Cheap Diesel daily drive £4k - Any suggestions?

[Timja]

Have decided it is silly running 2 expensive cars, but there will be times that I will not want to drive my TVR to places so not practical to use that every day.

So I am selling my Audi Cabriolet and plan on buying a cheap to run diesel that does 50-60mpg.

Does anyone run something similar that does plenty of mpg and has low running costs that they can recommend?

Thinking along the lines of Seat Leon 1.9tdi, Renault Clio 1.5dci, Peugeot 206/306?

[Chassis 33]

Alfa 156 JTD? All the reliability fears of the TVR, with some of the style. They are however very good drives, the couple I've been out in have been comfortable with responsive handling. If I was in the market for a daily diesel smoker that I could fit the dog or an engine/gear box in the boot a 156 Sportwagon would be second on the list to a e34 BMW touring.

Regards
Iain

[richy759]

I had a 306 Gti-6 for a few years and loved it, handling was excellent, really good fun to drive and never let me down. Not sure if the D-Turbo handling is similar but worth a look, does 55mpg.
I also have a mate with a 1.9 TDi Leon and he loves that, seems to lack a bit of character but functional none the less.

Not sure if this helps,
Rich

[jdharris]

How about a Skoda Fabia vRS? Heard they are faster than a Cooper S and a lot of fun. Easy to park and thread through traffic too. Not sure whether you can get one that cheap but they must surely hold their value...

James

[Griffit]

Yep, I've got a Fabia vRS as a daily driver and can't complain. Regular 50mpg and therefore almost 600 miles between fill ups, reasonably good handling / comfort compromise but aesthetically it could do with being lowered a bit more (not that mine is). The white interior is a bit of a swine to keep clean if you don't use the car on your own all the time but plenty have been retrimmed in leather which avoids the problem. Despite what the JD Power survey etc say finding a good dealer for servicing and so on isn't as easy as you'd think, but Briskoda.net will help you with that. It's quick enough to be interesting and the torquey delivery is great when you're used to 5 litres of V8! Not sure if you'll find one on that budget yet though? Mine is two years and 60k miles old and retail values are still around £8-£8.5 according to Glass's guide. vRS came out late 2003 though so maybe?

Other than a vRS I had a Focus TDCi 115 previously. Not quite as economical on fuel as the Skoda (only 5 gears) but servicing, tyres etc were all far cheaper. Reliability wise it was better than the VAG product too - best car I've owned! Not as fast or fun obviously but otherwise a great car, and I'd bet you can pick one up for the budget. I sold mine at 27 months and 57K miles for £6k! Depreciation on the Ford hits a lot harder than the Skoda!

[macdeb]

Well, had two 306 dt's. Both good cars. Reasonable performance and good mpg. Head gaskets have a mid life crisis at 50k miles, and they do go through front discs regular. Never regreted having one.
Now have Alfa 147 jtd lusso. Probably the best car we've ever had. Brilliant! If you can go another grand or two it'd be worth it.

[stackmonkey]

I had the same task 6 months ago and bought an 02 Skoda Fabia 1.9TDi elegance - VRSs are out of price range for sensible milers.
In 8000miles mine has averaged 55mpg.

[ads]

how about a Mondeo ST TDCI?

About 50mpg, plus big enough to fit almost anything in!

[GTvr]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/205018.htm

[Timja]

I shall check some of those suggestions out. Just need to sell my car 1st. Think everyone has left the country, or not really interested in convertibles after the poor weather!