RB5320

I am looking for an everyday runaround estate car. Only want to spend about £1500. Within that price range the 2 litre Carlton seems like a good bet. What are the sort of things I need to look out for, common faults etc?
The other contender would be a Mondeo estate. Is there much to choose between them? Or anything else I should consider?
All I really need is something reliable with a decent load carrying capacity and able to carry 4 people plus a dog in relative comfort. Not looking for a particularly exciting drive as I have a 944 Turbo for that.
Any comments appreciated.

Steve

Reffro

Carlton's are great load luggers, and they have vast rear seat leg room, unlike the Mondeo. Look out for rusty sills (biggest killer of old Carltons, get underneath and give it a good look over), worn rear diffs, oil burning and if a post 93 car, the emissions. Otherwise they are low tech and an easy fix for most problems.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Watch the rear arches You can get a nice 3.0 version too

Carlton's drive suprisingly well given their size They are nicely specced and you'll get a seriously nice one for that sort of cash

Common faults include seized rear window motors, rust on the rear arches, broken rear light lenses (don't ask why but they are always broken )



The Carlton Diamond Estate was introduced in early 1993. This high specification model was produced with two engines, a 2.0i and the 3.0i 24V. The 3.0i 24V engine was a slightly downrated version of the engine used in the GSi 3000 24V.

Dracoro

For £1500, that's almost early Omega territory.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Thats firmly in Omega territory You can pick up a good 2.0 for £1000 Shocking how cheap these are because they are great cars. Obviously overlooked

RB5320

Thanks all. I had forgotten about the Omega! For the money it seems like I cant lose - seen a couple of tidy-looking 2 litre CDs advertised at around £700, but will look into Omegas too. Are they any better for rust?
Nice idea re the 3 litre Paul, but trying to do the sensible thing. Intending to go for a major career change soon so a cheap 'n cheerful, reasonably economical (compared to the 944 ) estate is required. If I can get away with spending sub-£1000, so much the better.
Cheers

Steve

Reffro

If its cheap and cheerful, I'd stick with the Carlton. Moving into Omega you have far many more electrical items to go wrong, and the 2.0i 16v engines that you'll predominantly be looking at, are nothing like as reliable as the 2.0i 8v in the Carlton.

NotoriousREV

I had an Omega estate car from work for a few weeks while I moved house, it was brilliant, didn't need to hire a van, you can actually get a double matress in the back with the seats down!

EDIT: I was moving from my Dad's house so no big furniture items like sofa's, they may be big, but not that big

Brendan Hughes

One plus point about the Mondeo, re load lugging - the rear seat backs fold forwards onto the squab. Many cars design their squabs to be pulled up behind the front seats, thus limiting the length of load - length of Mondy load is only limited by the position of the front seats, ie how short the driver's legs are! This was important when my parents chose theirs. I don't know how the Carlton fared.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

The base of the rear seat on the carlton can be removed from the car totally in minutes by releasing two clips and the backs fold forward into the space where the base was

RB5320

Fantastic. Carlton it is then! I cant believe I'm looking forward to buying an estate car
Thanks for your help chaps.

Steve

easyrider

My neighbour has one for sale on a j plate-in fairly good nick -PM me if your interested.

Dont know how much she wants for it though-i'll have to ask.

Gary

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Think you may have change if you buy a Carlton, more reliable car than the early Omega, trawl the small ads and you will find a minter for little money, can be fixed for peanuts and still good to drive, Avoid the 1.8, especially in carbed form, painfully slow, 2.0 auto is a lovely old thing, mate had one as a company car, it was old then but is still going strong, failing that check out the Volvo 850, another worth old warhorse, these days even at the money you are talking there is no need to buy a banger, for 1500 quid it should have plenty of good service left in it.