Best diesel engine for approx £1500

joannasmum

Hi

DH car is about to die any day now. We have between £1500 and £2000 to spend on replacing it. He does about 20k miles a year so needs a pretty bullet proof diesel engine. Can anybody recommend a car we dont want anything bigger than a Escort sort of size. Looking on Autotrader its looks like we can proberbly afford a R-V reg. Hope somebody can help or atleast tell us what to avoid.

Thanks in advance

Quinny_2

Peugeot 306 TD gets my vote.

Some people don't like them,but I'm currently looking for one for the wife,as I also run a Peugeot,albeit a 406 HDi.Residuals seem fairly good on 306's,and there are plenty out there to choose from.

Try to get as late a one as possible,because the very early ones,of which the age that you specify may not apply,suffered from a wiring harness problem in the door.

If you want to find out about any peculiarlarities on any model,then try the Honest John car by car guide:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm

Ken.

DavidHM

I've got a 306 and have had two 406s.

With a £1,500 budget you're going to find that you may be looking at a very late 1.9 turbo diesel 306 - which have had engine problems. I think the engine code to avoid is DHY but Honest John's car by car breakdown will give you the lowdown.

As an alternative to the 306 you could get a Citroen Xsara - it's the same car but uglier (and because it's uglier, you could get one cheaper - or a newer one for the same price).

smudger1964

DavidHM wrote:

I've got a 306 and have had two 406s.

With a £1,500 budget you're going to find that you may be looking at a very late 1.9 turbo diesel 306 - which have had engine problems. I think the engine code to avoid is DHY but Honest John's car by car breakdown will give you the lowdown.

As an alternative to the 306 you could get a Citroen Xsara - it's the same car but uglier (and because it's uglier, you could get one cheaper - or a newer one for the same price).

I love it did they ever use that slogan "Citroen XSARA its a peugeot 306 only uglier"

Quinny_2

Made me laugh.

Ken.

joannasmum

Just a quick message to say thanks.

Been half way round the North-West today and finally got a N reg Golf 1.9 TD, it was abit older than we wanted but by far the best car that we looked at. 80,000 miles and a full service history and a really clean and tidy for its age. Very relieved that I'm not going to be waiting for the phone call everyday to say that DH car has died.

Thanks again

scheming_gypsy

good choice, you can't go wrong with a Golf / German car. Alot better than Citreons and other cars the French put out,