Are diesels worth the extra money? Now what car

stutakesphotos

Moving away from French cars how about this Astra? http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201304126240928/sort/default/usedcars/price-to/5000/price-from/3000/model/astra/make/vauxhall/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/radius/60/page/4/postcode/nr305up/quicksearch/true?logcode=p

Cornucopia

stutakesphotos wrote: »

Moving away from French cars how about this Astra? http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201304126240928/sort/default/usedcars/price-to/5000/price-from/3000/model/astra/make/vauxhall/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/radius/60/page/4/postcode/nr305up/quicksearch/true?logcode=p

Is it a hearse?

stutakesphotos

Not to my knowledge lol

interstellaflyer

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

What about an Audi A3? Recently been looking at a 2.0 TDi probably around 2006/2007 model.

Audi A3s have one major problem, they are usually driven by complete (insert word for male chickens here), I'm being serious, they are just flash boy racer cars. Plus I think the OP wants something smaller

stutakesphotos

I take it vauxhall cars are generally less costly than a Renault or Peugeot?

DominicH

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Nobody answered my question about an Audi A3 2.0 TDi

The trouble is, you'll get people offering opinions about the 2.0 TDI or the 1.9 TDi as if there were just one engine of those names, but the truth is that there are many variants with significant differences. Is it a PD engine or common rail, or one of the earlier TDIs? Solenoid injectors or piezo electric? Bosch or Siemens? It all makes a difference. That is why those in the know refer to these engine ranges by their letter codes rather than just "1.9 TDI" or whatever.

motorguy

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

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.

I just bought a 1999 Peugeot 406 2.0HDI with 325,000 miles on it!! Going strong, pulls like a train, starts with half a turn of the key in the mornings!

stutakesphotos

Quick word to say thank you to all for the good advice. I've learnt lots and am test driving Fiestas and Corsas. Cheers all