I drove diesel vans for a while and I found them excellent, especially the Citroen Berlingo. Maybe I should look for one of them, they are cheap enough?
There are plenty of cheap Berlingos (also Peugeot Partner which is the same), but the prices go right up for late plate ones. Very practical, comfy too, and just the right height for those of use whose bones are getting a bit creaky.
The 2.0 litre diesel in the older ones is a good reliable engine, most of the later ones have the more economical (and cheaper tax) 1560cc Peugeot with the aforementioned injector problems. The injector seals go, and it blows into the oil, bits of burnt oil clog the pickup pipe and the turbo goes kaput. Avoid anything that's had a recent new turbo, the crank bearings on these often follow 3-6 months later. All this only applies if you are unlucky enough to pick up a bloater, some of them do big mileages without problems.
In fact, for some of these engines, I wouldn't worry about big mileages - if the service history is good, and the engine has managed to get to 150K or more without disaster, there can't be a lot wrong with it. It's not uncommon to see these engine with 250K+ on them in vans, and still going.
The bodies are usually excellent on French cars, but the interiors fall to bits on big mileages.
With any of these modern diesels, always be on the look out for injector leaks (black soot or oil around injectors), poor starting (could just be heater plugs, but can be injectors and/or injector pump), rattly flywheels, and recent turbo replacement.