What car?

[VectraMan]

Indeed - to be honest, I'm just personally biased against cheap diesels. Short of a serious internal failure, a home mechanic can probably sort most issues that a petrol engine will chuck at you but with modern turbo common rail diesels comes **** loads of complexity. My £2500 Mondeo gave me the best part of 100,000 miles of faultless service, but when it started playing up absolutely nobody could tell me with any certainty what was wrong with it. Injectors probably, but they're not cheap and have to be coded - a right faff!

More electrics with a petrol. I had some injector issues with my S2000, and that was a case of "replace them and see if it fixes it", for which Honda wanted about £1000, so still potentially problematic though injectors are much more of an issue with diesels because of the high pressure. Most diesels have turbos as well, which is a big expensive thing to go wrong.

Every car has its common faults, so I would go find an internet forum and see what people who run them long term are saying. Dual Mass Flywheels on Mondeo diesels.

Personally I'd go for a Japanese petrol car. I had a Primera a few years ago to commute in which cost me £1000 off Ebay and that was faultless despite me thrashing it mercilessly doing 1,000 miles a week. But you won't get the MPG.

[PurpleGorilla]

An s-type does look good value:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...?atmobcid=soc3

[lilelvis2000]

I've got a very old Micra for the commute down to Cambridge each month. Thing just won't die. I don't take care of it at all and the fuel economy is very very good. I only picked it up for £350! Has a few issues..the door locks have a mind of their own, but otherwise runs fine. So, no need to get a diesel - they are highly over-rated and far more car duty to pay.

[DannyF1966]

An s-type does look good value:

Jaguar S-Type 3.0 V6 SE 4dr

Let's see how many of you can get to the end of that blurb without bursting a blood vessel

Also, since when was 91,000 miles "very low"?

[Ticktock]

Also, since when was 91,000 miles "very low"?

Since it was on a 16 year old car.

I have over 85000 on my 2010 car.

[PurpleGorilla]

Let's see how many of you can get to the end of that blurb without bursting a blood vessel

Also, since when was 91,000 miles "very low"?

Lol good innit ;-)

[Hugh Jardon]

Saab 9-5 or 9-3

At a minimum 2 hours each way I'd stop over in the week if at all possible. 4 hours driving every day is going to kill you.

If not, something comfortable (saloon), diesel. Saab 93, Ford Mondeo, VW Passat, Rover 75 etc. Your going to kill it anyway so you can pick up something sound but scruffy in your price range.

I have been running SAAB's for years, & would recommend the 9-5 2.2 diesel. Very safe, very reliable (just keep it serviced on time), and cheap as chips to buy, as people are scared to keep them since they stopped mass production a couple of years ago (just find a good independent garage for servicing, yes there are still quite a few around, and parts are in good supply for about another 6 years or so). I have put starship mileage on all of mine and they just go on & on. Avoid the newer 1.9 diesels as they get quite problematic/expensive repairs as the miles tot up.

My current 9-5 diesel sport has clocked 230k and averages around 48mpg on mixed A/B road & motorway driving for current 100 mile daily commute.

A contracting friend bought a 9-5 after trying my previous model, & it saved his life on the M1 when he was shunted into the central reservation at 80mph. Police who attended said he would have been dead if he drove almost anything else!

[Bacchus]

around £1500. Reliable and cheap are the watchwords.

This is a "no-brainer"

I have just put three thousand Romanina Kilometres* on the clock of a VW Passat which started with only fifty when I picked it up two weeks ago. It is a nice car, and very competent.

When I got home and into my twenty year old C Class, I felt that I was back in a well-made car at last!

The C-Class is the only car in thirty three years that I have ever bought two of because it is so good. Kept the first one for four years and about forty thousand miles, two oil changes and, a tail pipe, and a headlight bulb but the mem-sahib re-arranged too much bodywork to take it to client sites, the second have had for three years, also a tail pipe (weirdly within two weeks and a hundred metres of the first), and about to get its second oil change.

Get a pre-2000 2.5 turbo-diesel, forty plus to the gallon, comfortable and solid. An engineer's car.

Would probably have a Mondeo also, but the merc is twenty times better.


*Romanian Kilometres are much tougher than their UK counterparts

[GlenW]

This is a "no-brainer"

I have just put three thousand Romanina Kilometres* on the clock of a VW Passat which started with only fifty when I picked it up two weeks ago. It is a nice car, and very competent.

When I got home and into my twenty year old C Class, I felt that I was back in a well-made car at last!

The C-Class is the only car in thirty three years that I have ever bought two of because it is so good. Kept the first one for four years and about forty thousand miles, two oil changes and, a tail pipe, and a headlight bulb but the mem-sahib re-arranged too much bodywork to take it to client sites, the second have had for three years, also a tail pipe (weirdly within two weeks and a hundred metres of the first), and about to get its second oil change.

Get a pre-2000 2.5 turbo-diesel, forty plus to the gallon, comfortable and solid. An engineer's car.

Would probably have a Mondeo also, but the merc is twenty times better.


*Romanian Kilometres are much tougher than their UK counterparts

My missus has an old E-Class and, hard as it is for me to admit it, it is a superb car. Exceptionally well built, comfortable, loads of toys and the 2.8 litre V6 engine is superb.

[ZARDOZ]

Avoid the Rover 75 at all costs - K Series engine and it'll probably screw you.

.

It's not a bad car the Diesel unit was made by BMW the large petrol by Ford.

To the OP avoid anything by Vauxhall (and by association some Saab) numerous faults with timing chains, DPF , fuel pumps etc and expensive to fix. I'd look for something slightly unfashionable but mechanically strong eg Skoda