If You Had £4K To Spend On A Commuting Car (20K Miles A Year)...

[coombsfh 2]

As above

 

Must be diesel, reliable, economical and not small as I am too big to be cramped up in a small hatch.

 

Have a shortlist in mind but would love opinions, suggestions and relevant reviews from people in a similar situation would be great.

 

PS much as I love the suggestion of an STDT or a 205GTI it is big-boy-sensible-job-long-commute-pay-off-student-loan-reliable-car time

 

Miss 205's like mad so thanks in advance for on-topic help I have always had from this forum...

 

All the best,

 

Fred.

[welshpug 1,657]

how big are you

[dcc 855]

Citroen c5 HDI

[coombsfh 2]

how big are you

 

I am 6' 1" but wide (lift heavy weights for fun and for my job I dig and lift heavy s*it) and hate feeling like a sardine. The naughty side of 100kg most of the time too!!

 

Citroen c5 HDI

 

A c5...really. What is reliability and handling like?

[dcc 855]

Reliable, better than a 205, got better review from top gear than the new bmw 3 or 5 series (at the time).

 

Never driven one, but seems like a very nice car

[Stu 18]

Golf GT-TDi for me bud, 4k should get you a sensible miles, 130bhp model.

[dcc 855]

I looked at a golf, but then I read up on them, they are'nt the best on fuel, they eat tyres and brakes, they're heavy, they can eat clutches (as I nearly found out! - went to have a look at a 70k mile one local and he called me 2 days before to say the clutch had gone...)

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Fabia VRS? A mate has one as his daily and loves it - retro fitted cruise control with plug and play bits from an Audi and improved his mpg.

[Anthony 1,003]

I disagree on the fuel part - the VAG 1.9 TDi's (especially in PD form) are very good on fuel, and whilst lacking slightly in refinement, they are very punchy mid-range. The engines themselves seem to be very reliable too, other than the PD 150 models that can suffer from valve train issues.

 

What I would say is that the quality/build doesn't quite live up to the reputation and the initial "feel", and they can suffer from some costly and difficult to put right niggles, especially electrical seemingly. Some cars are absolutely fine and will rack up huge mileage with no attention, but others are enough to put you off for life - certainly I know people that after owning Mk4 Golf generation VAG cars have sworn never to touch one again and have, quite understandably, gone Japanese.

 

£4k is a slightly awkward price point in a way, as it's not cheap enough to be consumable if it breaks catastrophically, but old enough that it will have fallen to the point where there are quite a lot of potential big bills on the horizon, especially in the case of modern diesels where injectors, DMF's (dual mass flywheels) and DPF (particulate filters) are all problematic and replacement common around the sort of age/mileage that your price point tends to imply.

 

Me? I have a £600 306 HDi that's been supremely reliable, covering over 50k in 2 1/2 years and barely needing more than routine servicing once I'd sorted out the initial faults I bought it with.

[BlueBolt 156]

Saab 93 or 95!! Lots of room, very well built, parts continued to be made after they've closed for business, and nice motors as far as I'm concerned... Plus, where they've closed for business you're getting a lot more for your money with them at the moment!!!

[dcc 855]

Or I would suggest a very nice citroen c2 code

[Richie 32]

Must admit i'd spend the money on a MK4 Golf TDI if those were the requirements. Actually very solid build quality inside too.

 

Failing that maybe a Passat or Mondeo of some kind if you need the extra room.

[sickomotorsport 4 2 Cars]

406 hdi executive estate, 2.0 110bhp or 2.2 136.

brilliant car.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Audi A4 1.9 TDI 130, recommending it as I have one, £4k will get you a very nice one in the 04-54 age with sensible miles, not sure if the newer shape 05 onward ones are down to that money yet or not, however the 04/54 are the last of the 1.9 TDI's which are the one to have for reliability. The interior is a nice place to be. Avoid the later 2.0 TDI as it has a number of problems, injectors and oil pump drive. The 1.9 in contrast has been around a while so all the problems have been ironed out. The A4 for some reason never came with the problematic 150 bhp motor, however there are 115 and 100bhp ones out there so be careful when buying, the pick of them all is the 130bhp with 6 speed box, this is tuned for more torque than the 130 with 5 speed box, and the difference can be felt on the road. 50mpg is easy at 75mph on the cruise control. Drive gently/carefully and you can do better. I had mine remapped last year so it is now somewhere around the 160-170bhp mark, it wasn't slow before but really moves now.

[GLPoomobile 958]

I tend to agree with Anthony on the budget side of things. If it's just a work horse you need, then perhaps the £4k isn't really necessary. I have a general opinion that when it comes to reliability, having a newer, lower mileage car doesn't tend to count for much these days. You hear so many stories about new cars having umpteen failures in their first few years. Plus, when you buy 2nd hand, you are always likely to be the victim of someone else's problems - lack of maintenance, shoddy workmanship, mistreatment, hidden problems etc etc.

 

So you could just pick something up for a grand, spend up to a couple of hundred on a thorough service, and then drive it until it's first big bill comes up and then move it on. It may need a bit more money spent on age related items such as bushes, but it'll not necessarily be any less reliable (and I realise I'm making some very sweeping hypothesis here) than something younger at £4k. Just make sure you've breakdown recovery.

 

If you spend £4k on something that subsequently throws an expensive bill at you in a years time, you'll feel obliged to get it fixed as £4k isn't exactly disposable. Then you find yourself financially committed to it.

 

If you were spending £4k on something because it's actually a desirable asset rather than just something to munch the miles, then that is of course a whole different discussion.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Another local I hadn't seen before!

 

Similar to a couple of the above, you could do a lot worse than a HDI 306 or 406, my dad had a 160,000 mile 406 HDI and said it was on the best cars he's had to drive! Cheap to buy, cheap to run, only pricey bit is Tax.

 

If it was me I'd be looking for a phase 3 3dr black 306 HDI on cyclones.

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

I second the others saying its an awkward price budget. I swapped cars with my parents and had their 406 2.2HDI estate for a year and a half. Comfortable, reliable and very economical. (easy enough to get rid of the fap filter as well ) And if you wanted something a bit better looking, you could always pick up a 406 coupe HDI..

[Guest]

I was in a similar situation 9 months ago and went for a Fabia Vrs SE, absolutely love the car a pleasure to drive and eats up the miles. Car is on 126000 miles and bar a couple of very minor faults has been spot on. There are some common faults with them, heater resistor and header tank level sensor both failed on mine, they are very simple to rectify though and excellent forum support on Briskoda.

 

One word of caution though is that the MPG is NOT incredible, high 40's to low 50's and I don't drive like an idiot either. Apparently the earlier cars had a longer final gear so have slightly better fuel consumption. I'm satisfied with the trade off though as it does retain some fun factor, plus there is also the potential for a remap for pennies aswell.

 

I guess you have to balance up the fun vs fuel consumption decision though which is always down to personal choice.

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

I don't know why but i've always fancied an Octavia vRS

 

[tomcolinjones 26]

Seat Leon TDI? I absolutely love mine. i've covered from 44k to 90k in it since jan 2010. i fitted an EGR replacement pipe back in january and now im getting 55/60mpg, was 50/55mpg. should be able to get hold of the mk2 / 1p shape in the 1.9 105bhp for 4k. beautiful dash and drives great. its a really nice place to be on long journeys. No problems with anything electrical or mechanical. keep on top of the servicing and jobs a goodun!

[welshpug 1,657]

A Volvo D5

[eddie bullit 37]

Vauxhall Astra 1.3cdti..chain driven no need for cam belts and cheap as chips to run.

Edd

Edited April 7, 2012 by eddie bullit

[tomcolinjones 26]

Vauxhall Astra 1.3cdti..chain driven no need for cam belts and cheap as chips to run.

Edd

Gearbox made of cinder toffee though

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

My 15,000 miles a year workhorse is an Alfa 156 2.4 20v JTDm and its absolutely brilliant.

My Jag XF owning boss was really impressed with its comfort, power and economy on a recent 800 miles round trip.

I can get 48mpg on a long run and the 175bhp engine is a classic.

For less money and more economy, the 1.9 16v version is also excellent, and remaps are very cheap and effective.

 

I had a 2.1DT 406 for 5 years, which was fantastic workhorse, but this is better.

 

http://pistonheads.com/sales/3801032.htm

[BlueBolt 156]

My Leon TDI150 wil give me 60/65 on a clear run motorway driving at the speed limit and no more, and thats a mk1... Nice motor too in my opinion... Been doing me alright all the time my pug has been getting itself a new heart lol