New (used) car: diesel, what's good, what's to avoid?
 

So what are the stars, and what are the plugs out there? I need something about the size of a Focus/Leon, in a TD, which will happily return 50mpg on a run.

Budget is around £6000, no more.

What are worth having, what should be avoided?

TIA.

A tricky one but I'd avoid four cylinder diesels if possible - they just seem too prone too expensive issues like swirl flap failure. Look at the D5 Volvos if you can and consider an older 330d.

If you must have a diesel, I'd go Ford TDCi but be wary of Dual Mass Flywheel issues (£2k to fix).

TBH I'd he happier in a four pot petrol at that budget.

This is from a person with a four pot and a six pot diesel (but both bi-turbo)!

Depending on you year limit for a car, id recommend one of the last of the mark 4 golf tdi's (2002-2004) or the first of the mark 5 golfs (2005).

My girlfriend was looking for a small diesel a year and a half ago and was keen on the mark 4 golf goin by recommendations from friends.

We hunted around and found a late 03 SE TDI 1.9 100bhp with 118k miles and full service history, 2 owners the last only having it for four months....it drove faultless and was totally mint, so picked it up for £3000 with full service and 6 months warranty and have to say its been absolutely perfect in every way.

Everyone was dubious of the mileage being to high, year and a half later it has 138k on it and still sweet as a nut, nippy enough and she can get 550 miles out of a tank without even driving like a granny :)

If you're for going for a mark 5 try and get a 1.9 model as the 2.0 diesel ones have injector problems which aint cheap to fix!!

Being a VW they hold thier money well also and i reckon i could still get £2500 for the golf yet!!

Definitely a great car and only money i have spent on it is a set of 18s, coilovers and service parts. :)

MK5 golf all the way, just an example

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/c...di-2007/858150

within my family we've got 3 vw's and they're solid cars engine, gearbox, clutches, never had any major issues with the cars, plus they hold their value, would buy a vw Golf over ford anyday just due to the focus looks awful, unless you get a brand new! My sisters got a brand new bluemotion golf very good on fuel and uses it to for motorway journeys every week, but if i had the option i would opt for the GT TDI Golf version its got more kick to it!

Golfs, yeah, but aren't they just upmarket Leons?

the engine, gearbox, suspension and some trim parts are the same, but you get a MUCH newer car for your money if you don't insist on the VW badge.....?

I would go for the ford focus 1.8 tdci
I ve had one for the last 6 years and its been very reliable,granted ive had the dmf replaced(£500.00 not £2000)
But most cars these days suffer from this problem.

Hi Jeff

We bought few months ago as runabout Mondeo ST TDCi and to the date and 10k miles,we are not have any serious problems.

About the common faults,they're usually injectors and DMF(Dual Mass flywheel,whihc is usually easy to replace for solid flywheel,on eBay is few kits for £300),EGR usually is clogged,EGR bypass cost from £3 or you can go with EGR Delete which cost around £40,we are replaced Glow plugs,now car starting easily without the problem in low temps and idle is nice,before idle has been rough.

Replacement parts are cheap and really just due this we are went with Ford and parts are easy to get

We are looked on Audi/VW and other German cars but at the end we are been put off prices for parts

Second car whihc has been on our list and this has been Skoda Octavia vRS TDi or Fabia vRS TDi


Jura

The thing with Seat is they lose their value quicker than Vw, yes exactly same suspension, engine but interior is crap,

I got a mk4 golf tdi 130bhp which cost me £2300 with 130,000 mies on it and full service history
I have done 20,000 mies in it since owning and never had a fault with it and still pulling strong

My Fiesta 1.6 TDi Zetec S is fantastic! Been 100% reilable, 55 mpg, £30 a year roadtax and cheap insurance. 90 bhp standard and Ive remapped it too 125bhp and it feels quite nippy. A £50 fill up gives a range of roughly 450 miles.

Right in your budget too :)

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/c...ack-3dr/984663

Fiesta and Fabia a bit small. She is looking at a Fabia VRS tomorrow though.

NEARLY bought a nice Leon Sport on a 57 plate, but turns out to be only a 1.9, hence 105bhp against the better 2.0 140bhp:(

There seem to be few Leon Sports with the 2 litre engine about, but LOTS of FR's with the 170 bhp engine:confused:

I would disagree with you there about the 2.0 being better lol....more power maybe, but the 2.0's are nowhere near as good an engine and give injector problems....a friend recently bought a 170bhp FR and it lasted a week before the injectors went :(

Yes the 2.0's have more power but id go for the 1.9 every time for hassle free motoring....the 105bhp wont blow you away with power but goes well enough and with a remap you're sorted :thumb:

Skoda Octavia vrs, love my one!

The focus tdci seem to be a fairly reliable diesel if you can put up with badge,
Between the golf and leon, yes they are both practically same cars. But you can get a better deal on a Leon and newer to for cheaper, loosing value, well I don't worry about them things as you loose value no matter what.
As said in other thread, it's best to go for the newer cr engines for the vw or seat as they are more refined and less problems than the older pd engines, I wanted to get a Leon fr cr engine for misus, but turned out she don't like the shape (silly woman) but don't like the fact that Leon has no armrest. All though most of these vag engines have a few problems and some don't, oh and if you get the later cr engine it's cheaper road tax and better mpg than the older pd engine.
There's always the focus tdcis to think about also, but I'm not a fan of fords or vuaxhalls, although misuss wants a vuaxhall lol

P.s stay away from Fabian vrs, I've heard some horror stories with constant engine problems although some have had good reports, it's a tricky desicion to make on these modern diesels.

This is a rather blinkered, you are writing off a complete range of reliable units because of its most troublesome varients (the BMN and BMR). Do you know there are lots of different VAG 1.9 and 2.0 units? infact there's loads!!! Some 16valve, some 8 valve (yes you can have a 8 valve 2.0 ), some PD, some common rail, some with DPF some without. Some are trouble, some not..

Depending on year and model of car as well as its BHP rating. Some are troublesome, some aren't. Generally speaking its the high output ones that give the grief in both 1.9 and 2.0, mainly the 16 valve version of the 2.0 with PD injection....as there are more high BHP 16valve 2.0s about on the road, and the PD system can be fussy to neglect. Although the early common rails also had injector issues (mainly in Audis as they were first to adopt this engine)

Just as a brief insight off the top of my head:

AWX 130bhp, AHF, ASV 110bhp 1.9 PD 8valve units; generally OK

Any NON PD 1.9 is ok (old fashioned pump).

Any 1.9 SDI unit; OK, but don't bother - gutless, and not good on fuel (no turbo)

ARL 150bhp PD 1.9 8 valve Great when they work. PITA when they play up. (turbo, injectors, boost control solonoids etc.)

BMR 170bhp PD 2.0 16valve. AVOID it is notrious. Not only for injectors (there is a recall by the way - they can be done for free on a as and when they fail basis). But on pre2005 units also issues with chain drive to the balance shaft. This affects the oil pump thats driven by the same shaft. Later version had a gear-driven balancer, but they still wear the oil pump drive.

BKD 140bhp 2.0 PD 16valve, mostly is ok, but early batches had porous heads and cracking. Injectors generally are OK, so long as they are Bosch and not Siemens. This engine does not have teh balance shaft like th above.

BMN 170bhp PD 2.0 16valve : better than teh BMR as it doesn't have balance shafts, but still has injector and head issues.

BRE 140bhp 2.0 PD 8 valve is fine. As are pretty much all the other 2.0 8 valvers (CBK and BMM and loads of other I don't know about).

Then we have the common rails: All 2.0 16valve. Early ones had problems, but they seem to be OK now AFAIK. The early ones were mostly in Audis as thats where this engine was first introduced.

PD engines in general MUST run VW 505.01 or 506.01 or 507.00 spec oil throughout its whole life and changed at the right intervals. Not doing so knackers the camshaft. I've seen the results and its expensive to put right.

Confused? Thought so :D Fuel consumption on all the above varies depedning on which car the engine is fitted and what final drive gear ratio it has. Some'll get you 50mpg easily (ARL in a Bora - no probs) , some will struggle to do 45mpg @70mph (BKD in a Altea )

Other problems you should know on VAGs? Dual mass flywheel. TBH their lifespan is totally down to how the car is treated/driven, some people affected may claim they are clutch/drivetrain freindly, I beg to differ.

Mondeos? 2.0tdci / 2.2tdci? Sorry, I've lost my faith in these as I'm not liking the number I keep seeing that just cut-out for no reason with a flashing glow-plug light. Two things go on these engines; The electronic turbo actuator (£££) and the pump (££££), not to forget the usual EGR bullcrap, dual mass flywheel as well as the crank pulley making a racket.

Focus 1.6 TDCi its a Peugeot engine. But actually its ok, so long as its serviced. And flywheels don't cost £2K..its half that, plus it can be done cheaper if its converted to a solid flywheel. Good on fuel, even better on fuel if you can get one with the six speed box. They do pop the odd turbo though - last one I saw that did that hadn't had an oil change for god knows how long (oil feed and return pipes were totally blocked).

Focus 1.8 TDCi its the old engine from the 1980s with comon rail injection bolted to it. Not the best on fuel IMO (could never get above 45mpg on any of the rental hacks I had) - 5 speed box doesn't help, they need an extra gear on the motorway to get the revs down. The later versions of these (MK2 focus onwards) did have a variable geometry turbo, which made it better on fuel, but - they aren't as reliable...damn.


Just to sum up...I wouldn't touch that Seat 170bhp if it has the BMR engine and be wary of the BMN (ensure that any recall work has been done). It may come to bite you in the arse (they absolutely fly though :D ).

Got a 57 plated Nissan note if your interested jeff
1,4 auto
14K miles
Half leather
Blue tooth radio
Auto lights/wipers
Vgc
Brilliant on fuel and very easy to drive being an auto,give me a pm if your interested mate

each and every day id have a golf gttdi 130 pd. get one thats been cared for and you wont look back

I'm in a vw Touran 2.0 tdi sport 140 bhp. I've had the car several months and had no issues. It's done 130 odd k and purchased for around £4000. You probably dont need 7 seats, but rear 2 fold flat and middle row comes out, its like a van! I'm averaging mid 50's mpg. I don't expect to lose any money depreciation either. Handles very well for a mpv. Black is the best colour :)

Thought that swirl flap failure was a known issue on 6 pot BMW oil burners too? Certainly seen instruction on the 'net as to how to remove them hence negating any risk of failure :)

That's what I thought but nope - the six pots seem to be very reliable.

We've done 30k in ours (bought with 16k); did a few minor belt and braces jobs just to be certain and it hasn't missed a beat - most reliable car we've had by miles. And there's a LOT that could go wrong of it was flaky!

Out of interest what belt and braces jobs did you deem necessary (as I have the same engine albeit in a slightly larger chassis). Good to hear its going well anyway. I do live in constant fear of swirl flap failure, DPF issues, and gearbox troubles :D

I don't think (not certain) the 35d unit has swirl flaps (not certain) and DPF issues seem very rare. The 6 speed ZF auto (assume yours has this one too) is also nuclear bomb proof. If anything were to go wrong, it's more likely i-drive related!

I had the intercooler pipe replaced (orange plastic pipe approx 2" in diameter just behind the radiator) under warranty to address a commonish issue with leaking (mine had a tiny bit of oil on it - change if yours has too) and then some turbo pipes replaced at my expense - take the engine cover off, check the braided pipes just left (drivers side) of the main block. One of mine was a bit worn (incorrect routing) and another again had a bit of oil on it so I replaced all three. Not an expensive job at all.

Be warned, taking the engine cover off is a bit of a pain - one bolt is hard to access. Take the front ones off, pull the cover up gently and peer in with a good torch; much easier!

It wasn't an essential job, I just wanted to keep it tip top.

Got a 2007 bmw 318d.lovely car.low powered 120 Bit plenty enough for me

bloody 35.7mpg average it tells me! granted not much motorway stuff (when it's a different scenario altogether) but I still think that rubbish mpg!!!

I'd of loved a skoda Octavia bra but couldn't afford one!

Thanks for that. Yeah ZF box, was specifically after a 535 post the mid life update for this and the sports auto option (flappy paddles and sport button). Must say it's very impressive.

Yep, it's a great engine and drivetrain.

Done a few very amateurish acceleration runs with the iPhone as a camera and its getting very good times. Almost like its getting quicker (46k miles now).

Looking at a replacement but finding it tough to find such a good all rounder!