FORE Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I am tempted to search for a small diesel car. the ones most tempting to date are Ford Fiesta (or Fusion) 1.4, or Vauxhall Corsa 1.3. I want a 5 door. I am obviously searching for a good mpg (it is mostly for City use), and minimum road tax. I am budgetting for a car 2001-2004 and expecting to pay £1500-£2500. Your own advice / experiences would be gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
convert Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I am tempted to search for a small diesel car. the ones most tempting to date are Ford Fiesta (or Fusion) 1.4, or Vauxhall Corsa 1.3. I want a 5 door. I am obviously searching for a good mpg (it is mostly for City use), and minimum road tax. I am budgetting for a car 2001-2004 and expecting to pay £1500-£2500. Your own advice / experiences would be gratefully received. Be careful of the Ford 1.4 Diesel engine. Replacement injectors are not cheap or easy to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FORE Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Be careful of the Ford 1.4 Diesel engine. Replacement injectors are not cheap or easy to fit. thanks for that, but in what circumstances would injectors need replacing - is it huge mileages or misuse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
convert Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Just general wear and tear really. I've seen engines that have done 150K that were fine, and ones on 40K that needed replacing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FORE Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 What about the corsa, aren't they Fiat engines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FORE Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Be careful of the Ford 1.4 Diesel engine. Replacement injectors are not cheap or easy to fit. Does the same difficulty apply to peugeot and citroen which apparently have the same engine, or are they more accessible? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_DLD_engine#DLD-414 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 The Renault 1.5 dci engine cars get really good MPG. You would probably get a decent Clio for that price. I don't know how reliable they are though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
convert Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Does the same difficulty apply to peugeot and citroen which apparently have the same engine, or are they more accessible? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_DLD_engine#DLD-414 Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I haven't had any experience of this engine in other marques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrannyGranny Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I wouldn't recommend a diesel if most of your journeys are around town and are of short duration. A small petrol will be nearly as efficient and you will be able to buy a newer model with lower mileage. Diesels only make sense for 15k miles + per year. Some suggestions below Fezza http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201131407298918/sort/priceasc/usedcars/quantity-of-doors/5/fuel-type/petrol/price-to/3000/price-from/2000/transmission/manual/maximum-age/up_to_10_years_old/model/fiesta/make/ford/postcode/s24ap/radius/10/page/1?logcode=p Fabia http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201130405760158/sort/priceasc/usedcars/transmission/manual/price-to/3000/quantity-of-doors/5/fuel-type/petrol/maximum-age/up_to_10_years_old/price-from/2000/model/fabia/make/skoda/page/1/radius/20/postcode/s24ap?logcode=p Ibiza http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201133410117448/sort/priceasc/usedcars/maximum-age/up_to_10_years_old/price-to/3000/price-from/2000/transmission/manual/fuel-type/petrol/quantity-of-doors/5/model/ibiza/make/seat/page/1/postcode/s24ap/radius/20?logcode=p Corsa http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201133410207498/sort/priceasc/usedcars/quantity-of-doors/5/fuel-type/petrol/price-to/3000/price-from/2000/transmission/manual/maximum-age/up_to_10_years_old/model/corsa/make/vauxhall/page/1/postcode/s24ap/radius/20?logcode=p Almera http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201133410207498/sort/priceasc/usedcars/quantity-of-doors/5/fuel-type/petrol/price-to/3000/price-from/2000/transmission/manual/maximum-age/up_to_10_years_old/model/corsa/make/vauxhall/page/1/postcode/s24ap/radius/20?logcode=p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eater Sundae Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I run a Suzuki with the 1.3 Fiat diesel engine (the same one as in the diesel corsa, I think, as well as the diesel Puntos and Pandas). I get around 50 to 55 mpg around town (driving fairly gently) and anywhere between 55 and 65 on the motorway, depending how I drive. (It needs a real economy drive to get 65, 60 mpg is much more typical). I quite like the diesel engine, and I'm glad I got it - I do approx 20,000 miles per year. However, it is well worth doing the sums. Diesel cars are more expensive to buy (although that may not be the case in the age/price bracket you are looking at, I don't know), and often more expensive to insure when compared to the equivalent petrol model (mine certainly is). Also, they might need servicing more often. Again, that varies model to model, but worth checking. And of course petrol is a little cheaper than diesel. Added together, these may outweigh the better fuel consumption that a diesel offers, especially if your mileage is low. Diesels used to be based on commercial engines and were overengineered to last for years. I don't know if that is still the case, but I think it might not be - they are now built smaller and lighter to improve the car's performance, they might have lost the longevity they used to have. Also, don't ignore the bigger diesels. Before my current car I had a couple of cars with the VAG 1.9 Turbo Diesel (a Golf and a Fabia). Both of these had fuel consumption figures easily as good as the car I have now - I think because the bigger, more powerful engine was less stressed. When I changed, I went for a car with a lower CO2 figure, and so lower annual "road tax". I don't think fuel consumption actually improved. Provided you get below the "120" figure for CO2 emissions you make a big saving in comparison to above 120, which is worth having. Getting below 100is probably not worth the effort, unless you drive in London and want to avoid congestion charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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