Max £2k, engine size unimportant, must be huge (2 bikes inside with all camping gear and possibility of 2 people sleeping inside vehicle in bad weather), diesel powered and relatively economical (must get over 40mpg on Autotrader’s official economy figures for extra-urban rating). Don’t mind an older ‘quality’ make and I’m in mid 40s with 9 years NCB so high insurance groups ok (all 3 below quoted at under £250 pa fully comp)
Also, needs to be reasonably Aberdeen winter proof if possible but not absolutely necessary.
Narrowed it down to:
1. Chrysler Grand Voyager
2. Land Rover Discovery
3. Mercedes E320 estate
Any others I should be looking at? Any experience with above vehicles? Anything to watch out for?

At £2K a E320 will be a 210. They were a low point of Merc build quality particularly rust due to their early experiments with water based paint. So either look very carefully for rust or go for an earlier 124.

Can’t offer much advice here but you’ll get a rubbish disco for that money, especially as everyone is buying up anything good for snowpocolypse II. Had a CRV and survived well in Dundee winter before last and pretty comfy, mpg not stunning though.

Citroen C5 estate? Plenty about for well under £2k.

Volvo 940 estate??

£2K bought our 140K mile Mondeo estate TDCI 130. Does what you want one to, but maybe with a bit more ubiquity.

Volvo estate would work fairly well – should be able to find a 940 in good nick or an old-shape V70 for that money.

any discovery for 2k between now and april will need alot of welding …..and they aint as big as they look …. its alot of bonnet!

merc is not aberdeen winter proof – my parents love them and regularly get stuck 😀

for your budget look at auto gear box rep mobiles !

Toyota Corolla Verso D4D? Have to test sleeping in it with the seats up, it looks big enough. VVTi might just sneak in economywise but I doubt it.

Volvo 940 won’t do the mpg. First big bill will kill it as they are rare these days.

How about an Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant? Plenty on Autotrader between £2 and 3K

Mondeo estate +1

You’ll have to check the econ figures yrself though

1.6 petrol focus estate?

Ok, its not diesel, but my c-max is brick shaped and gets 44-47mpg on the motorway in the middle or slow lanes respectively.

Boot is 6ft easily with the seats removed.

And being a petrol theres none of the diesle issues with eating flywheels, injectors, fuel pumps, DPF’s etc.

Ford galaxy vw sharan seat alhambra. Take rear seats out and its bigger than most small vans (bikes go in lengthways wheels on with room to spare). 1.9tdi not quick but averages 50+mpg on decent runs (like oxford to coedy for the weekend). Car levels if comfort and kit compared to a van. I bought one this year for exactly the duties you describe (mine is a Seat) and am very pleased with it-especially the mpg as I nearly bought a petrol Espace which is a guzzler by comparison.

Our Fundeo does 47ish combined. over 40 in town.

Mazda6 iv seen 55plate diesels go for 2k.
Iv got 2ltr petrol with 115k on clock still drives great on a run I have had 40mpg with bike,big dog and wife going to Scotland

Peugeot 307 SW 1.6 hdi, lots of room, can get 3 bikes in the boot, so with seats down can get all camping kit in.

Sleeping in the car with bikes in might be difficult, but rear seats can be removed easily.

Im surprised noone has mentioned the octavia estate. Mine is the saloon/hatch version 1.9 tdi and easily does 60+mpg with early lifting etc.

People always go on about how big the boot is and if my regular boot is anything to go by the estate must be black hole sized.

guessing the audi A4/A6 or the vw passat will have similar attributes.

give you an idea of the room. Loops in strap from passenger grab handles holds saddles, front wheels turned for stability when car is otherwise empty (strap the front brakes on) but even with them inline there is room to spare in front of bikes. Averages 48mpg over an entire tank (600miles) of mixed driving, more on longer journeys.

Mazda Bongo – apart from the MPG thing (roughly 27mpg).
4WD, massive and japanese build quality.
Easiest car to drive ever.

Only broken down once in 6 years – that was party user-error (mistook a noise for fan belt whine, when in fact it was the manifold chirping causing a hose to go).

Fuel is costly though, so I can see why you want 40mpg.

Berlingo?

+1 for Mondeo. I’ve a Focus and it’s huge, Mondeo more so, and they’re less in demand so you get more for your money 🙂

APF

Petrol Mondeos are cheaper, and they are much cheaper to repair. You’ll have to be doing mega miles to make the money back from a TDCI (and some luck re. DMF’s and Injectors)

Berlingo multi-space 2.0HDI ?

Mk3 Petrol Mondeo. At the price you want to pay a diesel one makes no sense as the potential for big (£1000+) bills is very high and I’ve got my petrol one to average mid 40’s on long runs sticking roughly to speed limits. If you must have diesel get a TDDi as though they’re awfully slow they at least don’t tend to suffer from DMF faliure.

Vectra estate

Should be able to get a 2.5 v6 for that

Alternatively you can get a 2.2 diesel Omega (bigger and posher)

auto boxes dont have dual mass fly wheels do they …

torque converters all round innit.

my next car will be a big automatic diesel !

Max £2k, … must be huge ….and relatively economical

Possibly mutually exclusive.
Maybe try a little bit outside the box, if you need it day-to-day too then something like a Golf/Focus diesel, maybe even Passatt or mondeo could be had for a grand (my £750 Mondeo TD lasted 50K miles before the local garage killed it). Spend the other grand on a cheap caravan for when you need it for bike purposes?

Zafira? Great for space, we fitted 5 people and snowboard ski gear ( small Roofbox ) for hols. In summer we bring everything incl the kitchen sink and it always goes in! Not quite as long and wide as our old omega, but higher.

Don’t get one of the new shapes though ( you prob won’t on your budget ) as engines made by Renault….

moniex – I think you mean Fiat. But anyway, how could that be worse than being made by Vauxhall? There’s no badge snobbery in budget cars!

Anyway, a couple of suggestions that might make it under budget – Renault Scenic, Vectra Estate, Mondeo Estate, Focus Estate, Early C-Max, Volvo V70, Berlingo/Partner, Kangoo. As previous posters have mentioned, condition, mileage and service history are probably more important that whether it’s a diesel or not. 1.8vvt Vauxhall engine in Vectra suprisingly economical.

Ford Galaxy

Or (misses the mpg) what about a manual Toyota Previa

On both these – careful they are popular as stella-miler taxi’s and prime candidates for clock tampering.

Thanks for the opinions, some useful stuff there.
Gotta stick with the Diesel and needs to be a good long distance hauler, I’ve driven Bongo/Kangoo variants and they seem ‘boomy’ and rattly on long journeys.
Cruise control would be nice.
Bongo? Rather have a Delica LWB (huge! would get 8ft carpet rolls in!) but used to have one and 25mpg was all it would do, 2wd, 4wd, fully loaded, empty, tyres at 45psi, tyres at 30psi. Towing. No difference!
I had a Grand Voyager 3.3 V6 LPG but it had such a sloppy slush-box that it wasted a load of power and fuel. Was barely cheaper to run than the Delica and on LPG was gutless! But the space… like driving an aircraft hangar around! Hence my looking at a diesel manual version. And the interior is very tough. 2 people could sleep inside the Delica or Grand Voyager with 2 bikes, front wheels off, crossways across the back. I still have the home-made camper conversion in the cellar, need to find a new host.
I borrow a petrol VW Sharan and it’s big, not bad on fuel but the interior is totally battered and I feel that a diesel one could be worse. My Grand Voyager had an amazing sound system, everything worked and had ice-cold aircon and that was with 180k on the clock. The downside was rear drum brakes wouldn’t stop it and the spark plugs were on the back of the transverse engine and was an engine-out procedure!
Anybody know at what year the Grand Voyager changed to discs all round? I’m still considering it as number one choice so far. Dropping Disco and Merc from the list.
For the winter though, gotta stick with a 1.0 Polo!

Just out of interest, why does it have to be a diesel? Are you a farmer?

😉

Might blow your budget by afew hundred but a Mazda Premacy DERV should be big enough / If you dont go for a 7 seater .
2ltr TD lump should give 50mpg , and although not the longest they are huge in the volume dept .
Plus built by people who care about workmanship .
Oddball but Saab 9-5 might be worth a look , although Vauxhall engine’d i believe
Not sure if the Premacy will be long enough , Try a Nissan Primera TD estate . Should be able to get one for about £2250 whic ticks the boxes

I found this VW for you, £2000, 1.9tdi, lots of space, german quality.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201139418736029/sort/pricedesc/usedcars/body-type/estate/price-to/2000/fuel-type/diesel/price-from/1000/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/fy83lg?logcode=p

Mondeo is huge inside. My bro in law’s second one is on 185000 and still running.

Plus they are well specced. The heating screen is a bonus too. 110 bhp. As for Aberdeen proof, 2 winter Tyres £130 ish if you buy before it snows dude 🙂

We run a 54′ 130hp TDi Galaxy. Its nigh on 1800kg of pretty tall car so your not going to be seeing a constant 40+mpg, but on a 200m motorway journey we might eek 45mpg. Real world mixed driving averages 37mpg from fuel receipts over a year. Cant fault it though. For £2k you’d probably be better off concentrating on the older model. They have common faults but they are cheaply fixed. I wouldnt hesitate in buying another. Ours lugged a 1500kg caravan across to Europe this summer & did a great job. Check out FGOC for advice on the Galaxy/Alhambra/Sharran. Some top chaps on there, one is a mechanic at Stafford Audi, & has a deal for £249 for a cam belt change.

And the Galaxy / Alhambra / Sharran were all built on the same production line in Spain. 😉

IMAG0568 by pten2106, on Flickr

If your going for a Mk3 Mondeo try & find an early TDDi model. 115hp gives plenty of power but no fancy injectors. Again, common faults but pretty much any garage can fix a Mondeo. Quite often all the injectors need is recoding. DMF’s a weak point though, & a £600 bill. Despite my fears our 165k model just goes on & on. Minicab drivers discovered the simpler TDDi a long time ago so good ones are scarce.

You can have my 2004 Mondeo Estate 130 TDCI with 104k miles, full service history, MOTed this Mth, Tax Feb, 51 MPG mainly motorway miles, yours £2500.

Down side i’m in Milton Keynes.

Really nice car and was my father-in-law before we had it.

Pics on request.

Rochey

VW Caravelle. Mine. With a 2.5 Tdi, it gets better mileage than my old Volvo estate.

See recent thread on the matter.

Vauxhall Diesel engines are good Isuzu units IIRC

just done 90 miles each way to oktoberfest in the Alhambra. Sat at 70 on the motorways. Averaged 55mpg there, 53mpg back. Think mine is the less/least powerful version and I drive like miss daisy (2 occupants plus kit, but all the rear seats out which weigh a ton!) but from fuel receipts I get 48mpg mixed driving on full tanks, consistently getting 50+ on long trips.

takisawa cheers for heads up on the FGOC will be worth a peruse.