I could do with a new car and due to get a dog at some point soon. I want something fairly quick, petrol and an estate, have around £16k to spend, so I assume the answer is VRS estate?

Must be some size of dug.

Or a Passat.

And it depends on what kind of dog. Cocker spaniels don’t need more than an A3/Golf. If you get a car with a big boot, be tempted to get a divider so that you can still put luggage in there too.

Superb V6 4×4

Depends how big the dog is!

Ford Focus ST I think comes in estate guise.
Leon ST FR (SportsTourer – or just an estate, rather than Ford’s version of ST!)

The old Octavia used to have quite a bit boot lip which might be a pain for getting a dog in & out. Pretty sure the Leon is a flat floor (and the new Octavia might be, to be fair).

The Leons normally come with an adjustable boot floor so you can have it flat when the seats are down if you want.

The 1.8TSI is the quicker petrol one. There is now a 2 litre petrol too but they’re very recent so won’t be available for your budget.

Leon ST FR – you can get lots of money off a new one if you can muster a bit more cash.
Generally you can fit a dog in any car, and the boot lip would only be a problem if it were a St Bernard. And dead.

The answer is yes. Now what’s the question?

I had a 240. The wheels were a bit silly at 19” but that VAQ dif made a noticeable difference. It was a quick car with a large boot. A dog would be happy in there unless he suffers from travel sickness.

i was also thinking of VRS wagon before changing my old 2010 passat. I just didn’t think it was going to be big enough coming from the barn of a passat that i had.

Ended up after a lot a thought, i was down to passat or superb estate, i was looking for a high spec with toys and just couldn’t find a superb within budget or with enough toys.

Ended up with a Passat Estate, 2.0 diesel GT with the 190bhp. Comfy big bus great to drive and licks on when i want it to. Real world driving, round town with the odd motor way run it will be doing 45-48mpg.

It’s a good car but not a very good estate- the boot area is smaller than it could be considering the size of the car, and handicapped by the lip on the edge. It’s kind of more like a saloon with a really big boot, to my mind.

That’s not terrible, but it’s a drawback for biking nd carrying big stuff, way less good for that than frinstance a focus. Dog won’t care.

Going to be doing a 36 mile daily commute in it as well, and I’m only looking at petrol really. Always assumed you needed an estate for a dog, we’re probably getting a Groodle or Labradoodle.

legacy. or outback if you have a big dog.

The old Octavia used to have quite a bit boot lip which might be a pain for getting a dog in & out. Pretty sure the Leon is a flat floor (and the new Octavia might be, to be fair).

Flat boot is an option

Depends on your definition of quick. Had a petrol MK3 VRS estate, it fitted the German shepherd ok, but I was disappointed in the performance. You could stretch to a Leon Cupra ST, but there probably won’t me many to choose from at that price.

Subaru is the new Skoda.

I recently bought a Golf R Estate, similar to a lot above.

Definitely a decent size (boots about 20% bigger than a 3 series), hugely capable but thirsty getting around 23mpg normal daily driving, 32 on a motorway.

I like it, but it’s dull. Not an exciting thing to drive whatsoever.

I have a 17 Octavia vrs estate. And a dog (springer/Labrador cross) – She fits in. We also have a Honda jazz – she fits in that too, but not with much luggage.

Had it after an A6. Boot noticeably smaller, but not yet had an issue taking anything I need – Except for when going away for a week and taking silly things like golf clubs we fill roofbox more than we did with Audi.

Also as above I’d recommend a divider in the boot if you want to carry anything else.

Performance wise I like it. Not silly quick but quick enough for me and much sportier than the A6. Feels smaller (it is) which also helps. Don’t drive it in sport mode much and get c34mpg driving 60 miles a day including some motorway. Put your foot down or put in vrs mode and you can almost see the needle move.

Also had 3 bikes on roof and associated people and kit in car no probs – although as it’s less wide than A6 have to use a lot of the rail (just don’t go too close to trees)

I had a petrol vRS estate for years, good reliable workhorse – I put about 60k miles on it and I can’t remember anything going wrong with it in that time.

Great for dog/family duties, the Skoda dog guard is also a good bit of kit I never took it out.

I’d agree with them being dull/boring, everything feels a bit over assisted/disconnected – steering, gearbox, brakes etc. Deffo not a quick car either, mine was mapped and had quite few quite a few other bits done to it to try to help it along.

Going to go and look at a 2016 230 tomorrow.

We’ve got a 2016 VRS Octavia and been very impressed. It’s an automatic due to MrLL’s smashed ankle, but the gearbox is excellent, certainly better than newer automatics we’ve rented from other makes. Room for 4 bikes on top, two paddle boards in the boot and associated kit at the same time so it has plenty of load carrying capacity for us. And a flat boot, which you can drop the floor of by a couple of inches if you want more depth. No idea about dogs thoug.

Im selling my 16 plate 220 in the coming weeks.

Quartz grey, privacy glass.

FSSH

36k

£14.2 k

Isn’t the STW answer a VAN or a Berlingo ?

I’m in a similar predicament myself. Currently own a 3-door Mk5 GTI (soon to be for sale!) but the arrival of a sprog and a dog means that it’s not entirely practical. Really want an estate for the practicality but something with some performance similar to the Golf. My shortlist is currently –
– Skoda VRS (a bit meh on the looks/performance front)
– Focus ST (wee bit boy racer-ish – good performance)
– A 6-cylinder 3-series (RWD not the most practical?)
– A4 Avant (my budget would only allow me to buy an ’11/12 plate – I’m aware that some of the TFSI’s had serious issues with oil consumption)

It’s not an easy choice….the ST looks like a good option at the moment.

Groodle

Half poodle, half….growler?!

I’m in a similar predicament myself…
It’s not an easy choice….the ST looks like a good option at the moment.

When my vrs was written off I needed something cheep and cheerful to get me back on the road. Despite having 2 kids and 3 dogs I picked up a cheap 3dr Focus ST (older 5pot Volvo lump), once you get past the image it’s a great little car. Shame it’s fwd but a big improvement over the vrs in performance/fun/handling etc.

& jamesfts
How was it in terms of reliability? In terms of image I looking for a black one which is slightly more subtle than the scream orange! The question is pre or post facelift?

Famous last words but hasn’t put a foot wrong so far apart from the dodgy Focus bonnet badge/release thing that I fixed with a kit that converts to in car release using Mondeo bits. MPG isn’t as terrible as everyone makes out, worse than the vrs but not much.

Mines a black pre-fl, bought it on condition/mileage/owners though I think the fl cars look less dated. I’d not choose black, its a complete pig to keep clean. Silver would be a good compromise for understated/easy to live with and a bit less common than the blue.

So, the answer was “yes”, bought a 2016 230 estate.

Had a legacy for 4 1/2 years and only drove in snow twice. Now back to a 2wd it’ll probably snow heavily!

Off to find roof bars.

Happy motoring ..have fun !

@spooky211

– A 6-cylinder 3-series (RWD not the most practical?)

I’ve got one (2012 E91 330D), it replaced an Octavia VRS.

Apart from the cup holders it’s better in every way over the Octavia. It’s a bit smaller but plenty big enough for us, but it’s quicker, quieter, more comfortable, bit more exciting to drive, looks better etc etc. Although I am comparing it to an older Octavia, the newer ones are definitely better than my MK2 was.

I’ve not tested it in snow yet but it’s got it’s winter tyres on at the moment and I expect it will be OK. If you’re not careful on slippery roads you can make the traction control have to work quite hard, but it does do a great job at getting it back in line.

From your short list the Focus ST does look a good option, I want to like them but can’t get past the Ford interiors. They’re supposed to be good fun though.

A4s (and a lot of newer Audis) are very meh now. The BMW drives a lot better than the A4 & A6s I drove a while ago too.

@orangewinger enjoy 😀