Need another cage - recommendations

A 6-7 year old Audi A4 1.9 TDI is in that price range

Originally Posted by cmit37

A 6-7 year old Audi A4 1.9 TDI is in that price range

Jesus, for that money an A4 is gonna be a pile of sh**te.

My brother had 2 at that age and he sold them at 150000miles and 180000miles. All I can say is that only one of them ever left him stranded when the cathalithyc converter gave up and his top speed became 45mph.

Originally Posted by cmit37

My brother had 2 at that age and he sold them at 150000miles and 180000miles. All I can say is that only one of them ever let him stranded was when the catalyst converter gave up and his top speed became 45mph.

Fair play, its just that the Audi badge still holds a lot of premium. (even though I don't understand it myself)
Good to see that my Audi/VW/Skoda! 1.9 tdi engine in my (slightly less desirable ) SEAT should be good for an easy 150k miles!

If I was spending my money(poor sod) I would go for the Skoda/Seat variety of the 1.9TDI. I think the VW is also expensive.

The 306 TDI

Originally Posted by Swiss

The 306 TDI

Good Choice,
Reliable and not to slow

If you're going for the Audi try and get the bigger 2.5tdi. *MUCH* faster

Jimmy
Ive been trying to look for exactly what you appear to be looking for. Im currently running a 51 plate mx5 but its not ideal for the kind of driving im doing.

For 3.5k:
a clio is a good bet however you'll be pushed to find the dci 100 for that price. If you're lucky you'll get the dci 80 (80bhp) which still has reasonable performance figures, all the toys and 67mpg which is excellent.

306 are good diesels and you can pick one up for less than £3.5k, they are comfortable cars and are pretty well built.

Audi - you'll be pushed to find a decent diesel example for this price as they hold a premium. A4s seem to be slightly less desirable on age against a3s.

Skoda - VW parts without the VW costs. The Skoda VRS is the car to have for performance but again not available for £3.5k. To be honest, im not a fan of the styling so ive not really taken much notice.

Diesels hold quite a premium over their petrol counterparts. To be honest, if you're doing less than 12k a year, and werent planning to keep the car, i would say that it maybe isnt such a good idea to buy a diesel. You are better off looking for a cheaper petrol example and using the money saved against the cost of fuel. Saying that, a diesel example may fetch a higher price on trading in.

Out of all the cars ive looked at, for that kind of money, the Clio offers comfort and a lot of toys with excellent mpg, low insurance and tax against anything else in that bracket. Im just not sure i could bring myself to drive a small car again. I know the 5 is a small car (2 seats) however its a sports car at the end of the day and it has a certain kudos (even tho some consider it a hairdressers car)

Alternatively, you could spend £3.5k on a good mk1 mx5. The engines are bulletproof and you get classic jap reliability. Nice leather interiors on some and you can whip the top off in summer.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by robchester

Diesels hold quite a premium over their petrol counterparts. To be honest, if you're doing less than 12k a year, and werent planning to keep the car, i would say that it maybe isnt such a good idea to buy a diesel. You are better off looking for a cheaper petrol example and using the money saved against the cost of fuel. Saying that, a diesel example may fetch a higher price on trading in.

Well with the higher price of diesel vs petrol, the fuel costs are very similar unless doing lots of top gear work.