Recommend me a low cost diesel

Flaminio

Hello,

I'm not a petrol-head, so appreciate any advice you have for me on finding a good car for myself.

I'm looking for something "adult" - opposite end of the spectrum to a hot hatch or boy racer. Budgetwise, under €2,000 - preferably around the €1,000 mark if possible. All told, I'd hope to have car, insurance and annual tax all in for €3-3.5k. I'm not in a serious rush to buy, I'd rather wait for a really good deal somewhere. I have a slight preference for estates with tow hitch, but that's not top priority if I can find a good deal.

I'm male, 34, non-smoker living in Connemara. I frequently drive to Dublin for work, often twice a week, high mileage (I have a loaner at the moment, won't have it in January). I've just got my first full licence, even though I've been driving since 1996 (failed my first test, never re-sat it, moved to city centre, didn't need to drive until recently).

For tax, mileage and performance I've been looking at 1.8-2.2L TDI. Because of budget and potentially high mileage I'd like to find something with surprisingly low mileage but several years old, but that's just hoping.

One I did look at is a Merc c220 estate or even this saloon which is very cheap but needs work done.

I have no problem driving a 10-15 year old car if it's in good nick. I'm not married to any brand or model, but the Mercs appealed to be because of the rep for long life. I also like the 2.0L TDI Mondeo and have heard good things about Avenis and Octavia's.

Any advice on any aspect of the whole thing - from going private only to dealers, which models would you recommend, what about insurance - recommended companies or just ring around?

Thanks in advance!
Flaminio

ottostreet

You'll get a late 90s Mondeo turbo diesel estate easily within budget. I far preferred my one to the Audi a4 TDI I had after.

something like this

wexford12

The Merc looks very clean for that kind of money would be hard to go wrong if running right

cadaliac

The C class has big miles up and the E class with no nct could be a pure mine field.
Both are 2.2litres and big on tax. ~€800 per year.
If you are going to be traveling to Dublin from the far side of Galway - I would consider a smaller diesel engine with less miles.
If you are not a petrol head you will find it hard to pick out a good 10 to 15 year old car that hasn't got issues - as always - this will be reflected in the price.
Generally speaking, the cheaper the car - the more unreliable they can be.
Not always of course but you will find it very difficult to get the kind of reliability you need for a grand or so. You will probably need to go as far as 2k.

George Dalton

In my opinion at that budget you need to forget about brands to a degree and judge each individual car on its own merits. There is no point in saying "buy a Mondeo they are great" or "stay away from Passats" because when you are looking at 10 year old cars the most important thing is how well maintained they are rather than what badge they have on the bonnet.

maidhc

Anything once the miles are manageable, and it doesn't have common rail injection or a dual mass flywheel.

Ford 1.8TD, Ford 1.8TDDi, Ford 2.0 TDDi, Mercedes e250, c250, VAG 1.9 TDi, VAG 2.5 TDi, Nissan 2.0TD, Toyota 2.0TD, Peugeot 1.9TD, all spring to mind, and are fitted to a whole pile of cars up to about 2002.

I would be slow to go for anything newer than 03 unless you have a 3k war chest for repairs.

Flaminio

Super advice in all the posts above, I can't hit thanks because of my post count, but thanks to everyone who has posted so far..

It concerns me though, it's clear to me how little I know - I'm really worried about making a mistake here. My position at the moment is that I'm better off buying something very cheap (€500-1000), so even if it does go wrong I can get rid of it without taking too much of a loss.

What about going cross border (or even to UK)?

I got a few online insurance quotes using some of the specs/reg plates from some adverts, see attached image. Are these quotes realistic? I added motor tax to see where things ended up (easy to tell I'm an engineer).

bazz26

Peugeot 406 is a solid reliable car:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2712963

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2693692

barura

Your spreadsheet is quite clever! You're definitely thinking with your head. And you've ticked the right boxes for why you should go for a diesel.

If you are doing this the scientific way, you should also account for the cost of a regular service considering the mileage you will do per year and cost of NCT and fuel also.

I know Mercs have a rep for long life, but they are expensive for parts, and c220's are known to have their own rust problems, be sure to check out for that.

For something more common, late 90's Golf estates are around with TDi and SDi flavors, both known for their long life and the Golf has plenty of cheap parts around.

All in all, I would keep an eye on the bangernomics thread and wish you best of luck. I posted a 626 there with test til 2012 that was 550, petrol, but it would keep going for a long while and motorways would be quite economical.

Flaminio

I figure that I'll be doing about 1.5-2x the distance of an average driver. How do I found how out much it costs to do a regular service each year? I do need to figure out more about the running costs.

I've been keeping an eye on the bangernomics thread, some interesting options in there. I'm tempted by a few of them but I think I'd be wiser to wait a while, learn more about my options.

I've updated this spreadsheet with more quotes for a couple more cars (some of them off that thread like the Saab 9000 mentioned), and have included a total figure including rough car price too:



Question: regards the insurance quotes, what is "Comprehensive Lite" - seems an oxymoron - and if I was going "Third Party Fire and Theft", any reason not to go for the Lite version?

Compton

you do realise there will likely be repair costs & servicing?

Flaminio

shblob wrote: »

you do realise there will likely be repair costs & servicing?

Sure, that's why I asked how to calculate what services are going to cost. I'd like to avoid repair costs straight after purchase by doing due diligence on the inspection - I know it's not possible to avoid it completely, but I'd like to bring the risk of that happening down as much as possible. If it needs repairs several months after purchase, well it depends on what I originally paid - if it's a €1.5k '02 or '03 in good nick I might want to keep it in good condition. If I got one of those "bangernomics thread" cars for 400-600 and it lasted a year and needed only a couple hundred quid to keep it road worthy I'd be a happy camper.

If it's cheap enough I'm happy enough to write off the car (in the economic sense) if I can get 6 to 12 months use out of it.

barura

Servicing generally for every 10k is an oil and filter change at least. Air and fuel filters too, if they're dirty.

Spark plugs (in a petrol), I'd have done every 40k, dunno about diesel glow plugs, 60-80k rings a bell for some reason.

Gearboxes in some cars can be a bit thirsty for oil, which is separate from engine oil.

Timing belts vary from 36k (in alfas :P) to 100k in some other cars.

You'd generally do a water pump with that as well, so add that cost in.

Doing lots of mileage, watch out for your tires, as they will be what keeps you on the road. Something on steelies in a standard size would be the way to go, avoid low profile tires and you should be looking at 60/70 quid a corner for something decent.

What else... general wear and tear? Bulbs cost a few euro each when blown, valeting the car as well can be done yourself.

Be sure to wash your car, it makes you notice the little things such as rust creeping in and stuff of that ilk.

Windscreen wipers when they go....

Every car is different, so it's a little tricky.

I mean for myself, I'll be doing the plugs (4 of em), the belt, oil and filters changed... 4 new tires....

It's looking to be the guts of 300euro! Nearly the price I paid for my car! But it's what a car costs to keep it running reliably. Which is what matters if you're using it for longer distances, which you are.

Hope that helps, I'm a little tired so apologies if I got figures wrong and stuff like that...

166man

Flaminio wrote: »

Sure, that's why I asked how to calculate what services are going to cost. I'd like to avoid repair costs straight after purchase by doing due diligence on the inspection - I know it's not possible to avoid it completely, but I'd like to bring the risk of that happening down as much as possible. If it needs repairs several months after purchase, well it depends on what I originally paid - if it's a €1.5k '02 or '03 in good nick I might want to keep it in good condition. If I got one of those "bangernomics thread" cars for 400-600 and it lasted a year and needed only a couple hundred quid to keep it road worthy I'd be a happy camper.

If it's cheap enough I'm happy enough to write off the car (in the economic sense) if I can get 6 to 12 months use out of it.

A poster recently bought a Mitsubishi Galant for about €550 with NCT and fsh I believe on that thread. I think this route would be better than a dodgy diesel tbh even if your average daily mileage warrants a diesel. Plenty of good cars out there for under €1000 with long NCT and some have tax.

Flaminio

barura, thanks for all the detail, really useful info.

166man, I'm happy to go petrol but there's 2 reasons I considered diesel first: 1) fuel economy & costs, 2) longer mileage life - I might be wrong but shouldn't a diesel run 50-100K longer than a petrol? Maybe that's no longer true - or was never true - but that was my understanding. (Also, is there an inherent bias in the "petrolhead" community to the performance of petrol, or are there other reasons why it's better?)

barura

Regards the longivity of a car, a petrol engine has as much potiential to last as long as a diesel would. A good example is the toyota camry 2.2litre petrols. Many with 300k+ on them.

Petrol lends itself to a simplier system compared to turbo'd diesels. A good reason to look into petrol would be that they're going cheaper than diesels at the moment, also.

The petrolhead arguement that petrol is a nicer drive that delivers more power is simply because that, pound for pount, it does. it has more energy per cm cubed.

I don't care particularly for huge engines or anything like that. In fairness, cruising at motorway speeds, a 1.6 would cover you quite well. The 1.6 Ford Focus would be a nice common ground. Estates go cheap because people don't want them... The Hatchback is "cooler" I suppose

dgt

If you are going to be towing, I'd recommend a rwd car such as a 320d touring or that merc you posted

318tds is another option, albeit a bit slow...