So my timing belt on my Peugeot Partner prematurely failed the other night. Bugger!

Looking for a petrol estate car. Budget is 3k ish.

So far I’ve come across Mazda 6 2.0l, and Toyota Avensis 1.8vvti. Any other suggestions?

Also anyone want a broken Peugeot Partner 😉
Or any spares from it?

Toyota or Mazda both good. Octavia, SAAB ( lots of threads on here), Volvo V70, Passat, SEAT Exeo ( not sure if within your budget), or even a Skoda Roomster.

Mondeo ST220 Estate? Ages since I’ve been in one, but I remember it was nice sounding, fast & leathery inside

Honda Accord?

We just bought a Maza 6 2.0TS estate.
2004, 44,000 miles, one owner, full history, climate, cruise, virtually immaculate for £2400
It’s not the most exiting car ever but it’s fast enough, does high 30s mpg, and seems very well screwed together. Not a single squeak or rattle.
I can’t fault it.

Hondas and Mondeos were expensive by comparison.

Saab 9-3 or 9-5 (if you want more room).

Plentiful array of petrol engines and power outputs depending on what you want/need. Aeros are pretty rapid.

Very well screwed together (too well in fact – partly why they went bust), pretty nice to drive and very comfortable. Much better value used than equivalent Audi/BMW/Merc/VW/Skoda.

I have just bought a saab 9-5 aero and sh*t the bed it is quick. Well chuffed

Avoid pre-2005 Avensis VVTI due to the oil thirst.otherwise it’s a very very underated car.

Want abit more vava voom? Buy a 2.3T Aero HOT Saab 8) I was starting to think mine was getting abit slow..had a holiday hire Panda for a week then back in mine and… 😆

There are a few Saabs around. Now ive had a look for them after the suggestions above!
Might go have a look at one. Whats the 2.0 petrol saab engine like? Id probably be looking 9-3 as there is more choice. Any reliability hot spots to watch out for?

The mazdas do indeed seem like a good car and not expensive. lots of extra gubbins as standard too. tax is a bit more than some of the others.

The hondas i do like, but they are (as mentioned above) much pricier than everything else it would seem!

Thanks for suggestions so far!

Post 2004 doesn’t tend to have oil breather issues. Mine is a 06 9-5 Aero HOT estate. It lifts it’s skirt and runs like buggery.

The 1.9diesel is used in countless Vauxhalls to silly mileages. They need 40k belt changes.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/saab-me-up

Ah! ^^ thankyou

Very happy with my Accord Tourer 3k gets an EX with all the toys and leather. Huge boot, dead comfy and totally reliable.

OP the Japanese cars tend to be well specced partly as they can’t be (or couldn’t be in the past) built to order in the same way as European cars as they have to be shipped half way round the world.

I have owned Toyota (2), Mistsubishi (2) and Honda (1) – all super reliable if a little uninspiring.

I had two MkVII Accord Tourers and they were very good. The 2.4 petrol engine is very smooth and extremely reliable (we have a MKVIII Tourer with this engine).

What are Volvo V50’s like?

Decent enough, bit small as a bike (inside) car IMHO.

What are Volvo V50’s like?

Basically, this;

Decent enough, bit small as a bike (inside) car IMHO.

£3k is a little low to be looking at a V70, I’d say, unless you get really lucky. So, Mondeo it is.

In the spirit of recommend what you own:

Ford C’max 1.6 (or a focus estate for that matter). Boot isn’t mahoosive like a Mondeo, but it’s big enough with the seats down or out to get bikes in with front wheels off.

Reliable and for any jobs I’ve had to do pretty straightforward to work on, servicing has mostly been done at home. OH has a Fiesta which shares a lot of parts and has done over 110k, mines done 90k, coil pack and power steering hose are the only two faults between them in that time (and the fiesta’s heater fan which is a known weakness and not worth fixing).

I think mines worth about half your budget, and at that price it’s a bargain IMO.

What are your requirements? I’ve looked at loads.

Avensis has a reputation of being incredibly dull, but typical Toyota reliability.

Accords are not as cheap as some people make out, and the petrols appear to be pretty thirsty – with the auto boxes not even being that quick.

Mondeos are recommended a lot, but I can’t get past the Ford reliability myself.

Mazdas seem relatively rare.

Volvo V50s are basically Fords, and not massively cheap.

Saab a little cheaper to buy in some instances for what they are – but reliability?

BMW 3 or 5 series is worth a look – smaller petrol engines reportedly have some issues, but the 6 cylinder 2.5 or 3.0 is really no more thirsty than a 2.4 Accord.

Subaru Forester / Legacy, though again the big engines can be thirsty.

Octavia.

Etc…

If reliability and practicality was my main concern, I think I’d go Avensis. Maybe an Accord fr a touch more class.

But for something more fun, 6 cylinder BMW, Forester XT, Volvo v50 T5, Octavia VRS…

Saab reliability is really the same of any car – it’s only as good as it’s servicing/TLC.

I’ve had 3 Subaru’s. 3k is getting ropey/old IMO.

Slight ressurect. £3400 Mazda 6 estate. 2011. Petrol. 1 owner. Full service history. Top spec with all the gubbins.

The interesting bit.. 150k miles.

Worth it?

High mileage later year will be fine.

But I would drop to £3000 at least.

I sold my 2006 Mazda 6 TS2 estate with 100k miles for £1000 and was happy with the price, it was the 1st of the Mazda6 models but as the garage that bough it said it still drove really well with not one issue.

Quite a big mileage for petrol. I’d say no.

3k ….3k you can buy a bike for that!!!!

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609057447663?make=HONDA&postcode=kt89lg&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=Used&radius=100&model=ACCORD&body-type=Estate&sort=price-desc&price-to=3000&page=1

For a secondhand estate that you won’t worry about, is truly vast (2 bikes inside wheels on), comfortable and has all the toys, they are a bargain.

Be aware. Mazdas rot like ****

Seen some newish ones sub 10year 3s and 6s need serious welding on the underside for mot.

And the old ones we had rotted for fun . -pop up headlight 323 and its replacement upgrade.

If you can find a focus with a good engine in, do consider it… All versions since the mk1 have got progressively worse but they’re still good.

Word of warning on the Honda Accord. Check the electronic tailgate very carefully, ours became unsellable when it stopped working – couldn’t even open it manually from the outside. Honda wanted over £1100 to fix it.

Thanks everyone. Got a focus petrol in the end. Bit more than budget. But when doesn’t that end up happening!!

The accord was a close contender though! Just got a better deal on the focus.