If you had £4000 to spend on a car for a 20k mile commute...

sandyballs

Just done a DMF on a Mondeo 53 plate with less than 80k on the clock. It was an utter bitch and cost £800 for all the bits, am a mechanic and used works ramps etc for free. would not advise people to do on the drive way, front sub frame had to get dropped to get the gearbox out the bottom. Drive shafts were seized in so had to split at gearbox end and leave hanging. Ford dealer wanted over 2k for the job, which would have crept up since they would have replaced more. Would stay clear of them in future.

Sesquepidilian

Swansea_Dave wrote:

brettjmcc wrote:

Swansea_Dave wrote:

Focus isn't my cup of tea. Had quite a few as hire cars - the interior is particularly cheap and tacky. Hilarious when compared with e.g. a VW.

Tried the new one yet? I'd agree with the old one...

I guess the new type is the one that came out in 2011l? If so, I have had a couple of rentals. Some decent toys in the last one I had - satnav in dash and bluetooth, etc. But, oddly, only a 5 speed box (in a petrol version) and no cruise control.

My observations were the same. 70mph @ >3000rpm in 5th. Hated the "toys" though. Couldn't figure how to get off the radio presets. Had to listen to Radio1 for 4 hours.....

Oliver19

...

bearfraser

Had a Citroen C2 VTS 110hp oil burner , was good for 50-60mpg , £35 road tax and FUN in the twisty bits

Oliver19

bearfraser wrote:

Had a Citroen C2 VTS 110hp oil burner , was good for 50-60mpg , £35 road tax and FUN in the twisty bits

My dad had the C2 GT 04 Special Edition for a few months, put it this way... I wouldn't fancy doing big milage in them! The suspenstion is stiff and 50-60mpg??? Maybe at 50mph down a hill!

coombsfh

2.2 diesel accord is what i'm going to get i think

neilrobins

Beware of the accord diesel as it has a thirst for oil, will need very regular checks. Also there is no low oil indicator unlike most diesels but good size and usually well spec'd.

coombsfh

Firstly,

Thanks for the replies everyone. This is a bike forum and I didn't expect so much help to be so readily available.

All of your replies deserve a reply so here goes...

neilrobins wrote:

Beware of the accord diesel as it has a thirst for oil, will need very regular checks. Also there is no low oil indicator unlike most diesels but good size and usually well spec'd.

I was not aware of this... Worrysome butI am hot on car maintenance

Oliver19 wrote:

I have a Fabia VRS 56 Plate.
They are really good cars that many people look down their noses at! but WHY? Yes it is a Skoda but all the parts are made by VW and plenty of people drive those around!

My VRS is remapped from 130BHP up to 165BHP and it is quick, ECONOMIC and brilliant at eating up the miles...
I have put 11,000 miles on mine in the last 7 months and have had no issues at all, I ALWAYS SEE 50mpg+ and have even had as much as 65mpg on a long steady drive.

As a previous poster said, they are quick, even with the standard 130BHP!

I have no issues about skoda. VAG are a strong manufacturer so am looking and being quite pleased by what I see.

Sandyballs wrote:

Just done a DMF on a Mondeo 53 plate with less than 80k on the clock. It was an utter ***** and cost £800 for all the bits, am a mechanic and used works ramps etc for free. would not advise people to do on the drive way, front sub frame had to get dropped to get the gearbox out the bottom. Drive shafts were seized in so had to split at gearbox end and leave hanging. Ford dealer wanted over 2k for the job, which would have crept up since they would have replaced more. Would stay clear of them in future.

Have read reviews on reviews about accords and they genuinely seem pretty good reliability wise.

davis wrote:

For 4k surely it's just buy any old lump of car, and run it into the ground? Keep the rest of the money for something that isn't going to be spending 95% of its time making you miserable on the motorway.

I'd go older due to DMFs and DPFs; they're basically made to fail.
The only thing I'd be tempted to go for other than a cheap lump is an even older BMW in decent condition, keep it tidy and serviced, and run it up to starship mileage. I used to like them when I still found driving fun.

I love the idea of the old BM but can't inherit any problems that come with old BM ownership. Maybe a 525TDS??

ddraver wrote:

Can't believe no one has suggested a Cervelo R3, preferably with Di2 or SRAM hydraulic Red yet...?

If I buy the car, you can get me the bike...deal?

davis wrote:

For 4k surely it's just buy any old lump of car, and run it into the ground? Keep the rest of the money for something that isn't going to be spending 95% of its time making you miserable on the motorway.

I'd go older due to DMFs and DPFs; they're basically made to fail.
The only thing I'd be tempted to go for other than a cheap lump is an even older BMW in decent condition, keep it tidy and serviced, and run it up to starship mileage. I used to like them when I still found driving fun.

I find driving a heavily taxed passtime but I still enjoy it and find the alternatives loathsome in the extreme...

ohara227 wrote:

For £4000 try and get a tidy Peugeot 306 D-Turbo, I used one and clocked up about 80,000 on it in around 3 years which added to the 40,000 already on it. With about 120,000 on the clock I sold it 4 years ago and seen it happy as larry flying along an A road near me a few days ago. They are good on fuel and good engines, might find an oil leak but for £4000 you will have move than enough to buy one, fix any oil leak (usually just gasket), tax, insure and buy fuel for while!

Plus the back seats fold down and lift out, which is ideal for carrying stuff - like a bike :-)

Happy hunting!

The mother had a 306 and everything electrical went tits up... Had a lot of french shit and though some are a hoot to drive I don't want to be working away at it every weekend

CiB wrote:

The other thing with diesels is the dual mass flywheel, which is also prone to failure well before the car reaches the end of its otherwise useful life.

Witha budget of 4000 it strikes me that OP is letting himself in for a heap of potential trouble by buying a well used diesel that someone is probably desperate to shift to an unsuspecting buyer.

Whatever you decide to buy, you'd do well to do a bit of research before parting with any cash.

Hoping to negate "heaps" of trouble with HPI and a mechanic mate...

Really, thanks a lot for so much help guys and gals,

Fred.

andyrr

Swansea_Dave wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

Ford Focus
Saab 9-3 (lots of cheap stuff out there at the moment)

Focus isn't my cup of tea. Had quite a few as hire cars - the interior is particularly cheap and tacky. Hilarious when compared with e.g. a VW.

My Saab 9-3 diesel has 235,000 miles on the clock after 11 years and its still enjoyable to drive. Dead reliable and 45-48 mpg every tank. Its the old GM 2.2 tractor engine so it'll rattle your teeth out when its cold, though (I guess its 'character', cough cough).

I'm possibly in a similar position to the OP, might have more to spend but in a way I may reduce the outlay partially, it seems to avoid the modern performance diesels that appear to have big major issues that affect almost all of them whereas the older (slower and less economical for sure) ones don't have this hanging over them when they reach 60-k miles or so.
Currently running 2 cars, 1 being a 2.0HDI Picasso - slow, dull, but 45Mpg and 90-kmiles it's still ok - few issues now rearing their heads but I don't beleive these are massive ones.
Planning to swap to 1 car and the obvious one, A4 diesel, we're put off by the previous one we had that had injector faults that was going to cost £2-3k - we got shot before that was done ...
So far it seems :
BMW diesels : swirl flap problems (can be removed though). Also DMF issues ?
Mondeo - DMF
Like the idea of the SAAB but
a) long-term parts/servicing going to be ok ?
b) Not clear on which one is better 1.9 or 2.2 for reliability ?
Is it much better than a Vectra on which it is based anyway ?

tim_wand

I had the Accord 2.2 CDTI sport on an O4 plate, used to run every day from Grantham to York and then back, The early morning trip was done at speeds only the Road Angel protected me for.

The economy was awesome the reliability unpeachable ( In the early days of ownership I filled it with 55 litres of unleaded, an orange light came on and it stopped, realised what I done pretty quickly and called out the AA. , the guy in the recovery truck was genuinely shocked to see an Accord with its 4 ways on, Thats a first in 10 years was his response. Yer well even these wont run on petrol)

2 years and 70,000 miles later not a single problem with it, didnt burn any more oil than standard servicing.

Would be my first choice if I could find a decent one at your price.

symo

Japenese or as has been said before, a 2nd hand 306 Turbo Diesel which I once was lucky to own for 40k miles, faultless.

upperoilcan

Dont buy anything French.

Go German.

coombsfh

tim wand wrote:

I had the Accord 2.2 CDTI sport on an O4 plate, used to run every day from Grantham to York and then back, The early morning trip was done at speeds only the Road Angel protected me for.

The economy was awesome the reliability unpeachable ( In the early days of ownership I filled it with 55 litres of unleaded, an orange light came on and it stopped, realised what I done pretty quickly and called out the AA. , the guy in the recovery truck was genuinely shocked to see an Accord with its 4 ways on, Thats a first in 10 years was his response. Yer well even these wont run on petrol)

2 years and 70,000 miles later not a single problem with it, didnt burn any more oil than standard servicing.

Would be my first choice if I could find a decent one at your price.

Finding this sort of endorsement about accords is very easy and finding damning "I loathe the thing" complaints is nigh on impossible.

Just need to take the plunge now. £4k gets an example with all the stuff you expect from a modern car, under 100k miles.

Why did you get shot of the accord if you don't mind me asking and what replaced it?

tim_wand

I went from a Civic type R to the Accord because of the feul the Type R ate. I was living in Grantham but working in York, the Accord must have saved me £100 a week and to be honest I loved it probably the best car I ve had.

Eventually got to work closer to home and swapped the Accord for a CRV as I was doing a lot of Towing and hauling a lot of gear around. I love Hondas never had a problem with any of them, Wish I d have gone for the same power plant (2.2 Cdti) in the CRV but got the 2.0 litre v tech, still nice though.

tim_wand

Double post

Swansea_Dave

andyrr wrote:

Swansea_Dave wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

Ford Focus
Saab 9-3 (lots of cheap stuff out there at the moment)

Focus isn't my cup of tea. Had quite a few as hire cars - the interior is particularly cheap and tacky. Hilarious when compared with e.g. a VW.

My Saab 9-3 diesel has 235,000 miles on the clock after 11 years and its still enjoyable to drive. Dead reliable and 45-48 mpg every tank. Its the old GM 2.2 tractor engine so it'll rattle your teeth out when its cold, though (I guess its 'character', cough cough).

I'm possibly in a similar position to the OP, might have more to spend but in a way I may reduce the outlay partially, it seems to avoid the modern performance diesels that appear to have big major issues that affect almost all of them whereas the older (slower and less economical for sure) ones don't have this hanging over them when they reach 60-k miles or so.
Currently running 2 cars, 1 being a 2.0HDI Picasso - slow, dull, but 45Mpg and 90-kmiles it's still ok - few issues now rearing their heads but I don't beleive these are massive ones.
Planning to swap to 1 car and the obvious one, A4 diesel, we're put off by the previous one we had that had injector faults that was going to cost £2-3k - we got shot before that was done ...
So far it seems :
BMW diesels : swirl flap problems (can be removed though). Also DMF issues ?
Mondeo - DMF
Like the idea of the SAAB but
a) long-term parts/servicing going to be ok ?
b) Not clear on which one is better 1.9 or 2.2 for reliability ?
Is it much better than a Vectra on which it is based anyway ?

At £4k you are talking about an old-ish Saab and parts availability is very good. Both the 2.2 and 1.9 diesels are common - 2.2 is GM and 1.9 is Fiat - so parts are everywhere. The 1.9 is smoother and was originally touted as the better engine (it superseded the 2.2) but over time I think the 2.2 has proven to be a tougher lump. I've seen quite a few 2.2s with over 200K miles (just check eBay). The 9-3 is based on a modified Vectra chassis but not much is recognisable and the 9-3 was built in Sweden (but I've never driven a Vectra!)

That said, I do like the look of the Accord diesel...

coombsfh

Guys and girls of bikeradar,

Of all the forums I have posted on with this question it seems odd to me that the fastest-moving and most useful conversations I have encountered have been on a bike forum; thank you all.

Got more interviews today and tomorrow BUT will probably go car shopping this weekend. Insurance is pretty cheap too (considering mileage and certain achievements I have unlocked on my license :shock: ).

tim wand wrote:

I went from a Civic type R to the Accord because of the feul the Type R ate. I was living in Grantham but working in York, the Accord must have saved me £100 a week and to be honest I loved it probably the best car I ve had.

This is just what I need to hear. Thanks

Fred

CiB

coombsfh wrote:

Of all the forums I have posted on with this question it seems odd to me that the fastest-moving and most useful conversations I have encountered have been on a bike forum; thank you all.

Whoud'a thunk it eh? You should post that on your other forums to flag up that cyclists are at once the most erudite helpful caring sensitive wondrously able disparate bunch of people you'll meet, ergo merely by cycling it makes someone into just that sort of person.

Cycling makes one a better person.

hulla the hulla

My Mondeo ST TDCi is fab. Plenty of room, enough kit to keep you interested, goes well, I get 49mpg combined and overall running costs are, IMHO low compared to previous cars. Its been bluefin'd too so is a little more rapid. Can heartily recommend. Weak links are DMF, EGR and belt tensioners that rattle themselves loose and sound like a taxi.

That or a skoda / vw turbo derv.

keef66

I have an A3 as a company car. The frugal 1.9 TDI-e version. Real world 60mpg average fuel consumption, £35 a year to tax (but I don't pay it)

So pleased with it I've ordered the same again for the next car, now comes with a 1.6 engine which claims identical power but with lower emissions / better fuel economy. Test drive revealed it to be just as zippy and a lot quieter.

Only fly in the ointment is you'd struggle to find one within your budget.

Our eldest son has just got his first teaching job 50 miles away, so we're looking for a small economical car for him. Considering the 1.4 TDCi Fiesta

porlyworly

Mitsubishi Legnum VR4 - twin turbo awd estate, supercar beater with acres of space in the boot and obscenely cheap second hand. Heartbreaking fuel economy (low teens) so bang on an LPG conversion and live the dream. Best car I've ever owned by an absolute mile (and I've had a few) but also the least sensible

andyrr

Now considering a petrol-engined car as it just seems that all of the diesels that we're in the price-range for, ie 5 or so years old, 50 - 70 k miles, are potentially heading for a big bill (DMF/DPF/injectors) and the cost differential of the fuels doesn't outweigh this.
Mazda 5 or 6 in the frame (had p/x offered against a 6) - we might even go for another HDi Picasso which at least uses an old-tech engine.

jordan_217

http://www.skoda.net.r66.co.uk/carview. ... 602456904#

That's low mileage for it's age. Similar age/mileage to mine. Very little to go wrong. It's a PD engine so no DPF. I know a few people who have done 150K miles without any turbo (or similar, major) issues. The cambelt should of been changed on that one already.

It's over your £5k budget but that's a main dealer price and should come with 6 months tax, MoT and warranty. Mine has just had an MoT and passed without any issues. I have the last 6 MoT certs and it's never had an advisory. Parts are relatively cheap and readily available.

Servicing is every 10K miles and an independent VAG specialist shouldn't charge more than £150. If you're covering 20k miles then cruise control would be handy and I got a dealer to retrofit to mine for £130.

Brilliant little cars! My Wife drives mine now but I still love getting my hands on the keys.

mattwood

Another shout for the Skoda Fabia vRS I'm afraid, or the sister models; SEAT Ibiza FR TDI/Cupra TDI (The Cupra is the better/more desirable) or if you can find one the VW Polo GT TDI.

Having owned a 2004 SEAT Ibiza FR TDI for a couple of years (bought with 121k and sold with ~150k) it is one of the better cars in its class. I paid £4000 for it 3 years ago, so a high miler with FSH will be cheap as chips (Mine sold for £2600)

Peformance-wise, mine had 130bhp, that I had tuned to 175bhp and still returned 55mpg+ when asked. It has loads of toys (Climate control/cruise control/heated mirrors to name a few) and is suprisingly good fun.

A mate of mine has just bought a Skoda vRS and I find myself tempted to say the least as I've been sans-car since August '11 and its another mint car with 100k on the clocks.

Super-reliable and very entertaining to drive.

CambsNewbie

mattwood wrote:

Another shout for the Skoda Fabia vRS I'm afraid, or the sister models; SEAT Ibiza FR TDI/Cupra TDI (The Cupra is the better/more desirable) or if you can find one the VW Polo GT TDI.

Having owned a 2004 SEAT Ibiza FR TDI for a couple of years (bought with 121k and sold with ~150k) it is one of the better cars in its class. I paid £4000 for it 3 years ago, so a high miler with FSH will be cheap as chips (Mine sold for £2600)

Peformance-wise, mine had 130bhp, that I had tuned to 175bhp and still returned 55mpg+ when asked. It has loads of toys (Climate control/cruise control/heated mirrors to name a few) and is suprisingly good fun.

A mate of mine has just bought a Skoda vRS and I find myself tempted to say the least as I've been sans-car since August '11 and its another mint car with 100k on the clocks.

Super-reliable and very entertaining to drive.

I had a 54 plate Ibiza FR tdi and in 5 1/2 years apart from routine maintenance all it needed was a split intercooler hose to be replaced. Did over 65k miles in it as well. I would say while the handling was great on the twisties, going up and down motorways or fast A roads and feeling every bump now matter how slight did get tiring.

mattwood

Aahhh yes! I forgot about that!

The suspension is a bit hard.

andyrr

Skoda Fabia and the like are too small unfortunately - 2 x kids plus a recently acquired large dog means a medium/large estate or similar has become a necessity - as of today we've just done a deal for a Mazda 5 which seems to tick the boxes. Not very familiar with these or Mazda's in general so I'm hoping it suits us for a while.

mar_k

Vw golf gttdi, Great mile munchers with good economy

coombsfh

I bought something...

It is German, 4 door and has 76000 miles on the clock...

Any guesses?

LangerDan

coombsfh wrote:

I bought something...

It is German, 4 door and has 76000 miles on the clock...

Any guesses?

Is it a Wartburg?