1.9 tdi - scared of high mileage?

[charlaph]

Newbie first post! I stumbled across this board whilst doing some research on my next car, and as I saw the thread about lack of posts I thought I may as well ask a question.

Anyway, I've decided my next car is going to be an A6. I'll be owning it as a private car, but using it for business so I'll be doing anything up to 20,000 a year, meaning I'm looking at a diesel. I don't drive particularly fast and my boy racer years are well behind me, so a 1.9 appeals most.

Up until today I was planning on spending a decent amount of money (for me - say £12k) and getting the most up to date model I could afford, with the lowest mileage, and then holding onto it for a good few years to get my money's worth out of it. My current car is a P-reg Carina (not very exciting, but ultra dependable) and I was wanting a good step up in quality and refinement.

However, I've noticed that many of the people on this board have high mileage models and aren't experiencing a lot of problems, so my question is this;

Would I be safe enough to spend a bit less, and get something older or with more miles (or both!)

The reason this appeals to me is that it'd leave me with more money in my pocket for running costs, and I don't have a lot of money to throw around in the first place, so the cheaper the better - I'm trying to find the line where old equates to problematic. Plus an older car might allow me to afford a higher spec or maybe an avant.

No matter what I buy, I intend keeping it until it's next to worthless, so I'm wary of getting something with 100k miles, then trying to put another 100k on - whether the costs of maintaining such a high mileage would offset me buying something with 40k in the first place?

So there you go, a bit convoluted, but all opinions are welcome. Just about the only thing I'm certain about at the moment is that I want an A6 (I love the design) and that a diesel is the sensible choice for a private owner on a budget like myself.

[gizze]

if you are going to drive it till it owes you nothing then I personally would go for a higher milage but slightly newer.
Put it like this, I think if you got into 2 a6 tdi cars with no plates on them, one a year or two old with 70,000 miles on it and the other 4 years old with 30k on it, you would still know which one was older.

These will do 200,000 miles easily and if you are going to keep it till the end you don't have to worry about main dealer services which will keep the costs down a fair bit.

i just went in my dads friends 11 month old A4 with 52k on it and if he told you there was 3k on the clock you would beleive it.

[charlaph]

Exactly the sort of comment I was wanting, I think possibly at the end of the day I may be better off splashing as much cash as I can afford to. Especially as I'm likely to be keeping it for a long time.

BTW - not the same gIzzE as ntsc-uk?

[A3Floyd]

Welcome to TSN!!

Regarding your question: i'd personally be tempted to go for a lower miler cos you've got to consider the wear on the turbo. I'm not sure how many miles these things last but i would expect one to need replacing not too soon after 100k. Someone on here may know more about it. I had an A4 1.9tdi 115 a few years back and i loved it so you're onto a winner with your choice of power unit [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/169144-ok.gif[/img]
If you're not fussed about mileage, a good website to look at is www.audidiesels.com. they have plenty of newish but high mile diesels for sale. good luck!!

[gizze]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW - not the same gIzzE as ntsc-uk?

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe?!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Something like THIS would be a lot of car for the money.

[Gaunty]

I don't know of any VAG TDi that has blown it's turbo, the 1.9TDi is one of the most reliable engines ever built, my father-in-law had an old one that someone had let the oil get a bit low, the turbo was making a nasty whistling sound but seemed to be working fine. He took it into his mechanic to see if he could get a reconditioned unit, the mechanic said he couldn't get one because they never fail and that if he could put up with the noise not to spend any money in buying a new one.

I'd say don't worry about the mileage too much, you'll probably find it difficult to find a low mileage one anyway because they are usually bought by companies for their high mileage users.

Don't forget, there's a massive difference in specifications on the A6, don't be tempted to get the base model, in the age you're looking at the one you want is the PD (Y reg) 115bhp or (from 51) 130bhp engine, full electric pack would be a nice to have too. Rear electric windows are an option believe it or not??? SE Spec gets you stuff like the trip computer and alloy wheels, the standard steel ones don't look very good in my opinion, although they are easier to look after.

The price you're looking at is sensible, you should be able to pick up a good spec A6 with about 60 to 80,000 miles on it easy enough.

[charlaph]

Hmmm... better get saving. I think I'm just going to ignore money and go for the best combination of spec and lowest mileage as I can within my budget. If it costs me a couple of grand more than I'd hoped then I'll just have to keep it a couple of years more than I planned.

That audidiesels.com website is a source of confidence. Seeing cars with 160,000+ miles that are still going for over £10k shwos just how robust the engines (and mechanicals) are, so if I can get a car with 50-60,000 miles then it should easily keep me happy for 7-8 years.

Nice one. That just about sews up my choice of next car. I had been considering a Volvo S80 or Jag S-Type, but I still prefer the design of the A6.

Another quick question - which models have the twin exhausts? I can't seem to spot a pattern, although it doesn't help that so many Audi's up here are decoded. I'm assuming it's got something to do with the level of tune of the engine and quattro?

[nigel_steel]

Don't speak to soon, my mates Passat just lost the turbo!!!fortunately it was his company car.

[eolair]

see Car One and Car 2

This crowd have new stock coming in regularly - check the web site once a week.
I don't work for them, but I am a happy customer. Sales guy I dealt with is called Owen, and he was straight down the middle on everything.

If you do buy from them let me know.

[eolair]

See if the car is on the Variable Service (AVS), and also if it's had the cambelt / tensioner done. AVS saves you money especially if you are piling on the miles. The cambelt replacement will cost £400-£500 and needs to be done at either 60k or 80k - can't remember.