Paul78

I have been reading the many threads and lots of interest on this forum with regards to diesels, be it the golf 150 bhp of the aforementioned ****e pug 307.

I have been commuting from Oxford to Rugby for the last year in a 1.6 Zetec Focus as my runaround, which has been fantastic with enough poke and returns 35 - 40mpg, plus its great on the corners.

Me and the Misus are now moving to Leamington so she will have to do the longer drive back down the M40 as she works at BMW in Cowley, so I'm getting a new 3 series coupe ( company won't let me have a scoob ) and she is having the focus and selling her little fiesta !

Now she is not keen on the Focus as she failed her driving test in one but what do we do instead !

Options are:

I buy a Scoob and we share the BMW and Subaru, ie: Use the BMW when I have meetings etc. VERY EXPENSIVE ON PETROL !

We change the Focus for a HDI variety, this will cost a lot more as the focus is only worth £7000 ish, but we save on fuel ( Misus not keen ! )

Or we get a Cheaper Diesel and keep the cash plus save a bit and then run a scoob as a third car..

This is my favorite option, but what good diesel can you get for 5k ish, needs to be reliable with some poke and look OK..

She has her heart set on a Polo / Golf / 306 or at a push an old 3 series compact diesel.

What models would you recommend of the above and what experiences have you had / Any other suggestions !

Cheers,

Paul


[Edited by Paul78 - 8/1/2002 11:31:05 AM]

Reffro

There are so many different oprions available it would take too long to type them out here. Just a cursory glance at Autotrader shows lots of Golf's available. Best advice I can offer is to sit down with the Autotrader magazine. look at what's available locally and for what sort of money. Try and decide on a particular model and trim. If your not sure go along to dealers and test drive all the different models. Work out likely budgets, with my friend the increased finance payments were going to be easily offset by his lower fuel costs, will the same apply to you? Once your sure of what you want, then start looking for that particular car. A bit of time and research now will save you hassle and £££'s in the future.

If it was my money, I would probably go for a Mk4 Golf, its a far superior car, particularly the interior. TDI 110bhp is plenty quick enough for motorway cruising, the TDI 90bhp is easily as good as a Focus 1.6, similar power but a lot more torque in the TDI. But you need to do the sums for yourselves, to justify any greater expense in the purchase price, remember Mk4's will still be worth more later on down the line.

[Edited by Reffro - 8/1/2002 12:32:27 PM]

Reffro

My friend had a similar thing. He was commuting 95 miles a day in his Focus 1.8 getting about 33-35mpg. His Focus was one year old with 38,000 miles on the clock, when he traded it in and bought a used Golf 110 TDi. His payments on the finance went up by £50 a month but he is saving over £100 a month in fuel bills, as his now tuned 140bhp Golf still gives 53mpg average.

As for £5k diesels the one that comes to my mind is the 306 DTurbo. Looks good, drives great and again is good on fuel, expect 45-50mpg.

Paul78

Cheers Reffro,

Do you happen to know any more details on the Golf Mk 3/4, milage price etc - Would be quite interested in that !
Thats the other option, pay a little more than the Focus is worth -but get a good Tdi of somekind and forget the Scoob for a while !

Rgds,

Paul

gregh

if she works at BMW can she not sort a BMW 330d sports saloon out or 320d if you want better mpg.

Greg

Paul78

The purchase scheme is fantastic, but it does exclude some cars until you get to higher management, like the diesels and the 330 / M3.
The idea is that we get a car to bat up and down the motorway that it doesn't matter too much putting 40 000 miles on like the focus...
Plus I want the BMW, so as we are getting a 325Ci - she won't be able to do a lot of miles due to depreciation and cost of fuel and I can drive it all the time

Paul

GaryC

If you are getting a third car, get a proper third car. The scoob is a great allrounder, but as a third (fun) car it comes well down the list. Anything with a roof, anything other than RWD and less than 250bhp/tonne is no weekend/3rd car

Paul78

Hmmm - I can smell Caterham me thinks

carl

Guess I'll have to forget about that 4.5 Cerbera then

MattOz

Hi Paul,

Welcome to my neck of the woods! Get a 306 dt for about 5k and you'll have a great car. They are very cheap around these parts because of the relative closeness of Ryton/Coventry. Should be no problem picking up a nice example. Will have to meet up for a beer once you've moved. I'm sure a tour of " El Sparo" is in order!

Cheers
Matt

Paul78

Cheers Matt,

End of August we shall doo the voo Looking forward to it already

Paul

GaryC

Yes. There are many cars that will be cheaper buy/run/insure, more fun, handle better, are more reliable and quicker on all but straight roads