Best cheap/reliable daily?

[skinnyman9000 0]

Unfortunately, the time will soon come for me to part company with my rado. After 4yrs of ownership its time has come, and it will be broken for parts. So, it needs replacing with reliable daily.

 

The requirements are:

Economical

Reliable

Cheap to run/insure/repair/maintain

Under £1k

Decent size (could do with a delivery workhorse once the breaking begins)

Something I can just turn the key and go without worrying about anything.

 

So far I’ve been looking at things like mk3 golf tdi hatch/estate, Passat B4 tdi estate, Audi 80 tdi estate, BMW 5 series estate.

 

I’ve never owned a diesel, or anything like this, up until now I’ve just wanted something nice rather than practical and cheap. A chap at work used to own an Audi 80 tdi, bought it with 200k on the clock and ran it into the ground (400k when it eventually died), and reckons they’re bullet proof. In the 200k he covered it never needed anything other than servicing and consumables. Chap across the road has a mk3 tdi, again says it’s been spot on. My uncle used to own a late 90’s 5 series beemer, again, bullet proof.

 

Sooooo, basically after some thought/suggestions/inappropriate comments/banter.

 

Cheers muchly

[Swompy 0]

Your own two feet

 

Economical - Tick

Reliable - Tick

Cheap to run/insure/repair/maintain - Tick

Under £1k - Tick

Decent size - Tick

Something I can just turn the key and go without worrying about anything. - Tick dont even need a key

 

 

 

:lol:

 

Sorry couldnt resist 8)

[Fulltimejunglist 0]

old 306's or pugs in general tbh, dont break much and are fairly cheap to maintain.

 

Definatly not a Corrado.

 

Or a Micra. :grin:

[Philuk 0]

old 306's or pugs in general tbh, dont break much and are fairly cheap to maintain.

 

Definatly not a Corrado.

 

Or a Micra. :grin:

 

french? bleh! lol the older 306 tdis are ace tho" and they go like chuff!

 

i personally would go mk3 tdi tho!

[Jim 1]

I'd say something Japanese perhaps.. old Honda Civic? A friend of mine bought one of these ex-lease some years back and proceeded to subject it to years abuse.. he was not mechanically sympathetic and used to thrash the pants off the thing. I assumed he'd sold / crashed it as we fell out of touch but saw his brother recently.. I was astonished to learn he'd got it off my friend, and a service and a wheel bearing later and it was as good as it was before. Everything works. Hardly spent a penny on mechanical stuff. And can't be worth more than a grand.

[Abdul 0]

A civic of some sort or a mk3 golf tdi, great engines for workhorse duties and economical.

[Swompy 0]

A civic of some sort or a mk3 golf tdi, great engines for workhorse duties and economical.

 

MK3 are preaty good.

 

My rat daily 1.4 is still going strong. My brother uses it when he is back from uni and he thrashs the pants off it ( so do I) and it just keeps going only need new injectors in the last couple of years its been with me/brother. It doesnt burn oil, doent loose water,starts every time, drives perfictly and I dont think it had a service for a good 2 years (20K miles or so) and when Graham ( DG) changed the oil in it he said it looked preaty good and clean.

 

Its a great little car

[dragon 0]

Im looking at audi a4 and 80 tdi avants too as we need a work horse and past experiance they are great cars , i love the 80s really miss my old 2.8 Q 8)

[Fulltimejunglist 0]

Although i have to say aswell, there are a fair few deisil quattros on the bay which are at a fair price and i know this is NOT economical but coud get the v6 ones a4s, estate and salloon both cheap as sh*t for what you get.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Audi-Quattro-A4-1 ... 1e60d4cf59

 

Not a quattro but...

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-AUDI-A4-1-9- ... 45f805a95a

[skinnyman9000 0]

Someone has pointed me towards an astra estate. There is one on autotrader with just over 100k on the clock, 1.7 TDI, book figures claim 70mpg on a run and 55 around town. I would like to keep it VAG if possible though, purely because its what i know.

 

There is an Audi 80 estate on there too, 12 months MOT, 6 months tax, 130k for £995

[dragon 0]

already got my eye on most audis forsale lol 995 sounds like one of them :) i just couldnt bring myself to spend money on anything other than vag or bmw

[bristolbaron 10]

if you dont need more than 2 seats buy an escort van.. if you do buy an escort estate.

[Marshall936 0]

My daily is an '07 punto grande and i the only thing ive had to pay for in 2 years is tyres and mot :D 40 mpg too ;)

[andy 0]

Someone has pointed me towards an astra estate. There is one on autotrader with just over 100k on the clock, 1.7 TDI, book figures claim 70mpg on a run and 55 around town. I would like to keep it VAG if possible though, purely because its what i know.

 

There is an Audi 80 estate on there too, 12 months MOT, 6 months tax, 130k for £995

 

Run away from the 1.7 TDi Vauxhalls, they are good until they get some miles on them. Then, WHEN the diesel pump goes they cost more than the car/van itself is worth to replace. The pumps are like gold dust second hand too. There are loads of 1.7TDI vehicles in scrap yards just from this very fault, it effectively writes them off. I'd go old Audi all the way.

[g60rc 0]

I'd probably stick to what i know, so id get a mk2 golf GTi 8v (only because i prefer it to the mk3)

 

Generally reliable, easy to fix if not,

under 1k,

40mpg if you drive normally

Fair amounts of space

[Peteg60 0]

I'd probably stick to what i know, so id get a mk2 golf GTi 8v (only because i prefer it to the mk3)

 

Generally reliable, easy to fix if not,

under 1k,

40mpg if you drive normally

Fair amounts of space

And iv got a spare engine for one;)

(sorry could not resist)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Conker 0]

During the search for my Corrado, I bought a £200 E30 318i and it was brilliant. I sold it on for £250, and the guy is still driving it nearly two years on, having only needed one patch of welding since.

 

Would definitely buy one again.

[skinnyman9000 0]

If only this was a GL:

 

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2398289.htm

 

Although its the first mk3 tdi ive found for sale in Derby in the past fortnight, so tempted to go and take a look at it anyway

[beastie4126 0]

What about something like a Polo Estate? Plenty of room and a sturdy motor

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2001-VOLKSWAGEN-P ... 4cf482df64

[dragon 0]

Did you have anyluck hunting pal ? We ended up buying that red tdi passat wagon off ed38 got it for £725 in the end and so far its been awsome getting easy 800+ to a tank

[Peebee 0]

Honda CRV mk1 for the win. You'll get one for less than 2k and I totally stand by mine, was great in the snow too!

[coullstar 0]

Only thing to watch for with the Mk3's is they tend to rust like a mofo.

[boost monkey 0]

^^ ditto.

 

how about a volvo hearse? PLENTY of space!!

[davidwort 0]

Octavia estate or hatch, loads of room in them and easy to come by mk4 running gear.

If you don't fancy the badge then there's plenty of passats about and they don't hold their value nearly as well as the equivalent age/engine audi.

Once you get into smaller hatchbacks the prices rise as they're just more in demand, I've seen some stonking petrol passat saloons about and they've all got climate control, nobody wants them and yet you'd have to do a whacking great mileage each year to make up the difference in purchase price over the diesel ones.

[i que 0]

citroen xantia estate 1.9 diesel.hard as nails, had one 2 yrs replaced a fan belt ,50mpg every where,check the crazy air ride make sure it works then jam on,actually im going 2 buy another one dont care its minging big box.