Yeah v40 did not age well. Diesels are Renault I think and are OK, slow noisy and not refined, but more reliable than the newer plastic Ford engines that the V50 got.
Budget estate car, get a 1998 to 2004 passat with a 1.9 pd tdi. Comfy as, reliable, easy to work on, mad mpg from the lower power versions and seem to last forever so long as they've had the right oil in them.
Also massive boot and usually have cruise control standard, central locking and a sun roof which helps make them stay useful for longer than you think.
Made a mate buy one out of basically a field 5 years ago, got a 110 pd with less than 100k for 500£, it needed an exhaust (years sat in a field) and pretty much nothing other than brakes, general servicing and some tyres in the past 5 years. It's now on 180k and spends most of its time going from Scotland to alps for climbing.
Thanks for the insight.
No Passats for sale within budget atm though. I should probably add that I'm in Denmark. Diesels get an additional owner's tax here so we still have a 2002 V40 1.8 petrol in the lead. It's got a cooled glove compartment which got to be a plus.
There's a 2004 Passat with 173.000km on the clock that looks pretty good on Bilbasen. 24.000 DKK. Seems like a really good price and 6500 DKK a year in taxes doesn't seem that steep.
Yeah v40 did not age well. Diesels are Renault I think and are OK, slow noisy and not refined, but more reliable than the newer plastic Ford engines that the V50 got.
Budget estate car, get a 1998 to 2004 passat with a 1.9 pd tdi. Comfy as, reliable, easy to work on, mad mpg from the lower power versions and seem to last forever so long as they've had the right oil in them.
Also massive boot and usually have cruise control standard, central locking and a sun roof which helps make them stay useful for longer than you think.
Made a mate buy one out of basically a field 5 years ago, got a 110 pd with less than 100k for 500£, it needed an exhaust (years sat in a field) and pretty much nothing other than brakes, general servicing and some tyres in the past 5 years. It's now on 180k and spends most of its time going from Scotland to alps for climbing.