Life expectancy of Octavia TDI v 525d

Hello,

All other things being equal, which car (engine, I suppose really) has the best chance of lasting longer - 2006 Mk2 Octavia 2.0 TDI PD with

55,000 miles; or a 2005 525d with 106,000 miles? Car will be used on a 50 mile/day motorway commute.

Would these mileages be considered quite run-of-the-mill now for a modern engine, with plenty of life left, or would they be approaching their last stretch of life?

Thanks in advance,

David Paste.

Reply to
David Paste
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Provided maintenance has not been neglected, they both should have plenty of life left.

50*7*48 for your working mileage gives 16,800 a year, so you might be doing perhaps 20,000 a year. In five years time, the BMW will still only have 206,000 miles on it, and will have a fair chance of reaching that without disaster. The Skoda will only have 155,000 miles on it; again, perfectly reasonable, especially as much of it will be motorway.

Three years ago, a family member bought an '03 VW T4 van with 200,000 miles on it. It had a full VW service history, and a documented gearbox repair, but no engine work. It hasn't had quite that level of TLC on it since purchase, but now has 250,000 miles on it. It starts first time, uses very little oil, and I would happily drive it anywhere.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

BMW engines as such tend to last for ever. It's all the other bits going wrong which are the problem.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

What, like electrical stuff? Bodywork?

The thing is, my dad (that's who it's for) has an Octavia now, and the bloody thing is a bit of a lemon electrical & engine-wise (it's the 2 litre AQY engine, apparently they are legendary for being shit) but the bodywork is fine, no rust.

Reply to
David Paste

Cheers. Any other recommendations for other makes?

Reply to
David Paste

You will open up a whole can of worms with that request!

Everyone has their own preferences, and makes they hate. I'm a Ford man; they've been great cars for me over the last thirty-odd years, but others will have had a bad experience.

TBH, any of the mainstream makes will be fine for your commute. If you have a preference for one of the two cars you have mentioned, buy it!

Otherwise, the common wisdom that Japanese cars are reliable, but dull, is still widely regarded in the trade as a valid viewpoint.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

My 5 Series E39 has been not too bad, but my brothers E46 3 Series lots of problems. Broken springs. Seized calipers. Radiator failure. Various suspension components back and front. Tailgate lock and rear wiper. Some things more than once.

Only electrical problem on my 5 Series has been the heater blower speed controller - several times. My brother's one not bad too - although I have the PDC unit here for fixing.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yeah gods! I've not had that many problems with *all* my cars, going back to the early eighties; some of them have been 10 or more years old.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

They're both run of the mill for the engine, it's the state of the rest of it that'll cost you the money. If they're the same price I'd buy the bemmer, but I'd bea bit suspicious of it was that cheap.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

That's the unloved version of the E60 5-series.

Only marginally more power than a 520d, but 50% thirstier.

Be *very* careful - there were a batch of those with strange specs. being off-loaded by one of the big car supermarkets - although I have a feeling they were 57 plates - still worth checking, though.

As usual with modern BMW diesels, they suffer with dodgy turbos and swirl flap problems. I'd want to see evidence that the swirl flaps have been removed and also would be faactoring in the cost of a replacement turbo.

E60s are odd things - unless you get a really decent spec. with iDrive (which is problematic in itself), they feel really cheap and spartan.

The other thing to consider is that 50 miles / day commuting doesn't really justify a diesel... given the purchase cost and extra cost of a gallon of diesel. As a rule of thumb, diesels only really work for 20k+ miles / year.

Reply to
SteveH

OK, thanks for the info. Not sure the iDrive stuff would worry me much (my dad less so) - so long as there is a stereo, that would be A-OK. Eyes have been drawn towards a Mondeo estate now. Would seem to be a nice big car with less chance of being pinched (hopefully).

Also: What is a swirl flap?!

Cheers.

Reply to
David Paste

It's something in the inlet tract which I believe was there to improve emissions - but they break and get ingested into the engine.

I'm going to say a Mondeo is a bloody good idea.... and I hate Fords with a passion usually reserved for Liverpool Football Club ;)

However, I had a Mondeo 2.0TDCI Zetec hire car for a couple of weeks in December - and thought it was pretty much the perfect company mile muncher.

Not sure what your budget is, but a MkIV Mondeo would be a good choice - especially if you can stretch to a facelift version, which got a better quality interior.

Reply to
SteveH

Only way you can pinch a car these days is with the keys. Unless it is towed away.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

An extra 7p for a litre of diesel over unleaded is insignificant. The price premium for diesel fuel is currently about 5% over unleaded, yet on average diesel cars are around 40% more fuel efficient than equivalent petrols in the same vehicle range. There'd have to be a *much* greater price differential before it outweighs the gains in economy.

It might be true for a new car that a diesel doesn't pay unless you do 20k+, but when looking at used cars you can make savings after much less miles.

For example, my 1.7 CDTi Astra does 61mpg. The most economical petrol in the range does 40mpg (and wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding). The difference in used price between the petrol and diesel cars at the time I bought it 4 years ago was about £800. The fuel savings on just 10,000 miles a year are £471 with diesel at 140.9p/litre and unleaded at 133.9p/litre. Diesel pays after less than 2 years. I've had the car 4 years now. There are other benefits too: the diesel is cheaper to service (no spark plugs to change; heavy duty cambelt with 100k/10yr lifecycle compared to cambelt changes every 40k for the petrol).

Reply to
Andrew

My experience is that the diesel economy advantage is around 25%, not

40%.

(My petrol Golf with 160bhp averages around 35mpg, the 140bhp diesel in my Passat used to average 45mpg)

So that's wiped out nearly half the saving you say you're seeing.

Most diesels and petrols have the same kind of cambelt intervals (certainly true in the VW range) - and in place of spark plugs, diesels need glow plugs.

Modern diesels also have issues with dual-mass flywheels, which most petrols don't have - and DPFs are also another added diesel expense.

Your 40 quid a month saving is only 20-25 quid a month in my experience, which is incredibly marginal and a very large gamble as the car ages.

Reply to
SteveH

Golf kerb weight 1100 kg Passat kerb weight 1648 kg

And as you note the engines are not the same bhp, so not comparing an apple with an apple there.

Reply to
Steve Firth

With respect, your Astra is a fairly old technology diesel. Those engines may well be as cheap or cheaper to maintain than a similar petrol-engined car, but the same is not true for the latest diesels.

They are more powerful, more fuel-efficient than a similar petrol engine, but suffer from many more issues during their life. For example, they are far fussier about the condition of injectors because they run at such high pressures, and injector replacement on some of them requires the injector recoding to the ECU, so is not a DIY task. Just a mis-fuel on one can cost 3k!

WRT your statement about used diesels, ask owners of Mk3 TDCI Mondeos...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Now you mention it, I think I have read about them, the faulty ones were plastic and had shit hinges, iirc.

OK, thanks for the info, nice to know that you think a Mondeo wouldn't be a disaster, even if it isn't an Alfa ;)

Reply to
David Paste

I did not know that, but it will spend it's days in an open-air carpark in Manchester city centre, so it's not beyond possibility that a nice car could be towed off!

Reply to
David Paste

Oh this is making me worry - could you elaborate for me?!

Reply to
David Paste

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