Need diesel recommendation (semi bangernomic?)

acronym Chilli

OK, I bought a new car about 3 months ago, and went firmly into bangernomic rationalist territory: sub €1k, petrol, year's NCT, etc., Because I drive few km in year, the fact it was 2l turbo and mpg relatively poor didn't bother me, and I was happy to do some work myself on car.

Now, work is changing and I'm going to need to drive about 900km per week (motorway), and so fuel efficiency becomes quite a priority and I'm firmly in diesel territory. Maintenance also a concern, and I'll not be able to do much bar oil-changes independently as I'll need it to be reliable.

For low maintenance cheap diesel motorway driving, what would folk recommend? I'm loath to buy a newer low mileage machine as I'll quickly turn it into a high-mileage machine and depreciate it badly. I would rather buy a decent high mileage wagon, and throw another 50k km on it in a year. I don't mind at all dropping a bit more on tax if that helps the equation.

Budget: I'm starting with 2k, but I could go up a bit...

bazz26

A reliable 2k diesel car will all boil down to the individual car and how it was looked after rather than a particular make or model.

anheneti

I bought an 04 D4D Toyota Avensis 3 months ago, runs like a clock averaging 45-48 mpg too and from work which is 53 miles each way on backroads, comfortable reliable and economical for €2350

acronym Chilli

bazz26 wrote: »

A reliable 2k diesel car will all boil down to the individual car and how it was looked after rather than a particular make or model.

I know what you're saying. I guess I was looking for a bit of a steer towards/away from some options based on how susceptible they are to any mistreatment (and how pricey the calculable replacements, like dual mass flywheel are). e.g. I'd already decided that some of the Peugeot/Citroen 1.6l diesels were too fickle to buy due to being susceptible to problems if neglected at all. Ditto I'd a bad feeling on mazda 6 diesels (needed to double check that though).

Had Mondeo/Avensis in mind, and I've tracked back through a few of the older threads on that (you've some experience of both your). anheneti's comment helpful, and I gather from other threads that the D4D engine is the one to aim for in Avensis land. Mondeo also a credible option (some say better driver's car?).

I'd always sort of wanted a Citroen cruiser, but feels a bit like I could be loading gun and pointing at head... though some have them without (serious) problems.

Anyway, I'll start looking at cars and see what's out there.

Toyotafanboi

anheneti wrote: »

I bought an 04 D4D Toyota Avensis 3 months ago, runs like a clock averaging 45-48 mpg too and from work which is 53 miles each way on backroads, comfortable reliable and economical for €2350

That's tough enough going mpg wise imo.

My Celica is touching close to 45mpg on my 8-900 miles a week driving and that's without driving with economy in mind. My fuelly is being dragged down by months of previous town driving.

OP imo do it in the petrol for a week or two and see if it is as bad as you think, bet it wont be. Worth trying at least to stick with the devil you know.

acronym Chilli

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

OP imo do it in the petrol for a week or two and see if it is as bad as you think, bet it wont be. Worth trying at least to stick with the devil you know.

Thanks,
just because of time constraints I reckon I'll probably end up doing this, and see where it ends up. Even running the numbers on full costs, it's not so easy to get the cost of fuel saved to cover the car change. A few tanks of petrol and I'll see how the economy stacks up.

I'll nose around some diesels anyway, never know when one would want to change with these old machines!