125k miles (I think) so would be good to find one with that already done.

[Dapster]

Hyundai i40 Estate - perhaps not as big as the Mondeo but they are very well reviewed and will probably be better value, and loaded with toys. A 3 year old will still be under manufacturers warranty and they have a great reputation for reliability.

[l354uge]

SlowV6 said:

I think i would be investigating Mondeo Mk IV estates with a manual gearbox and the 2.0TDCi engine. Minimum Titanium or even better Titanium X spec. Note they need a timing belt change at 10yrs or 125k miles (I think) so would be good to find one with that already done.

Friend from work had one and it was no end of trouble. Ford's in general aren't for me (especially as adding android auto is nearly impossible)

[RizzoTheRat]

Presumably if you need a diesel you're doing decent mileage so DPF shouldn't really be an issue for you. My 2009 Octavia is the first year of the common rail engine in them, but they seem to be pretty reliable, I've had no problems in 140k miles other than an engine issue caused by a local dealer being rubbish.