£500 to buy a daily diesel..what would you buy!

So, i wrote a thread about having a second car for £1000. I bought an Audi S3. I love it, but its too juicy on town driving, was an impulse buy and im just about to sell it for £2k. So im laughing really.

Im looking at a £500 daily workhorse.

Diesel
Good MPG
Reliable

The 306 is ticking my boxes at the minute with people claiming 400-600 on full tanks. Being in the £500 price range itss winning on all fronts for me.

What else can anyone else chuck at me for inspiration?

#1 example.. http://www.gumtree.com/p/peugeot/306...el-/1116123815

Gotta be a 306 in that price range, get the older 1.9 TD engine as there's ****-all to go wrong on it.

You might have to factor in replacing the suspension, rebuilding the brakes or something as the cars still going to be 15 years old and original stuff will be guffed.

Parts are mega cheap tho and it's not a tough job to do.

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Originally Posted by R3K1355

Gotta be a 306 in that price range, get the older 1.9 TD engine as there's ****-all to go wrong on it.

You might have to factor in replacing the suspension, rebuilding the brakes or something as the cars still going to be 15 years old and original stuff will be guffed.

Parts are mega cheap tho and it's not a tough job to do.

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Yeah im a little confused. On which model?

What year did the 1.9 engine stop so i can just put that in my filter on searching?

93-98 is the 1.9 XUD (IDI engine) that can be ran on veg oil (can be bought for 90ppl at Tesco, cheaper again at wholesalers) providing it has a bosch pump.

The 2.0 HDi is a lot more refined, 99-01, can be remapped for £40 to 130bhp.

Had both, both highly reccomended as cheap dailies.

lottery tickets

Ford Focus 1.8TDi, bought one for £340 with a new MOT and tyre with mileage on 163k then did a further 48k miles in one year and still returned 56mpg.

now have another slightly newer 1.8TDCi did pay a little more than £500 but it does 66mpg.

hate fords but cannot deny they are great engines

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugh Janus

Ford Focus 1.8TDi, bought one for £340 with a new MOT and tyre with mileage on 163k then did a further 48k miles in one year and still returned 56mpg.

now have another slightly newer 1.8TDCi did pay a little more than £500 but it does 66mpg.

hate fords but cannot deny they are great engines

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Link me? Im listening..

i just looked on auto trader :

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/u...w/price-to/500

Xsara 1.9tdi, basically an ugly 306, same engine, but a bit lighter I believe. Cheaper as uglier, get an lx and you're laughing. I've had one and a HDi 306, and I preferred the Xsara - quicker, less ****ed, and cheaper.

You can get 406 diesels for that money too. I payed a bit over for mine as it's a fully loaded estate and it's still going strong(ish) 2 years and bugger all maintenance later.
Beware of the cheap and cheesy French build quality though, Mines only on it's original clutch, turbo, gearbox, engine still after 185,000 miles - Oh, hang on...

Other options are old Citroen ZX diesels, if you think there;s very little to wrong on an old 306 then there's even less to go wrong on those! Try and get a turbo though as my old n/a 1.9 was a bit annoying with all 58Bhp.... Comfy though :)

If ONLY I could spend 500 (800 dollars ish) to buy a second hand car that was reasonable over here!

Second the focus shout, my wife had one a while ago and it went well, did loads of mpg, was bulletproof until the diesel pump went and actually drove quite well

I had a 406 estate and it was actually not bad. I remember it handled better and was nicer inside than my parents mk2 mondeo estate. I also had a mk 3 mondeo diesel tddi and that was ok to. It was a long time ago but im fairly sure both the mondeo and the 406 were a lot less crappy than a 306 inside. Also the mondeo was a hachback so it was easy to get bikes in the back.

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Originally Posted by Johnny

lottery tickets

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hahahahahah

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikesx13

Second the focus shout, my wife had one a while ago and it went well, did loads of mpg, was bulletproof until the diesel pump went and actually drove quite well

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the TDi versions have a mechanical pump so are less likely to fail, the TDCi gives better performance and economy but have the troublesome electric pump

I did the usual SXOC thing and bought a sensible daily diesel a few years ago.
Citroen Xantia TD. Easily bought for £500 nowadays.

It cost a fortune to get through each MoT and sprang electrical and suspension surprises on a daily basis.
That's not what I wanted in a daily.
Other cars are available. By one of those :nod:

Will have to check the 406's out and some xsara's.

MG ZS TD.

Seriously.

Honda Chassis, engine is powerful but a bit loud. put a set of injectors in it and it will out drag a gti6 ( I tested this )

^^^^ this ^^^^^

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Originally Posted by Deacon

MG ZS TD.

Seriously.

Honda Chassis, engine is powerful but a bit loud. put a set of injectors in it and it will out drag a gti6 ( I tested this )

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It's not about power. I'll have an RB25 200sx for that..

Im definately looking at the ford, 306, and 406. XSara i cant do it to myself. Its the ugliest car bar a Multipla!