Recommendations for an economical 2nd hand diesel car

mp3ireland2

Hey all,
First off, I'm in a bit of a rush - I just got offered a job in Cork but live in Westmeath. So it looks likely ill be making a long trip each weekend. Im going to have a look tonight after tag rugby for a 2nd hand car.
I dont care about looks.
I want something for less than 3k.
Preferably diesel thats quite economical.
Basically as practical as possible.

I was thinking of a seat leon or a skoda octavia.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated...

Poly

a Diesel of less than 3k will probably have very high milage and be prone to expensive problems.

less than 3 k- IMO you should look for a small petrol engine, ford KA, or micra.

just jog to to tag rugby:D

mp3ireland2

Less smart replies !!!

Well my friend sold a seat leon 1.9tdi with about 70-80k miles for 3500 in Dec 2008. It was at the height of the recession but I figure there are good value purchases like this available....

T

colm_mcm

Avensis 2.0TD (the ones before the D-4D came out), simple and easy to find for small money these days.

Barr

Soemthing like this would last forever

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1379910

colm_mcm

Strange looking Avensis!
looks like a Corona/Caldina import.
Nice looking car actually.

Max Power1

colm_mcm wrote: »

Strange looking Avensis!
looks like a Corona/Caldina import.
Nice looking car actually.

Its not an avensis, ( I dont know why he has it listed as one). Its a caldina - a jap import (also because its auto would lead me to think it was an import also)

What do you drive at the moment OP ? West Meath to Cork is less than 200 miles I'd imagine, unless what you drive at the moment isn't capable of doing 40mpg ish on a run I wouldn't bother changing. If you have no car a the mo the like of the Caldina is a great suggestion, I'd also consider a Peugeot 306HDi, Rover 75 or the 400 or 600 if a diesel one popped up (cheap cheap cheap). Plenty of options with €3000 anyway.

Savman

There's decent Mondeo Diesel's going for around €3k

mp3ireland2

cool lads some good advice...keep the suggestions coming!

Sobanek

Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Passat/201028198804587/advert?channel=CARS

BMW 320d
http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/201027198707720/advert?channel=CARS

And of course my favourite
Golf 1.9SDI (68bhp)
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/GOLF-1.9/201025198504479/advert?channel=CARS

The most reliable car I've ever seen, PERFECT on fuel (50-70mpg / 4.5-8L / 100km) I think you could go down with the price to around €3,000

Barr

[QUOTE=Golf 1.9SDI (68bhp)
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/GOLF-1.9/201025198504479/advert?channel=CARS

The most reliable car I've ever seen, PERFECT on fuel (50-70mpg / 4.5-8L / 100km) I think you could go down with the price to around €3,000 [/QUOTE]

Great cars allrite :rolleyes: lets hope you never need to overtake

Sobanek

Barr wrote: »

Great cars allrite :rolleyes: lets hope you never need to overtake

You can't really have a car doing 0-60 in 6 secs and doing 60mpg at the same time haha

PaulKK

Sobanek wrote: »

And of course my favourite
Golf 1.9SDI (68bhp)
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/GOLF-1.9/201025198504479/advert?channel=CARS

The most reliable car I've ever seen, PERFECT on fuel (50-70mpg / 4.5-8L / 100km) I think you could go down with the price to around €3,000

Lol, more than 3K for the most basic 11 year old golf you could buy.

Theres a reason its only done 90k miles, thats all it could manage with 68bhp

Barr

There should be a happy medium, afraid the SDI isn’t it.:)

colm_mcm

Christ, how is a golf with the same power
and less equipment than a yaris 1.0 for that kind of money make sense?

Sobanek

colm_mcm wrote: »

Christ, how is a golf with the same power
and less equipment than a yaris 1.0 for that kind of money make sense?

The fuel consumption is lower than the Yaris' one.

crazyFeet

just get a bora/passat with 1.9tdi (90-130bhp), just try to get a car thats was messed up with remapping or anything like that and double check the turbo. ford focus would be a great choice too, loads of them hence many cheap spares and they are quite economical in general. don'g go for golf or bmw

mlmcelligott

I think your best bet is to go for the 1.9TDI VAG engine. Its been around for over 10 years and has proved itself to be a great engine. plenty of power and very economical. I put up 185K miles on a 99 seat toledo and now Ive bought a 04 toledo with 72K miles on the clock. only paid 2800 for it too through a private seller and it didnt have an nct on it. in fairness all i did was wash it before the nct and it passed, great car.

I think seat are really under appreciated especially since they have alot of the same running gear as the vw's and audi's for half the cost.

2yung2adm

The most reliable and economical car you can get is a peugeot 406 diesel. Up to 60mpg (in old money) and if it eventually does give trouble from sheer neglect parts are cheap and available.
The VW and Skodas can be troublesome and the clutch system is troublesome and expensive to repair.

The next best car you could invest in is a Mercedes C or E class diesel with the 2.2 CDI engine. The tax will be a little higher but these cars will exceed 55mpg on a run and are very reliable.

Sobanek

crazyFeet wrote: »

just get a bora/passat with 1.9tdi (90-130bhp), just try to get a car thats was messed up with remapping or anything like that and double check the turbo. ford focus would be a great choice too, loads of them hence many cheap spares and they are quite economical in general. don'g go for golf or bmw

Haha nice, considering that Bora is the saloon version of Golf.

crazyFeet

Sobanek wrote: »

Haha nice, considering that Bora is the saloon version of Golf.

you'r right yea, except that they are more expensive for some reason and i find bora somehow nicer looking 4 door car than golf