[Closed] Cars - sorry

Any suggestions for a sedan or estate that can hold 2 tall adults and 2 kids.

Just about any!

Any suggestions for a sedan or estate

Surely the costs of importing a vehicle from the US is going to outweigh any benefits?

he'd have said 'wagon' if he was American surely?

Can I be the first to say Octavia?

Can I be the first to suggest this:

[url= http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/subaru/legacy/first-drives/subaru-legacy-2.0d ]Everything you need and 4x4 thrown in as well[/url]

Don't touch the Insignia with a sh**ty stick - Mondeo or BMW better in every respect.

Merc e class estate is a cracking car with loads of space. C class estate pretty good too.

I've the hybrid version and fuel consumption is fantastic - averaging 55mph with a bike rack up top.

BMW 3 series is tiny in comparison to a mondeo. Its tiny in comparison to my Focus!

The brief is a bit loose here to say the least!

I have a 12 plate 320 d and it is very good at what it does - 50mpg overall and quick when you want it to be.

I would go for another............but if you check the leasing companies you can get c class mercedes on really low monthly payments at the moment.

I would prob go for one of them!

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/new-car-2008-ford-mondeo

I have a 07 plate Mondeo estate - love it and have had zero issues, same with my previous 51 plate.

The Mondeo estate is a different order of magnitude in scale to a 3 series tho - better comparison would be with a Focus estate (my dad has one of those and rates it), tho I think the focus is still bigger.

they're all as good/bad as each other with the badge determining the quality. choose your badge!

Thanks.

Good call on the merc, haven't looked at those yet. Octavia is a good call too, I was surprised how well they hold their value. Subaru looks good but will blow the budget.

Problem is I don't like driving really big cars as 90% of the time it is just me going to work and back, its the other 10% that causes the issues.

I think is the only thing I can think of which meets your criteria.

[img] [/img]

Have you considered a Focus and a roofrack?

Actually,

The Focus estate is pretty sizeable; reckon that might tick your boxes.

volvo V5o is a smaller but capable estate. does what you suggested you want and pretty popular. The 2.0D shuffles along very nicely considering it has only 139bhp and will do 40-50mpg depending on how you drive it.

V50 is worth a look too thanks.

Currently I am between 2 ideas. 1 is the larger estate that will be ideal for weekends and I will just have to live with commuting, the other a smaller car with a tow bar and decent bike rack.

I think I would have gone for option 2 already but I worry about bike security in my work car park when I take the bike in for an after work ride.

Don't touch the Insignia with a sh**ty stick

This - I've had nothing but trouble from mine.

+1 Skoda Octavia.
6'4" and i don't need to put the seat all the way back.
Massive boot I think second to E-class estate which is an aircraft carrier.
Well built, we had 5 years trouble free driving.
1.9 diesel was a great motor.
Now in a Mazda 5 MPV which is no bigger inside but the sliding doors and rear seat setup is awesome.

Passat estate. With dsg.

Smaller car + rack will be better. Pointless buying a bigger car for the odd trip away. You can eaisly manage with a smaller one.

For gods sake do not buy an Insignia petrol. Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. The diesels are fairly good but the petrols are rubbish.

The Octavia has already been mentioned but it might be worth looking at the Seat Exeo ST, a friend has one and it is lovely to look at and has been uber reliable.

SEAT Exeo TDI. Comfortable, economical and significantly cheaper than the quivilent A4. The dash is from the old A4 Cabrio so rather pleasant inside.

Get 50+mpg on long runs with 2 lots of bike kit inside and 2 adults. Mines a 2010, but the newer ones have more rear leg room i believe

My old Octavia was very good. Great boot for the size of the car etc. But in comparison to 'premium' marques, theres no comparison in build quality etc.

Swapped my 2006 Octavia vRS which was pampered in January for a BMW 330I M-Sport Touring from the same year. The BMW feels like a brand new car with not a single rattle of creak from anywhere when driving it.

Didn't need a bigger car than a 3-series but when looking, a Mondeo Titanium X with the Sport pack was hugely tempting but couldn't get one with the auto box in our (similar as yours) budget.

I'll throw a curve ball into the mix anyway. We narrowed our choice down to two cars - the 3-series and a Saab 93 Aero estate with the twin turbo diesel. Unfortunately there weren't many for sale in the UK at the time with the options we wanted but if there had been, I reckon we'd have got one over the BMW. Lovely, lovely cars. If you're less fussy about spec/options/gearbox there should be a pretty wide range of sub 4 year old 93s knocking about.

Just looked at the Saab 93 estate on Autotrader, seems a lot of car for the money but 😯 😯 is it ugly!

3 series estate looking likely at the moment, I am surprised what you can get for the money. I am also going to go and test drive a Mondeo this weekend with the Volvo V50/60 and Exeo as an outside chance.

Not keen on the Octavia, my aunt has 1 and has quite a few issues with it.

Thanks for all the feedback.

😯 Ugly?

[img] [/img]

IMHO one of the best looking 'normal' cars on the roads!

That one doesn't look [u][b]too[/b][/u] bad, looks to have a body kit and some bigger bumpers. The one I looked at at chrome surrounds around the headlights and was not pretty!

4 years old, £10K and BMW, Audi, or Merc E class or C class - I don't think so unless the mileage was stratospheric.

Octavia, Mondeo or petrol Mazda would be my thoughts as best options.

Oh yeh. I'd have to have an Aero...

If you want a small, great performing, brilliant handling, and fast estate, then BMW have got it absolutely licked with the current 3 series (or any of the last 2 models tbh).

However, if you want more room (and really, that's any significant space, as the 3er touring is small inside) then you're either going to have to move up to a 5er (same range of excellent engines, and pretty similar good handling) or branch out into an Skoda, A6, C class, Mondy or similar.

£10k is actually a slightly difficult amount of money to spend, because in that region sit well spec'd but higher mileage older model cars AND lower spec'd but a lot newer/lower mileage versions of them......

IMO, only the BMW & Merc handle really well (being rwd) so once you've compromised on that point, and gone for a fwd estate, then you may as well get the most space / best spec for you money, at which point, a mondeo or Octavia are leading the race!

IMO, only the BMW & Merc handle really well

They may be the best, but in the normal everyday world most cars handle pretty well, and unless you are trying to drive fast you really won't notice.

None of the cars mentioned here will be a problem handling-wise.

What about a slightly smaller estate?
Golf estate? Or if you don't mid the looks a lancer or a focus

3 series estate is quite nice to drive, but imo isn't that great in the real world. V small inside for its footprint, poor slow speed manouvering visibilty, rwd is a pain on the occasional snowy day. I wouldn't buy one, but would happily drive one. Depends what your priorities are. If they are at all based on practicallities, go for one of the other mentioned cars.

molgrips
IMO, only the BMW & Merc handle really well
They may be the best, but in the normal everyday world most cars handle pretty well, and unless you are trying to drive fast you really won't notice.

Funnily enough, i most notice the 50:50 mass distribution and rwd layout when just pootling along. Because of these you get the ability to accelerate in a low gear, like pulling out of junction, without any wheelspin, you get nicely weighted, and uncorrupted steering, you get nice even tyre wear, and a lovely, not nose heavy, feeling when braking etc.

Sure, if you turn off the dsc you can drift it till the tyres pop, but that isn't really that important to me 😉

Have 3 series & C class cars on our pool car fleet, but the nicest by a mile is an Octavia. BMW ride too hard for me. Ok if you like cornering fast but too hard for me, day to day. Merc was very nice, but just didn't like it. Had over 100k on it & you'd never tell.
Octavia was a lovely car though.

I've been in three Octavias, each time I thought they were plasticy, spartan and ugly outside and in.

Because of these you get the ability to accelerate in a low gear, like pulling out of junction, without any wheelspin

Now I've never driven a BMW but all of these are perfectly possible without any special effort in any diesel car I've been in! By definition if you're wheelspinning you're driving fast (or attempting to).

I bet i can get a fwd tdi (like a golf or octaiva etc) to wheelspin without any significant application of throttle.

(try this, 1st gear junction, road with some gravel on it, or on a slope where you also need to turn sharply with lock on. FWD nightmare!)

You should drive a well set up RWD car, and then you can see what you think! 😉

maxtorque - Member

Funnily enough, i most notice the 50:50 mass distribution and rwd layout when just pootling along. Because of these you get the ability to accelerate in a low gear, like pulling out of junction, without any wheelspin,

My scabrous mondeo can do the same, god knows what the weight distribution is but luckily it comes with an accelerator pedal rather than a big on off switch 😉

It's just as well audi's and vw's have nice interiors and are nice places to be because from a driving sense they are dead. I have a Vrs and it's the worst handling car I've ever had. If you are interested at all about driving, a good RWD car is a must. Molgrips you have your VW fwd rose coloured glasses on again! FWIW the best fwd cars are Fords by a country mile.

The 9-3 Aero is ludicrous value for money. You will get through petrol at approx 30-33mpg,but you also get a nice fat turbo shove down the road. The mpg means about £500 a year difference at 10k miles compared with 45mpg from a diesel.

Molgrips you have your VW fwd rose coloured glasses on again!

Hardly. I said all FWD cars can manage pulling out of junctions without wheelspinning when you are pootling. Surely this cannot be controversial?

Never driven a Mondeo so no personal experience of how good they are and if they are, great, I will check them out next time. Test drove a Ford but didn't like the interior. I like VWs but I like other cars too!

I think the poster meant pulling a way in a spirited fashion. Nothing wrong in wanting to pull away quickly from a junction and not wanting to scrabble and wheel spin. Nothing wrong with VW cars in the main I just wish they would spend a bit of money on the chassis development and dial out some of the awful understeer they have. There idea of handling in my opinion is to try and compensate for the awful dynamics by making the ride harder and putting low profile rubber on, making them damned uncomfortable. The Golf GTI R lapped the topgear test track faster in comfort mode than it did in full on race mode whatever that is. There in lies a lesson to a few manufacturers.

Has anyone said Honda Accord Estate yet? Huge car, very comfy, very economical, pulls like a train. My Accord has been ultra reliable. I've not had to repair anything in 7 years. I'd buy another one now but they hold their value incredibly well. I guess their reliability and cheapness to maintain has become well known.

We were in a similar situation and ended up with a mondeo. Got the 2.2 diesel. I'm really pleased with it so far. Only had it for 15k miles so can't comment on reliability though.

For me the 3 series was the best to drive by a distance of those we tried, as so many others have said. But it is a much smaller car and a lot more money.

We also didn't like the passat to drive. Interior nice but a bit dated. I liked the Honda but my other half didn't like the interior and they were harder to come by as well. I also liked the Saab 9-3. A softer ride than many, leather is in nearly all of them and they're amazing value. The Volvo V50 I disliked - very plasticky inside and just didn't feel well built - and the V60 is expensive.

The mondeo drives really well. Handles nicely considering its size. Pulls like a train and is solidly built and quiet. But what sealed it for me was the spec for the money - DAB radio especially, which at the age we were looking at was common in fords but not elsewhere.

Have to agree with Inbred456, I get a lot of hire cars through work and VAG stuff is "generally" well screwed together but if its FWD not much comes close to a Ford for actually feeling like its connected to the road.

If you want to know why fords are so good to drive read Jackie Stewart's autobiography. He was contracted to develop the handling of cars from the mondeo mk1 onwards I think. He would test them on the track and around the roads in his native Scotland. If he wasn't happy with the handling and road holding and the brakes he wouldn't sign the car off meaning they couldn't launch it. If it's good enough for Sir Jackie it's good enough for me.

4 years old, £10K and BMW, Audi, or Merc E class or C class - I don't think so unless the mileage was stratospheric.

Nah. I got my 4 year old 3 series coupe from a BMW dealer, with a years warranty for only 10.5k with 50k on the clock. It's "BMW approved" and hasn't so much as rattled a vague squeak in 2 yrs and 20000 miles.

Flippin lovely