"cheap" diesel sensible motor needed

[pogweasel]

Have you spent ages and a small fortune ironing out niggles with your pez-powered car?

I know I have.

So I am now planning to go down the LPG route - better the devil and all that. £750 and the deed is done, hello half price fuel.

Providing my BMW doen't disgrace itself at the MoT next month it will be full steam ahead.

[Bren]

I have had my 2001 mondeo TDDI for 18 months and it has been outstanding - the advantage over the TDCi is that it has a cam chain instead of a belt, and to be honest it isn't much more coarse than the TDCi.

 

I have had to replace both front springs, a rear brake caliper and handbrake cables, all par for the course on a mondeo. It has a relatively small 58.5 litre tank, I have a round trip to work of 40 miles a day on the M62 / M602 into Salford, and I got 600 miles out a tank - The low level light was on, I reckon I could have got another 20 miles out of the tank but I was'nt going to push it.

 

I have the hatchback, however it will carry more than my previous xantia estate (brilliant car), I only appreciate how big it is when parked next to my mother in law's granada.

 

The key is to look for one that has had a caring owner, there are a lot of shite mondeos knocking about simply because a large bill is just around the corner.

[tonedepear]

So I am now planning to go down the LPG route - better the devil and all that. £750 and the deed is done, hello half price fuel.

Providing my BMW doen't disgrace itself at the MoT next month it will be full steam ahead.

 

Must be more cost-effective buying something already converted @ £150-200 premium over standard than sinking the best part of a grand into yours?

[pogweasel]

Probably, from a pure cost perpsective, but I have a slightly irrational love for the car, I know whays right and whats wrong with it. I could maybe find one ready done, but it wouldnt be the same.

[ChinaTom]

Rover 75 / MG ZTT any use - I bet they are down around the grand by now. Not as capacious as the Mondeo, but a nice alternative. Get the right spec and the seats are almost Saab comfy.

[Pillock]

Hmmmm, the ZTs look OK but the engine is a bit old-hat. How reliable are they?

LPG isn't a bad idea but it's a lot of outlay and it's technology I know nowt about.

 

Billy, keep me up to date on the Mondeo, I trust you'll stick a post up on here when you come to sell it. I'm still leaning towards something generic for motorway mile munching but I've got an Alfa-shaped niggle in the back of my mind now

[Father Ted]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1990-JAGUAR-XJ6-4 ... 3f0830b506

4.0 V8 with LPG and well WKD paint job.

[Pillock]

Isn't the economy roughly the same from LPG as pez? 30mpg seems high from that thing, a 4.0 slushbox.

 

Or is he trying to say that it does the equivalent of 30mpg, eg 15mpg but the fuel is half the price......

 

Either way - NO.

[HereHareHere]

How about a well-looked-after 2001 Xantia LPG estate? Quick enough, and looks VALU for £795.

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[Pillock]

Hmmmmm, VALU indeed that.

 

*tootles off to get some insurance quotes

[dieselnutjob]

Rover 620 diesel

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0439304241

[KruJoe]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

GRRRR @ Autotrader.

HowTF can I tell whereTF it is from a link like that?

[Guest]

NA diesel Citroen Xantia. So slow it can't actually use much fuel. Wind it up to 80 on the motorway (between J28-J33 of the M6 is good) and never, EVER slow down, not even for foxes \ children \ police.

 

I would normally recommend the TD XUD engines, but I never got more than 39 mpg from my trusty thrusty 306, even if it was GR 8.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I'm normally a quick driver but the last "OMG FUEL PRICES CHAOS" event led me to buy a 405 turbodiesel to replace my SAAB c900.

Anyway, taking it easy it managed a verified 56MPG, I'm sure 60MPG would be do-able.

 

You must drive like a mentalist, wat'.

[Cavcraft]

Hmmmm, the ZTs look OK but the engine is a bit old-hat. How reliable are they?

LPG isn't a bad idea but it's a lot of outlay and it's technology I know nowt about.

 

Billy, keep me up to date on the Mondeo, I trust you'll stick a post up on here when you come to sell it. I'm still leaning towards something generic for motorway mile munching but I've got an Alfa-shaped niggle in the back of my mind now

 

Will do chief. He's telling me it has a braking fault from speed where it vibrates a bit or something. Tbh I'm a little suspicious as he reckons it had the brakes done quite recently so I suspect an ABS fault of some sort.