Diesel Car Recommendations

ToxicPaddy

A relative of mine is starting with a small company as a rep for them..

However due to the fact that its only a small company with limited money, he
has to provide his own transport and they will pay him mileage and expenses
and whatever..

(I know I know before anyone starts I think they should be providing him with
a car or van or whatever, he's heard all this before so dont bother telling
me..)

So he reckons he could be doing anything between 500-1000 miles a week in
this car and is now on the look out for a decent relatively low mileage car
that he can use as a family car too. Hes willing to spend about €15000 and
for that wants a reasonably comfortable car that should be cheap enuff to
maintain (for a diesel that is!!!) and will last between 12 - 18 months as by
then if all goes well he'll get a company car/van.

So between him, me and a few others we've been going over whats available
for that price and what has a good name etc..

Here's the list so far:

Toyota Avensis (Older Model)
VW Passat
VW Bora
Ford Mondeo (New Model)
Renault Laguna (Older Model)
Mitsubishi Galant
Opel Vectra (Older Model)
Nissan Primera
Skoda Octavia

Ive heard great things about Avensis, Mondeo and Passat diesels, but Ive
also heard that the Avensis models had a tendency to blow engines, the
Passats are expensive to maintain, but sure thats nothing new with a VW,
the Vectra diesel (1.7 afaik) isnt the best and can be a bit of a pain, the
new Mondeo is supposed to be hard enuff to find with low mileage as its
relatively new to the market and tend to hold their value so he might be struggling to find one within his price range..

The Primera's clutch is supposed to be a weak and has a tendency to go but
that could be just the one guy we know who has one and sure everyone
knows someone whos had a bad experience with any make or model of
car.

Skodas are rare with low mileage.. but would be ideal if he can get one..

Anyone know anything about the Galant or older model Laguna diesels???

Any other recommendations would be good too..

Tox

alias no.9

No Peugeot 406 or Citroen C5 or Xantia mentioned in a diesel discussion? Secondhand C5's should be cheap (relatively speaking) due to their supreme blandness and offer comfort levels that most others would struggle to match. The high maintenance costs on the passat could prpbably be significantly reduced by getting servicing done at skoda garages, all the same bits etc... There's a 2.0 direct injection version of the vectra that would be infinitely superior to the 1.7. The galant will be extremely old school diesel, noise, smoke, etc... The laguna, once all the bits of trim have fallen off, it should be fine and the 1.9dti is a modern engine.

HashSlinging

the skoda octavia estate Tdi 90 bhp.. can't go wrong really.

something like this :-

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=155606

HashSlinging

Don't be worried about high mileage VAG units. Once they've been serviced correctly with timing belts done every 50k, it should go forever.

Also there a few cheap TDi toledo's floating about these days..

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=154251

ToxicPaddy

alias no.9 wrote:

No Peugeot 406 or Citroen C5 or Xantia mentioned in a
diesel discussion?...

The 406 is out as a few people he knows had em and apparently all had bad
experiences with them so hes completely off them.. personally I think they
would be one of the better ones as the HDI engine is supposed to be class..

Citreon is a no no too apparently.. again his personal choice.. :rolleyes:

wrote:

There's a 2.0 direct injection version of the vectra that would be
infinitely superior to the 1.7.

Didnt know about that in the older model.. might be worth checking out
alright..

wrote:

The galant will be extremely old school diesel, noise, smoke,
etc... The laguna, once all the bits of trim have fallen off, it should be fine
and the 1.9dti is a modern engine.

Well I think enuff has been said about that one so..

ToxicPaddy

HashSlinging wrote:

the skoda octavia estate Tdi 90 bhp.. can't go wrong really. something like this :-
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=155606

Thats the high mileage he wants to avoid.. his preference would be something
with max 50k miles... merely because if hes putting 1000 miles a week on it
then its not gonna last too long if it already has 100k miles+ on it when he
buys it..

But your right about an Octavia, Ive been in a fair few of them as taxi drivers
seem to like em a lot so that for itself says it all as some of those guys would
easily put up a 1000 miles a week on em..

Tox

knifey_spoonie

Leave the pasat alone the dash lights up like a christmas tree

Go with the avensis


Just something intresting

Recently a 95 diesel toyota carina ( ex taxi ) was found with 635,000 miles on it , still runing with orgi engine

unkel

ToxicPaddy wrote:

Thats the high mileage he wants to avoid.. his preference would be something
with max 50k miles... merely because if hes putting 1000 miles a week on it
then its not gonna last too long if it already has 100k miles+ on it when he
buys it..

I think that's the very reason he should seriously consider something like HashSlinging's link. He'll keep €9 grand in his pocket in case things don't work out and he will not have to worry about resale value. The VAG diesel in the Octavia / Toledo should be good for 200k-300k. And if things go horribly wrong, he'll still have the €9k

I wouldn't fancy spending €15k on something low mileage now that will be worthless approaching 200k in 18 months time...

HashSlinging

unkel wrote:

I think that's the very reason he should seriously consider something like "The HashSlingingSlasher's" link.

^^ you know it makes sense, esp if things don't work out as its a startup co... what about a second hand van like a seat inca, vw caddy, ford fiesta van. I've seen so many people being stung by spending their hard earned cash on "company transport" then to get the boot 5 - 6 months down the line. Just swallow the pride. Think of the worst case senario - Its would be worse for your mate if he still had finance owing on the car in question. Repo maybe, then his name on ICB for 5 years.

There is a plus if he does go this route it will mean the car will pay for itself in no time, and he will have the extra mileage and car allowance money for DRINK!!

:cool:

ToxicPaddy

wrote:

what about a second hand van like a seat inca, vw caddy, ford
fiesta van.

The original plan was to get a van alright and keep his car, but seeing as his
current car is a corolla and he needs a family sized car for his family and now
with the amount of driving he will be doing..

So a van is out and this way he kills 2 birds with one stone..

wrote:

I've seen so many people being stung by spending their hard
earned cash on "company transport" then to get the boot 5 - 6 months down
the line.

Dont think thats gonna happen as hes been given a share in the business for
taking a paycut and investing in the business and hes officially a partner in
the business now so he wont be getting the boot anytime soon. He's the
companies first dedicated salesman so its essentially his baby to build up that
side of things.

All in all I think hes better going for something that will last him a while and
I dont think he's too worried about trade in value as hes gonna be getting
a company car later on.. so probably just flog it on buy & sell or auction it
off... Anyway, being a partner in the business will ensure that he's generously
compensated for the mileage and expenses im sure, so I dont think he will
be worried about about a few quid here or there...

Ahh sure Ill pass it all onto him next time I talk to him.. its his money so Ill let
him make the decisions..

Tox