Contemplating a diesel

[MondeoMan1981]

I do c.10-12k miles a year, mostly motorway or A road and as a result contemplating a diesel now...

The Mondeo I had up til Feb was a great car to drive, good spec etc but had a drinking problem

Picked up a 1.4 307 in the auto trader nice and cheap with history and good miles, its better for sure but doesnt give me the spec or comfort I would like...

Any local PH'ers recommend a good diesel, £2k-£3k ?

Not fussed on actual specifics, just some ideas.

I know if I go within a mile of General Gassing there would be 25 replies within half an hour telling me to spend more get a 330d and remap it to 100mpg and 500bhp......

Edited by MondeoMan1981 on Tuesday 9th June 21:37

[SSC!]

O/H has just bought a Bora as we need a family car. It has been "slightly" tuned and can fairly nip on. I believe we were getting 53mpg at the weekend. Obviously that figure dissapears when I use it but it has bags of room and VW's last forever.

Have you considered a Passat?

[VetteG]

One of my mates has an old Landy that has been chipped, still not great in top speed, but impressive overtaking! You could always go for a 330 BMW but then you would become a BMW owner!


G

[LHDisbest]

VetteG said:

You could always go for a 330 BMW but then you would become a BMW owner!


G

And?

Doesn't really apply to me anymore.

[MondeoMan1981]

Ah been there done that with the BMWs

When I used to spend silly money on cars I spent £10k on a 51 plate 320iSE , the receiption from the motoring public was not as bad as I expected. Only had one smartarse in an X type try and race me down South Gyle Broadway - he was in the bus lane I may add...

Quite fancy an A6 tdi sort of 99-00 with half decent mileage but decent ones are rare. Everything I see on the likes of Auto Trader always has 140K+ on the clock already.

Passat I quite like, Bora definately consider, had a Golf that shape about 7 years ago and it was a good solid car.

Think I would also consider Volvo S60 diesel and maybe even the S80. God I'm getting old. Still 2 years of my 20s left and I'm talking Volvo, diesel Volvo

Edited by MondeoMan1981 on Wednesday 10th June 01:03

[istoo]

if you get a VAG car go for the 1.9pd 130 if you can get one in that range. The 2.5V6 tdi can be a money pit, but the previous 5pot 2.5tdi is a belter, the latter D5 volvo lump is derived from that as well. if it waqs me personally i would be looking for an earlier golf GT TDi either a 6 speed 115 or a 130 if it would stretch. the same lump in the ibiza makes it nippy, Seats are really well spec'ed and cheaper than the equivalent golfs. The new 2.0tdi's are still too dear for your price range. A6 I bought at 29 as well, hmm maybe something subliminal going on there, owned it for 4 years and put 75k on it, great family car but didint drive big at all. note go for a 02 onwards, as they got a facelift then and the suspension was totally overhauled and is a lot better than the post 02 cars which are quite soft/bouncy. Although the post 02 sports are a lot stiffer but in tdi form are like rocking horse poo. Also note the 1.9tdi in the A6 was never produced in quattro form.

An M3 owner here just bought a tdci mondeo which I am sure he will comment on shortly!

10-12k a year might work out OK with a petrol still if fuel costs are an issue. on that note anyone else noticing the price gap is becoming more even again between the fuels.

if you like passats and want a bit oddball, have a look at the W8's. they are a few grand now.

Edited by istoo on Wednesday 10th June 10:02

[naetype]

I've had recently(ish) a Mazda 6 ('04) plate and now running a new shape Mondeo. TBH the Mondy is a bit too big for the roads I drive on but the Mazda 6 was a cracker and never put a foot wrong and arguably handled just as good, if not better, than my current drive.

Passats are plain boring.. in fact most VW group cars are dull as ditchwater when your criteria is just for a day-to-day runaround. I reckon you could get a high mileage '6' for your budget and in over 60k miles there were no faults at all (well, not until I was the meat in a 3 car sandwich and on that basis it held up well!).

[Nefarious]

I took a friend in a similar predicament down to the auction and picked up a mint Golf TDi GT (130bhp) on a 53-plate with 54k for £3.7k. He spend £200 on new sports springs and another £200 on a remap to 180ish bhp.

Feels big enough for motorway crusing and small enough for the b-roads. There aren't many cars that car be all things to all men, but that little Golf makes as good a fist of it as any, IMO.

[I-Mac]

VetteG said:

One of my mates has an old Landy that has been chipped, still not great in top speed, but impressive overtaking! You could always go for a 330 BMW but then you would become a BMW owner!


G

Or do what I have done.....Remapped E90 330D and a Chipped TD5 90 :P

I would look for a VW Diesel at 2-3K.....but you will need to shop about to get a good one, My father bought one cheap but the turbo went on it soon afterwards (His was a 115BHP version)

Edited by I-Mac on Wednesday 10th June 19:47