What Should My Brother Buy?

[kam05]

Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice.

My brother is looking to buy a diesel hatchback, I've tried to convince him to buy an IS200 (mine!, so I can upgrade to an IS300!), but since he will be doing a lot of motorway mileage (about 100 miles a day), a Lex isn't really an option for a penny-pinching student. He has a budget of £3k.

He seems to want a Astra 1.7DTiLS or a Ford Focus 1.8TDi or a Peugoet 306 2.0 HDi 90 Dturbo. He seems to favour the Astra, but I think he should go for the Pug, as the run out/later reg'd Pugs (V/W/X plated cars) seem to have a lot of extra kit such as 1/2 leathers, GTI alloys, front/rear spoilers etc.

Are there any other cars he should consider

Which diesel hatchback would you buy

[Lex-aholic]

I've driven the Focus 1.8TDi and that goes like stink. I think I would consider this one if I had to decide between the Vauxhall/Peugot/Ford.

What about the Seat Leon or a Golf ? These are potentially good modifiers

[kam05]

I've driven the Focus 1.8TDi and that goes like stink.  I think I would consider this one if I had to decide between the Vauxhall/Peugot/Ford.

What about the Seat Leon or a Golf ?  These are potentially good modifiers

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He has considered the Golf, but insurance is the issue...

[MartinC]

The Focus will have a much better chassis than the Astra, personally think Astra chassis' are a bit cack having owned a couple of turbo's.

Seat do a Leon FR or something, quite a sporty diesel, looks a nice bit of kit, build and spec is quite good

[Lex-aholic]

I've driven the Focus 1.8TDi and that goes like stink.  I think I would consider this one if I had to decide between the Vauxhall/Peugot/Ford.

What about the Seat Leon or a Golf ?  These are potentially good modifiers

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He has considered the Golf, but insurance is the issue...

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That's true - a girl I work with found out the hard way by buying the car before checking how much it'll cost to insure first

Does it have to be a hatchback ? I had a VW Bora 1.9TDi - loads of boot space, and plenty of torque

[kam05]

The Focus will have a much better chassis than the Astra, personally think Astra chassis' are a bit cack having owned a couple of turbo's.

Seat do a Leon FR or something, quite a sporty diesel, looks a nice bit of kit, build and spec is quite good

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Would he be able to pickup a Lean for £3k

[Lex-aholic]

The Focus will have a much better chassis than the Astra, personally think Astra chassis' are a bit cack having owned a couple of turbo's.

Seat do a Leon FR or something, quite a sporty diesel, looks a nice bit of kit, build and spec is quite good

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Would he be able to pickup a Lean for £3k

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Probably not from a Main dealership, but more likely from some kinda car supermarket. Something like a diesel was probably used beforehand as a company car anyway - and being a diesel it will just go on and on, so engine wise it shouldn't be a problem

[kam05]

Thanks for your help guys.

Will defo consider the Seat Leon, just had a look on the autotrader website, some good ones for sale.

I thought the Astra would be a good drive, I've heard that the suspension on these have been setup/tuned by Lotus

[waddy]

I have just put in

Any Make;

Diesel;

Age up to 5 Years;

Between £2k & £3k

Mileage up to 60k

on Autotrader and it has thrown this lot - food for thought?

My parents had a late 306 Meridian HDi and that was loaded to the gills, leather, climate, 6 CD changer, etc etc etc.

[Lex-aholic]

You could probably buy a brand new Rover 25 for about £3000

[kam05]

You could probably buy a brand new Rover 25 for about £3000 

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NO THANKS, my brother would rather have a bus pass than a Rover 25

[MartinC]

I thought the Astra would be a good drive, I've heard that the suspension on these have been setup/tuned by Lotus 

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Not from my experience, but others may have a different opinion.

Didn't really spot the budget earlier, can you get a Focus diesel for £3k? I doubt there are that many about at that money, petrol ones are still fetching strong money

[kam05]

I thought the Astra would be a good drive, I've heard that the suspension on these have been setup/tuned by Lotus 

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Not from my experience, but others may have a different opinion.

Didn't really spot the budget earlier, can you get a Focus diesel for £3k? I doubt there are that many about at that money, petrol ones are still fetching strong money

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I've seen a couple of Focus diesels around the £3k mark, mostly early examples which have done 100k+. These are the TDi ones, the later TDCi Focuses are a lot better, but you can't get these TDCi's for £3k.

Mileage isn't an issue, as my brother only wants a diesel for a year, then he'll be looking to ditch the diesel for a Lex.

[Lex-aholic]

I thought the Astra would be a good drive, I've heard that the suspension on these have been setup/tuned by Lotus 

←

Not from my experience, but others may have a different opinion.

Didn't really spot the budget earlier, can you get a Focus diesel for £3k? I doubt there are that many about at that money, petrol ones are still fetching strong money

←

I've seen a couple of Focus diesels around the £3k mark, mostly early examples which have done 100k+. These are the TDi ones, the later TDCi Focuses are a lot better, but you can't get these TDCi's for £3k.

Mileage isn't an issue, as my brother only wants a diesel for a year, then he'll be looking to ditch the diesel for a Lex.

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In that case I'm not sure if the SEAT would be a good buy - they don't hold their price very well from what I've seen. The Peugeot would be a better buy and sell deal for a year. I have driven fairly old 406's (which were diesels) and you couldn't fault these on performance - only snitch was the fairly basic interiors.

[kam05]

I thought the Astra would be a good drive, I've heard that the suspension on these have been setup/tuned by Lotus 

←

Not from my experience, but others may have a different opinion.

Didn't really spot the budget earlier, can you get a Focus diesel for £3k? I doubt there are that many about at that money, petrol ones are still fetching strong money

←

I've seen a couple of Focus diesels around the £3k mark, mostly early examples which have done 100k+. These are the TDi ones, the later TDCi Focuses are a lot better, but you can't get these TDCi's for £3k.

Mileage isn't an issue, as my brother only wants a diesel for a year, then he'll be looking to ditch the diesel for a Lex.

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In that case I'm not sure if the SEAT would be a good buy - they don't hold their price very well from what I've seen. The Peugeot would be a better buy and sell deal for a year. I have driven fairly old 406's (which were diesels) and you couldn't fault these on performance - only snitch was the fairly basic interiors.

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I agree with you, you can't fault Peugoet's diesels for performance and economy, but the later 306 2.0HDi's come with a fair bit of kit, such a/c, 6 disc multichanger, leathers, alloys etc etc etc. As the 306 came to the end of production, they loaded them up with goodies to tempt buyers, which is good for anyone whose in the market for a second hand Pug.

[Lex-aholic]

Time to toss the coin. Heads it's a Pug, tails it's a Focus. :D

[waddy]

My uncle has an M Reg VW Passat - got electric windows and sun-roof. 1.9 n/a diesel so not blinding performance but gives 40-50mpg.

It has now done 195,000 miles from new and still runs like a dream. Doesn't use a drop of oil at all and starts every time. It has been serviced according to the book. If he can get a VAG engine then the miles wont bother it at all as long as it's looked after.

They bought a new A4 a couple of years ago and the garage offered them £400 trade in so they kept it and just run around the farm in it now. I had it for a couple of weeks after I trashed the last car. Was a shock going from 40mpg to 29mpg (but worth it :winky: )

Would something like that be an option?

[kam05]

My uncle has an M Reg VW Passat - got electric windows and sun-roof. 1.9 n/a diesel so not blinding performance but gives 40-50mpg.

It has now done 195,000 miles from new and still runs like a dream. Doesn't use a drop of oil at all and starts every time. It has been serviced according to the book. If he can get a VAG engine then the miles wont bother it at all as long as it's looked after.

They bought a new A4 a couple of years ago and the garage offered them £400 trade in so they kept it and just run around the farm in it now. I had it for a couple of weeks after I trashed the last car. Was a shock going from 40mpg to 29mpg (but worth it :winky: )

Would something like that be an option?

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Possibly, as long its reliable

[Lex-aholic]

If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen ! :D

Apparently the lifespan of a VW diesel engine is approx. 650,000 (so I was told when I was in a VW owners club).

[star a]

If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen ! :D

Apparently the lifespan of a VW diesel engine is approx. 650,000 (so I was told when I was in a VW owners club).

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means as he has a budget of 3k then i would only consider the focus out of the above list, (for 3k though it probably won't be pretty) vw & seat will be expensive if things go wrong, a peugeot will have already gone wrong, (great diesel engines, but thats about it), although the best sub 3K diesel buy would have to be a mondeo, 1.8td engine is a bit arcaic but has excellent mpg, cheap & easy to fix, decent handling, big boot and reliable, also, if he looks long enough, he may come across a puma for not much more than his budget, petrol engine, but should get decent mpg.

[kam05]

Quick update....

My brother has bought a 00 (V) Pug 306 2.0 HDi 90 LX, in Diablo Red, 71K, 2 owners, full Pug history for £2.5K. Comes with CD multichanger, A/C, alloys, E/W, E/M, RCL. Put a deposit on it yesterday, pick up the car on Wednesday.

Thanks for all your input guys.