£5k - £8k Tdi, what choices?
 

I'm looking for a car with a very very good MPG and basically just been looking at Golf TDI's and was wondering if there are any cars that fit the following criteria.

- Good Motorway Cruiser
- Available for £5-£8k with less than 65k miles (Cheaper the better obviously)
- Have Air Con
- Minimum 110bhp
- 3 or 5 Door
- Not a massive barge
- 40MPG +

I think thats all not too much to ask now :)

Thanks

Fabia vRS.

Though don't think you will get one for less than £7k

Ford Mondeo, I had one until it got written off recently, fantastic car all round, should get a good deal on one too as it's due for replacement soon

Why under 65k miles? I've had 3 golfs, a 115 gt, 130 gt and a 90 se. The 90 se I still have and use it for motorways. I've seen a scary 70 mpg average on a 15 mile commute once, but that was extra cautious driving, a W reg with aircon for £3k, 140k miles though lol.

If you're looking at Golfs now then stay with them. Skodas etc will be quite similar in performance, but they look horrid compared to a Golf. For 8k you'd get a very good 150 gt, but I'd rather pay 5-6 and get a nice 130 gt. With the 6 gears you should be looking at late 50's mpg with 80-90 mph average speed.

True about the 65k limit, but we have no idea what type of mileage fromage will be doing.

The three Golf's I have owned before the current one (which is now at 97k and is a modded 150bhp GT TDi - running 200bhp -, bought it with 9k on clock) have all gone past 140k with no major issues. This one will be kept until it's dead (well over 200k), as it looks nice, has all the toys I need, is cheap to run and is flaming quick. :) :D

IMHO they are awesome cars and the next one will certainly be another VW.

Regards,
Shaun.

golfs are overpriced when compared to seat's and skodas. Get some sort of sport spec seat or a fabiavrs, as they will run rings around the terrible MK4 golf

Yep, why buy a £150 suit when you can get a shiny suit for £25 at Asdas. :rolleyes:

As above if you fancy a Golf go get one and ignore all other deritaves. They have a classless look. It won't get you all excited when you're going down B roads, but as you want a motorway cruiser I don't think this would matter too much. You pay more money for the badge than a Seat or Skoda but I wouldn't even consider them. You get your money back when you sell on anyway.

Looks like a Golf then, 115 or a 130. I was looking at 25th Anniversary 150's but they dont seem to go below 10k and cat really see them being worth the extra.

Thanks

Its only a bloody golf.We are talking MK4's here arent we? They are nothing special and dont look classy and dont have a "good" image as some people would like to think.

Yes you get more money back on the Golf, but then the seat and skoda are cheaper in the first place to buy and service, and the guy will get more for his money in the first place meaning if he goes for a sports model he will have a hell of alot more fun.

Recently bought an Alfa 156 2.4 JTD (150 bhp) with 55k on it, fully warranted (essential :D) for £6k from an Alfa main dealer. VAG all look bland........go on dare to be different ! (5 cyl sounds good too)

D

Bora TDI (130 as 6-speed box is great)

also octavia and IF you can find one then a Seat Toledo (like a passat only cheaper)

dont get the 110bhp TDI engine as the 130 has better fuel economy/performance

Who said they look classy, I said they had a classless look. :confused:

I am very comfortable looks wise with a mk4 Golf. It may be shallow, but there you go. I wouldn't feel the same in either a Seat or a Skoda even though they share much mechanically.

You'd find much more of a selection when buying and find it very easy to sell a Golf, more so than I'd expect from the other two marques.

Yes we still are talking Golf's, hence the use of a £150 suit as an example :)

AudiLover in sensible and true post shocker!!!! :p


Cheers
Lee

Thought this was a pretty sensible car discussion site.Bit surprised to see badge snobbery and worries about what other people will think about your boot badge!

Its about capabilites,not buying to satisfy other peoples expectations of what you should be driving!

Golfs are great but so is the Fabia vRS.I've had both.The pd 130 is great

agreed - i had an Ibiza Sport 130PD (basically a cheaper Fab VRs) and it was a cracking car

only reason i sold was the size, family required more space

We also have a Leon Cupra TDi (150bhp engine but RR'd at 166 :-).

I chose it over the Golf model 'cos I'd get more for my money and I thought it looked a lot nicer than the VW (just my opinion). Certainly meets all of the requirements above and if you "granny" it you can get over 60mpg out of it.. certainly don't get under 40mpg even hammering it.

I think all of the VAG TDi engines are easy to REVO or chip to get more power easily, think most if not all of the 140/150bhp ones can be taken to 200bhp quite easily as well.

Audilover,
Whilst I agree to a certain degree about what you have said, you have to realise that the price difference between a Skoda, Seat, VW and Audi is not all about the badge. The levels of quality between all four marques gets better and better, the higher up the food chain you go.

When I bought my last Golf (Mk4) I also looked around at the Seat and Skoda equivalents, but decided against it on both the look of the car and also the quality levels. The interior of the Seat and Skoda equivalents was certainly of a "cheaper" quality than the VW. I would of considered an Audi, but location of dealers is an issue (for servicing) and for me there is a nats willy between the A3 and Golf. Image is of course something to do with many peoples decisions as well.... i'm certainly not going to deny that.

The golf is not the best looking car, but having a 3dr suits me fine in the nice metallic red. I love VW's, always have done and based on how reliable they are, always will do. I am sure there are people who say the same about Seat's and Skoda's.

At the end of the day, it's just my work horse. The Scooby is for the REAL fun stuff! :D

Regards,
Shaun.

v6 vectra diesel, tuning box added, 220bhp 380ftlb and still does 50+ to the gallon, and not far off a uk turbo scooby once rolling and the fwd can get the power down

Badge snobbery, everyone has it to some degree. Are you telling me you wear own supermarket brand clothes and nothing else on your back? Quite a lot of people happily fork out £30 quid more for a shirt just because it has a polo logo or a crocadile logo. The same shirt made of the same material than much cheaper items. Stating that your dismayed by snobbery on this forum with badges only highlights your own misguided snobbery about car forums ;)

As I said above, the Golf is a much better car looks wise than the sister cars it shares the same mechanics with, and has a 'classless' look. Coupled with other reasons stated above. If that's badge snobbery then I'm all for it. Incidently, I choose a S1 Elise over a VX220 and never even considered the VX. A lot of ignorant people claim this is badge snobbery when it is nothing of the sort.

I`ll do you a good deal on mine :thumb: :

Volkswagen : Golf GT TDi 130

Feel free to ask any questions :)

I'd get a Mondeo, the 130 TDCi one, once chipped about 150 I think. Much better car to drive than anything from VAG at that price.

You also might be able to pickup an Accord Diesel but I think they may be a bit more than that.

All im gonna say now is test drive a Golf, skoda vrs and seat cupra back to back and then make your decision. You may very well be surprised ;)

Dragon do tuning modules with swapable maps for the tdci130, the car runs the standard map unitil the correct ignition key sequence activates it. Power goes upto around 160bhp and torque to 265lbft continuos and near 300lbft on overboost. All for under £300.
I can confirm they work well. :)

I think the Mondeo would be too big for the thread starter as he's talking Golf, Fabia, Ibiza and Leon sizes.

Cheers
Lee

I'm going to have a look at Seat Cupras and Golfs and see which ones i prefer and take it from there.

thanks