Sorry I think that was me in a fit of pedantry …

I love that b5 A4. Always wanted an original RS4, but missed the boat before prices went crazy

I’m sticking with my 56 plate E91 330 estate for as long as I can as I can’t see a decent replacement for sensible money being available in a few years time. It is just about big enough for 2 of us with bikes and kit for a weeks holiday in Scotland, but it will be a squeeze. Fine the rest of the time though.

Out of your budget, but my list of alternatives currently sits at just the VW Golf R (don’t like the look of it), Seat Leon FR (don’t like the look of it), BMW 340i (had enought of BMW’s), Volvo V60 Polestar (eats tyres) and that’s about it.

I’ve heard you pay a lot to run an Audi ‘S’ either S4 or S6. Merc C43 will be too expensive I expect. Jaguar XFR with the 5.0 V8 is never going to happen.

I like 6 cylinder petrol engines, but things have moved on. Expect a turbo’d 2.0 4 cylinder will have to be the future.

I hope my 330 lasts forever so I don’t have to make a decision

To my endless jealousy my friends have: RS4, RS6 and C63 AMGs, all estates oh and another has a 911 Turbo, but at least he has the grace to turn up for rides in his Van.

Mountain biking really is a middle class, middle aged pastime isn’t it?

^^😀

Caddi CTS-V, fastest American Station Waggon (estate, in case you don’t know what a station waggon is 🤪)

I don’t mind being told off, it’s not like this is a serious thread like Kryton would start is it 🤩🤣🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Not enough love for the Prancing Moose!

Polestar V90 (Artist’s impression)

To my endless jealousy my friends have: RS4, RS6 and C63 AMGs, all estates oh and another has a 911 Turbo, but at least he has the grace to turn up for rides in his Van.

Mountain biking really is a middle class, middle aged pastime isn’t it?

3 Working Class Lads and a fringe Member of the Aristocracy as it goes 😉 one of us ain’t even 40 yet.

Given how many people drive “fast” german estates, i have no idea why you can’t get an M3 tourer??

Not enough love for the Prancing Moose!

Or teh other Scandinavian in the room…

9-5 Aero HOT

Well someone got a free big fast estate on Saturday. A dealer who shall remain nameless returned my friend’s tuned V10 M5 touring after a service. Problem was it was to the wrong house and they dropped the keys through the letterbox. 🙄

Took an anxious 24h to find it, the person who received it for free didn’t, thankfully, wrap it round a tree. 😬

9-5 Aero HOT

I had one of those. It went, but so did the petrol. You could see the gauge going down with a naked eye, moderate enjoyment of the thing resulted in 24mpg from memory.

I have no need for an estate, or a big SUV, tbh, but dammit, I so want one of those V10 TDi Touregs! Lots of geegees, but also prodigious quantities of torque.

So… why would I not buy a 530 touring diesel manual? They’re not too expensive, they have some economy, they have a load of power and it comes out the right end. Older ones even look pretty nice.

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>CaptainFlashheart
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Not enough love for the Prancing Moose!

I mentioned it before CFH, went down like a fart in a jacuzzi.

The CTS-V mentioned above is a great call: supercharged V8 from a previous gen Corvette, available as a manual, with ruinous depreciation. There’s one near me, but an automatic, which feels inappropriate.

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Overall there’s a sense that this is a question without an answer, though, given the restrictions that keep being thrown up.

E60 M5 Touring would fit the requirements but the running costs would see you homeless pretty quickly. E63 (with the 6.2 V8) would be epic, but automatic only and you’re not getting near one for £6k. Maybe an E55 though (was it available as a manual?).

How about a BMW 550 estate?

This is a great thread, fantasy power seeking for no other reason than “why not”

Talks heading towards Beemer 530d estates bring back me memories of endless days chugging the motorways towing dinghies and yachts, and filled to the brim with windsurfing gear. I had (in succession) 2 530d sport tourings, first I put 175k on and the second 240k within 6 years over that glorious period of “someone else is paying for the car and fuel”. Awesome is a word too often used, but in this particular instance the term fits the 530d very well. For all the trashy image beemers suffer from, I think the 530d is the best vehicle beemer have ever made. A super comfortable mile munching powerfully reliable machine that gets overlooked far too often, I think it’s the pinnacle vehicle in thier range for two reasons… it’s anonymous and it captures all the best ideals beemers were essentially made for. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough, if that’s the route you are going down.

But, because I’m still playing “big, fast, who cares” card have the X5 5.0d MSport instead. In true beemer fashion it has to be the biggest and most powerful and comes in fridge appliance white. Fuel mpg? No idea… how long do the tyres last? Probably about a week and a half… can you park it outside the school gates at a jaunty angle whilst half on the kerb and half on a baby robins face? but of course, park it anywhere you like, afterall you own the road and your life is way more important than the other plebs that litter and scatter as you floor it out of Tesco’s……

I have no need for an estate, or a big SUV, tbh, but dammit, I so want one of those V10 TDi Touregs! Lots of geegees, but also prodigious quantities of torque.

I think thats that’s the one that towed a jumbo 747…..

So… why would I not buy a 530 touring diesel manual? They’re not too expensive, they have some economy, they have a load of…

The auto is a much more sublime experience, and likely better economy too.  They have a manual mode and if its new enough, flappy paddles.   Even the 2.0d has plenty about it yet it’s also able to “waft”.

9-5 Aero HOT

I had one of those. It went, but so did the petrol. You could see the gauge going down with a naked eye,

From dailying one for the past 3 years, I’d say that’s a bit of an exaggeration!.

As I said before though, one trick ponies. Relatively quick, but really crap chassis. Woeful inside as well. There’s no disguising the GM!

My Octavia Vrs is big enough and fast enough for me. A bit too fast 😖

Not crazy fast but I quite like my Leon FR. It drives really nicely in most scenario’s and is fast enough to lose your licence, and driving on the motorway / back roads is effortless. The boot is surprisingly big as well. If that’s not fast enough there’s a Cupra version

Count Zero..unless things have changed in subsequent years ..expect only 10-12 k miles per full set ( x4) of tyres …on a Touareg .

I spent 2k inside a year on tyres alone back in 2006.

But again, budget might prohibit such expensive frivolity. Definitely in the case of the RS6 – I was considering an older one some years ago until I started looking into the running costs. Big performance doesn’t come cheap especially in a big heavy estate car. Even if I was gifted one I’m not sure I could afford the running costs….literally. I don’t mean it would cost a lot, I mean it would be completely unaffordable.

I did this very same exercise, if only semi-seriously. It was a bit of an eye-opener.

There’s a big jump in running costs between the “halo” cars (M, RS) and the models that are merely very very fast that almost certainly isn’t justified by the increase in performance.   Of course, those cars aren’t supposed to make any sort of sense, other than to serve their purpose of casting the brand in a good light.  Doesn’t mean I don’t still fancy that M5 Touring…

…and my vote is in, picked up a JDM-spec Legacy GTB last sunday. Really rather pleased with it, though at this point I drive it like a granny, and the autobox is confusing. Straight line acceleration when it downshifts at just the right moment to come on boost is ludicrous though (it’s not really massively fast, it’s just that it goes wait… wait… EVERYTHING so it feels mad) and it corners lovely, on the rare occasions I don’t massively overbrake before a corner. Imported in 2016 so it’s not been Scottish Wintered like my old car, which basically looks like a shipwreck underneath

It’s also ridiculously civilised- I picked it up near Stanstead and drove it back to Edinburgh pretty much in one go, the seats are comfy, the engine’s quiet and low revved at cruising speed, the stereo’s ace… And it has an LPG conversion so it didn’t bankrupt me while doing that drive.

Just need to get rid of the chavvy dump valve and it’ll be grand.

Where are the roof bars .

👍👍👍💪

the problem with all these estates is that none of them is actually any use if you have 3 kids, so I’m stuck in MPV land…  Why can’l anyone design a bench seat to take 3 child seats?

Not all ‘kids’ are in child seats, most from aged 10 upwards aren’t, so these cars are then ideal !

https://multimac.co.uk/

Mate has twins plus one older – all fit in an Octavia estate fine with one of these.

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>“bikebouy
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Where are the roof bars .”

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I’ve literally never used the bars on the old mondeo- I have racks but everything goes in the boot. It’s got some sort of slotty things for roofrack feet but I don’t even know what that is.

It’s not as epically massive in the back as the mondeo- the floor’s higher, the arches encroach a bit and it’s just generally a little smaller. But it’ll still eat 2 bikes and kit no fuss and that’s all I need. Anyone else can walk.

Though, it is drastically lacking in nooks and crannies, I was moving all my Accumulated Crap from the old car today and there’s just nowhere for most of it to go. Ford do some stuff really well…

#shouldhavegottheoutback

the problem with all these estates is that none of them is actually any use if you have 3 kids

So true. Yet if you wait, they outgrow kid seats then stop coming out with you.

Then an estate for ‘normally just me and Mrs, occasionally some lanky kids squeeze in the back’ works as a comprimise.

Gone for a practical 4 seat, 4wd to replace the RS4 as we don’t need 2 estates , Mrs NZCol has a Octavia wagon now. Yes ladies and gentlemen my man maths has justified a 991 Carrera 4 ☝️

The future is coming 🙂

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/23/kalashnikov-takes-on-tesla-with-retro-look-electric-supercar

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>jam bo
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#shouldhavegottheoutback

Possibly, possibly. Might make access to some trailbuilding locations a bit interesting.

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I’m 3 months into mine and love it. Just packed it up for the drive to wales tomorrow and amazed how much it takes.

Since the thread started ..I’ve bought an A6 Allroad S/ tronic 3.0L V6 ( 272) ..absolutely loving it ..just back tonight from a short Torridon break with the family ..the traffic was horrendous but the car is just as happy pootling along as it is hoofing it and boy does it go when you need it to ..

I didn’t expect the claimed mpg ..but it is in the low 40’s ..which is way better than the 11 year old X-Trail it replaced ..

Very happy chappy so far ..

Nice choice NZCol but have you got the roof bars yet?

A whole thread and I didn’t see one mention of a Volvo V70 R. Poor show. While the T5 were quick, the R was 300bhp of 5.7 0-60 hilarity. Add in an ohlins designed suspension system with electronically controlled shocks and 4 pot brembos. Having had an S60 T5 tuned to 320bhp before the current S60R I can confirm it’s a whole different beast to a stock volvo.

Plus it has a load capacity that can swallow a pile of DH bikes with wheels on, a sofa or a washing machine AND tumble drier.

Its a proper big fast estate.