best estate for around £1500-£2000
 

the vectra is due for its mot in 4 weeks and being as its a 1999 car im expecting it to need some work,i only paid £600 for it a year ago and other than a cambelt kit/oil/rc gasket it has been faultless,its only just turned 62k and the oil is still golden colour...........BUT i fancy a change.

it was the 1st estate i have owned and its come in really handy so i would like another estate.

ive been looking at.......

audi a4/a6 some with 4wd,various engines 1.8t/1.9td/2.4 etc

volvo v40/v70 t5etc

bmw 320/318 petrol and diesel

mazda 6 ts 2.0 petrol

mondeo tdci/2.0 petrol although i seem to remember being told the diesels are prone to problems and also dmf's can fail which is a big bill

subaru legacy but most are autos

scoda octavia various models (even saw a 4wd 2.0-must have been a mis-print as dont think they do a 4wd)

mitsubishi galant/carisma

saab vector

vectra c 2.2/1.8 petrol

i dont mind having an auto but ive always been led to believe that they are not very reliable.

i cover around 50 miles a week so not a great deal but it still needs to be reliable.

the ones i like from the list are the bmw/audi as they look quite smart but they are at the higher end of the price bracket and most have starship enterprise miles on them.

ideally £1500 is the max i want to spend but i can possibly go nearer £2k for the right car.

anybody got any info on the above cars or any experience?

cheers

I have owned two of your list.

Volvo V40 - beautifully built but spares are expensive, that said very reliable, but quite small. Also terminally dull to look at and drive, but as a reliable method of getting from A to B in comfort it was spot on!

Mazda 6 2.0 petrol - much bigger car and much more modern than the Volvo despite being the same age. Reliable, quite nippy and reasonable fun to drive. Rear seat folding mechanism is a work of genius! Weak point is the rear arches can rust, but only on some of them for some reason so inspect them carefully. Aside from that very reliable economical car for a 2L big estate!

cheers f1

volvo-small??? i had the a t5 a few years ago and there was loads of room in it,im a tad on the large side so small is a no go.

my mrs has a little mazda 2 and its faultless so may consider another mazda,to be honest rusty arches dont bother me as i am just gonna run the car to work and back and i work in a quarry so its gonna get dusty/stone chips etc as long as it lasts a few years thats all im bothered about

thanks for your input

also looking at the toyota avensis 1.8vvt/2.0 vvt

I've had several of them , the avensis is huge mate ! Pretty bullet proof too

When I started doing my house up I got a e36 bm ! That was stupidly reliable , never wanted anything and I sold it more than I paid

Vectra c are ok , if you have a b you know what your getting

Saab is technically same As a vectra , I had a aero hot 9-5 estate and that was fast

Cheers Taylor

I'd have the Octavia with 1.9tdi.Same the audi engine

Presume the premium brands will have a few more miles on

I had a mk1 hatch with 1.8t but iirc there were problems with coil packs.Sure they have all been sorted

Sure there was a 4x4...

dont modern diesels get choked up with short trips though? i only do 4.7 miles each way 5 days a week

I have an E46 BMW 318i SE, it's fantastic, great ride*, great build quality, and a nice looking car.

I had an Audi B5 estate too, not the same quality as the E46. E46 feels like it's made of stone.

*I mean it's not sporty or anything, it's comfy, relaxing, solid.

Not sure.Though the advice in my new 2.0tdi suggests a goog long blast sort it out.lol

My favourite looking estate has always been the A4 though....

What youve got .

or mondeo petrol estate .

80 % of the others mentioned are lifestyle estates . Useless

Don't bother with a mondeo they leak like a sieve

leak what ?

There is an Octavia estate 4x4 model which can be had in petrol or diesel. Sadly Skoda never put it in the vRS model though. For £2k you can get the MkII petrol but the diesel pd engines still go for above that even with big miles on them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-SUBAR...item463791eede

Any good?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-For...item3cf552e4f2

I had a 1999 one of these as a winter hack/snow plough about 6 years ago it even had a low range gear box! Big lever just behind the hand brake. Good car but not the best on fuel as I remember.

And it had the biggest electric sunroof ever!

what are they like for reliability? never thought about a forester

I had a burgundy and grey one I had it about 6 months and never had any problems. I had a oil and filter change done straight away and it was great. Really good in the snow too.

Legacys come in manual in the smaller engines 2.0 & 2.5 turbo & NA watch for HG issues though

3.0 R & RN are auto, ant NA but have no cam belt to change

Outback is a varient of the legacy 3.0 fun to drive, but not round town! 19mpg eeks. 28+ on a mway run at 60mph.. is better

Forester, another good one, but again needs cambelt etc...
Impreza wagon - normal rules apply

If your not fussed on looks or badge...

Skoda - octavia range

or alternativly a large hatch

Mk1 seat toledo - diesel returns 50+ mpg, but are not long in the tooth and hard to find

Saab 9-3 Tdi --

Rover 75 Dci - BMW engine just a few rover foubles - fans / fuel pumps

Mart

You thought about anything like a Nissan X Trail??

Ours was faultless,rugged,mahoosive boot that the seats folded flat fot (got a bed in it,lol)

Everything wipe down

Brilliant workhorse

That went cheap:D

I'm currently running a 52 plate V70 and it's like driving a settee, not sure if it's just this particular car but it feels very tired for 94k miles and is dull as dishwater to drive.

If you want a huge load lugger to sit on motorways in then perfect other than that I'd personally be looking at an Octavia or similar

Get a Legacy BH5 GTB

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...sedcars?tech=1

This.

Take the milage with a bucket of salt lol

My 3.0R is supposed to do 23 round town 28 combined & 43 ex urb

In reality 16 -19 round town 23-27 on a run and havent hit a uber long

run, but i think 33 is possible

Best case 330 to a tank worst 240

Mart

If you want a car that is cheap to run forget about a Legacy!

I'd recommend a mk1.5 Focus estate ( think they did the mk1.5 upto 54 plate ), all the petrol Zetec engines are easy to work on, just find the best rust free shell possible...
:thumb:

Honda HR-V? Not diesel but the petrols are good and they are quite cheap.

I have a 52 plate Audi A4, it as 195k on the clock

Just did a 200 mile round trip today (the A606 is quite a nice road)

And I have to say, although never going to set the world alight it still drives beautifully and with full leather is a nice place to be

The estate version is on the small size though

But both the saloon and estate still look classy, especially in "sport" guise