A battlebus for £6k?

[campbell]

May be doing a bit more car commuting in the near future, and with Junior 2 just around the corner, need to leave the Golf for use by Lisa + brood. Elise is not being put through the indignity of 2k miles per month, sooo....

I have a budget of around £6k and my requirements are:

• 5 door, preferably estate
• economical, preferably TDI
• pleasant drive ie no rattly trim, crappy build etc
• medium sized, ie Golf, Focus-ish and certainly no bigger than Passat
• good boot, will double up as family battlebus when the golf + roofbox combo is inappropriate or impractical

Suggestions?

Personal experiences in this genre?

Offered for sale?!

Current front runner is Skoda Octavia estate, either TDi (think they only go up to 110bhp unfortunately) or vRS estate (yes it's petrol and turbo'd but a lorra car for the money and should be OK for economy on steady m-way running, which is what the commute will probably be.

TIA

Campbell

[pete]

After a similar short list I'm looking for an Alfa 156 JTD. Great engine, lovely to look at, great to drive for a FWD, not a BMW, the estate is lovely too, most of them have leather, not that common, good value, not a BMW...

Going to look at another one this weekend,

Pete

[Sanjøy]

I looked in to this with same budget a few months back prior to pickign up the beemer lease of the brother in law.

My shortlist were:

Volvo V70 Estate LPG http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1

Merc C180 Estate
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1

A6 Avant

A4 Avant

[jj]

After a similar short list I'm looking for an Alfa 156 JTD. Great engine, lovely to look at, great to drive for a FWD, not a BMW, the estate is lovely too, most of them have leather, not that common, good value, not a BMW...

Going to look at another one this weekend,

Pete

My Dad used to have a 156 2.4 JTD. Did 66k in it and it broke down once when he went through a huge puddle at 60mph, so not even the cars fault. Was quick (I liked driving it) and always felt a bit less run of the mill. Was sky blue with blue leather, and if I was looking for a diesel, I would go for one. Recently got the GF a 147 in the same blue / blue leather as I dont believe Alfas deserve the bad rep.

Edited to add it never dipped below a 50mpg average.

[Sanjøy]

Oh and always some corkers here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1

[Dominic]

VW Passat? Or Audi A4?

Would not touch an Alfa. I think they are great looking cars, but one of my mates who runs a garage says that they are really badly nailed together.

Controversial suggestion: Vauxhall Astra Estate? Or Focus Estate? All vauxhalls I have owned have been very reliable (which is saying something given the abuse I give my cars). If you are serious about vauxhall or ford, I have a mate in the trade, who might be able to get a deal. I bought my astra through his contact, and saved £3500 over the price a dealer was asking for the same car. PM me if interested.

My sister has a Skoda Octavia estate, and loves it. Her Hubby has a Fabia VRS and thinks it's good too (except pale coloured seats which get grubby far to easily). Never thought I would say this, but the Skoda's sound pretty good.

[campbell]

Excellent start, guys, thanks!!

I have to say, I stumbled on the Alfa 156 JTD 2.4 estate in Autotrader tonight, and there are some cracking examples out there, particularly one in black. This 150bhp engine would be brilliant in an estate like that. And of course thanks to Joe Owner Number 1 taking the depreciation hit, there's a lorra car for your money when buying in the 3-5 year old bracket.

Does depend a bit on how useable the bootspace actually is...one criticism of the A4 avant, for example, is that its boot is no better than your average Golf's (which of course we have already!) so whilst I do lust after the A4 (saddo, eh), I think head has to rule the heart here.

Alfa still out front alonside the Skoda then...

A6 was under consideration too, but a bit on the big side and few seem available in my price bracket.

Volvo = true family man, not sure I can cope with that yet! Although one day I'd be prepared to try a V50 estate, they look really cool and I bet you can get them with the Focus ST engine or similar?

Seeing a few Focus estate 1.8TDCIs, but only 115bhp...and some C-Max's with 2.0 TDCi which I assume is the 140bhp motor...Cameron has this in his recent Focus and it is very impressive. Need to see inside a C-Max though, might just be a tall Focus which is not really what I'm after...

Keep 'em coming...

Campbell

[campbell]

Dominic,

Sound suggestions all, and I hear what you say re: the Alfa. But when you look at it...aw, it's like when you look at a Lotus. You know it's daft. But you just want to !!!

Found couple of Passats, two minds as to whether too big. But definitely well screwed together right enough.

Anyways, I will look at VX again...had several in my younger years, felt they'd gone off the boil a bit of late but maybe time to revisit. And there's an excellent Vauxhall dealer near me, that can actually make a difference to long term running experience IMHO.

Cameron's Mum has a Fabia vRS and she loves it. Think hers has leather ! My other outside option for commuter car is a pocket rocket with good economy, and the vRS would be RIGHT up there. But really want to try to put some flexibility into our fleet with baby 2 on way so soon, after all I have a pocket rocket in the garage already

Kind offer re: trade contacts, I will def keep that in mind.

Campbell

[jj]

Thats what I was saying about the bad rep; so and so reckons they are bad etc, but as I said my folks had no issues. Makes them cheaper for people like me who would buy one I guess. Only problem is the boot isnt huge.

[CSK_423]

may I suggest

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... ory=122307

[Dominic]

may I suggest

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... ory=122307

That is really cool! I love the dash board; very 'thunderbirds'

So it's a diesel... what MPG would you get?

[Andy G]

Hi Campbell

I got myself an E-class in December and for miles & motorways, i don't think it could be touched.

Its a 2001 with 77k when it got it. Very quiet, well screwed together and as i use it for AMP3 business, loads of room



Do feel like i should be chatting up grannies in it, but I love it.

2 things would make it more fit for purpose though;

CDi engine
Leather

Even put a private plate so i fit in at the golf club Kidding!

Andy

[Dominic]

may I suggest

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... ory=122307

That is really cool! I love the dash board; very 'thunderbirds'

So it's a diesel... what MPG would you get?

GPM might be closer cant see parking problems though....

No parking problems at all!... well, only for those you choose to park near to

[campbell]

may I suggest

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... ory=122307

Yep, I'd challenge the kids to do very much damage to THAT thing! Well done! Don't think it will quite fit in the drive, however...

[campbell]

Hi Campbell

I got myself an E-class in December and for miles & motorways, i don't think it could be touched.

Its a 2001 with 77k when it got it. Very quiet, well screwed together and as i use it for AMP3 business, loads of room

Bordering on too big, but the missus would be excited as she likes Mercs!

Can I land one in my budget, though? Doubtful. What did you end up paying? And yes, would need to be diesel as petrol surely would be expensive to run.