Thinking Of A Diesel

[Harvey1978]

Hello all, seriously thinking about trading in the vRS and getting my first ever diesel.

I have seen an 2004 octy L&K 1.9TDI PD130 with 112k on the clock FSH looks pretty clean £2990, couple of questions though.

Are there any common faults to look out for with this model/engine?

How much is much will the dealer likely offer for the vRS its 2005(54) 125k has a couple of small marks but still tidy, full dealer service history untill I serviced last year.

All thoughts will be appriciated.

[chicken_eyebrow]

One of my local members (DJM123) chopped in his VRS in 2010 for a Mk5 Golf GTI, his was a black 55 plate with barely 60k on the clock and he got just less than a grand for it from the VW dealership! So prepare to be offered a silly part-ex price. You might be better off selling privately. The only thing that puts me off about the 130pd is if the injectors go they're £££s to replace. Might be worth asking questions about the engine in the Fabia I forum as the VRS lads in there have the same engine. With the L&&K you'll be getting more electronic toys to potentially go wrong as well (xenons, heated seats, sunroof etc).

[Harvey1978]

Cheers for the reply, forgot how tight dealers are when it comes to a p/x, i'll stick with the old girl for now until I can do without the car for a bit and sell privately

[GeeVRSman]

i had a diesel and loved it... till i reached its tuning max and got bored and bought another Turbo petrol. If you do alot of miles mega torque they are great, if you dont, the price of derv and town driving aint really that much more cost effective.

[Babs]

Diesel sucks.

[IulianE]

diesel only if the engine is bigger than 2.5-2.7l and more than 4 cyl...that's a must!

[Harvey1978]

The only reason I was even thinking diesel was purely a money saving effort, the tax is about £100 a year less for the diesel amazingly the quick insurance quote I did they wanted £50 more for the diesel so if there's no major savings economy wise I probabaly wont bother TBH

[mdon]

I have a 110tdi elegance 03reg, and the fuel economy is amazing if driven sensible can easily achieve 60mpg on mixed driving, only problem is they are a bit slower! So you have to plan overtakes a little more.

[Babs]

Diesel is like £4 a litre right now, £100 over the year on the tax is nothing!

You really gotta do the miles to see any benefit. My vRS averages 34MPG excluding long trips.

[mdon]

Diesel is like £4 a litre right now, £100 over the year on the tax is nothing!

You really gotta do the miles to see any benefit. My vRS averages 34MPG excluding long trips.

How much? I would say if you do over 12,000mls a year you will be better off with a diesel.

[Babs]

Well, it's something ridiculous!

Nah, needs to be something massive, not just the national average mileage.

[mdon]

Well, it's something ridiculous!

Nah, needs to be something massive, not just the national average mileage.

I don't think so, if yours is getting around 35mpg and a diesel 60mpg even with the price difference of the fuels over 12,000 miles your saving about £850 in fuel alone, not to mention servicing and tax!

[Babs]

Add in the extra cost of the car, and the fact that my car is not just an A-B tool

[cloverleaf]

I've looked at this a bit recently, and been on the cusp of selling the vRS many times for a diseasel but each time I just end up stopping the thoughts. Part of it is that I really can't be bothered with the hassle of selling, and partly because a 115k 05 plate appears to be worthless. It doesn't owe me anything and has only just begun to cost me money which, given that I've had it over four years, done 70k in it and have never really treated it as a pampered princess is pretty good going. A couple of wheel bearings and £500 to get it through this MOT isn't too bad, in fact it could all be chalked up as wear and tear. There are some other bits that need doing but nothing urgent.

Why not a diesel though? Doing 20k or so a year in the car (I do another 20k in the van) I could sell both and get a diesel but the diesel would be similarly high mileage to the Octavia and those that I'm looking at all have a relatively big premium to them (330d BMW estate, ST TDCI Mondeo etc). There's also the inherent risk of buying a car that could be a ticking **** box ready to cost you an arm and a leg. What I would save in fuel would potentially be more than swapped for increased repairs, not to mention that I would end up throwing savings at it which I really don't care too much to do. My current thinking is that I keep the vRS for another few years and then sell it for a 2-3yr old big engined diesel rear driver as even if some serious repairs come up on the vRS they aren't even going to scratch the surface of the depreciation I'd encounter on a more expensive diesel. That and I do 95% of my own servicing which would have a huge impact on the resale value of a nearly new premium car, so either greater garage costs there or even more scary depreciation!

At the end of the day you make your choices and as I don't currently dislike the vRS (although it doesn't exactly excite me), I'm not desperate to change.