Apart from “christ that is ugly”

now looking at a 2007 1.8 petrol with 130k on the clock as a bike / kid/ camping / snowboard carrier for 4.5k. Whaddayareckon?

Any owners out there?

ta!

The mark 2 sharalhambralaxy is, hands down, the most practical car I’ve ever owned.

£4.5 k seems like an awful lot for a 12 year old, high mileage car though.

@perchypanther cheers do bear in mind this is Sweden 😃

how much would you expect to pay in UK? it looks immaculate, taxed an MOTd till november next year

We loved ours and ran it from about 30k to 130k. Got rid of it because of increasing electric faults. Also had issues with Ad-Blue sensor, around £2k of work of which we paid £500.
Fantastic family car and load lugger , very sorry to see it go….

Fantastic car for eating motorway miles with lots in or on it.  Lots of space inside making in comfortable for up to 7 people.

Absolutely awful for driving (and especially parking) in town,

Apologies, I should have said 80-85k miles. it is listed as 13,000 – 13499 Swedish miles on the clock. 1 Swedish mile is 10 kilometres. Oops 😬

@willard what do you think?

https://www.blocket.se/annons/jamtland/sharan_1_8t_freestyle/87457465

Can the seats be arranged in different ways? Want to fit a bike in there and / or sleep in it !

We’ve got an Alhambra version- it’s mainly driven by my wife, she’s not had any problem driving around town or parking. Though it does have a parking camera.

We did a c300 mile drive from Kent to Cardigan and it was great. Rear 2 seats have loads of room compared to the smaller 7 seaters such as Pug 5008, SMax. Middle row is pretty roomy too.

I’m 5’8” and can lie down in it with room to spare. Middle seats fold flat, rather than come out like a Renault Espace. Not tried a bike inside as I use bars.

I had an earlier one than that, high spec turbo diesel with swivel captain seats.

It was typical vw, lots of quirky faults, aircon never worked and cost a lot to run, But despite all that it was one of the best cars I’ve had. At the time I was doing lots of long runs, penzance to London and back in a day sort of stuff, and it was brilliant for that. I also liked being able to remove all the rear seats to make a van, or a camper to sleep in with the bikes.

Great car, I’d buy another.

Thanks for the comments so far. It does sound practical. Town driving not an issue, i live in the middle of nowhere. 20km to work and back, cycle most of the time in the summer.

Would be used for the 100km journey to the mountains most weekends.

It is low mileage, just a little concerned about the age

Well, det är svensksåld and it looks to be in good condition for a 2007, but that engine will be thirsty and it will need regular servicing. Årsskatt is not too bad mind. From memory my mate’s wife had a diesel Sharan that caused him a few problems, but I think they were mainly because of the diesel engine. Only 4 owners from new is not bad for that age and it does look tidy. You might be pushed to sleep in it though, even with the back seats taken out.

Blocket threw up a comparison one down near me for about half the money, but with about twice the mil. The original price is too much. 56k SEK is better, but you might be able to get them down a bit more. Your location is the problem. Jämtland might be lovely, but you are a bit for away from the market.

One thing I remember most about buying cars was told to me by my old landlord, Mike. His rule was always that anything under 5k UKP is effectively a banger and you should be prepared to write it off when something went wrong with it.

just test drove it. was really good. he’ll drop the price a little but not much.  hmmm

Better than a Touran for bike duty, just that little bit bigger all round and that does help.

The 1,8T is a cracking engine, but it’s also thirsty and soulless. It needs an oil change every year/15kkm at the very least. Do that, plus drop the sump every few years and clean out any sludge and it will last for half a million k without a complaint…

i was really impressed with the engine. packed a little bit of punch I thought!  Oil has just been changed and I am a saab owner so very used to changing the oil regularly. I think i might well go for it, however a mecanic friend of a friend has just warned me to never buy a 1.8t engine from VW.   apparently they are known for burning through oil .FFS.

Check the Aircon works, if it doesn’t it might be the pump, the plastic blade ends up not being attached to the spindle, equals expensive to fix. If you need to take the seats out, you’ll need somewhere to store them and they’re big and heavy. We put about 130k miles on our 02 plate.

Now on a 09 galaxy which is a nicer place to sit but doesn’t drive quite as well and is a bit smaller inside

When one of the vans packed up i used one of these over a summer lugging luggage and my bike around the alps.

Practical car. Seats out gives you lots of space to transport stuff or to sleep. Used to sleep inside with an iso mat plus my bike beside me (front wheel out, strapped in place using the seat mounts).

I almost bought one, but ended up wanting a full on camper.

it is listed as 13,000 – 13499 Swedish miles on the clock. 1 Swedish mile is 10 kilometres

Do the swedes have their own measurement system?

10 km is 1 Swedish mile (mil), so yes, we do. You see it a lot on old road stones.

My sambo had a Passat with that engine in and loved it. She did maintain it herself though. She prefers the newer 1.4TSi we have now, but her old car was capable enough.

1 Swedish mile is 10 kilometres

Well this is my “I learnt something new on STW today” item for today

Well this is my “I learnt something new on STW today” item for today

Mine is that the Swedish term for a “bidie-in” is one that we couldn’t really use in the UK

“Legal cohabitant” please.

Samboskap (legal cohabitation) is a significant thing in terms of legal standing compared to just girlfriend. Marriage has other advantages (especially if there are children involved in a relationship) but, for me, it is enough just to have a partner that is legally recognised to be that (mainly because I am allergic to marriage now…).

Anyway, back on track… @howsyourdad1. Any decision yet? Did you manage to get more off the chap?

@willard he wont go.lower than 50,000tkr. it is immaculate however, just slightly concerned about what the mechanic said.  i asked the owner about the ‘alleged’issue with 1.8t petrol motors. He said his mechanic recommended 5 years ago to change the oil every 15000 swedish miles with full synthetic oil, and that what he has done.

there was no blue smoke, no froth round the oil cap, no problems i saw

Nearly got one. Still could tbh. I testdrove a 1.8t, the V6 and the tdi and tbh the diesel is the only one I’d want. The 1.8t’s a fantastic engine, in a golf or something. The V6 was nice but guzzled fuel. The diesel I think was the 1.9 but had been remapped and really did the job nicely.

He said his mechanic recommended 5 years ago to change the oil every 15000 swedish miles with full synthetic oil, and that what he has done.

Which, thanks to this unexpectedly educational thread, I now know to be 150000 km. Either there’s an extra zero in there or that engine is now lubricated (or not) entirely by tar 😀

@howsyourdad1 Spoke to “legal cohabitant” about this last night and her car was pretty solid for the seven years she had it with oil changes every year. It certainly seemed to run ok.

As for the car, ultimately whatever you get is going to be a compromise. The Sharan is going to be more car, so will be easier and more comfortable to drive, but will not have the space to sleep in (unless you are 1m 60) that a van would. BUT… A van is going to be harder to use as a normal, every day vehicle and will likely mean more årsskatt because it will be a diesel.

I’ve driven a shitty T5 a a daily, one that was part converted. It had a removable second row of seats and a bed and some storage for bikes, but all of it was “either” instead of “and”. you could take passengers if you did not want to sleep. You could sleep if you did not want to take bikes, etc. That said, I loved my T5 and would have one again. They are just so useful especially if, like me, you are renovating a house. I still would prefer a double cab T3 though…