Which family Diesel?

TempestSabre

Excluding the sporting diesels. Which diesel family saloon hatch would you rate at the moment. Moving from a Astra '01 TD.

VW, Skoda TDI
Honda's i-CDTI
Toyota's D4-D
Ford TDCI

My preference would be the Accord, but that might be too big, so perhaps something like a Focus? Thoughts?

johnnyrotten

The Mazda 3 1.6 TDi Touring Sport Saloon is a great car. Reliable, Quick, Very Economical. Same engine and chassis as the Volvo S40 Diesel.

http://www.mazda.ie/Showroom/Mazda3/Mazda3-4Door/Specs/

Lex Luthor

depends on what engine size you are looking for?

the Honda is a 2.2

the Toyota is a 1.4 or 2.2 depending on car

skoda I think have a 1.4 on the Fabia and 1.9 on the Octy

Ford has a big range

they are all great engines but for a family saloon I think the 1.6 or 1.8 TDCi ford engine or the 1.9TDI Octy would be the best choice

TempestSabre

I quess a smaller engine would be preferred (but not by me), but I won't be the main driver. Personally I'd prefer the Honda as in my experience they just are so much more reliable than most other makes. Might be too expensive though. The Mazda an interesting idea, never thought about them. Neat looking too. Is that Diesel engine made by Volvo or made by someone else. I didn't know Volvo made engines.

alias no.9

The mazda 3 is essentially a ford focus or volvo S40 in drag and the engine is the same 1.6TDCI from the focus and 1.6D from the S40. It's made by peugeot and is also found in the 206/7, 307, 407, Citroen C4 and C5 where it's called the 1.6HDi.

TempestSabre

alias no.9 wrote:

The mazda 3 is essentially a ford focus or volvo S40 in drag and the engine is the same 1.6TDCI from the focus and 1.6D from the S40. It's made by peugeot and is also found in the 206/7, 307, 407, Citroen C4 and C5 where it's called the 1.6HDi.

Is it a decent engine or is it too early to say?

colm_mcm

Depends on how much you want to spend really, the Avensis has a 125bhp 2.0 engine as standard on the diesel.

maidhc

My experience:

Avensis 2.0 D4D (114bhp, 2002, Mk1)
No power below 2000k rpm, but pretty quick above that, stays pulling until the 5300rpm red line. Does about 43mpg.

Focus TDCI (1.8, 115bhp, 2003, Mk1 - same engine as new model though)
Much lighter than the Avensis and pulls from 1200rpm. Feels very quick, but looses power around 4000rpm. Does 52-55mpg.

Passat TDI (1.9 105bhp, 2006)
Slowest of the three by a long ways. Noisy, and needs to be kept at about 2.5k rpm to make it do anything.

My favourite is the Focus, followed by the Avensis, and finally the Passat. The passat is the nicest car to be driven in though!

The 1.6HDI in the Focus/307 is a very good unit. Unfortuantely it is only sold as a 90bhp version in Ireland by Ford. You could pick up a nice 109bhp version in the Uk though.

colm_mcm

jeez, i always found the old model (00-03) Avensis D-4D to be an animal at low revs, and if anything caused the wheels to spin when changing from 1st to 2nd

pburns

How about a Mazda 6 diesel?

These have been reduced in price since Mazda took over distribution. They were over-priced by previous importer who wasn't promoting Mazda AFAIK...

Massive value: Mazda6 2.0D 143ps 4dr EXECUTIVE €31,595.00

I've got a petrol Sports Touring, would go for the diesel if changing again...

colm_mcm

Mazda 6 is quite poor second hand. especially the more expensive ones.

bazz26

maidhc wrote:

The 1.6HDI in the Focus/307 is a very good unit. Unfortuantely it is only sold as a 90bhp version in Ireland by Ford. You could pick up a nice 109bhp version in the Uk though.

If the OP is buying second hand then the 109bhp version of the 1.6 litre TDCi was sold here in the MkII Focus up until the end of 2005. I would avoid the LX TDCi model though as it is very basic indeed, harder to sell on afterwards.

bazz26

TempestSabre wrote:

Excluding the sporting diesels. Which diesel family saloon hatch would you rate at the moment. Moving from a Astra '01 TD.

VW, Skoda TDI
Honda's i-CDTI
Toyota's D4-D
Ford TDCI

My preference would be the Accord, but that might be too big, so perhaps something like a Focus? Thoughts?

The Toyota Corolla comes with a 1.4 litre D4-D engine from 2004. It has 90bhp, they are pretty expensive to buy second hand though as demand is high.

TempestSabre

I should have clarified that the intention would be to go for a low mileage 04-05.

Hunting around I found that Opel do a 1.3 CDTi in a Astra. Didn't realise they made such a small diesel.

alias no.9

TempestSabre wrote:

I should have clarified that the intention would be to go for a low mileage 04-05.

Hunting around I found that Opel do a 1.3 CDTi in a Astra. Didn't realise they made such a small diesel.

Its a fiat engine, also found in the corsa, punto, panda and doblo. It's reckoned to be a good motor. It's only 75bhp though which might not be enough to haul an astra and a family. A specially tuned version was fitted to the opel eco-speedster which broke loads of records, capable of >160mph flat out, >110mpg on an economy run and it averaged >140mph while returning >30mpg on a 24 hour endurance run.

TempestSabre

I knew there'd be loads of diesel info in the boardsters.

R.O.R

Personally I don't think you can beat a well run in VW 1.9Tdi engine. I've driven quite a few of these and been amazed at the performance. A guy I work with has a 05 Golf van (105ps) that is cracking in the mid range. I had someone from a dealers call me to check which version of the engine was in a 02 Bora, it was the 100ps version but was soo quick they (and me and one of the other guys here) thought it was the 130 version.

I drove a brand new S40 1.6D and was very dissapointed - no where near as quick as I thought it would be, but that may change with a few more miles on the clock. The 2.0D version is a different story though. The 1.6D version in the Mazda isn't quite as poweful as the Ford version (when they still produced it in 110ps) due to the flow through the exhaust.

Also drove a 1.8TDCi 125ps S-Max a couple of months ago. Had absolutley no go below 2000 rpm, and is one of the few diesels I've managed to stall because of this. The Ford Dealer who delivered it also managed to stall it twice on his way down so it's not just me. Again, could be different with a few miles on the clock as that was brand new as well.

The Opel / Fiat / Saab 1.9Tdi in 150 guise is an animal, drove that in a Zafira and the mid-range pull is unbelieveable. The 120ps isn't quite as good (again in a Zafira) but is still quick enough.

Haven't driven the 1.3Cdti in anything yet, it's actually a 90ps engine, but I've had feedback that it doesn't really have the torque to pull the Astra.

If it were me I'd go for a used Octavia 1.9Tdi, great value for money and a cracking engine.

bazz26

While the 1.9 TDi 105bhp VAG unit is a tried and tested engine, I do feel it is now showing its age against the newer generation of common rail diesel engines. The 2.0 TDi is far superior in every department but is seriously overpriced in Ireland and probably not on the OP's wish list.

Re: The 1.3 CDTi Astra being underpowered, there is also a 1.7 litre 100bhp version of that engine available. It would obviously have more torque than the 1.3 litre version.

ballinloughan

I have to say the 04 audi A4 1.9tdi - fantasic machine, great torque. the base model has a 100bhp which is great but for Eur500 you can chip the engine up to 130 bhp .. .. and thats fun!

Same engine that you find in VW,seat and skoda ..