Planning ahead, which is rare for me.

Our Mazda 3 will be paid for early next year. I wish to replace it with an estate as that suits our lifestyle much better.

Criteria are:

New or nearly new.
Big enough for a family to holiday in Europe
Sensible fuel economy – agnostic on diesel or petrol
Trim – prefer the nicer stuff, but I know it costs
Built to last – I do c20k miles a year (mainly motorway commuting), and I don’t expect to change this car for the best part of a decade.

Budget? Well, this will be privately owned (unless I get another job with a car allowance) so not mega pricey – £30k max (as I’ll PX the Mazda + put cash in)

Ta..!

5 or 7yr warranty.

If you MUST a Vauxhall with a lifetime warranty (although I bet that has alot of T&C’s…).

Personally I’d say buy a car thats one year old thats as simple as possible, no electronic parking brake, auto lights, wipers, something without a turbo, a aluminium block/head etc.

So
A Honda.
A Suzuki Jimny
A Dacia
A Hyundia/Kia

Buy a used Mercedes for £10k and then keep the other £20k for maintenance costs

🙂

Merc e class estate,oldmans at 220k and 20 years old and in great nick, petrol though. Volvo v70 or XC70, ours now at 150,000k and going strong.

Yeah, meant to make clear that big enough = estate.

mt – cheers. useful suggestions

hora – avoid electronics altogether? Makes sense, I guess. Shame as I’m used to them..!

Lease.

Big Hyundai or Kia for the extended warranty

Merc / Beemer / Volvo build quality isn’t worth the premium IMHO

i40 Tourer looks very nice http://www.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/i40-tourer

Lease? Hes a mountain/biker – it’ll cost him a fortune in hand back costs.

Avoid old shape xc70s like the plague. (non)Running these nearly bankrupted* my employer…
I’d go previous shape E class Merc estate with a big diesel. And I’d never spend £30k in a month of Sundays, but I’m tight.

*some dramatic licence, but you get my drift…

Lease.

Go on?

Merc / Beemer / Volvo build quality isn’t worth the premium IMHO

Interesting. I’d have a big Mazda, but DPF issues scare me.

DPF issues are a fact of life with newer diesels, which is actually not an entirely bad thing; means a good market for cost effective solutions, ie removal and remap, or proper cleaning.

Auto Ford diesel avoids the issues.

You’re looking at paying £30k for a car, then maintainingrepairing it for seven years after the warranty runs out. Add that up and it could be £40K plus? Average that over the decade and you could be in a succession of lease deals with a fresh car every couple of years, never out of warranty.

Edit: Or accept the more limited choice and buy something with a seven+ year warranty.

5 series touring – up to two years old – let someone else take the biggest hit on depreciation

Pick a spec / engine to suit driving style and budget.

Bob’s your aunties live in lover

Flaw in your plan – you intend to be still doing 20k pa when its got 150k on it?

I’d be looking at something 2 years old (so circa 50% of new value) and swapping every 3 years and/or avoid high maintenance bills – and mainstream to keep the costs down.

midlifecrashes – interesting thinking. But assume leases have PITA handback issues?

br – good point. Makes richmtb’s suggestion make sense.

Thanks all..!

mm, dont think a jimny would be good for a family european holiday !

if you look in other countries in europe and USA it no prob to get a car with 200,000 miles on i,

i suppose audi or volvo estates would be a good choice, or vw

personally I like american stuff, they are built for big miles, how about new jeep ?

I got a killer 2yr lease deal on a C1 after some massive bills on a Forester and a Legacy. The thing is everytime someone jumps in I STRESS incase they scratch it etc etc etc etc etc….

VW Passat alltrack

Look at the reliability statistics. One person having a car for ages doesn’t mean it’s statistically a reliable make/model

American cars are awful, avoid avoid avoid. They end up doing many miles in some places because the weather’s not bad so they don’t rust, and people seem more likely to keep them a long time for some reason.

I’ve got a lot of American family, and my father in law fixes their cars often. The things he tells me about how they are made can be quite shocking. On my sister in law’s minivan (Chevvy something I forget) the rear wheel bearings (it’s 4wd) run directly on the driveshaft, so when they go it needs new driveshafts as well 😯 It cost a lot of money even though he did the work. It’s utterly whipped inside and out, after 8 years and 130k miles.

We hired a Saturn big SUV thing once, the engine was lovely but the car was crappily put together – after a few hundred miles I figured out why I was uncomfortable – the drivers seat wasn’t straight!

geoffj – Member

Merc / Beemer / Volvo build quality isn’t worth the premium IMHO

I once had a BMW 3-series estate, and would never again touch one.

As for Volvo, though, I am a HUGE devotee. I had two Volvo estates. The one I drove in Canada I sold on to a friend when it was 15 years old with 350,000kms on the clock, and he was still driving it between Saskatchewan and Ontario five years after that.

The second one I bought here, and it took us on the continent and all over Britain before I had to replace it with a VW T4. (Too many kids, you see.) It had 170,000 miles on it and was 15 years old again when it had to go.

I did my own work on them, and once had to replace a radiator, but otherwise had no major repairs to undertake.

I like my T4, but I loved my Volvos.

We keep our cars 5-10 years, typically ex demonstrator on a deal or occasionally new. Massive fan of VW / Audi (and these Skoda these days) and Toyota / Mitsubishi.

Anything from these ranges of the right size, pick a mid range engine (not small high revving stuff), main dealer service till out of warranty then shop around.

OP

I’m on my third A6 estate now, having trawled the entire market for a similar spec to you about 6 years ago. I had a passat estate before that for about 5 years. A new shape passat 2 litre diesel will do what you want for many many years – big costs with any diesel appear about 60-80k when its new cam belt time. Equally, the new A6 2.0 diesel s-line is superb for driver fun and comfort, plus it does 50mpg on the motorway. A6 will fit family of four plus all gear for a eurocamp trip to south of france and you’ll enjoy getting there. Use whatcar website to look at depreciation of different models – you’ll be surprised what you can get for about 20-25k at 1-2yr old (A6 3 litre diesel quattro s-line estate). Also, the new BMW 5 series touring has finally upped its game to the same build level of the A6 (a BMW salesman said this in answer to the question ” why should i buy your car over an A6″) and is well worth a look. If you’re buying cash you are in a very strongsition with any of these cars……

5 Series Touring – the new shape gets great reviews – I think the Telegraph said it was the closest to the perfect car they had ever tested. loads of space, comfy and nice to drive. Not sure how it would be on maintainance once a bit older through…

Honda CRV.
Although I have been overall happy with my extended ownership of my VW Tdi estate (1998 model bought by me in 2001 now with 187000 on the clock) a lot of the newer spec models have so many electrical and turbo glitches that turn out mega bucks to repair I am no longer considering VAG cars.
I will be dropping mileage in the next 12 months so am going to switch to a petrol engine
As it transpires my mates Honda CRV 2litre. It has been ultra reliable for him and only has 80K on the clock. He bought an A6 2.0Tdi and would swap it at the drop of a hat for a diesel CRV to tow his caravan.

big costs with any diesel appear about 60-80k when its new cam belt time.

Well I dunno about that. I paid £300 for a cambelt from my main dealer. It’s more on cars like the Passat where the belt goes round an engine mount – but I don’t think this is diesel specific.

The costs on diesels are if you have a turbo failure (which is often down to lack of oil I think) but that’s the same for turbo petrols; the real biggie though is the fuel system. This is the main bit that’s much more expensive than on a petrol. Injector nozzles need to be replaced what, 150k miles or so, and that’s not THAT expensive. But if something fails it can be £££. No, make that ££££.

Now that’s not saying it’s likely to happen of course, but there you go.

a lot of the newer spec models have so many electrical and turbo glitches that turn out mega bucks to repair I am no longer considering VAG cars

That’s not what my mobile mechanic said.

VW t5 caravelle or shuttle, short wheel base. Hold value, reliable lots out there 300,000mls+

My old man has had his k plate Volvo since new and it’s still going strong…..bodywork is stunning still and only has a few issues.so I’d echo what’s been said above about them…

Honda Accord. Looks like a Merc, built like a BMW, priced like a Skoda, runs like another BMW, pulls like a train, efficient like a prius.

I love my accord. It’s only an ’05 plate but it’s great on the fuel, goes pretty quickly, is so so comfy, is so so spacious. Put together as well as our Audi and more torque than the flying scotsman.

Honda Accord….efficient like a prius

Like hell.

Not a very STW suggestion, but was really impressed with the Discovery 3 I had as a staff car a few years back, it was a tool for the job, but part of me would have one if I could. Perfect if you do a lot of towing in the middle of nowhere or live in Chelsea (former in my case).

Otherwise, apart from French stuff, most cars are built pretty well these days and it comes down to style and snobbery. Get something you like, then you’ll want to look after it and it will last better for it.

I think your premise is flawed.
Why not get 2 or even 3 over the same period and trade in every 3 years or if you get any issues? Skoda Octavia,Toyota Avensis diesels for example and they will still have the remainder of their warranty .There’s reason taxi drivers use them.Also any new car now will probably be bettered by cheaper newer models in 7,8,9 years time

Honda Accord estate? I can’t really fault my elderly Civic Type-S, it just does what it’s meant to do, is hugely capacious for a smaller car, and is even fun on a quiet road… I wouldn’t buy a new anything, let someone else run it in and/or find factory faults for you.

Merc g wagon

more torque than the flying scotsman.

More than this:

Tractive effort: 29,385 lbf (13,329 kgf, 130.7 kN)

😯

Dont buy new, its crazy dead money. Buy a nice 2 to 5 year old car and keep till its 10 (or first huge bill after 10).
I do all my own servicing and most repairs and like volvos as they are nice to work on. VAG group cars are also well made. Wouldnt touch Nissan or french as I know too many people who have had big bills from these.
Currently running an xc90 and an audi A2.
Before that had a 14 year old V40 with 175000 miles….only sold it cos the xc90 arrived!

Honda Accord….efficient like a prius
Like hell.

I can get over 50mpg in mine.

Audi A4 or A6 estate would be my choice.

Well, an RS6 would be my ideal choice 8)

DPF issues

Doing 20k a year will go a long way to avoiding such things.

Personally, buying any new / year old car is sensible. The Beast is now 13-years old (I’ve had it 9) and outside of regular and proactive maintenance it’s only needed a new battery and just last week a rear caliper. Admittedly it’s only done 80k, but it’s been relatively short journies which are worse than long runs.

Regular maintenance is the key.

Definitely a 2 yr old car to start with.

If you’re doing 20k a year and not lots of short journeys, then probably diesel just about makes sense.

For the long term you want to buy German….A6, 5 series Merc.

Thats is all!