Looks like I might be needing a cheap diesel hack about sooner than I thought.

Bloody hell, my brother picked up a late 2001 TDi ex taxi back in 2004 at the auctions, 250k miles but serviced every other week pretty much.

He paid £1500 for it with the auction fees.

Cheers. I'm treating this as a new start/fresh opportunity. In the last year, I've changed woman, her(ex's) idea, changed house because of the changed woman situation, forced into this job change, just need to change car and all the biggies will be done.

You way back when, I really should have taken that advice about picking up a 17 year old and doing europe on a Moped. Although perhaps Greece wasn't the wisest choice of final destination with hindsight.

Indeed, taken the right way, this is a great opportunity - you don't have many things tying you down now, so why not cast the net a bit wider? The world is your mollusc, so why not find a job you really like in a place you really like, up-sticks and move? You don't need to settle for a so-so job because it's within commuting distance of suburban manchester - if you want to stay in IT, do it in a norwegian nursing college, or a Japanese goth clothing store or just get a job as a forestry worker in the Kielder.

If you really want to make the best of things, then the hassle of flogging/renting a place shouldn't be a show-stopper.

I'm not convinced by the 17yr old either, unless we are talking about something bottled and peaty. The humanoid kind are best appreciated at a distance, where the neuroses and naivete don't grind so heavily on the nerves.

Ah, these have done no more than 80k.

My Golf is a 90bhp TDI estate.

The worst it ever does economy wise is 47mpg - that's a mixture of short trips / plenty of town work / booting it.

On longer runs, if you sit at around 80, you tend to get around 57 to

It's no rocket like the Passat or Ibiza were, (but you never have to change down for hills and it's been known to nudge an indicated 120 on the flat, allegedly), but then they had around the 170bhp mark power wise and used a lot more fuel if you were nailing them... which the power delivery encouraged you to do a lot more than this does.

The non-PD lumps are a little bit quieter than the PD ones as well.

It's now been in the family for over five years and covered 105k of which we've done 40k, and all it's had bar normal servicing in that time is an airflow meter, a set of tyres, a new phosphor bush on the wiper rack, and I've just changed all the discs and pads - cost =A3111 in parts, all of which were the higher spec ones offered by GSF.

Not everyones cup of tea, I know... but with your criteria, if you could find another one that's been looked after as well, then you'd end up with something practical that's dirt cheap to run, and which don't seem to really be depreciating much at all any more.

-- JackH

I find the Golf quite comfy tbh - recently did here down to Cornwall in it, and no probs at all in that respect.

The S / SE models are much softer sprung than the GTI / Sport models and ride on thicker profile rubber, so probably that helps.

-- JackH

Told you I meant Starship miles. ISTR he kept it for 2 years, only put 3k miles on it because all his miles were local, and sold it for more than he paid. Didn't let him down once in that time, and only one bit of trouble he had was a hose that popped off the intake between the turbo and the engine. Only took a few minutes to put back on and clamp tighter.

Would do the job nicely and probably gruntier than what I have now.

I did find Octavia cloth seats to be odd. Not crippling, but not something that would encourage you to stay in it longer than needed, and did occasionally make my bad back nip a bit.

Ok... well conveniently, I have a very valid comparison for you.

My dads ex-girlfriend had an IS200 from new for about 2 years - when they used to go on holiday down to Cornwall etc, (in other words, a week with 1,000 miles plus covered), they used to take the Golf and not just because it had more boot space / did more to the gallon.

He always reckoned they found it more comfy and more relaxing to drive.

It's a shame you're not nearer, else you could have tried mine out.

-- JackH

I've looked into early Octavias at times in the past, and they're pretty flimsy inside compared to the Mk4 Golf.

A mate had a poverty spec Octavia TDI estate on something like an 04 plate, and it didn't even have electric windows... speaker grills had come away from the front doors etc.

It didn't help that he hated the car, but even so... they're not quite the 'VW with a different badge' many like to tell you are.

With the Golfs, I've always found it takes quite a while to get the seat just right, but when you do they're pretty comfy. :-)

Trim wise, nothing has broken on mine as of yet - the thing that I think VW could have improved on, and which does tend to give away the mileage as they get older, is the rubberised surfacing they covered the panel round the heater controls / drivers inner door handle, with.

This ends up very obviously marked and scratched, due to how soft it is.

Other than that, pretty decent overall IMHO.

The other thing I've noticed over the last couple of years or so is that reasonable condition ones aren't really losing any money any more

- you'd definitely get a good one for =A32k to =A32.5k.

-- JackH

Do you know if they used the same seats in the Octavia as in the Golf? I liked some things about the Octavia including size inside.

Hmmm... I've known someone fit vRS leather to a Mk4, but I'm not sure if they had to modify the seat rails or not.

The Golf is bit shorter I believe - the main loser in this respect are rear passengers rather than those sitting in the front.

That's the one cabin space area where my Passat was a LOT better than the Golf.

-- JackH

Common fault at higher miles on TDI donks, although I've not had one fail yet - the Ibiza one did look like it was on its last legs though, but then that had done over 170k in its defence, (and still put up with being mapped to over 170bhp and then being abused on a daily basis). :-D

-- JackH

My brother's Golf V is noticeably bigger in the cabin than my mk1 Octavia. I am 6'6" and would be more than happy to nab his car for a long journey.

If that is of any help.

Oh room wise I found the Octie 1 fine. I could even drive it more comfortably wearing my big leather coat than when I was in the LS400. Wasn't roomier just better spaced for that.