Need a new car

[flipfloppi]

hello friends

I've got to get a new car,mainly for motorway driving,about 80 miles a day round trip
I had a lovely banger vauxhall astra 1.6 for years,and it was amazing until now (headgasket problem)
I am looking for a cheaper tax, good MPG,and i am thinking about:

Corsa 1.3 CDTI
Fiesta 1.4 DTCI
Citroen C3 1.4 HDI
Clio or Megane 1.5 DCI

anybody please can advise about those cars, will they be OK for motorway driving

Thanks in advance

 

[Burnerman]

Out of those I'd go for the Ford or Vauxhall....however I'm running a Nissan Note with the 86 BHP Renault 1.5 diesel....loads of 'clever' space, easy to get in to and averaging 62 MPG. Worth considering.
John

 

[flipfloppi]

Thanks John,

is your driving mainly on Motorways mate? with the 1.5 DCI

Cheers

 

[Peter.N.]

If you don't mind an older car, something with an XUD engine in it should be far more reliable and much cheaper to repair. Peugeot 306, 405, 406 all td, or Citroen ZX. All very durable and simple, you can repair them yourself

 

[Burnerman]

'Er indoors does a fair few motorway miles from Northumberland to Rotherham to look after her elderly folks - its done 20k miles now on an 09 plate. She also does quite a few miles around the doors. In other words, the engine never gets cold! Cheap tax (£35) and I drop the oil and filter out at 10k instead of 12.5k miles.
I must say, its a grand piece of kit for what it is - the rear seats slide to either give loads of boot space or rear leg room - 4 of us even toured France last summer with luggage.
They come in 3 trim levels - ours is the middle one, Accenta I think they call it. (Air con, cruise control, parking sensors, etc). The 106 BHP model has a 6 speed box, but its getting pricey for a town car - hence the 5 speed lower spec model she has.
John

 

[Burnerman]

If you don't mind an older car, something with an XUD engine in it should be far more reliable and much cheaper to repair. Peugeot 306, 405, 406 all td, or Citroen ZX. All very durable and simple, you can repair them yourself

I completely agree with you Peter...the XUD is a cracking lump with few faults - its even easy to put a timing belt on. All of the models you mention have remarkable rust resistance too.....its a pity Mr. Ford wasn't listening! Thing is, they'll all have high miles on now.
John

 

[flipfloppi]

Thanks very much friends, I shall keep you posted about my new car (???)

 

[Belle427]

personally id stay away from the french stuff, the engines are ok but they sufffer with electrical problems. A friends megane 1.9dci has had no end of expensive electrical faults

 

[wotan]

personally id stay away from the french stuff, the engines are ok but they sufffer with electrical problems. A friends megane 1.9dci has had no end of expensive electrical faults

I had a Peugeot 405 diesel, and for reliability it could not have been better, just one CV joint failure, got shut of it at 180,000 miles, sold locally, I still see around the town, it will easily do another 180K

Wotan

 

[Peter.N.]

I can only speak as I find, I have three XMs at the moment, the lowest mileage is on 151k and the highest on 250+ the last one I sold had done 292,000 and was still on the original clutch, although it was slipping, I can't see most of the modern stuff doing that sort of mileage. As to maintenance, not only can you repair them on a DIY basis but they cost only a fraction of the money to repair if they do go wrong e.g set of injectors for an XUD about £80.00, for an HDi £1000+.

Yes, they can have electrical problems but of nothing like the consequence of modern cars which can sometimes be impossible to find and because of the advanced electronics used can result in the vehicle being written off.

I believe that the best cars were made in the mid '90s and they have gone steadily down hill since.

Peter

 

[Steve]

personally id stay away from the french stuff, the engines are ok but they sufffer with electrical problems.

Citroen have made major inroads in recent years. They are after all the most innovative car maker. I have a diesel C4 (bought 18 months ago on an 06 plate) and up to now its been 100% reliable. Everything in the C4 is electronically controlled. Speedo (no dashboard gauges, its all on an LCD display), lighting control, wipers, accellerator. All C4s come with cruise control, EBD, speed limiter as standard, things you dont normally find on a base level medium family car. I'm a member of C4owners.org and for the amount of electronics on the C4 there seems to be very few complaints.

And indeed, the French diesel engines (can only speak for PSA cars which all use same engines) are very good, though loud.

 

[phb10186]

Out of that lot, defo the fiesta - but bear in mind the 1.6 TDCI Duratorq is a superior engine to the 1.4 TDCI, and it is more economical with more torque.

There are now several ECU remaps you can get for small diesels that will improve throttle response and MPG, and generally optimise for motorway miles.

I have had a 2004 Yaris 1.4 D4D for a few years now, and we have done about 50K in it, and it is sweet as a nut, and gets 60mpg with ease... so, though it's not on the list, I reckon it's the best small diesel by far... and has an ultra-modern chain cam direct injection lump with basically verry little servicing requirements.

Buy Japanese or Ford, forget Vauxhaul, French, Italian, and even the Germans aren't as good as Ford or Jap now. Belt driven diesels are old hat, and belt driven pertols are fast becomming that way too.

My only complaint with the Yaris diesel is that the clutch judders when cold until it warms up, but it's done it since new, and they all do it. It also had the luxiry of not having a Dual Mass Flywheel or Diesel particulate Filter, and it will cruise all day quietly at 2800 RPM at 80mph if you want it to.

 

[flipfloppi]

Finally I got my new car today, it's an Astra 2003..looks and drives very smooth, I'm very impressed so far

It was within my budget, though some of the cars you mentioned are a bit too posh for me (maybe this time next year when I'm a millionaire)

it feels like a limo compared to my old 1994 Astra, which has never let me down in 110,000 miles in past 7 years

Thank you all for your suggestions, I really appreciate it

 

[flipfloppi]

Anybody please can help with places to get a copy of car key (Astra 2003 with remote), I have got only one key, but also the 2 codes to go with it.

Today I've been quoted £220 from some cowboy on internet (have they heard of credit crunch or what?)

Any place from distance or in midlands/yorkshire area

Gracias

 

[phb10186]

go to the vauxhall forum in the UK, im sure there is a fairly easy fix for that...

Honda's recode their own plips with a key-turn sequence, thus you can buy on on ebay for £8 and have a new plip...

Im a Toyota and Honda man all the way.... I think they make great cars - My Honda Accord Type-V is relyable, worthless luxury if you ask me... the world just doesnt want 2.3 litre petrols any more... but I dont do many miles, so I am lucky in as much as fuel doesnt bother me...

... Hope you got at leat £150 off for only having one key.... you will find that the new keys are a plip, key and immobiliser chip all in one, hence the price of it all... you have effectively got 3 codes there, so as a multiple, it's like 9 time more awkward to sort....

I would recommend going to a locksmith and getting a plane key cut, as it will at least allow you enrty into the car in an emmergency, and will cost you very little.