Looking to sell my curent car and get my first estate car. Looking at the Volvo V50 as you can pick one up for around my kind of budget on a 54 plate but would consider alternatives.
Can't a huge estate as parking by my flat it a total nightmare.
Also is buying a car with 100k on the clock a bad idea? About to have a baby so I really don't want to be putting my hand in my pocket all the time
100k with FSH shouldn't be a problem. Honest John is your friend.
Mondeo though for VFM and hugeness in the load carrying capabilities?
From experience I'd say service history is more important than mileage to a certain extent, though clearly go for the lowest mileage you can reasonably afford, as it will make reselling easier. Depending on the engine you are looking at, bear in mind things like DPF on diesels which can be an issue on cars driven around town on short journeys and are very expensive to fix. The v50 is a focus underneath so should be reasonably reliable, and maybe even share some parts, so might be cheaper to maintain than alternatives.
I bought an Audi A3 with 108,000 miles, one owner, and FASH. It drives and looks like new, I wouldn't hesitate doing it again.
Not sure how Volvos age TBH.
100k on a diesel is fine, I have an xc90 diesel and bought it with 100k on the clock.
I also have a V40 petrol with 170,000 miles on it, but it has had regular oil changes with fully synthetic oil.
If serviced well I think age is the biggest problem, anything over 6-7 years old can have significant corrosion on brake pipes, body and suspension and exhaust. Have a good check underneath for leaks and corrosion.
I tend to buy cars that are 4-6 years old with 50-100k on them, still have another decade left in them at that point if cared for!
v50 is nice, but its a small car. You won't get a bike in one without the front wheel off. kinda defeats the point of having an estate. a full size estate (vectra, mondeo, etc) will only be about 25cm longer than a v50, but makes all the difference inside
100k is fine in my opinion, my mondeo has 184k on it now, and its still trudging along
Hi mate i'm selling my mondeo estate TDCi 07.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ford-mondeo-estate-ghia-x-tdci
will accept a good offer if going to a good home!
Dpfs on diesels are a right royal pain the arse!! Mazda 6's especially.
Can't spend any than £4k as that is what I an selling my Golf for and don't want to put any additional cash into it.
Good point about FSH vs Mileage thank you
I bought a 54 plate Mondeo with 38k on the clock nearly 3 years ago for £4k, much better value than that Volvo, and drives a lot better than the Volvo too.
Also is buying a car with 100k on the clock a bad idea?
Yes IMO.
I bought a Volvo S60 with 120,000 on it and it was 'tired' .. not the engine, the D5 lump was bloody GREAT... but suspension, bushes, wishbones etc all tired, wheel bearing went, needed new discs... then wishbones...
I sold it and bought a less efficient Mondeo with 30,000 on it.
MG ZT-T or Rover 75 Tourer both in CDTi guise.
Don't laugh.
You'll get a 54 plate for £2.5-3k.
BMW engine and good build quality. Look for a careful owner and a service history. Recent new clutch is a bonus. ZT-T looks the part and handles very well too. High level of equipment on most of them inc fuel burning heaters that give you a toasty car on cold mornings.
The Volvo is dull and overpriced. Passats are great and super reliable but a tad boring. Mondeos drive great but the clutch/DMF and injectors fail and cost a fortune. On Mazda6s the engine blows up - check out Ebay for ones with broken engines.
the Rover 75 also has DMF and clutch issues, along with a leaky boot issue which isn't alwatys easy to sort, the 1.8 petrol head gaskets last a fortnight. However they ARE nice, refined and fairly economical.
Volvs dull ? the S60 D5 is a 2.4 160bhp Diesel and is quick as you like.
DMF and rail injector failures are common on pretty much ALL diesels now.. common may not be entirely correct, but more common than i'd like to see when buying a car.
High miles not a massive issue.
Look for something that is ideally ex company, motorway miles and with a service record.
My Mondeo TDCI estate may have just obliterated its clutch after bearing failure, but the cost of replacement is still less than the saving I made over buying a low mileage car that would have been due one anyway (according to the service print-out, my cars first replacement clutch was around 100k, now at 180k) Other expensive things replaced before I got the car include turbo, rear swing arms and all discs. All in the span of 100-120k.
Look carefully and you will find one like Triggers broom made of mostly new parts.
weeksy - Memberthe Rover 75 also has DMF and clutch issues, along with a leaky boot issue which isn't alwatys easy to sort, the 1.8 petrol head gaskets last a fortnight.
True, but I did recommend the diesels and to look for one with a new clutch (and the DMF doesn't usuallly need replacing). Think the leaky boot is a saloon issue? Plus, they're great value because the perception is they're crap (which they're not)whereas Golfs are overpriced because the perception is they're better quality than everything else (which they're not).
THe S60 is a good car, no doubt but the OP wants an estate and there's no V60 is there? the V50 is dull IMHO.
All good car-buying banter though. 
I've just bought a Lancer estate from a main mitsubishi dealer, 06 plate, 16k, 2.0 sport. I paid £4500 but they gave a decent price on my shed as a trade in.
It's about the same size as an astra estate so not huge but it's really well put together and it's the sport model so handles realy well (I actually woke my 2 kids up going round a corner a bit quickly on the back roads out of Halifax the other day!) and it isn't much to insure either.
Might be worth a look 
Think the leaky boot is a saloon issue? Plus, they're great value because the perception is they're crap (which they're not)
Correct.
Yes they are good.
Almost bought one a fortnight ago... but turned up and had 2" of water in the boot... lol Apparently an 'easy' fix according to the 75 forum... but ...can also be a tricky fix..
The V50's an irrationally small car inside, especially considering that it's based on the Focus, which is irrationally big.
Good points on mileage up the page, as soon as you creep over 100K it puts people off and prices drop. To get an equivalent car to mine with 75000 miles on it would cost almost twice what it cost with 110000 on it, and yes it's given me a few age-related issues (wheel bearings, brake pipes) but nowhere near the price difference.
Passat Estate 1.9TDi
I once bought one for £5k with 105k on it and put another 100k on it myself and it ran flawlessly.
I do my own servicing on our cars (200tdi Defender, and a VolvoV70)-there is no way I would buy a diesel nowadays-too many issues with injectors/fuel pumps etc.
Needed to buy a large estate for the wifes growing business-looked at every large estate on the market in terms of reliability/ownership/servicing. Bought a V70 with the non turbo 2.4petrol engine with 100k on the clock.
V70's suffer from front wishbone bush wear (easy to do DIY), and the autoboxes needed a flush other than that they appear to be a good long term car. The D5 is more troublesome though hence why I bought petrol.
Fits bikes no problem, awesome on a long motorway run, but big and weildy for throwing down windy B roads though.
[/quote]100k on a diesel is fine[quote]
I lol'd at this. It might have been in the past when diesels were simple but now this is the sort of time when injectors, DMF's, DPF's and turbo's (well maybe 150k for this) can all start to fail, and they all generate some pretty serious bills. 100k+ on a modern petrol on the other hand is relatively straight forward.
Small peugeot estates are good vfm and loads to choose from in your budget. I went for a 206 sw with the 2.0hdi motor. For one a little bigger and newer look at the 307. Hard to find low mileage diesels of any make as people buy them to put big miles in.
[/quote]I lol'd at this. It might have been in the past when diesels were simple but now this is the sort of time when injectors, DMF's, DPF's and turbo's (well maybe 150k for this) can all start to fail, and they all generate some pretty serious bills. 100k+ on a modern petrol on the other hand is relatively straight forward.[quote]
And i laughed at this
Just got rid of my 55 plate focus 1.8tdci with 154,000 miles on the clock.My colleague had 152,000 miles on his.
Tyres,Service and brake parts was all they ever needed.
Regular service on diesels and they will go on and on and on. It is poor servicing that generally kills turbos as the oil feed pipe gets gunked up.
Petrols also have dual mass flywheels and they do go bang as well.
Two guys at work had diesel Focus's of that age, a 1.6 and a 1.8. Both got up to about 120k before being replaced. Both had the DMF's changed due to failure, the 1.6 also had a full set of injectors. Both were serviced on time at Ford.
Petrols may have DMF's but they don't tend to have the torque, or encourage the labouring that destroys them.
Tbh my own car (One the wife uses Mondeo 2.2 Tdci) gets a oil change every 6000 miles.
I had a DMF failure in my old BMW 325 at 90,000 miles.I also had a piston melt in my subaru impreza @ 5000 miles.
It is a concern but what ever car you buy there will always be some forum somewhere with a huge list of faults that could be found.
That is the trouble with the internet people only post when something goes wrong not when they have had good experience with there cars.
At the end of the day how many focus,mondeos,Vectras that have been built that have had no issues. We are talking mass produced cars so there are thousands of them.
My car now has 82k on it, it's no different to how it was when I bought it at 45k. I can't imagine that'll change in the next 18k miles.
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