Which Diesel Estate?

[Smiler]

Hello folks, new here and just popping in for a bit of advice.

I am looking for a cheap (up to around £1000, £1500 at a push) turbo diesel estate car. I have had a trawl through autotrader and seen plenty of peugoet, ford and vauxhall estates on there but they all leave me cold as I'm sure there largely MOT failures and engine/gearbox rebuilds waiting to happen. I then noticed that Audi 80's are dropping into this price bracket and was wondering if they were worth persuing or if they were also now at the end of there usefull life and would most likely need a complete rebuild by now? I've even found the first A4 and A6 models within grasp and am wondering the same about these? There was a clean looking 6 speed 2.5TD A6 but that seemed too good to be true.

So, the basic question is are these bargain basement Audis worth looking at or am I asking for trouble?

Do any of you know of any good alternatives? I had considered BMW but you don't get much for your money with those. What about the Passat? Or will I fall asleep behind the wheel? (that comment isn't based on anything, it's just that all the ones I've seen in my price range have looked rather bland)

Thanks for any help,

Regards,

Smiler.

[T-sport]

The Audi 80's were well built very well both mechanically and bodywork wise, if you can find clean one with a full service record you can expect big miles out of them ..

But beware Audi's are not cheap cars to repair if they go wrong like fords or vauxhalls !!

Vw passat is a sensible choice but im no expert on them, you would have to look for a vw forum and have a read on the threads for more info..

Good luck with finding a good estate

[Smiler]

Ta very much, I'll bear that in mind about the parts prices.

There's a 2.6 A6 for sale across from my parents for £795 but it's a petrol and an auto and the interior (which is very high spec with full leather and all the toys) is rather tired. However, I do really like the look of the dashboard and an A6 might be worth persuing if the right car comes along at the right price. That 2.5 TDI with the 6 speed box I mentioned earlier would be nice but the price was a mis-print. It's actualy £1,799.

Cheers.

[T-sport]

The tdi is still a good price, you would be better off with the manual gearbox as the auto ones have been known to become troublesome ..

[Smiler]

The car I buy will deffinately be a manual. Just got to choose between the Passat and the Audi. An A6 may be a little too large, I'll have to look at some A4's. It really depends on the difference in weight. If parts aren't too much more for the Audi than the VW then I'd rather have an Audi. Not sure why, I think it merely comes down to cosmetics (and because VW is often the no brainers choice, I'd rather drive something a little less comon).

Thanks for the help.

One more thing, is this board UK based or usa based?

[aberdeenTT]

Im not sure about where it's based but i think the majority of the posters are british..
Aberdeen, Scotland here!

[T-sport]

It is a us run forum but our members are from world wide so spread the word