I appreciate all the input but I think some people are as ignorant as I was to what £5k actually gets you in my area

Then why not travel to get the right car?

The last time I bought a car within 80 miles of me was back in 2002….I’ve bought and sold 7 cars since then.

OP,

From your list I would choose either:

Skoda Octavia Estate

or

Honda Accord Estate

Both are reliable.

Forget the rest.

😀

We had a Seat Altea XL at work a couple of years ago. That was a nice car, something you may not have considered.

Then why not travel to get the right car?

This, a day and two tanks of petrol to get what you want? It’s not a big deal when you consider how much time you spend driving your car, it’s worth a little effort to get something you like rather than just something that’ll do.

This, a day and two tanks of petrol to get what you want? It’s not a big deal when you consider how much time you spend driving your car, it’s worth a little effort to get something you like rather than just something that’ll do.

This +2

We live in Sussex. Prices here seem to be high relative to elsewhere. Last three cars have involved train journeys to collect – one from Norwich and the other two were Devon and Cornwall respectively. All meant that I had them inspected prior to travel but got the car we were looking for at a good price (inclusive of travel costs)

Imve just widened my search distance and found a really nice Accord Estate 2.2 diesel, great colour, the GT version, 90k miles, full service history for £5k over 100 miles away.

I’m not scared of driving, I did 25k commuting last year and I drive as part of my job too. I just worry that I might lose some haggle room if the seller knows I’ve travelled, or I might lack the will power to walk away when the car isn’t right when I’ve gone through the effort.

I think I need to working will power

For anyone who cares, I’ve ended up buying a 2005 VW Passat estate, 1.9 TDi (130) highline with 114k on the clock, full VW dealer service history and a camber and water pump done at the last service. It came in well under budget but i honestly preferred it to the 2008 Passat that I test drove

For anyone who cares, I’ve ended up buying a 2005 VW Passat estate, 1.9 TDi (130) highline with 114k on the clock, full VW dealer service history and a camber and water pump done at the last service. It came in well under budget but i honestly preferred it to the 2008 Passat that I test drove

Can I be rude and ask how much you paid?

Just trying to buy a B5.5 Passat Estate myself right now. 4 years older than yours, and 20k miles more, but test drove it and it felt like driving a new car everything was so tight still! Have heard it said many times, the older VW Passats were much better built than the newer ones.

My mate has a 2001 version of the same too, I found it for him about 3.5 years ago. It had 110k on the clock then, it now has coming up to 190k on the clock and it has barely missed a beat. Cost him £2600 back then, and he’d still get over £1k for it now on ebay!

B5.5 Passat is very good car. Congratulations on your good choice. In case if you need future in depth about maintenance etc visit ukpassat forums. Nice helpfull crowd, with allmost instant replies STW style.

I paid £3.6k. Slightly more than I would like to admit to paying for an old Passat but with the FVWSH, new cambelt, water pump, 12 months tax and MOT I was very happy.

Coming from a 19 year old Peugeot 306 anything was going to feel nice but I do think the 130bhp PD TDi is bloody lovely.

Cheers, I’ll check out ukpassat if I need some help

Those 1.9 engines are spot on. As long as the body work is original you should have a long relationship with it.

Just off to pick my new one up today. Paid bit less than half what you did, but then it is older with more miles and a private sale. They are good motors though, and the few known faults (if they occur) are pretty easy to rectify.

The UK Passats forum is indeed very helpful. In the B5/B5.5 section, there are a load of stickied threads all about what to look out for, and how to fix the few known issues that can occur.

http://www.ukpassats.co.uk/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=8

The biggest problem (and if not fixed it can cause a multitude of woes, but fortunately it’s a very easy fix) is blocked drains in the bulkhead. There’s a how to on the forum, but basically leaves and mulch block up the drain below the battery in the bulkhead, and once it floods (damp carpets in the front footwells are a giveaway) it can take out various ECU’s controlling things like the ABS and alarm etc. To fix it, it really is as simple as removing a cover to access the battery, removing the battery, and cleaning all the crap out and unblocking the drain hole before putting it all back together. Takes about 1/2 an hour, probably needs doing once every few years, but it can cause a multitude of issues if not done.

They really are pretty solid cars if looked after well. Just MAKE SURE that if the cambelt was done recently, they changed the tensioners too. If they didn’t, insist they take it back to do the job properly. I have been victim to a bodged cambelt job in the past sadly, bought a car with a very recent cambelt change and within 3,000 miles the belt slipped a tooth, valves hit pistons, and my engine was toast!

Sadly, I had no comeback at all because the garage that did the work (a VW main stealer no less, a good independent is 100 times better than a main stealer IMO) only warranted the work for the previous owner, despite it falling well within the 12 months and limited milage period covered by their supposed warranty.