Small budget but big needs.... What to buy?

[Fluffyhead69]

So I'm in the market for another motor and only have a budget of £2k - £2.5k Max.

What I need is a car with nice interior not too thirsty but most importantly reliable.

I'm looking towards the Mercedes e270cdi, Mondeo Mk4 titanium X, maybe a passat highline or maybe a 530d e39.

My main concern is going for a diesel of 10+ years old with hearing horror stories of injectors, dpf, dmf etc all being costly repairs. Is the fuel saving from a diesel worth the extra maintenance?

[99dndd]

Cheap, good, reliable.

Pick 2.

[5harp3y]

Fluffyhead69 said:

So I'm in the market for another motor and only have a budget of £2k - £2.5k Max.

What I need is a car with nice interior not too thirsty but most importantly reliable.

I'm looking towards the Mercedes e270cdi, Mondeo Mk4 titanium X, maybe a passat highline or maybe a 530d e39.

My main concern is going for a diesel of 10+ years old with hearing horror stories of injectors, dpf, dmf etc all being costly repairs. Is the fuel saving from a diesel worth the extra maintenance?

something with a pd130 (VAG) engine is what you need

[Fluffyhead69]

You're not the first person to say that actually. Having never owned a vw before wasn't sure on reliability issues.

[Cutmore]

Maybe this is just my luck, but if you got for a PD130 make sure the Aux belt has been changed. I've had two snap in a row now. My A4 Quattro 130 snapped at 101k, and my Fabia vRS has just went just passed 100k too.

Lesson learnt for me. Replace before it breaks!

[markirl]

I recently got myself a CLK270CDI for less than budget. It's a little underwhelming having come from a 335i but it's a comfortable competent car. No DPF nonsense, but I had to do the injector seals when I bought it which cost < £20 as I had the tools/ability.

I like the w211 but wouldn't buy a pre-facelift due to SBC issues and my reservation on the facelift models is that they have the 7G box. I'd recommend a w203/w209 with the 2.2 or 2.7 engine myself, try and get one a bit up the years they were galvanised from 2004 IIRC.

Should add I'm averaging 39mpg at the moment which is a lot of motorway. Parts are surprisingly cheap if you avoid Merc dealers.

[Fluffyhead69]

That's good to know. I was looking at both the 209 and 211. 39mpg ain't bad at all.

[bearman68]

Laguna 3 in with a shout there.

Yes it has a DPF, and a DMF, and injectors, and a turbo, but the one we run has been pretty decent for 2k when we bought it 18 months ago.

[ZX10R NIN]

I can recommend a CLK270 cdi I sold mine with over 170k on the clock.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

E270

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

E320

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...