What cheap to run used diesel estate under £10k - Page 1 - Car Buying

theboss

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7,486 posts

247 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

My Dad's current Mondeo is at end of life and he needs a diesel estate for approx 15k a year - lowest running costs possible - he will use it for everything from his every day running around delivering parcels to transporting equipment tot gigs as a musician to long distance family travel.

Am scouting out for him and thinking Superb would be a good bet. Not sure he's keen on another Mondeo as he felt his current car wasn't that reliable and parts expensive but if its a strong contender he should consider it. Just wondered what recommendations PH might suggest.

Smint

3,455 posts

63 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

Ok, i know this is not what you asked for and twice his stated budget, so tell me i'm an idiot and stop wasting your time.
Only suggesting these due to the ridiculous used prices being asked for currently on anything remotely decent.

There are various pre regd 70 plate Suzuki Swage hybrids (rebadged Toyota Corolla estate) for sale around the country from just over £20k.
10 year warranty (no doubt subject to their servicing), Toyota hybrid long life reliability, every taxi driver can't be wrong, and as you mention parcel delivery a hybrid comes into its own on short stop start running, where any Diesel with a DPF is not going to be happy.
Food for thought?

Edited by Smint on Saturday 18th September 10:01

Monkeylegend

29,044 posts

259 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

The obvious choices would be a Mercedes E Class or Volvo V70.

theboss

Original Poster

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247 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

Smint said:

Ok, i know this is not what you asked for and twice his stated budget, so tell me i'm an idiot and stop wasting your time.
Only suggesting these due to the ridiculous used prices being asked for currently on anything remotely decent.

There are various pre regd 70 plate Suzuki Swage hybrids (rebadged Toyota Corolla estate) for sale around the country from just over £20k.
10 year warranty (no doubt subject to their servicing), Toyota hybrid long life reliability, every taxi driver can't be wrong, and as you mention parcel delivery a hybrid comes into its own on short stop start running, where any Diesel with a DPF is not going to be happy.
Food for thought?

Edited by Smint on Saturday 18th September 10:01

I knew I could count on PH for interesting left-field suggestions smile

I agree the stop-start thing is bad generally with any DPF diesel but its been more of a pandemic stop-gap and hopefully the gigging is starting to pick back up now so he would be doing regular fairly long journeys to counteract the day to day stuff.

Thankyou and will look into it.

Monkeylegend said:

The obvious choices would be a Mercedes E Class or Volvo V70.

Thanks, I did start looking at these, it seems you can get a decent amount of E220 or also F11 520d for the money (I am much more familiar with the latter) and the Volvo is a good shout. I was concerned he might start running into more 'premium' serving costs though.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

158 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

Another mondeo? Or a insgina. I had various of both for company cars covering 25-40k a year and rate them all. Never had a breakdown or anything in any of them.

Really do rate the insignias especially, plus they are popular with fleets so there’s hundreds of them all serviced on time etc.

Also look at skoda Supurbs, VW Passat and perhaps a Seat exco (although this is a much older design of car) and all of these will have higher miles and age than a insgina

Few months back I would have said e class but what you can get for 10k now is ropey

Edited by Nickbrapp on Saturday 18th September 10:22

Monkeylegend

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259 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

theboss said:

Thanks, I did start looking at these, it seems you can get a decent amount of E220 or also F11 520d for the money (I am much more familiar with the latter) and the Volvo is a good shout. I was concerned he might start running into more 'premium' serving costs though.

I had the E220 saloon for many years and servicing outside the Merc network with a good indy is not that expensive and the pre blue tec cars are very reliable, ie 300k miles reliable, which I did in three consecutive cars if serviced properly.

My last service was just over £220.

The 4 pot diesel engine and 5g box are pretty indestructable.

theboss

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Saturday 18th September 2021

Monkeylegend said:

I had the E220 saloon for many years and servicing outside the Merc network with a good indy is not that expensive and the pre blue tec cars are very reliable, ie 300k miles reliable, which I did in three consecutive cars if serviced properly.

My last service was just over £220.

The 4 pot diesel engine and 5g box are pretty indestructable.

Any particular years to go for or avoid?

Monkeylegend

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Saturday 18th September 2021

theboss said:

Monkeylegend said:

I had the E220 saloon for many years and servicing outside the Merc network with a good indy is not that expensive and the pre blue tec cars are very reliable, ie 300k miles reliable, which I did in three consecutive cars if serviced properly.

My last service was just over £220.

The 4 pot diesel engine and 5g box are pretty indestructable.

Any particular years to go for or avoid?

If you want to avoid the Bleu Tec with numerous Adblue issues, and lack of expensive parts availability, you probably need to go for 2013 or older, ie the Blue Efficiency models.

Other that that I think the 5g box was phased out around 2011, replaced by the 7g box, but these do have a few issues re smoothness of gear change, related to software issues. Not saying you should necessarily avoid the 7g box but the 5g is more reliable and robust, according to both Mercedes and the Indy I used.

Anything from 2005 onwards should also avoid the earlier rust issues that plagued Mercedes.

Smint

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63 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

Wasn't it the facelift W211's were the best bet, so 2006 onwards build date, there are some detail differences in the front lights and grill to make it easier to find faeclift versions, but you'll have to peruse ads with pics to see cos i've forgotten.

Pre facelift didn't have galvanised panels, had numerous electrical issues, but the main problem was the SBC pump pressurised braking system.
On facelift models the above electrical issues were mostly fixed, galvanising started and SBC dropped.

Not sure when DPF's became standard fitment.

SBC is the one to really avoid, not only does the pump have a finite number of brake applications before replacement is needed, but you have to take great care to put the brake system in standby/service mode to work on the brakes, serious danger to fingers is possible should for example someone open a car door whilst you were working on an car that hasn't been deactivated, the brakes could fire up.

Agree about the 4 cyl engines and 5 speed autobox, pick of the bunch, 6 pot is powerful but often mated to the 7 speed box.

You need the reasonably local services of an MB indy who has STAR for diagnostics to run Benz's economically.
Lots of people travel to Lock's in Rushden for service work, including me when i ran W124's, Albert Lock has forgotten more than most will ever know about Mercs.

Jag_NE

3,333 posts

128 months

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Saturday 18th September 2021

Peugeot 508SW with the 2.0 diesel.

You will get a lot of car for your money.

Paynewright

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105 months

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