Right, as I'm sure your all bored to tears by now with my search for a sub-£15k 'do it all' car to replace the RS6, I just realised maybe I should be looking closer to home.

How about an STi5 wagon?

Fast, reliable, good load carrying, fun, relatively inexpensive, lots of room for dynamics modifications, and I wouldn't be so worried filling it with muddy bikes / wet snowboard gear etc etc.

Concerns? Well, I imagine I will miss the build quality and luxuries of the RS6. Also (and believe me I am not a snob) not certain I am happy with the image of the Subaru nowadays. Also, finding an unmolested example (although I'm going to get that with any car is likely to tickle my fancy.)

Thoughts?

 

My thoughts are that you need to tell us why you are getting rid of the RS6 and what you want and need from a car(s) in a priortised list. You need to tell us your budget and you need to tell us if your requirements have to be met by one car or whether we can suggest more than one car Then we can have some fun and give you some meaningful advice

 

Guess it depends on what you think about the image! If you still have that baseball cap, tracksuit and the earrings then go for the scoob! Cheap fun!

 

How about a 2.5 Forester? Has no image whatsoever. Or even a 3.0 Legacy manual.

 

Saxo - you obviously haven't seen my previous posts on the subject

To cut a long story short, I'm *considering* getting rid of the RS6 because it just seems a ridiculous monthly outlay for something that gets used at most once a week, often less. Also with consumables costing what they do, and my warranty rapidly running out, and with residuals holding fairly well, now seems like a good time to change.

I only have space for one car, so I need something that is / does the following:

Carries bikes / fits a snowboard case and plenty of luggage.
Is fast / exciting to drive
Is reliable
Has a decent image / decent looks
Fits in a car stacker (Forester might *just* fit)

The whole point of dropping the RS6 would be to get rid of the monthly payments, so I'm looking somewhere between 10k to 15k cash.

Current thoughts are:

Alfa 156 GTA Sportwagon (hard to find)
E39 M5 (worries about being out of warranty)
STi5 Wagon (worries about image / interior)

 

Yeah I know...god maybe I am a snob after all

 

What about an old (i.e. previous version) S4 Avant? These can be tuned up quite easily/cheaply to give a lot more power but still be reliable. For 15k all in I'd expect you'd have 85% of your RS6 but without the badge and massive costs.

 

Like going back to Silk Cut after Malboro full strength.

Ed, you might as well get a diesel as after an RS6 anything will be a comedown, might as well be a cheap to run one.

 

Not such a silly idea that.

 

MKI Skoda Octavia 4x4 estate, remap, trailer and 205GTI track day car? Oh and some money left over for a nice little holiday in say Cyprus?

 

Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong. Maybe I need to just move out of central London and get a house with room for more cars???

 

I agree, instead of wasting that ridiculous amount of money £1,500 wasn't it?) per month on your RS6, buy a small flat closer to where you work and commute to work by scooter.

Seriously though, I wouldn't touch a 6-7 year old STi wagon with a barge pole after having an RS6, get a cheap A4 Avant. My mate at work just paid £4k for a W reg 2.4 SE A4 Avant with 60k on the clock.

 

You'll have to drop the M5 won't you as you won't get a bike in the boot?

 

How about one of the last real M '5 series' ever made ie hand built





LHD only I think but not a problem.

 

I've got one of these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.aspx...me=Car%20Racks

Works brilliantly and leaves no marks on the bumpers.

 

If you can handle the looks then I think your budget would stretch to a newage import STI wagon

 

bones3 rocks

Tim Bomford has a particularly well sorted wagon for sale on 22b

... and Mog has his STi Forester available too

 

I'd jump at an sti forester but out of the £15k range

 

Right, looking at a mint, low mileage GTA sportwagon at the weekend, with warranty

 

You'll need it.

 

With £15k and your considered needs, I would probably go for a BMW 330i/d touring. No build quality issues, reasonable running costs, decent load lugging abilities and pretty good performance. The 330d would have more scope for modifications than a 330i though plus has 40mpg.

 

I guess that's a fairly deserved reaction however I've done a lot of research and it seems that GTA's and especially late models (this is a 54 plate) GTA's were the most reliable cars Alfa have released, and fixed 99% of the issues with the model, which themselves were fairly minor in the first place.

 

Will look at this now...

 

Personally I'd prefer a Legacy... a recent ish twin turbo import or UK 3.0R for £15k or an older one for buttons and keep the cash. Flash cars in London just get mullered anyway... if kept on the street, at least.

Better interior on a regacy.

 

I'd recommend an E39 5 over an E46 3. Either a 540i / 530d tourer would be a good car to own. It's easy to forget these lesser models next to the M5, but they are better most of the time.

 

If you were to buy an STI 5 wagon you won t be loosing out on .anything in the accelaration stakes. OK you may loose out on top end power, but how often are you going to to get to 155 mph ?

 

15K should get you a good blobeye estate. interior and build quality is better then a classic wagon as mentioned, and to be fair it looks much newer then the classic scooby. I went from a classic to a newage and the interior and build quality are miles apart.

 

You not fancy the RS4?