Diesel estate for 1k? B5 Passat or A4?

Hi all,

Speaking a little bit hypothetically here but it's pretty likely I'm going to need a new daily car for commuting duties (70 odd miles a day). I don't want to add this kind of mileage to my mk2 and the fuel costs would be astronomical. Therefore the new wagon has to be diesel and preferably an estate for general part lugging duties.

Have been looking at cheap B5 Passats or maybe older late 90's A4's, possibly even Audi 80's as there seem to be fair few around for not a lot of cash. General parts (brakes, servicing items) are reasonably priced and both give figures of around 60MPG which seems ok. Although incredibly dull seem fit for purpose.

Budget is pretty tight and would be no more than a 1k so I'm not looking at minters which is fine with me - this is almost disposable motoring. However at mileages of 150k + am I properly asking for trouble? Having seen a couple of cars with over 300k I'm curious. Clutch and gearbox I'd imagine to be issues at these stages as well as suspension components.

Obviously I will do far more research before making any decisions but thought I'd sound out the idea to anyone who's owned something similar?

Any thoughts appreciated

 

Mk3 Golf TDi estate? Or maybe a skoda Octavia for something a bit more modern?

Cheers

Dan

 

Octavia tdi's are a good buy and if you get a non pd model 90 or 110bhp easy get 60mpg, ive had a similar quest for cheap motoring recently and come across a few Volvo v70's tdi's going cheap and from what I've read they are pretty bomb proof

 

My 04 A4 quattro avant SE TDI has done 200K miles and been very reliable. Its in good nick apart from a lot of stone chips and a small dent where a Pheasant committed suicide; I used to commute 130 miles a day in it and it was great. Leather interior, tow bar, cd player, air con.

Its just been valued for part ex purposes at 1500. Its a good car and I may yet keep it. A good valet and it would like like a car with half the miles. They are available

 

Thanks for the suggestions

Yes this seems to be the flaw with the B5. It seems from a quick scout about it's a ramp job rather than stands which rules out me fixing any issues. Sounds ...

A friend was telling me clutches are rather pricy for them too. The Passat is my favoured choice though at the moment.

I don't think I could handle a mk3 They are cheap though. If it's that sort of age I'd rather have an Audi 80 I think. I have been looking at Octavias actually. Seems a fair bit of car for the money although the boot doesn't really look all that big. Food for thought though.

Yeah the Audi's do look good, my friend has one and although it's dull as hell to drive it is a nice place to be. I worry a little about part costs on the newer models though.

The older A4's (late 90's) seem to look more refined over the B5 however.

 

Have seen a few cars now, not found the ideal one yet though. 2 overpriced Passats with dead clutches and 1 A4 yesterday that looked promising until it had no sign of any history with oil that had horrendous oil sludge with the consistency of past it's best treacle.

Prefer the A4 over the Passat I think but finding one is a bit of a nightmare.

 

I looked at a fair few 80 TDI Avants, and I'm glad I didn't buy without looking first (always a temptation in these ebay dominated days). Saw a few that looked Ok in the pics but had big running faults. You won't get much more than about 50mpg from one though.

 

Its a Circa 1k Diesel Estate I'm looking at... Mainly for work carrying Fuel/Water/Ad Blue around and towing various stuff under and over what its plated at, have some crazy trips down to Swansea and back on the horizon... All the VAG 1k stuff looks ****ed from what Ive seen... I'm pretty much set on a 406 hdi Estate at the moment.... Probably the 110bhp version so it has a bit more go... Lookinh at a loaded 02 GLX with 129K on it tommorow up for 1100...

 

The 80's are a bit too old I think in hindsight, as tempting as they are for mechanical simplicity. B5 A4's just look and feel that little bit more modern but not too modern if that makes sense. Thanks for the heads up on the ABS controllers. In fairness whatever I buy on my budget will have niggles so parts need to be cheap. There's an a4 really local to me that looks ok with a full Audi service history and lots of recent work carried out - only downside is 215k, could be a horrendous money pit?

Raider - considered 406's but it's the electrics in Peugeots that put me off. My old dear has had 3 petrol 306's and to be fair they've all been bulletproof mechanically (I know the diesels are capable of mega miles) but it's the ****ty electrics in them that let them down (ABS and airbag lights, central locking etc).

 

I had a B5 passat wagon but a 1.8t version, car was fantastic, big and comfortbale and loved to waft about, it needed an abs controller but fitted a used one cheap, also needed some control arms replacing, it went to the garage for that, it was bucks and not something I wanted to do on my drive. clutch was ok but i didnt want to keep the car long enough to be replacing it so sold it, miss it, would I have another? Maybe.

 

If you find a good 80 Avant around 100-120k miles (and you might have to look at a few dogs first) then it'll probably be more reliable than an A4 or Passat, because it has normal front MacPherson Struts and wishbones, simpler turbo, less electronics, etc. It's galvanised so rust isn't a big problem (except on accident repairs, but check the front subframe, and have a general look underneath). Audi still sell a surprisingly large range of bits of them too.


However the 80 is slower and less economical than a later car that's working properly.

 

Cheers Mike, good info there. Only trouble is finding one at that mileage - all of the 80's I've seen advertised have been 200k +. I won't rule them out yet however.

Out of interest is there anything in particular I should be looking for with worn suspension components on the A4's/Passats? I've been visually checking rubber boots, generally shaking control arms about etc to check for play on the cars I've look at so far.

 

The way I've heard it (not actually owned one) the whole lot needs replacing every 50k miles or so. You want one that had it all done for the last MOT.

 

Ouch. Will definitely be looking for out for that then.

 

when the suspensions componants were worn on the passat they made a knocking sound over bumpy roads and the streering didnt feel tight.

 

Ok chaps, bit of fairly urgent advice needed please

Went to look at an A4 today. Seems to be a local car, Full Audi service history, lots of receipts, all control arms done, EGR valve, really tidy body wise and ticks all of the boxes of where money should be spent.

Only downside is 214k. Just been for a drive and it seems good, doesn't wander, knock or bump and everything feels tight. However two problems:

Clutch Seems pretty high and light (Passat I looked at was like this too). Are they all like this or is the clutch on its way out? It doesn't seem to slip.

Limp mode Car smokes black smog every now and again under hard acceleration but not consistently. I had the test drive by myself so was able to give the car a bit of stick and after a few hard accelerations I noticed the car felt 'bogged down' and wouldn't go over 70 mph (limp mode?). Stopped, restarted and all was well. Possibly new turbo?

Other than that I think this car is pretty good for the money. If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated as I'm not sure whether to make a move on it.

 

Sticking vanes in the turbo? I know people say you can normally check by moving the turbo actuator rod to see if it moves or not.

Only driven a 1.8 20v A4 and that clutch was really high and took getting used to compared to my Volvo, but the clutch was fine and showed no signs of slipping.

 

Cheers for the info

Yeah reading on other forums it seems the high clutch is common so less worried about that. It's just this limp mode problem. Is it possible to free up sticking vanes in a turbo with ease or new turbo time?

 

I have an A4 TDi B5. I had to change the control arms, you need special tools: ball joint splitter, crow bar and big f*cking hammer. Couple of hours. Lots of swearing.

Mine is pretty nice to drive, 65mpg on the motorway and has 240k on the clock.

You can free the sticky vanes by removing the EGR and running a bit of silicon tube into the turbo then putting EGR cleaner down there, not Mr. bloody Muscle as some suggest.

I'd buy a higher mileage one again no problem and just change the arms. I want to change my saloon for an estate but there's no hurry. 500 well spent and I've done 10k in it since buying it in Febuary.
Mine doesn't smoke or bang, handles reasonably well, the only interior item that doesn't work after all that time is one dash bulb on the voltage meter.

BTW, early control arm signs are a juddering when applying the brakes lightly, it sends the ABS crazy.

Looks wise I like the A4 better, I just need to put the facelift headlights on at some point. Comforted up the interior a bit by chucking an arm rest centre console in and am deleting the EGR at the weekend. Should probably change the oil.... maybe next month lol

 

Cheers for the info Shaz, seems the one I looked at yesterday ticks a lot of those boxes regarding the suspension as it's recently been done. I just can't decide whether to plump for it or not knowing about the limp mode issue. If it's as simple as an EGR cleaner then happy days, but if it's new turbo time not so much.