New daily wanted

[Owain-328i]

Ok folks,

 

Time has come to go derv, the old BMW 328i is totally ruining my wallet with its vast thirst on my short commute, so its going. I'm after a modern for my daily, and im drawn to the Mk4 Golf GT TDI 150, anyone got any experience of these and what i need to look for?

 

Any advice appreciated

[KruJoe]

I'll leave the VAG modern hating to others, but I think you may be better off with a smaller petrol car is it's a short commute.

"Owain-Mk4-Golf-GT-TDI-150" just doesn't seem right as a user name somehow.

[scaryoldcortina]

yeah, owain-octavia sounds loads better (hint hint)

[KruJoe]

Or even Owain-MB-W202-C250TD-T !

[Cavcraft]

Owain_Always_Liked-BMWs_So-Cavette's_E46_323SE_2.5_Is-Less_Thirsty_&_Therefore_Makes_Perfect_Sense actually sounds much better.

[Guest]

I'll leave the VAG modern hating to others....

 

VAG HATRED

[Guest]

There's probably not much point getting a diesel if you're only doing short runs, you might as well just get the small petrol equivalent. It'll probably cost half as much and have half the mileage.

[jonathan_dyane]

A Golf? *Yawn*

[eddyramrod]

I'll leave the VAG modern hating to others....

 

VAG HATRED

+1, I'll quite happily pick up this banner for you...

[trigger]

I'm going to (predictably) stand up for the VAG, My Bora TDi 130 wasn't a bad car, the engine was quick and pretty decent on fuel, not as good as the Passat TDi 115 before it but still not bad, around 42mpg on a run.

 

I still prefer the VAG PD engine to the TDCi unit fitted in my Mondeo, Much quieter and refined i think, I'd also recommend the Bora over the Golf 150 BTW, They are cheaper to buy and drive and handle just as well.

 

Personally though I'd be looking for a petrol engined car now, that's what i should have done if it was for the odd tank for free fuel i get every now and even.

[jonathan_dyane]

42mpg? That's pretty average, you'd do far better with an Izuzu-engined Astra...

[M'coli]

Hmmm...

Modern? Single occupancy? Cheap to buy? cheap to run? interesting?

Diahatsu Sirion 1300.

Or the Citroen C1 - the only modern I fancy, but only with the 3-pot petrol. It's got a tiny boot, but 68bhp - plenty enough for a big roofbox.

[trigger]

We have Citroen C1's with the 3 pot engines at work as runabouts on the port for the training instructors, I've driven them a few times and I hate them with a passion, You feel that they are one fart away from falling to bits and even at 20 mph in 3rd they sound as if they are about to exploded.

[KruJoe]

... hating ...

VAG HATRED

+1

Please educate me further. I do take pride in my language.

I might say "I don't like car polishing." Is that grammatically wrong?

[Owain-328i]

There's a C1 already on the drive...

 

The BMW is deffinately going, its doing about 20mpg about town if that! My mate has already got a Golf GT TDI 130, and it goes very well and averages 45mpg on a local commute also with a few runs inbetween.

 

Sod the haters, i know what i want, so im going to have it lol

[Rocket88]

I'll leave the VAG modern hating to others....

 

VAG HATRED

+1, I'll quite happily pick up this banner for you...

 

And I'll quite happily set fire to it

[Owain-328i]

Nowt wrong with a VW, and Golfs are spot on

 

Ok a bit boring, but the GTI TD 150 will be perfect for me, probably not much slower than my current steed, but will easily do double the mpg...

 

No brainer for myself really

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

aren't short runs PARTICULArly unkind to the filters in oil-burning machines?

[Pillock]

There's a C1 already on the drive...

 

The BMW is deffinately going, its doing about 20mpg about town if that! My mate has already got a Golf GT TDI 130, and it goes very well and averages 45mpg on a local commute also with a few runs inbetween.

 

Sod the haters, i know what i want, so im going to have it lol

 

I like 'em. The PD engines are quieter than my TDI but otherwise pretty similar in terms of power and consumption. I'm averaging 51mpg if I do a lot of long runs, or 47-48 if I just use it for work. Mine's a 110 but the 130s apparently offer identical consumption.

 

Only problem with them when I was looking at an identical car, was it's well within radar coverage for chavvy twats. Beware lack of maintenance, electrical gubbins that don't work and general knobbishness. Oh, and 50% of them have 18" replica Audi wheels (badly kerbed) and peeling tints. Identcially-engined equivalents suffer diffrerently - Boras will be well looked after but not as sporty, Cupras will be enthusiast-owned but priced to match and an A3 will have massive mileage due to repping work.

[Rocket88]

B3/B4 Passats are legendary for toughness, and pretty cheap. Dizzlers are bomb proof.

[MK5 Escort]

Nowt wrong with VAG TDi's. I've experienced several, whether through work or friends/family. Never really had an issue with any of them, other than the predictable DPF filters throwing wobblys.

 

The old 1.9TDi (most forms) are pretty indestructible. The firm I used to work for had various models with this unit and I don’t think any of them needed more than servicing as and when required. Not the most refined of diesels these days, but still perfectly acceptable and I’d much rather have one of them than a slappy TDCi.

 

The 2.0TDi 170 (PD) is a stonker and I managed to achieve high 50’s in terms of MPG (64.9mpg over about 110-120 miles was my record) on long runs. However, it proved to be useless around town when it comes to fuel and potter for more than a few miles at typical town speeds and the DPF would throw a hissy fit.

 

My current steed through work is a Teak Brown 11 plate A4 S-Line with the new common rail 2.0TDi 136 with the stop/start malarkey (GR8 for eating starter motors). Extremely smooth as far as four cylinder diesels go but so far (only done 1200 miles though) proving to be rather gutless and no where near as economical as the books state (low 50’s is about best so far with a feather-light right foot). It’s the first time I’ve had to drop a cog to overtake on a dual carriageway in a modern diesel also…

[cort16]

I've got an A6 with the 2.0 170 tdi and I find it really short on torque especially In 6th. I'm always having to change down,which is something I didn't have to do so much in old Alfa 159 dizzler.

Mind you the A6 weighs about 14 ton. The old 130 and 150 1.9 PDTDi's feel more torquey if not so refined. I had a A4 1.9 130 red-i and it felt quicker than the A6 although it probably isn't.

I'd happily have another one.

[trigger]

I was chatting to a guy i know yesterday who looks after the taxi's for one of the biggest taxi companies here in Ipswich, he said that they have been getting a lot of 59 and 60 plate Octavia diesel coming in with knackered DMF, so much so that the taxi company have started to buy the newest 1.6 TDi Octavia's to see if they are any better.

[cort16]

You know what? This has got me thinking. I'm starting to get a shudder through the clutch on my Audi and I bet it's the DMF. It's only done 25k and is just over a year old.

Time to get it into Audi me thinks.

[trigger]

I've just remembered, he also said that as so many new models have been coming back to Skoda under warranty that Skoda have now brought out a new kit that does away with the DMF and lets you fit a normal clutch back into them.

[Guest Len H]

I've got an A6 with the 2.0 170 tdi and I find it really short on torque especially In 6th. I'm always having to change down,which is something I didn't have to do so much in old Alfa 159 dizzler.

Mind you the A6 weighs about 14 ton. The old 130 and 150 1.9 PDTDi's feel more torquey if not so refined. I had a A4 1.9 130 red-i and it felt quicker than the A6 although it probably isn't.

I'd happily have another one.

 

Modern diesels seem to be set up for headline co2 figures, not driveability. They're even easy to stall, what's going on?

[Guest]

I've got an A6 with the 2.0 170 tdi and I find it really short on torque especially In 6th. I'm always having to change down,which is something I didn't have to do so much in old Alfa 159 dizzler.

Mind you the A6 weighs about 14 ton. The old 130 and 150 1.9 PDTDi's feel more torquey if not so refined. I had a A4 1.9 130 red-i and it felt quicker than the A6 although it probably isn't.

I'd happily have another one.

 

Modern diesels seem to be set up for headline co2 figures, not driveability. They're even easy to stall, what's going on?

 

Would concur with you on that Len - Watanabe_mother has a diesel A1 and it cannot be driven smoothly on a trailing throttle - there's no pick up at all. You can either have all of the power, or none of it. I presume it's mapped that way for headline co2 \ MPG figures as you say.

 

The only way to make it move in any gear is mash the throttle down to the carpet and row it along with the gearstick. And it's still slower than my C4, which is saying something. If that's how all TDi VAG stuff is now, it could explain why most of them appear to be doing 20 mph more than they should in any given situation. Either that or the drivers are aggressive imbeciles. About 30 \ 70 I reckon.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

wat, when you drive like that to make the bleeding thing move, does the MPG still remain decent, or does it crash to petrol V6 levels?

[cort16]

Unless you've got some serious revs on when pulling away my A6 will just stall but in my old 1.9 tdi A4 I could just pull away on idle. Combine that with the horrible electric handbrake and it can get very frustrating. The A6 is a lovely car like and once moving it revs better than an old skool diesel but I'll not be getting another Audi when my lease is up.

[Justin Case]

Never mind the diesels, what about a Honda Civic with the 1.8 VTEC engine. A mate of mine has had several, both new and older versions and they've all done a bit over 40 mpg in give and take driving. From the passenger seat, they feel pretty nippy if a little low-geared and they never seem to give any trouble. You should be able to find a well cared for one whatever your budget and the plusher ones don't seem to get abused. The older one is roomier inside and you can also see through the rear window, if that is important to you