wowk

I'm a man on a small budget when it comes to cars £1,500 or less. Fed up of having troubles with DMF's DPF's Injectors and all the old usual bo***x on early-mid 2000's common rail engines.


BMW 525 TDS

Merc C250 TD

Any Fords with the 'TD' lump in them...

Can you recommend any other decent 1990's/2000's cars with the old diesel engines in them?

Looking for fair fuel consumption 35MPG+

I'm after something which is just cheap honest to god motoring. Nothing fancy, preferably something large - an old 90's reps car for example.

CrOwSoN15

W124 Merc with one of the OM engines, 606 is the daddy as they're known for being enormously tuneable so might command a slight premium.

wowk

Ironically just been having a look at some straight diesel Merc 190D's. People are claiming really good fuel consumption out of them 45-50mpg. However there seems to be a big fluctuation in price in them - going between £1,000-£3,000 for a diesel model.

strada84

Rover 420d

Surprisingly brilliant for an old Diesel

jamie's

Old peugeot 1.9td, as found in early 306/406 etc
They go well enough, fairly bomb proof, run on any old diesel/oil etc
If you get a good 1 it'll last you years

bj928

a mk3 mondeo TDDI is old school, goes well, none of the TDCi problems, chain for cam so no belts to worry about, i have one on 160k, and its been great, pulls like a train, changed the DMF for a solid, so now should be good for a few 100k they are a modern car with none of the modern car problems, and you will get a good one for £1500

gingeRS

yup was used a bench mark calibration engine for most diesel engine test benches for years due to its simple diesel and bomb proof reliabilty.

the older diesels do not get the same mpg as newer ones....but as you stated theres less to go wrong.

xr2mk2turbo

Earlier 406 hdi are very good, my daily is a early mk2 hdi 90, had it over 4 years and done about 40k in it. Never gone wrong and I would get in it now and trust it to take me across Europe. Finding one with sensible miles is tough for a good price.

Still see a lot as taxis . Get one for the right money and it probably won't depreciate much at all.

Jay

daviddunlop83

iTrader: (7)

As above, GF uncle had one he taxi'd from new, 440k on engine.

Only thing changed was clutch twice iirc

Someone crashed into it and wrote it off

Bailes1992

I'd seriously consider a Peugeot 406.
I've had 3 and if someones after a reliable barge I'd recommend one to anyone! I'm a moderator over at 406oc and there's numerous people over there with 300k+ models still running perfectly and still returning good economy.

If you want a purely mechanical car then the 1.9TD has a Bosch pump and can be run on vegetable oil.
The 2.1TD has 3 valves per cylinder and has much more torque. It has a semi mechanical pump that takes information from an ECU like a Focus or Transit TDDi. These can have a Bosch pump fitted from a 1.9TD fairly easy and benefit from being able to run vegetable oil.

The HDi's rarely give any issues. In fact I've never even heard of a DMF failure! Usually the clutches start slipping long before the DMF gives up.
If you go for a HDi90 then you won't have a DMF to worry about. My HDi90 with an intercooler and a stage one map was running 130bhp and returning 65mpg on a run!
HDi's rarely give any injector or pump issues either!

botters

iTrader: (2)

my daily is a bmw 525tds i have owned it twice over the course of nearly 10 years when i first owned it, it had done 60 odd thou its now done 276,000 and the engine has never been stripped even for a head gasket its just been serviced and had one clutch and two rear shock absorbers in all that time (apart from brakes etc) it does around 50 ish mpg on motorway and around 35 in town plus you can do donuts in it and it loves sliding round roundabouts lol

tony66

iTrader: (7)

alh engined skoda/passat/audi vag
brilliant on fuel/pokey too bodies dont rot[excepting front arches on oldies]

tony66

iTrader: (7)

its funny how time and experience changes perception-when the tdci first came out nobody would touch a tddi-too slow/agricultural....
now tddi are sought after due to the issues the tdci commonly throws up

botters

iTrader: (2)

except golfs, golfs rot worse than fords! done many a sill, floorpan, and inner wing rot repairs on mk1,2,3,4 and 5 golfs

tony66

iTrader: (7)

funny you should mention that my neighbour has a 53 plate golf-well kept shiny car-its rotten on nearside and all 4 arches...

bj928

from experience i find VAG vehicles have a lot of electical running issues when older, all my friends with older VW's ect have electrical issues that make the engine go into limp mode or not run right, if it was just 1 car i would say it an isolated one, but just about ever one has a similar issue, i personally wouldn't touch one for this reason, TDDi focus or mondeo would be my choice, or a mercedes E class diesel, they seem very good as well

strada84

All VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat rot like pears on the front arches! We get 59 plate Golfs, Sciroccos, A3's, A4's etc with it on, they're terrible!

pumesta

There is a big lump of foam behind the arch and it holds water like a sponge

locum8

I'm sure the early focus mk1's came with a tddi engine

BigErn

Citroen ZX Volcane 1.9td...... I love em