{"id":1758165,"date":"2026-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1758165"},"modified":"2026-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:00:00","slug":"remember-diesel-these-nine-used-classic-cars-we-found-for-sale-certainly-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1758165","title":{"rendered":"Remember diesel? These nine used classic cars we found for sale certainly do"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We must start with Volkswagen, because its name is now indelibly linked to diesel. For some reason<\/a>. Anyway, this car is one of the unfortunate victims of the 21st century\u2019s biggest automotive hoo-ha. A truly revolutionary little device, it was spun from VW boss Ferdinand Pi\u00ebch\u2019s lofty target for a \u20181.0-litre car\u2019 \u2013 one capable of travelling 100km on a single litre of fuel. An initial concept in 2002 paved way for a production car by 2013 that \u2013 on-paper \u2013 beat his target, the production XL1\u2019s diesel-electric hybrid powertrain achieving 0.9l\/100km \u2013 or 313mpg.<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t quite make that in real life, but you\u2019ll get close, and despite \u2018meh\u2019 performance (68bhp means 12.7sec), its driving experience feels mini-McLaren thanks to its feelsome steering, carbon tub and butterfly doors. Performance versions with bike engines were touted, but killed by Dieselgate. Boo.<\/p>\n

Just 250 were made, around a tenth of which still dwell in the UK. The rarity ought to justify the \u00a380k price\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Plenty of carmakers tenuously call upon motorsport activities to shift a few units out of showrooms. Fiat Seicento Michael Schumacher, anyone? But this one had more nous to it. A lot more. By the end of the Noughties, Audi was freshly reinforcing its mantelpiece to hold a wealth of Le Mans trophies, most of them won with diesel. So why not motivate the sensible Q7 SUV with something vaguely similar? Comprising six litres and possessing nearly 500bhp, the twin-turbo V12 shoehorned into its snout was unlike anything we\u2019d seen before in a family shuttle. Or indeed since.<\/p>\n

The end product weighed 2.6 tonnes long before we harangued EVs for such crimes and it lost money like them too, priced from a whisker under \u00a3100,000 in basic trim \u2013 or nearly \u00a3150k with desirable options packs. Which makes this 29,000-mile example a bargain at \u00a355k<\/a>, no? It is kind of a racecar, after all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From an SUV with a Le Mans engine (sort of), to an SUV with a Bugatti engine (sort of). Owners of a post-2018 X5 M50d can tell all who\u2019ll reluctantly listen that their diesel workhorse has quad turbos, \u201cjust like a Veyron, innit?\u201d Can\u2019t lie, though, we\u2019d be impressed too. Its 394bhp and lofty 561lb ft fire its bulk to 60mph with hot hatch vim, all soundtracked by a pretty decent noise for a diesel, too.<\/p>\n

Most of them are finished in menacing grey or black and appear to have swerved onto the forecourt via a questionable parts catalogue \u2013 thankfully we\u2019ve found a plain ol\u2019 white one with normal wheels<\/a> for ultimate undercover performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Oh, you want your performance diesel SUV to carry a bit more decorum, do you? The crew from Crewe have the answer, albeit with a little help from Audi. The SQ7 is a bit of a star, and it was only too happy to lend the bones of its powertrain to Bentley for the Brit firm\u2019s first \u2013 and as yet only \u2013 oil-burner. Whatever you think of its design, it\u2019s a lush and luxurious long-distance hero<\/a> \u2013 and owners adore them, keeping second-hand prices reasonably high.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And back to earth we go. At the other end of the vast VW empire is sensible ol\u2019 Skoda, though the Octavia vRS has \u2013 over four generations \u2013 generally bombilated around the more exciting end of its range. Heck, it even took a Bonneville speed record<\/a>. The Mk3 is probably the best looking and offers a lovely mix of handling prowess and interior tech. Little surprise, when it\u2019s basically a cousin of the glorious Mk7 Golf GTI.<\/p>\n

It came with a dizzying amount of choice \u2013 front- or four-wheel drive, manual or automatic transmission, hatch or estate body and petrol or diesel power, with a handful of special editions thrown in for good measure. Prices and mileages vary wildly <\/em>in the classifieds, but there really ought to be a vRS for any budget. This fetching Race Blue hatch<\/a> is a diesel DSG and thus likely a delightful way to cover humongous miles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You may be aware Jaguar is in the process of a Doctor Who<\/em>-esque regeneration. You may also be aware it has upset some people. The end product is something we\u2019ll see tantalisingly soon, but our first taster suggests some proper, traditional XJ traits<\/a>. Which yes, is a very good thing. But if its inevitably stocky price tag precludes you from diving headfirst into Jag\u2019s bold new future, how about a slice of its recent past?<\/p>\n

The previous XJ rattled traditionalists upon launch too, its space-age, Callum-penned styling a deliberate leap forward that also left a few folks behind scratching their chins and spewing forth online. We adored it \u2013 the interior especially. And while the supercharged V8s are lovely, the one you really<\/em> want is the smooth and torquey 3.0-litre diesel. Blue on tan and demanding less than seven grand, with a chunky warranty to help ease some of your inevitable fear: buy it before we do!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hands on hearts time: this is the one we\u2019d all buy with our own, actual money. The Alpina D3 Biturbo had enough appeal to make you lightheaded when new, and this one has been maintained \u2018regardless of cost\u2019 in the intervening years yet is priced like an entry-level Corsa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The classic decals and multispoke wheels are present and correct and its 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six is good for 345bhp and 516lb ft. Contemporary Ferraris possessed a lot less torque than that, and they couldn\u2019t haul around a muddy labrador while claiming 40-odd miles per gallon. \u2018Diesel perfection\u2019 may sound like the faintest of praise, but boy does this car get close\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Or would you like your early 21st century limo to be even more left of field? Like the XL1 further up the page, the Phaeton is the product of another Pi\u00ebch daydream, the \u2018Veyron of comfort\u2019<\/a> to put it succinctly.\u00a0 The TL;DR version is that the Phaeton hit the bullseye from an engineering perspective while failing cataclysmically when it came to vagaries like \u2018actually selling\u2019 or \u2018making VW money\u2019.<\/p>\n

Which yes, plays wonderfully into the hands of the scruffy used car buyer with modest cash. If the stars align you\u2019ll find an example with the almighty V10 TDI in the classifieds (and not a scary \u2018spares and repairs\u2019 <\/a>car), all five litres and 300-odd horsepower of it. It was a slice of wanton Noughties excess in the vein of the Q7 a few scrolls up. In reality, you\u2019ll find a handful of 3.0-litre V6s for pifflingly little cash: this one<\/a> has a year\u2019s MOT and an equipment list that would look rich now<\/em>, all for the price of some contrast dashboard stitching on the Porsche 911 configurator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alright, so this is actual<\/em> diesel perfection. Audi won 13 of its 17 starts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, eight of those with diesel power, and this is a car from near the end of that success-rich World Endurance Championship era. An era which drew to a close thanks to \u2013 yes \u2013 Dieselgate.<\/p>\n

As the name suggests, it\u2019s a four-wheel-drive hybrid, so on paper it\u2019s a sensible and zetigeisty buy. How easy it\u2019ll be to park \u2013 or indeed get running in the morning without a fleet of race techs and 2015-era laptops \u2013 is another question, but its 750bhp+ and 210mph top speed aren\u2019t to be sniffed at. And the history books attest it\u2019s very<\/em> good over long distances.<\/p>\n

POA \u2013 but you\u2019ll have spent over a million before you\u2019ve even employed a support team.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We must start with Volkswagen, because its name is now indelibly linked to diesel. For some reason. Anyway, this car is one of the unfortunate victims of the 21st century\u2019s biggest automotive hoo-ha. A truly revolutionary little device, it was spun from VW boss Ferdinand Pi\u00ebch\u2019s lofty target for a \u20181.0-litre car\u2019 \u2013 one capable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1758165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1758165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1758165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1758165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1758165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}