Economic diesels under 2k

junii

What are the options?

Cheers.

Blue850

An old Merc 190? or for under 1K a 92-95 Vectra 1.7 TD, mines on 233K, does 50mpg average. 96 model on nowhere near as good.

Paul (MN)

205 1.8D 55mpg is easy.

Blue850

Audi 80

gstonesmx5

small is better so citroen renault toyota etc all made some effort of a small diesel. ask in dealers for trade-in cars and if you find a winner get it checked by the aa or a mechanic. the car will be cheap but not have a warenty.

road_high

You pick up a stray vento diesel for this kind of money.A golf is likely to be dearer and more in demand even though its the same car practically..

road_high

You might pick up a stray vento diesel for this kind of money.A golf is likely to be dearer and more in demand even though its the same car practically..

junii

mfitzy: What engine types does the vento come in and what MPG could I expect?

gyppo

Another option to look out for is the MK1 Seat Toledo. Although, tbh any diesels under 2k are going to have starship mileage at the stage.

Also, what about a Citroen AX 1.4D. Not very nice, but ultra economical.

Blue850

AX 1.4D...NO NO NO! surely they've all blown their head gaskets by now and are scrapped.

alias no.9

Citroen Xsara, utterly undesireable, but strong diesel engines, even after peugeot launched the HDI, the old 1.9 indirect injection diesel was good enough for toyota to buy the rights to, to bridge the gap between their old indirect injection lumps and the D4D. You'll get the usual 'dodgy french electrics' stuff but it'll either be working or it wont at the kind of age you'll be looking at so it should be easy to tell a good one from a bad one. Another that falls into this category is the fiat marea, some of the more recent ones had the excellent JTD engine but are probably a bit out of your price bracket but the older TD100 is still a great buy if you get it cheap. My final suggestion, and if I don't get flamed for the last two, I'll definitely get flamed for this, a rover 220SDi, 420SDi or 620SDi depending on what size car you want, all have honda derived chassis' and most of the bad stuff you hear about rover is related to the k-series petrol engine blowing head gaskets. The l-series diesel may be a derivative of an old perkins tractor engine but it was good enough for honda to use in a few models in the UK during the 1990's.
My final suggestion is the skoda felicia. As a car it's years behind any of the above but it's got a VW diesel engine but no turbo so you better skip this one over if performance is an issue of any kind.

Paul (MN)

a golf/vento 1.9D non turbo will get you 50mpg

gyppo

Blue850 wrote:

AX 1.4D...NO NO NO! surely they've all blown their head gaskets by now and are scrapped.

Tee Hee Hee!!
I did say they were not very nice. A friend of mine had one of these, (van version) got nearly 200k out of it, and used to get between 65-70mpg.
You're right though, I still would'nt buy one myself.:D

colm_mcm

Daihatsu charade 1.3 diesel (If you can find one!)

peasant

there you go ...a grand under budget and low mileage too

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=463841

just throw it away when you're finished with it ...

Mailman

Drove my brother in laws P reg Rover 420D at the weekend with 65K on the clock.
It was a rocket -loads of low end torque.
The car was very tight in general and not a rattle box.

It didn't like corners much but I don't know if that was because of shot suspension or under inflated tyres or just poor worn tyres.

Was impressed. He paid 600 pounds sterling for it.
I think it was a 105BHP version.
5 door Honda Civic body

junii

Mailman wrote:

Drove my brother in laws P reg Rover 420D at the weekend with 65K on the clock.
It was a rocket -loads of low end torque.
The car was very tight in general and not a rattle box.

It didn't like corners much but I don't know if that was because of shot suspension or under inflated tyres or just poor worn tyres.

Was impressed. He paid 600 pounds sterling for it.
I think it was a 105BHP version.
5 door Honda Civic body

There engines are dodgy though...always blowing head gaskets and stuff

junii

peasant wrote:

there you go ...a grand under budget and low mileage too

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=463841

just throw it away when you're finished with it ...

What MPG would you get from that. Are they any good... don't want an unreliable heap of junk.

ninty9er

OK I'd never buy it cos my friend has the 1.2 petrol and It's spent mor time in the garage since he got it, but if you can overcome the electric gremins..........

maidhc

Impressive how that Fabia has been "debadged"! it is the same engine as you would find in the Golf of the era, so dog slow, but reliable. The rest of the Fabia was pretty good too.

I would go for a Mondeo if I had only 2k to spend. You should be looking at a 98 one or so for that. It will be a hell of a lot nicer than a Fabia or Vento to live with. The Endura-DE will live forever, but from owning one, you wont see much more than 550miles from a 60L tank.. e.g. 40-45mpg.

Mailman

junii wrote:

There engines are dodgy though...always blowing head gaskets and stuff

They're not their engines. They are Perkins engines which are bullet proof.
If you find a Rover 220D which is straight and working properly it will give you good cheap reliable service.
You are confusing the engine with the K-series petrol aluminium block which has a weak head.

ninty9er

maidhc wrote:

Impressive how that Fabia has been "debadged"! it is the same engine as you would find in the Golf of the era, so dog slow, but reliable. The rest of the Fabia was pretty good too.

Yes the Fabia is an excellent little car but that heap is a Felicia

maidhc

ninty9er wrote:

Yes the Fabia is an excellent little car but that heap is a Felicia

Or sorry, meant to say Felicia. Mind not thinking. Read post above to refer to "Felicia".

Felicia was reliable afaik, despite being a Favorit with a different name. Not really a nice car though, there is so much more there now going cheap anyway.

peasant

maidhc wrote:

Or sorry, meant to say Felicia. Mind not thinking. Read post above to refer to "Felicia".

Felicia was reliable afaik, despite being a Favorit with a different name. Not really a nice car though, there is so much more there now going cheap anyway.

lets get realistic here ...

For 2k or under you're not gonna get anything "nice".
Anything that used to be "nice" had the ****e driven out of it well before it reached the 2k€ mark ...especially so with a Diesel ...and extremely so with a Vento or Mondeo ...both of those would have spent the last 20k miles or so hauling cattle to the market or dragging fishing boats up a pier:D

That Felicia is low mileage with a pretty solid VW engine. So ...it's not "nice" ..but the seller knows that and has priced it accordingly.

Depending on the overall condition and general technical health ...for that money I'd buy it myself it wasn't too small for my needs.

Anything with only a whiff of "nice" / some folk legend of reliability about it can not be had for 2k€ ...not in Diesel and not in a condition/state that will promise a years more or less trouble free motoring.
The Felicia just might ...it wont' be pleasurable, but it should get the job done


EDIT

Now ...that's interesting:
When I posted the link to the Felicia it was 850 or 950 (can't remember) ...now its listed for 1500 and SOLD

Confess ...who of ye bought it ???:D

maidhc

peasant wrote:

For 2k or under you're not gonna get anything "nice".
Anything that used to be "nice" had the ****e driven out of it well before it reached the 2k€ mark ...especially so with a Diesel ...and extremely so with a Vento or Mondeo ...both of those would have spent the last 20k miles or so hauling cattle to the market or dragging fishing boats up a pier:D

I almost bought a 1998 mondeo TD last year for €1700 in a backwater outside Glenville (which itself is a backwater!). It was in good nick, with 100k on the clock, it needed some repairs, but nothing major.

Picking up a cheap diesel that hasn't been destroyed at the hands of a farmer, taxi, or other breed of tradesman is hard alright, I won't deny that. If someone picked up that Skoda at €850 they got a damn good runabout for small money. Still, there should be a lot of tidy Carina TDs, Primeras, Ventos, even Audi 80 TDis for small money out there waiting to be discovered!

junii

maidhc: Isn't it true that Ford had reliability problems in the past. I understand that these seem to have dissappeared now with the advent of the focus and new mondeo but what about a 97 or 98 mondeo...Would it be reliable?

Blue850

The timing belt in the original Mondeo 1.8 TD was prone to snapping, not as bad as the non-turbo 1.8 in the Escort/Orion though. They're supposed to be changed every 36K.

peasant

junii

At your budget, for a diesel, you're trying to get a good car out of a knackered lot.

Don't bother yourself with worries, if the car is supposed to be "reliable" or not ...the general driving public will manage to destroy any car, "reliable" or not within 5 - 8 years (usually even quicker).

You really need to look at the individual car: mileage, signs of at least some TLC, preferably a service record of some kind, general appearance etc

Make and "reputation" are the least of your worries.

maidhc

peasant wrote:

At your budget, for a diesel, you're trying to get a good car out of a knackered lot.

Don't bother yourself with worries, if the car is supposed to be "reliable" or not ...the general driving public will manage to destroy any car, "reliable" or not within 5 - 8 years (usually even quicker).

You really need to look at the individual car: mileage, signs of at least some TLC, preferably a service record of some kind, general appearance etc

Make and "reputation" are the least of your worries.

All true. The most reliable car can be brought to its knees iwith 10 years of abuse!

All the mondeos and late escorts were good. Timing belt is a pain at 40k (Ford increased it when they changed the service interval from 6k to 10k), but if you do them on time Ford pays for any damage caused if they snap.

The best place to look is on the buyandsell, but make sure you give a thorough questioning before you travel, not everyone has the same idea of "immaculate" or VGC, or as noted in another thread "air conditioning"!

Joeface

My brothers last 2 cars were a 91 405 and 97 406 both 1.9TD , there both still on the road.405 has 300k+ on the clock and the 406 has 270k on the clock. As far as i can remember he was getting about 55mpg and he was buying the cars for that reason . very reliable cars . then again alot of economy has to do with how u drive . I was geting 32mpg until the start of this year now im getting any thing from 39-44 in a 1.6 integra