What big diesel estate, 2nd hand?

If I’m spending £10k on a car I want something that is at least nice to sit in and have a bit of go. Even the Highlines look like they’ve had their leather seats fitted by a blind person. Insanely dull cars to drive, look at and be in. Plus you’d get people trying to flag you down for a lift all the time.

Avensis? Same as above.

Looked at them both, just not for me…

Insanely dull cars to drive,

I still don’t understand how a car is going to excite me on the M4 down to Farnborough..?

I did say properly maintained. Lots of things are not on the regular service schedule but are service items. Shocks are one, but suspension bushings and even springs need to be looked at too.

Ahh, but if you went around just changing things like that every few years before they have physically worn out, you *would* be financially better off buying a new car every few years.

trail_rat – Member

“5-series estate (similar vintage to the A6). Lovely looking things but living on a hill + RWD + wife NEEDING to get into work virtually no matter what the weather (I’m ok, I can just work from home) kinda rules them out. Nice though… Still tempting.”

not really – they are pretty capable cars with winter tires on.

^ +1
I`ll take the 535D Touring fitted with winters over any of the FWD alternatives on Summer tyres

And at 20k a year I`d question whether you need a diesel too

And at 20k a year I`d question whether you need a diesel too

Did I miss something about diesels and high miles?

I’m finding it harder and harder to fight the inevitability of a Dacia as the future of my motoring

Brand new diesel estate, loads of room for bikes, turning 70 odd MPG with 7 years warranty and 3 years servicing, zero rated for road tax and without lots of bells and whistles to go wrong

for £10k 😯

Ahh, but if you went around just changing things like that every few years before they have physically worn out

Are they not already worn out then?

molgrips – Member

I still don’t understand how a car is going to excite me on the M4 down to Farnborough..?

Get a mk1 Focus, and buy a faulty crankshaft sensor, it’ll cause the engine to cut out without warning every few days. Much excitement will ensue as you try to coast to the hard shoulder, while turning the ignition on and off to try and clear the fault code.

Oh, fwiw, for sportiness… Or sport-touryness- try a nice Mondeo ST. No it’s not a sports car but there’s something hugely involving and balletic about it. There’s loads of big estates that actually handle better I reckon these days, with modern electronics etc but it’s not the same feel.

I’m finding it harder and harder to fight the inevitability of a Dacia as the future of my motoring

Brand new diesel estate, loads of room for bikes, turning 70 odd MPG with 7 years warranty and 3 years servicing, zero rated for road tax and without lots of bells and whistles to go wrong

for £10k

Except they’re £12k, 50 odd MPG and 7 years warrenty is £850.

Are they not already worn out then?

Well no, bushings gradually wear out don’t they – they don’t just go from working perfectly to not working do they? As do shock absorbers (usually) and springs etc.

I would recommend a Mercedes 124 estate (the one from the 80’s and early 90’s) The 3.0 24v diesel or a 6 cylinder petrol.

Not the best on fuel but they are very reliable and will clock up 4 or 5 hundred thousand miles.

You will have to pay quite a few thousand for one but they hold there value.

If I couldn’t have one of those, a VAG 1.9pd or old school, wouldn’t rule out a petrol.

Citroen XM diesels have quite a following and fetch a few grand. There is usually a reason older cars have a following and command reasonable money.

Petrols are not really that bad on fuel and are much more reliable than a cr diesel. Pumps and injectors have fine tollerances and wear out a lot quicker than old school diesels. 6 injectors u/s and high pressure pump could set you back a good £4k and they probably wont get to 200k miles.

Regarding long warranty on these Dacia and other cars. Bear in mind if the distributor goes under, the warranty paperwork is not going to be worth the paper it is written on. Dacia have been in uk before and dissapeared, as did Hyundai in the 80’s

A warranty is not much help when you need to be somewhere and your waiting 3 hours for a truck to pick you up. I would rather have something that I trust.

Except they’re £12k, 50 odd MPG and 7 years warrenty is £850

Logan not duster – diesel one £10445 including the 7 year warranty, 74.3 mpg combined and CO2 Band A

Bear in mind if the distributor goes under

Renault?

“A warranty is not much help when you need to be somewhere and your waiting 3 hours for a truck to pick you up. I would rather have something that I trust. “

Ever been out the uk ? other countries seem to love the dacias – including france , holland , ukraine , azerbijan.

its not just a new start up with no background.

and yes most of the dacia garages round here are just tagged onto renault dealerships – probably some incentive from the parent company.

im quite taken by a dacia duster for 12k my self – ive yet to see another 12k 4×4 with decent MPG and a propper drive train – how ever the tow capacity puts me off so ill probably end up with an isuzu rodeo. the logan has been on and off my radar also but i cant help think the roofs very low for carrying bikes and that a blingo multispace would be a better buy for extra.

oh an id buy a dacia rather than have a hyundai (again) a kia or a sssangyong and id rather walk than buy a great wall ….

Dacias look great vfm in standard spec but when you start adding extras they quickly become quite expensive

For instance base Petrol 2wd Duster with no options £9k

Diesel Duster with 4×4, Lauréate trim, touring pack, 5 year warranty and traction control £17k ish.

Amazingly popular on the continent.

No it’s not a sports car but there’s something hugely involving and balletic about it.

On the M4? Are you talking about the bumpy bits as you pass the Severn Crossing toll on the other carriageway?

Tools for jobs. The requirements for comfortable motorway cruising aren’t the same as boy racering around .. wherever you do your boy racing.

they don’t just go from working perfectly to not working do they? As do shock absorbers (usually) and springs etc.

Dunno about bushings but shocks often do. With lots of things, wear increases slightly until a critical point after which it suddenly goes to pot.

Anyway, changing bushings doesn’t cost that much, nor does shocks. Ok so it’s a reasonable hit on your wallet, but nothing compared to a new car. People treat the costs differently, but it’s all the same money.

Dunno about bushings but shocks often do. With lots of things, wear increases slightly until a critical point after which it suddenly goes to pot.

Anyway, changing bushings doesn’t cost that much, nor does shocks. Ok so it’s a reasonable hit on your wallet, but nothing compared to a new car. People treat the costs differently, but it’s all the same money.
But the point I am making is that if you carry out such a level of preventative maintenance, then why spend it on a >6 year old car? Surely the cost of it (and increased general repair costs over a new car) would even itself out against the cost of that newer car. And as you say yourself, it’s all the same money. And I’d rather spend that same money on having a newer car…

“Diesel Duster with 4×4, Lauréate trim, touring pack, 5 year warranty and traction control £17k ish.
“

But its all relitive – thats not expensive for what you get – yes its alot of money and it will likely depreciate like a stone but its still cheap for what you get imo – and while its no looker id sooner have it than a quasqui

and while its no looker id sooner have it than a quasqui

Yeah but in 3 years time (as you have said) what will the Quasqui be worth on a trade-in?

Was referring to this Molgrips, are you having trouble following your own posts?

See, I don’t get why people say this. Wtf are you expecting out of a large diesel estate? It handles well enough, and those other cars aren’t exactly sporty.

ive yet to sell a car for more than 500 quid – that tells you how long i keep em.

most get scrapped at end of life.

On the M4? Are you talking about the bumpy bits as you pass the Severn Crossing toll on the other carriageway?

As a Passat owner yourself you’re obviously not quite getting it are you, nor ever will.

are you having trouble following your own posts?

Yes.

“Diesel Duster with 4×4, Lauréate trim, touring pack, 5 year warranty and traction control £17k ish.
“

But its all relitive – thats not expensive for what you get – yes its alot of money and it will likely depreciate like a stone but its still cheap for what you get imo – and while its no looker id sooner have it than a quasqui

Well it still seems like a lot of money and puts it into the same bracket as base Skoda Yeti’s, Suzuki SX4 S-Cross and a myriad of nearly new competitors

in price only really .

none of them are really the same kind of car.

id say its quashqui / xtrail / antara /freelander competitor rather – yes you can get a used one cheap but my point still stands that for 17 grand you wont get a new car thats similar in spec.

poverty spec in any of the above is grim anyway.

pug 407 in 2.7HDi flavour – abysmal residual value,

I have the 407SW in 2.0Hdi. It’s like driving a very comfortable sofa.

It has a couple of electrical quirks, which are down to iffy earthing, but mechanically has been flawless.

had a 2011 mondeo for a short while, hated driving it but it had been a pool car with 100,000 on the clock, felt dangerous in the corners. i then had a 2008 Mazda 6 whilst i waited for an A4 to be delivered and was gutted when the A4 tuurned up. the Maxda was a lot bigger and a nicer drive. i’ve since changed jobs and we get a car allowance and bought a 2010 Maxda 6 with 16,000 miles for £13,000. a bike can be thrown straight in the back if needed and its big enough for 4 bokes and theior kit for a weekend or for me my wife and dughter to go away for a week.

I just bought a 02 plate 5 series touring. it’s great.

living on a hill + RWD + wife NEEDING to get into work … kinda rules them out.

At the moment we’re thinking either a BMW 330 Touring

not sure i follow that logic!

had a 2011 mondeo for a short while, hated driving it but it had been a pool car with 100,000 on the clock, felt dangerous in the corners

You must’ve been doing something wrong, I’ve never had a car that felt dangerous in corners when driven appropriately!

i have – was an escort – knackered shockers and wishbones made it horrendous in corners . once swapped it was like a different car.

to be honest it felt pretty dodgy in a straight line, was thinking about getting one before driving that one. pool car at 100,000 miles might explain it. it was the titanium model and i just didnt like it either.

id say its quashqui / xtrail / antara /freelander competitor rather – yes you can get a used one cheap but my point still stands that for 17 grand you wont get a new car thats similar in spec.

Not really, Qashqai yes, the others are SUVs. You also only get a 3 star NCAP rating. But you pays your money etc. I actually like them but an amazing bargain it is not.

had a 2011 mondeo for a short while, hated driving it but it had been a pool car with 100,000 on the clock, felt dangerous in the corners. i then had a 2008 Mazda 6 whilst i waited for an A4 to be delivered and was gutted when the A4 tuurned up. the Maxda was a lot bigger and a nicer drive.

Don’t the Mazda and Mondeo share the same platform?

Also the Mondeo is widely recognised as being a very well sorted car, possibly the best in that market sector. So chances are the one you had had a problem of some kind. Unless the entire motoring press is wrong and only you are right.

like i said 100,00 mile pool car probably explains it i.e. never looked after. im sure it did have something wrong as a car that bad surely wouldnt make it to market. no idea if it shares the same platform or not.

cr500dom – Member
And at 20k a year I`d question whether you need a diesel too

All depends on the mpgs of the old and new. My passat is £200+ ved each year and 50mpg so a 1.6tdi golf would save me quite a bit.

I would recommend a Mercedes 124 estate (the one from the 80’s and early 90’s) The 3.0 24v diesel or a 6 cylinder petrol.

Not the best on fuel but they are very reliable and will clock up 4 or 5 hundred thousand miles.

You will have to pay quite a few thousand for one but they hold there value.

I’ve got one of these. Now at 198000 miles.

30 mpg. No performance. Not as reliable as people think.

However, massive, comfortable and the most relaxing drive imaginable. We did 350 miles non-stop on the way to Morzine this year and only stopped because we needed fuel. (60 litres, BTW)

It’s fine, because when it goes wrong I borrow my wife’s Golf. Would not recommend one as your only car.

I recently went through a similar scenario. I booked test drives in the mondeo estate, i40 estate, Octavia vRS estate, smax, touran, insignia and c5 estate.

The smax was brilliant in every way except the one I was looking at was near 26k, far too dear for us as a family car! Didn’t like the seating position of the mondeo, which is a pity as I set my heart on it too 🙁
Hated the vRS, felt small and claustrophobic which really surprised me! I40 was okay, pretty basic inside but engine underpowered, c5 was very good as was insignia vx-line. Ended up buying the insignia as they gave us a cracking deal, not what I intended buying but after 9 months and 16k I’m very happy with our choice to buy the sports tourer..

Test drive plenty to get the feel of what you want, only real way for you to choose bud – good luck!

Another +1 for Mazda 6.

Mine was 08 plate 2.0d, 65k miles, sport estate, £8,500. I’ve done 20,000 without a glitch this year.

I have the 407SW in 2.0Hdi. It’s like driving a very comfortable sofa.

It has a couple of electrical quirks, which are down to iffy earthing, but mechanically has been flawless.

Nice to know.

Couple of years back I had a 406, the V6 petrol. Lovely car, top spec, echo the sofa comment – as a big cruisy car to go long distances I liked it a lot, except the petrol bill. 3L and 200hp, so not too surprising, but did have an utterly ridiculous and surprisingly satisfying ability to go from about 20mph all the way up to 90, in third gear and piss off anybody in a saxo with a large subwoofer and silly suspension.

Hence I’d quite like the new flavour with a big diesel. Bit disappoint that it only comes as 6 spd auto, but thems the brakes.