I've done a full circle, viewed 6, been too late for 4 I liked, sent RAC out to one (best 186 pounds spent!), got a marriage proposal in Birmingham, met 4 private seller and 2 dealers, two were absolutely delusional and one just clueless, (Dealer of Toyota Avensis,
"why would you want to look under the engine cover, no one has ever asked for that in the 23 years I've been selling cars, I don't have the tools, it's bolted, you can't open it" I kid you not!), I ended up with this:
https://www.gumtree.com/p/volkswagen...di-/1134810575
It's and SE. I am aware of the catalogue of faults from this make and model and the milage is high, but within my budget I very much liked what I found. It's been owned by 2, mum and son, son was a proppa petrol head so had a newer BMW too, and he really knew the car he was selling well which was a very refreshing touch in the Jungle of dubious private sellers!
Words of encouragement are welcome, I try and tell myself that at that milage, the built in faults and teethng problems will have been caught and corrected? It was evidenlty really wel looked after, which the seller said his mum had always done, she works for Mariott hotels and did 30 miles daily in it.
Seen how my 80TDI has served me, buying a used car is also a lot about luck! And NOT taking your car off road and leave it unattended on your driveway, either don't take it off road 
or get it into one of those indoor schemes that run them regularly, lesson learned!
Other cars I viewed, that wasn't sold before I manage to get there, were Honda Accord, Toyota Avensis, Saab 9-5 2.2 TiD Vector, two A4s 2004/5 and a Volvo think it was a V50. My backup plan was the SAAB as the Dealer gave 3 months warantee, and I really wanted one of the A4s, if he had met me on my request on fixing the front, electric windows.
Buttom line: The used car market is NOT for the faint-hearted!