I'm considering getting a car to do a 1000 mile a week commute until a new house is purchased.
Current ideas are Pegeot 405 diesel or Citroen ZX diesel - early 90s for under a grand. I don't want to spend more than £1000 but it would be an advantage if it had some resale value or could tow a 1000 kg trailer / car combo. I want it reasonably comfortable and the roads I'm covering don't need performance but an 80 to 85 cruise might be useful.
Any suggestions / things to watch out for please?
Thanks
Piers
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You don't want much, do you?
Montego turbo diesel estate, find a Countryman model, loads of space & good for towing.If you don't need as much space, Maestro turbo diesel, Going to be a bit rusty around edges, but engine fine for 175000+ miles.
Pull oil filler cap off when running, should be minimal back pressure/smoke.
Slow release of coolant expansion tank cap after running, again minimum presure within, is fine.
Not too dear for bits, unlike foreign sfuff.
Mark
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I had a Rover Montego DSLX Turbo Diesel for about 18 months and it's more or less the best car I've ever had.
Sure, it cornered like a barge.
Sure, it didn't have much street cred.
Sure the stereo was poop.
Four reasons I loved it.
1) Comfortable and easy to drive with great visibility.
2) Would always start right on the key, even in sub-zero temperatures - never ever had to wait for the glow plugs to do their thing.
3) 55+ mpg even with a lot of traffic
4) It's hidden James Bond feature. You too can ward off cars travelling 0.0000000000000000001 cm from your rear bumper by dropping it down a couple of cogs and booting it - resulting in a thick veil of black smoke.
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This really is Bangernomics at work. I can see an old 504 here, but better to try the following URL;
bangernomics.tripod.com/
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Pac,
Not been to the site for a while, just knew it was there. A very sound source of information to anyone who wants to run a banger. And and example of getting your money back which is something you want to do.
Bill
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Pac
I can't speak for the 405 but the ZX diesel would get my vote. It wouldn't need to be a turbo, either. For 1000 miles per week you are going to need a comfortable and relaxing car and the ZX will certainly achieve that.
The seats are very comfortable, as is the ride, and it uses conventional springs not hydraulics. It will also tug a caravan. I towed one from Bristol to Scotland and back with no bother - just keep the revs above 2000.
As to resale value - who can tell? ..but if you buy it cheap you can afford to sell it cheap.
Ian Cook
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I agree with Stevieboy, the Montego's cheap, reliable transport. I've just parted company with my '92 Monte after 160,000 miles. It started first time - every time, never left me stranded, was easy to work on, cheap to maintain and never fell below 55mpg - even with my foot-to-the-floor cross-country commuting. The Prima engine may be first generation, but at the time it gave PSA's XUD a run for its money - and it was British. Pity Perkins didn't develop it further; I might have not bought my 406 HDi.
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I used to do 1250 miles per week in my 1.8 petrol Mondeo.
Very comfortable and quiet on the motorway, hardly consumes service items like brake pads. 40mpg if you stick to 70. Goes down to 35 at 80-85mph.
Excellent handing and decent acceleration.
Prices have taken a dive recently, I cant see them diving much more. Perhaps if you make a shrewd buy you could get most of your money back?
I've done 40,000 miles in mine this year and it has taken the miles well.
Get one with aircon, brilliant in this weather!
Main problem with mine has been wheel alignment problems leading to regular tyre bills.
HJ has mentioned prices for these in many of his recent auction reports.
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Mike, a few notes which might be of interest ...
Perkins were quite capable of developing the engine further but they could only go as far as the customer (BL/Rover) wanted. The Prima engine wouldn't fit in the body of the Honda/Rover joint-venture cars that replaced the Montego and Maestro so Rover dropped the Prima and turned to Peugeot for their diesel engines and production of the passenger vehicle version of the Prima engine came to an end. Perkins decided not to design and build any new passenger vehicle engines because the major car manufacturers were now producing their own direct injection diesel engines so the market was no longer there.
As you said, the Prima was 'first generation', being the world's first direct injection passenger car engine. You may remember the Prima-powered Montego being advertised as the first passenger car to achieve 100 mpg and 100 mph (not at the same time though!).
The exceptional power and economy came about largely by virtue of direct injection because this reduced the pumping losses and thermal losses of indirect injection. With indirect injection, the initial combustion takes place in a separate chamber and the burning gases then expand and push along a passage into the main combustion chamber above the piston where combustion is completed. However the downside is that direct injection leads to a more rapid combustion (more noise) and faster gas temperature rise (more NOx emissions) and this is where the modern two-phase injection comes to the fore.
Alex Stephenson was Perkins' manager of the Prima project and he then moved to Rover as their Powertrain Director. He later became the government man with responsibility for brokering the Rover takeover. John Towers, who became the head of the current Rover group, was also a Perkins man (Manufacturing director).
We used to get lots of reports of Prima engines reaching 250,000 miles or more without problems, especially from owners of Maestro vans used for commercial duties. The excellent marine versions of the engine are, I believe, still made and sold by Perkins under the Prima name and are also marketed by others under their own names, such as Volvo Penta.
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In the "good old days" (before mortgage, wife & kids) I used to hire Montego Estate turbo diesels for towing the rally car. The rally car and estate would be full of spares and tools. The trailers all up weight was probably in the region of 1800Kg and I'd wager the car itself was over its GVW. I always got one with the optional self levelling rear suspension. Never had any problems whatsoever. Usually got about 40mpg - fantastic under the circumstances.
The only tow car I ever used which was better than this was a 3500 V8 Rover SD1 which I bought expressly for this purpose since the car had a legal max train weight of 8800lbs (3850Kg). These days Plod would come down on you hard for loading a car so far past its legal capacity.
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