Re: 6k on a grey box. What would you buy?
I put 200,000 miles on a TDDI Mondeo (camchain) going 18 months without changing the oil, it suffered from a split turbo pipe and tyres.
I put 80,000 on a Passat TDI 130 PD and it suffered electrical, mechanical and turbo failures, water ingress, ecu failures.
I put 27,000 miles in 6 months on a Fiat Stilo JTD - the big & small ends went
I put 10,000 miles on a Mk1 Renault Megane Coupe 2.0 direct injection petrol. The fuel regulator seized up with crap Tesco fuel but cleared with Shell, its still going somewhere.
I put 20,000 miles on a 56 Fiat Doblo Multijet - the egr went causing mayhem on the A14 (the dash currently lights up like a christmas tree).
We have put 100,000 miles on a 03 Doblo and, erm, nothing went other than a window regulator and a cambelt change. (The AA blanked the EGR early on)
Currently, I have a 1998 Mercedes W210 300TD 24v diesel - it has done 28,000 miles since June 2015 with only tyres, a front shock and and oil. We thought the bushes were going but it was the shock.
I'm often out on bouncy back roads getting to dealers or customer's houses as a car electrician to the stars (the stars bit is a lie).
The Mercedes has indirect injection at around 200 atmospheres whereas a modern VAG is 20,000 atmospheres. I call it the stupid car as its too old and dumb, its not particularly efficient at 45mpg but its as good as if not better than our Multijet Fiat Euro 5 engine and certainly better at fuel than my neighbours' Discovery Sport. Ok, the emissions may not be the rose petals of the other two but I use less fuel!
*This one is also the most comfortable too.
