£5k Small diesel car for long daily commuting, any hints?

andymg

Have you looked at VW Polo diesels, with your budget you might get a low mileage 54-55 reg TDI or SDI - I'd prefer TDI quite nippy. Polo's are very well built and the mileage is pretty good. With careful driving on our 1.9 SDI easily get around 61-62 mpg, motorway driving ofcourse.

danielvmn

about the Polo, it looks like a good car, but can we really trust in a car that old? We don't have any mechanic skills to deal with that...
I was talking with the missus, she is also happy with a Vauxhall Astra, maybe a 1.7 diesel engine is a good option?
Also, again about the www.reliabilityindex.com, is it accurate?
Thanks!

interstellaflyer

I have an Astra 1.3 CDTi 90 and contary to what people seem to think, it performs perfectly well on the motorway, the trouble is, these days people are looking at diesels that do 120mph and 0-60 in 8 seconds. My Astra will sit at 70mph doing just under 2000 rpm in 6th gear and will accelerate quite adequately, it is very frugal on deisel, cheap to tax and very, very cheap on insurance.

Lum

VWs, in my opinion, are not as reliable as the VW fanboys like to make out. What you end up with is a car, that you paid a premium for due to the brand name, that's no more or less reliable than a Focus or an Astra.

As for the Astra, you will be looking at a Mk5 Astra given your price range, test drive it on a long trip is all I'd say. Personally I can't stand them as they are an adequate car, nothing special, but with seats that cause me a lot of back pain. If you get on ok with the seats a 1.7D Mk5 Astra should serve you fine as a commuter box.

Kilty_2

The 1.3 CDTI engine in the Corsa isn't as bad as people are making out, especially in 90PS guise. It's far better than a 1.4 TDCI Fiesta although I can't comment on the 1.6.

danielvmn

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I have an Astra 1.3 CDTi 90 and contary to what people seem to think, it performs perfectly well on the motorway, the trouble is, these days people are looking at diesels that do 120mph and 0-60 in 8 seconds. My Astra will sit at 70mph doing just under 2000 rpm in 6th gear and will accelerate quite adequately, it is very frugal on deisel, cheap to tax and very, very cheap on insurance.

Thanks for the testimonial, that was really helpful, any thoughts on the reliability?

Lum wrote: »

VWs, in my opinion, are not as reliable as the VW fanboys like to make out. What you end up with is a car, that you paid a premium for due to the brand name, that's no more or less reliable than a Focus or an Astra.

As for the Astra, you will be looking at a Mk5 Astra given your price range, test drive it on a long trip is all I'd say. Personally I can't stand them as they are an adequate car, nothing special, but with seats that cause me a lot of back pain. If you get on ok with the seats a 1.7D Mk5 Astra should serve you fine as a commuter box.

Thanks for the opinion, I'd rather get the cheaper Astra, but also, any thoughts on reliability? I mean, a 70k Astra is as reliable as a 70k Focus or Polo?

Thanks!

rodenal

danielvmn wrote: »

Thanks for the testimonial, that was really helpful, any thoughts on the reliability?


Thanks for the opinion, I'd rather get the cheaper Astra, but also, any thoughts on reliability? I mean, a 70k Astra is as reliable as a 70k Focus or Polo?

Thanks!

Just to throw my hat in the ring here - I had a 1.3cdti astra as a temporary car (for about 3 months) and I found it terrible to drive. The engine is keen, but it's a 1.3cdti pulling along a car the size of an astra, adequate performance it does not have. I found I was constantly changing gears, no fun when you just want to rumble along the motorway. It was dangerous when the notn in the rev range for the turbo (i.e pulling out at roundabouts) The engine would be fine in the corsa I would say, but it's not for the astra. The 1.7 is ok, a bit noisy, not fast or particularly slow - nothing special nor offensive

Hammyman

danielvmn wrote: »

The ideal route would be a 50 mile each way, almost motorway only commute and a small diesel car should be ideal for her

I wouldn't want to do 100 miles a day in a small hatchback, especially at motorway speeds with the wind and tyre noise making me deaf.

Weird_Nev

Right, enough of the conjecture...

Modern diesel engines, even the smaller capacity ones, are really very good.

I'm going to recommend a car that hasn't been mentioned yet, for a couple of reasons.
1) They offer outstanding value for money
2) I have personally run one for 4 years and 50,000 miles, and it was fantastic, even on long motorway cruises and long daily trips.

A Skoda Fabia 1.4 Tdi
(not sure if moneysaving expert will let me post links yet, as I'm a noob and therefore know nothing..)

They get a genuine 60Mpg, almost everywhere. Ours averaged just over that over it's 50,000 miles with us. They are genuinely nice to drive, and feel a class up from corsas, fiestas and most of the competition (and I drive those daily through work). The are quiet and refined enough on the motorway, and decent to drive on twistier roads.
The 1.4 3 cylinder engine really is a peach - much more flexible and less "rough" than the 1.4 Tdi's in Fiestas and the 1.3 Diesels in corsas.
Ours simply did not break. In the course of ownership it had 2 new front tyres and one set of front brake discs.They're a pleasant enough place to be although the interior is a touch bland, but the seats are very good which is important in a car you have to get into every day.

I honestly can't recommend them enough for simple, A-B motoring whilst using very little fuel and being straightforwards to run.

Citroen C4's - Just don't. Electrical problems abound.

Hammyman wrote: »

I wouldn't want to do 100 miles a day in a small hatchback, especially at motorway speeds with the wind and tyre noise making me deaf.

No longer true. Drive a proper modern hatchback. Some are still a bit tinny, but Skoda Fabias and to an extent Ford Fiestas have very good motorway manners. I find the 1.3 Corsa a bit agricultural for motorway use though.

andymg

Lum wrote: »

VWs, in my opinion, are not as reliable as the VW fanboys like to make out. What you end up with is a car, that you paid a premium for due to the brand name, that's no more or less reliable than a Focus or an Astra.

I can only speak from my experience of owning a polo, it has been a wonderful, reliable and cheap to run car. I'm no VW fan, I have owned Ford, Vauxhall, BMW in past and my experience is that you get what you pay for.

BTW I'll be interested in knowing where you got your stats on reliability from?