stonemonkey

Thanks for the all great feedback on this topic everyone It sounds like if going for the diesel finding one that has done highways kms will help minimise the risk of future DPF failure. My commute is around 45mins to an hour of driving (with at least 20mins of that at 100km/h) so keeping the dpf healthy shouldn't be an issue for me. I didn't know it was the same engine as the x-trail, so thanks for that tidbit. This car would be pretty much used for commuting 90% of the time, so I don't think I would miss a minor reduction in ultimate performance and handling from the 225. Next step is to test drive one, I'll post some feedback once I have done that. Looking at redbook and prices on carsales, it seems I should be able to get a good one for around the $9-$10k mark ?

Hi all, I have a daily round trip commute of around 70km (50% suburban and 50% freeway driving) and am thinking about a Megane RS 225 or 175 to make the drive a little more exciting. Without having driven either the 175 sounds the most practical - I'm thinking the fuel economy will be better and there's no need to worry about timing belt maintenance. But then it won't handle as well or be quite as quick - and are there expensive diesel maintenance items I'm not aware of ? carsales prices seems to be similar between the two, maybe the 175 a little cheaper ? For those who might have owned them, which way would you go ? Any particular year model to go for or avoid ?