Hi all

Am lookiong for a decent second hand estate car. Not fussed about brands/badges and stuff. Just looking for reliability, safety (got 2 little chavvies) and fuel economy.

Whats out there and whats good? I know **** all about cars so any advice would be most welcome

Cheers

Mundano, focus, octavia, vectra etc. Go common

Buy my Fiesta 1.3 for £1350, then you have £3650 to have the kids ferried about in taxis.

I reckon you'll get a decent >2005 Skoda Fabia estate 1.9 diesel for that

richcc – Member
Mundano, focus, octavia, vectra etc. Go common

+ 1

Something main stream that is easy and cheap to fix and get parts for.

MG ztt 135 cdti. Diesel, 45+ mpg. It was the series of MG built under BMW and as a result, the quality shines through. Make sure you get the diesel as thats the 2l BMW lump, BMW supplied the wiring loom, electrics, audio visual and loads of other bits, including the fuel filler cap!! For 4k, you will get an 04/54 with EVERYTHING on it. good power, good handling. My only caution to you would be the tyre, goes through them quite quickly.
The equivalent BM would be 7k.
Parts are still readily available and will be for years to come.
Since I got my mine, another friend saw it and got one and another friend is looking at one now and looks like he will but it.

Good luck finding one

I've got the rover version of that^ 2.0 CDTI conn SE, with 144k. quite a few (cheap to fix) problems. None with engine. Clutch fluid system £100, fuel pumps £60 (newer models don't have this issue) injectors wearing out £50. Ball bearing on wheel wearing out (yet to fix).
Not to bad for an over the hill auction car for the money considering it's full leather, Climate and cruise control, multichanger, heated seats and plenty of leg room. Cost less than my old base spec 206! (£1900)

But for £5k I'd get a Focus or Octavia.

£5k will get you a nice low mileage Mondeo. 50mpg

should get a vw touran for that. van like capacity with the seats taken out 50mpg for the dezzel. love ours.

Mondeo estate or Ford Focus if a hatchback has enough room.

Mondeo big enough not to need an estate. Can fit 2 bikes in the boot with the wheels off without putting the back seats down!

Might be selling ours pretty soon (ST TDCi so all the toys etc. 106k at the moment and an 05 plate)

Try contacting one of the prestige taxi companies like Hallmark. You could probably pick up a 2 year old Mercedes E class for about 3.5k. Granted, it will have 400k on the clock but it will have been meticulously serviced and they simply sit on the motorway at 70 all day racking up the mileage.

The ones I've been in all looked and felt brand new, whether it was the interior, engine, suspension etc.

I'd go for a Focus or Astra estate – you'll get a decent one for £5k. Both decent handling cars that are usually well specced, pretty reliable and cheap to run and insure. Our last car was a 2005 Astra Estate 1.9CDTi 150 and not only did it have a huge boot, it was also pretty nippy and had plenty of decent kit. Bought it new, had it over four years – it was a good car. I sold it (p/x) for £6k with 43k miles to a dealer 9 months ago – so you should be able to get something similar for your budget.