I have been running diesels for over 30 years and find that Citroen/Peugeot engines are about the most reliable - except possibly the 1.6, the 2.0. engines are excellent.

They can be expensive to repair but I still do my own repairs (at 80 years of age) which not only saves me a fortune in labour but means I can source aftermarket or secondhand parts, which saves another fortune. In fact I couldn't afford to run one car let alone two if I had to pay a garage.

There are though some good one man band mechanics which are much cheaper than garage prices - if you can find one, recommendation is the best way.

Well done Peter N, there's hope for me yet then.

I too service and repair most things on the cars myself, not sure i'd be physically up to taking the gearbox out of my Landcruiser unassisted any more mind, luckily the cars generally only need regular servicing and we all know good servicing makes things last so major repairs are rare.

One thing i'm struggling with is finding adequate diagnostics to interrogate my Toyota, i've had suggestions on the forum before but so far no joy, the Techstream system i bought which some people seem to get on with will not link to my car, its not the car at fault because my simple Autel code reader links immediately.

I want to get my injectors tested in situ, not just the feedback values but the total fuel going through to judge for myself whether they need doing (somehow i can't see Mr T offering to let me watch the diag readings as they test it or even report the findings i want), i'm going to clean out the EGR this summer and if the injectors need replacing then its very little extra work to change them, what is involved though is lots of careful cleaning of the injector seats in the head and i'm yet to find someone i would entrust this work to who would have the patience for this (when they will be paid bonuses based on throughput), and would rather do it myself, which is fine but without the proper diag tool i can't program the new injectors to the ECU.

We used to have one of the best Diesel shops in the country nearby, but thats been sold on and the new people have proved not up to quite the same standards.

Edited by gordonbennet on 12/01/2020 at 10:09

I'm running two C5 X7 2008 estates, not the easiest cars to work on but I have just changed the thermostat one one which entailed removing practically all the pipes and cables on the right hand side of the engine, I also had to buy a remote hose clip remover as you cant even see the one at the back of the housing. Probably took me about three days! allowing for rain and waiting for parts. The thermostat, temperature sensor and housing was only 24 pounds on Ebay.

Other parts are not so difficult, took the starter off in about 20 minutes. They are lovely cars though, they don't shake your teeth loose over rough surfaces unlike most other cars I have driven in the last 10 years.

There are increasing environmental controls and regulation and diesels are seen as the No 1 culprit - this is a statement of fact, not that I necessarily agree or disagree.

Buying an older diesel almost certainly means that you will not be able to drive into some cities - and within a few years emissions zones will probably spread to cover smaller towns.

You also need to be aware that small modern cars have improved massively over the last 10 or 20 years. Small cars used to be noticably noisier, less comfortable, more poorly equipped etc than their larger more powerful equivalents. Buying a (say) 4 year old small (not micro) car will be cheaper to fix, cheaper to fuel, probably cheaper VED and insurance.