A pal has a june 02 saloon chassis 91965 petrol using lots of oil. Is this a problem with this model, any thoughts and what grade oil should he use?

not a "Known" problem, no.

there are a number of reason why it could be using an abnormal amount of oil. Before I start hitting you with things to check and things to start yanking at, how mechanically minded are you? 10 being you'll happily do a head gasket job and 1 being you could confuse a spark-plug with a toothbrush. If you're pretty handy, we can do the diagnostics without the need of a grease monkey

Daz

they tend to use a bit of engine oil which is normal but not a problem. when you say a lot of oil how many litres and miles is it getting through ?

does the car smoke or have you checked for leaks -

engine oil grade > use recommended.

It's using 2 litres of magnatex 10/40 every 1000 mls

that is excessive engine oil use. the car clearly has a problem. if there is no leaks then its burning through them 2 litres.

a good guess will be valve seals. would you know how many miles its driven ?

Does it puff smoke at startup and then go away after a short while? If yes then valve stem seals...

If you smell burnt oil (much different from fuel) constantly, then maybe the rings have worm somewhat.

A poorly engine breathing system will draw oil into the fuel system too, so maybe try flushing the pipework first ;)