We’re looking to downgrade our X-reg Clio to “occasional use only”, given that it’s tiny and not really geared for the upcoming winter months. On top of that the wife has just got a job that requires driving the length and breadth of Fife every week, so we really ought to have something a bit more suitable.

The only criteria for me is 4/5 door and 4wd, so I’m thinking along the lines of non-turbo Subaru Impreza estate, Audi A3/A4/A6 Quattro, Golf v6 4motion. There are reasonably examples within budget for each, in particular a very well looked after A6 just down the road. This is my current favourite.

The wife has other ideas though. Subarus are “drug dealer’s cars”, the Audi A6 has “a big bum”, and the Golf’s fuel economy is too poor. She’s looking at Renault Scenics and Honda HRVs.

Are there any other cars I’m missing from the list that might be more suited to both of us?

Dacia Duster

I like the dacia but its not a cari id like to spend time in – ie driving it for work. Its a cheap 4×4 with a cheap interior grand for 20miles to and from work and your must have 4×4 its good. For hacking around the country all day – nah your ok.

I wouldnt have any of those cars for what you need it to do . The service and repair costs will cripple you( ok maybe you can afford it but they are expensive cars to run) . + the golf isnt much bigger than your clio ime – lotsof bonnet

Frv is a good shout – although can be expensive to fix also

Personally in fife – your clios perfect for the winter months if you stick winters on – ground clearance will stop you before lack of grip – as it will in any of your listed cars(which incidently will still need winter tires) If your used to french cars quirks i present the 2.0hdi 407 as a good 2wd cheap to buy/service and run alternative

What budget? Peugeot and Citroen have this new thing called grip control which gives 4 wheel drive levels of grip in a 2 wheel drive car and subsequent better running costs. They drove a 208 or whatever up the slope at Tamworth Snowdome just to prove how good the grip control is. Obviously it’s quite a new thing, so you’ll be looking Agnew or nearly new cars, but if that’s in budget, then we’ll worth considering.

Subaru Forester – gain ground clearance, no longer than an Impreza but with even more space for drugs? Even the non-turbo MPG won’t be great though (though no doubt way better than my Forester S…)

For under £10k for a new car I think Dacia have hit on a big seller, albeit with Renault running parts. Compare to a 3/4 yr old honda which will have no warranty or a Quattro with overpriced parts and servicing which WILL go wrong. Yes Audi and Honda are nicer places to sit, but I suppose it depends on what your used to.

You don’t need Quattro unless you track across muddy fields regularly, and are keen to spend loads on fuel and additional servicing costs, a 2wd diesel audi or vw with winter tyres on will be just fine, I have an a4 avant and its superb in every way

For sure , the only issue is you need tp spend 13k to get a 4×4 model.quatros dont even do muddy fields well 🙂

I’ve just swapped out a Toyota RAV4 XT4 after a little over four years and 110,000 miles, other than standard servicing costs I think I spent about £500 on repairs – frankly astonished at how reliable it was. I live in the North downs and never missed a day of work even with a foot of snow on the road and standard tyres, not Scottish conditions I appreciate but still… Comfortable, we’ll spec’d and I’ll miss it.

My new car may be much, much nicer but come snow I’ll be putting the fire on and working from home 😀

, a 2wd diesel audi or vw with winter tyres on will be just fine

I get between 55 and 60 mpg from my 2l tdi golf (mk6), although mainly on motorway. Well worth a look.

Passat Estate
End of thread, happy motoring

Subarus are “drug dealer’s cars”,

You need to have a word with your wife. She is clearly hanging around with a lower class of drug dealer. Range Rover sports are drug dealers cars round my way. Impreza’s are more of a petrol head / max power type of thing.

How about a Fiat Panda 4 x 4?

Why do you need 4wd?

But if it’s compulsory, how about a Hyundai ix35? 5 year warranty so even a 3 year old one will have a couple of years left, and they’re pretty nice inside, I’ve got an i30 at the moment but depending what happens with work in the new year I’m eyeing up an ix35 as a replacement.

Otherwise, any car and decent tyres.

If you must have 4wd (and I doubt many really, really do) then a Panda is surely the answer.
If not, get some winter tyres and a small, light, safe, efficient car. And spend the difference on some snow driving lessons?
.
Mrs_oab dislikes slippery/snowy/icy roads anyhow, and a 4wd (Landy 110) made no difference to that attitude on the couple of occasions we had one sat outside for her to use over the last few years.

Rickos
What budget? Peugeot and Citroen have this new thing called grip control which gives 4 wheel drive levels of grip in a 2 wheel drive car

Have you bought a 650b yet? You sound like a marketing mans wet dream! 😉

A 2wd car cannot generate the traction of a 4wd car, unless the entire weight of the car is supported on the driving wheels. So until they start selling Pugs and Cits with only 2 wheels, i think we can safely ignore that marketing rubbish!

Oh OP, get a Passat Estate and budget £500 for a set of winters. Jobs Jobbed!

I’ve got an A3 tdi quattro. gets 42mpg everyday driving and up to 50 on a run. No more expensive to run than the equivalent golf. haldex oil change every 20k but that wasn’t that much extra.

great fun to drive, very sure footed and perfect for my commute across the moors.

The wife has other ideas though. Subarus are “drug dealer’s cars”, the Audi A6 has “a big bum”, and the Golf’s fuel economy is too poor. She’s looking at Renault Scenics and Honda HRVs.

Don’t fall into this trap. We were getting a new car for the wife last year so I let her have what she wanted with the idea I could have something sporty when my new car time came. So here we are 3 months from me getting a 170bhp RWD fun car and she gets a company car. My car has to go and I am left with a 1.6d mpv. While its not a bad car, far from it, it just isn’t the car I wanted to be driving around in.

Just remember.

A 2wd car cannot generate the traction of a 4wd car, unless the entire weight of the car is supported on the driving wheels. So until they start selling Pugs and Cits with only 2 wheels, i think we can safely ignore that marketing rubbish!

Granted, but does everyone really need proper 4wd levels of traction all year round? I’ve not watched the video (at work), but it may be of interest.

[video]http://youtu.be/3e2NpXAw4pQ[/video]

I have a Dacia Duster. It’s such good value for money.Very plasticy and a bit cheap inside but what do you expect for that kind of cash .
I love it.

How much are you spending?

My wife has just swapped from an 06 Freelander to a new one; the new ones are very, very good and tbh drive just like a quality car, but with full LR 4×4.

Rural Scotland here too.

If it’s just ground clearance you need then a lot of crossovers can be had in 2WD. Lob on the winter tyres and Bob’s your uncle plus you’ll appease the STW advanced driving judges who know what’s best for you 🙂

A6 2.7tdi quattro avant owner here, 7 years 110 miles since new, looks and runs like a new car.

Fabulous in the snow and poor road conditions. 120+ mph if you want, 50 mpg too (although not at that speed). Excellent on long distance runs, very smooth and comfortable. Not greatest load carrier but still good.

Dealer service was very poor but we have a great independent now.

Might be a bit big for what you want. I am looking at A3 quattros, a swiss friend tells me you can put winter tyres and normal wheels on them (most a3 quattros are sports versions so have low profile tyres). For me the A4 is a bit “ought and nowt” it’s not as compact as an a3 and doesnt have load carrying of a6

Jimny?

Forester?

Jimny is very underrated as a 4×4 , they will go almost every where my defender will

Not sure I’d want to do lots of miles in one though . The. I don’t like long trip in the defender lol

Granted, but does everyone really need proper 4wd levels of traction all year round? I’ve not watched the video (at work), but it may be of interest.

Pure marketing crap. Just about any car with winter tyres will manage that. You will only need to be able switch off traction control and have some control on gas pedal.
Scenics are ok with the winter tyres – just very expensive to own and dull to drive. That said, we’ve had all versions and it’ll drive easily +800km/day in Scandinavian winter roads.

A couple more thoughts

A6 feels a very big car in a multi story car park. We have rear parking sensors and if I bought again I’d get them on the front, with curved bonnet it’s quite hard to judge where the bumper is when parking.

Forrestor (suggested by @hora) are very good, we nearly got one instead of Audi, it was the interior which swayed it for us preferring the German style.

I am fan of Rav4’s having had one of the older ones for a while (rear seats totally removable on ours to make it van like load carrier). We had auto petrol which was slow to accelerate and heavy on fuel.

Don’t think you need 4wd simply for snow and winter driving. Winter tyres are a better solution, and won’t cost you in fuel and purchase cost like 4×4. You’ll have far more choice and get a better deal in 2WD.

Don’t think you need 4wd simply for snow and winter driving. Winter tyres are a better solution, and won’t cost you in fuel and purchase cost like 4×4. You’ll have far more choice and get a better deal in 2WD.

Don’t knock it til you’ve run one for a while. I won’t be buying a 2 wheel drive car again.

Honda CRV?
Decent on the road for distances and enough of a soft roader to get by in the snow. Bloody massive amounts of room and Honda reliability.
Weve had a 2002 one for 7 years and its been excellent – would buy another (poss with a diesel this time)

agree with trail rat…a6 is pants in the snow/mud(Quattro one) I’ve got a mate who lives on a farm with one and it’s terrible…what about an old landy?

Thought the Pug in the mud was impressive myself.

I had the same car as Jambo, A3 Tdi Quattro. Faultless for 120k miles and good mpg. Dealer servicing is stupid money but in Fife, Star Performance are a great independent, Jim, Brian and Euan will look after you really well….

I have just got another A3 Tdi Quattro after a break for something else….

Failing that, Skoda Scout are 4wd and well specced for the money…. then there is the Octavia 4×4 too.

Usually, German cars, French wine, not the other way round….

Don’t knock it til you’ve run one for a while. I won’t be buying a 2 wheel drive car again.

I’d not by one because of the fuel consumption.

But if you’ve not driven 2WD+snow+winter tyres you shouldn’t knock that either. There are good reasons for shelling out on 4WD, winter is NOT one of them.

I like the dacia but its not a cari id like to spend time in – ie driving it for work. Its a cheap 4×4 with a cheap interior grand for 20miles to and from work and your must have 4×4 its good. For hacking around the country all day – nah your ok.

I’ve got a duster too, albeit the “top spec” diesel 4×4. Driven it around town, 400+ mile trips and everything in between. It’s not fancy, not a drivers car, but it’s far from a bad for place to be on a long drive. On the big drives I find it very relaxing and the only issue is a little bit of wind noise. Ours is coming up for 10k miles bow and the cheap plastics look the same as they did when we picked it up. We’ll be keep in ours as long as it keeps going.

I’d look for a small front wheel drive car like a Clio.

Ha! Having said all that about the duster it’s not done a winter yet and the best winter car I ever had was a mark one Clio! Front wheel drive, skinny tyres, no power, didn’t get stuck once!

Volvo V70 estates are cheap as chips just now and no more expensive to fix than the Jap alternatives. Obviously no four wheel drive but as has been said ^^^ winter tyres go a long way to rectifying that.

Strangely, I’m in exactly the same boat – some onesy-wearing zombie wrote off my Volvo S80 D5 SE last week and I’m looking for exactly the same specs as you in my replacement car (minus the four wheel drive).

My eBay watch list is stuffed with Mitsubishis, Volvos, and Subarus. Pretty sure I’ll just end up with another Focus / Octavia / Mondeo estate though. Sad-middle-aged-dad-of-a-one-year-old-face.

*weeps* It had £700 spent on it in April. It was going to be my “forever car”.

Been thinking of a legacy estate myself, anyone got one?