Are diesels worth the extra money? Now what car

motorguy

stutakesphotos wrote: »

Thanks. Presumably though, they're still a good car?

Good car, but the design has been around a long time, and therefore is relatively old fashioned compared to newer designs.

Not as popular as they once were so you need to buy them cheap as they are no longer in demand and this will impact residuals.

Also, find a GOOD independent dealer for this age of car - if you buy it through a peugeot dealer you are going to be paying an excessive price.

Cornucopia

Difference in fuel cost is not a significant factor, here. Even at 5p/l, that's only 3.5%. Like-for-like, you'd expect a modern TD to give at least 25% better MPG than a similar petrol car. And many are attracting much lower road tax, now, too.

If you're doing more than 12k miles pa, you should definitely be considering a diesel.

stutakesphotos

Over priced? http://www.autodevotion.co.uk/used-cars/26739/renault-clio

Ultrasonic

Have you considered a Skoda Fabia? Personally I think they're ugly, but from a reliability point of view they're probably a better bet than the French offerings you're currently looking at. Also, have you ruled a Fiesta out?

stutakesphotos

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Have you considered a Skoda Fabia? Personally I think they're ugly, but from a reliability point of view they're probably a better bet than the French offerings you're currently looking at. Also, have you ruled a Fiesta out?

I would if I could find a good one for 4.5

~Chameleon~

Nobody answered my question about an Audi A3 2.0 TDi

Ultrasonic

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Nobody answered my question about an Audi A3 2.0 TDi

Were you suggesting it for the OP? If so my earlier post and his answered it by saying an A3 was larger than he's after. If you were asking for yourself you'd be probably be better off starting a new thread, or I might not be the only one that gets mixed up!

Ultrasonic

stutakesphotos wrote: »

I would if I could find a good one for 4.5

Somebody posted a link to a good looking Octavia for £5k above, so I'm sure it must be possible to find a Fabia for £4.5k.

Have you decided if you want to go for a petrol or diesel yet?

stutakesphotos

Well as the concensus appears to suggest that diesels fuel economy is outweighed by their maintenance costs, I think its going to be petrol

mattyprice4004

Old diesels are very much an asset these days - solid reliability and cheap parts.

Unfortunately modern diesels are somewhat of a minefield, one of the reasons I still potter around in my tractors of the 90's.

A quick rundown of what I've had and any problems:

- Rover 400 diesel, 80k, no issues
- Rover 600 diesel, 170k, no issues
- MG ZS diesel, lack of antifreeze caused a cracked head. Oops! £70 and a weekend to fix. Yes I did learn from that!
- Rover 75 diesel x3 (130k, 160k and 170k) no issues
- Rover 400 diesel, 96k, no issues

Each has been owned for at least 3 months and up to 3 years. I tend to buy, make them minty fresh and sell quite a lot it seems. :rotfl:

I did 30k in one 75 and was amazed at how capable modern diesel engines are. Then again, it does use the decent M47 diesel engine from BMW as fitted to many, many BMW vehicles.