Looking to upgrade my car.

Wollwead

Dear Experts,

Looking for some sound advice please if you don't mind folks.

I Currently have an 05 2.0litre TDI with 125k miles on the clock.

I think it's time to move her on as she's starting to cost us money.

So, what we're looking for is a bit of a run around. Needs to be a diesel and good on the aul tax front.

So ideally something in the 1.5/1.6 diesel bracket. Doesn't necessarily have to be in the post July-08 bracket.

I ain't got much money (maybe 2,000-3,000 plus the Passat).

The car will have to endure 30-40 simple motorway miles daily, power isn't a huge concern, just reliable and comfortable. It's mostly going to be the missus driving it with the baby in the back, 5 days a week and then we'll use my car on the weekends.

What do you reckon? Is there anything in the region of megane size range (I know they have reliability issues)?

Any advice given is welcomed.

Thanks.

thecomedian

Are you selling the Passat privately?
If not you will find it hard to upgrade.

How many miles a year would you do?

MuppetCheck

Kia Ceed/Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi are worth a look. Pretty reliable and available from 07 onwards (some late 06 Ceeds around the place). Might be tight for a good one money wise but worth a look all the same.

Wollwead

Thanks for the quick reply folks. Looking to sell through a dealer (upgrade). I'll have a look at those options. We've had the car 3 years to be honest but most of the mileage was up on her when we got her. There's not a huge amount of driving gone into it from us so a more modest approach will be needed now with a smaller car that's just about comfortable enough.

bazz26

You will be looking at something with similar mileage, possibly only a year younger and potentially with issues too trying to trade up on that budget. Better off selling private and then buying straight or wait until you can increase your budget.

If you are not doing a lot of driving then consider a petrol car.

JohnBoy26

bazz26 wrote: »

You will be looking at something with similar mileage, possibly only a year younger and potentially with issues too trying to trade up on that budget. Better off selling private and then buying straight or wait until you can increase your budget.

If you are not doing a lot of driving then consider a petrol car.

30-40 motorway miles daily will be sufficient even for a modern diesel. There isn't much of a choice though in the 1.5/1.6 bracket. When I say not much of a choice I mean in reliability terms.

The best option would be Imo something like a kia cee'd/Hyundai I30 as they are one of the more reliable modern diesels on the market.

colm_mcm

I don't get the whole spend money to save money thing tbh.

bazz26

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

30-40 motorway miles daily will be sufficient even for a modern diesel. There isn't much of a choice though in the 1.5/1.6 bracket. When I say not much of a choice I mean in reliability terms.

The best option would be Imo something like a kia cee'd/Hyundai I30 as they are one of the more reliable modern diesels on the market.

It will cost the OP more than their budget of €2k-€3k to upgrade though.

JohnBoy26

bazz26 wrote: »

It will cost the OP more than their budget of €2k-€3k to upgrade though.

I only seen the budget now Indeed you are correct. Is there any point changing at all with such a small budget.

Interceptor

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't get the whole spend money to save money thing tbh.

This^. Why are you spending 2-3k to replace a decent car with something of unknown provenance? I drove a diesel Passat with 292k miles on it a few weeks ago and it honestly wasn't that bad - it passed its last NCT first time. Keep the Passat, spend a few bob on a major service and valet and put your money away.

'c

Bigus

I always put the missus and kids in the good familily car all week,and I drove the junker on my own when they were young, and we all went family car at the weekend . Made for some interesting Junkers and it didn't matter to me how bad they were from my point of view. So Id say stick to the passat for herself and family.

Wollwead

I'm spending money now as there's something every bloody week going wrong with the Passat and it's driving me insane! And it's costing €700 per year on tax!

I could stretch to 5/6k along with the Passat to be honest.

Liking the newer shaped Kia Sportage at 1.7 litre diesel but reckon them fellas would be well out of our price bracket to be honest.

Any thoughts on the quashquai? They're available in 1.5 litre diesel yeah? From 2007 up?

The recommendations so far have been great from my point of view, but when there's a woman involved the problem is getting something that she's happy driving!

Rowley Birkin QC

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't get the whole spend money to save money thing tbh.

Exactly.

2-3k covers a lot of preventative and routine maintenance at an indy, why sink the money into a slightly newer car in the hope that the person that you're buying it from didn't sell for the same reasons you did?!

I spent €1200 lately on new tyres and preventative maintenance on an 11 yr old E46. A cousin who's paying a car loan on a 132 Hyundai Toaster thought I was mad, conveniently ignoring said car loan.

keithclancy

For sure, cheapest way of motoring is maintaining your existing car well and getting as many kilometers out of it as possible.

It might seem expensive to pay out for maintenance on your current car, but this is usually always cheaper than shelling out on a newer one.

Unless of course you sell it with a rather large problem (DMF Failure pending or something) without telling the party you are selling it to.

OldmanMondeo

The Sportage, even the 08- models are nearly €600 per year Tax. I think you need to get away from a diesel, the low mileage your doing it adding to your troubles, Diesels need to do good mileage to be worth it, I have an 08 with more miles than your 05 Passat. Petrols are tend to be cheaper to fix when things go wrong, no DMF, No DPF, either alone could cost best part of a grand to put right.

TBH if I wasn't doing the miles I am doing now I would be back in a petrol in a heart beat. But needs must.

JohnBoy26

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

The Sportage, even the 08- models are nearly €600 per year Tax. I think you need to get away from a diesel, the low mileage your doing it adding to your troubles, Diesels need to do good mileage to be worth it, I have an 08 with more miles than your 05 Passat. Petrols are tend to be cheaper to fix when things go wrong, no DMF, No DPF, either alone could cost best part of a grand to put right.

TBH if I wasn't doing the miles I am doing now I would be back in a petrol in a heart beat. But needs must.

The only real advantage of going petrol would be the potentially lower purchase price.

As the op is doing 30-40 miles a day on the motorway, they should have no issues or problems related to small mileage, even with a more modern diesel.

However if those 30-40 miles were done in stop/start town driving it probably would be a different story and petrol would be the better option in those circumstances.

_Kaiser_

I was you about 2 months ago OP..

I had a 06 2.0 TDI Passat as well with DSG and ~150k miles/244k km on it with the same (increased) budget to change as yourself. If it helps I got quotes for between €4k and 5.5 for mine.

However I went the opposite direction and back a year and up a class to a 3.0 TDI A6 with all the toys

Yes it's more to tax (double what you're paying for the Passat) but my circumstances are a bit different in that I'm not doing massive miles anymore these days (at least not every day) so it probably more-or-less breaks even really.
Plus I've wanted one for AGES and it was my birthday last month, and things are going well and hey I'm worth it! (and by cutting out my unnecessary cappuccino/cream donut every day it covers the extra tax too and helps my figure! )

In your circumstances though I'd put the money into sorting out the Passat. It'll easily do a lot more miles if maintained right. Despite the horror stories mine never gave me any major issues beyond wear and tear stuff for that mileage.

Wollwead

Again folks I appreciate the advice, but I've had a mechanic friend service her and do some repairs over the last couple years and he's recommending me to move her on as there's a couple of things which are starting to manifest which could cost a lot of money, coupled with the fact that it's an English Passat making it harder to get engine parts (turbos, oil leaks etc.) He says these are general mileage/age issues but it's best to move her on soon due to the possible headaches in parts and costs with same. Does that make sense? I've a pain in my proverbials at this stage! Don't get me wrong I love the car and so does herself but this is the advice i'm getting from a well clued in mechanic.

MuppetCheck

Wollwead wrote: »

Again folks I appreciate the advice, but I've had a mechanic friend service her and do some repairs over the last couple years and he's recommending me to move her on as there's a couple of things which are starting to manifest which could cost a lot of money, coupled with the fact that it's an English Passat making it harder to get engine parts (turbos, oil leaks etc.) He says these are general mileage/age issues but it's best to move her on soon due to the possible headaches in parts and costs with same. Does that make sense? I've a pain in my proverbials at this stage! Don't get me wrong I love the car and so does herself but this is the advice i'm getting from a well clued in mechanic.

None whatsoever. Unless he was comparing getting secondhand parts which may be rarer as the 1.9tdi but not exactly an ordeal as a courier is cheap these days.

Wollwead

So the fact that it's burning oil like there's no tomorrow, needs a new sump guard, will probably need a new turbo in the not too distant future and some replacement of some parts relating to the back brakes would not bother some of you? Should I just suck it up for 2-3 years until our financial situation has improved and go for a brand new car?

Another issue with it now is the "airbag fault" warning light has come on today! This list of problems is never ending AND the delightful NCT is due now.