new car choice

[digger]

was about to pick/buy a focus tdci estate then "she" decided the renault laguna looks nice,a new shape astra isnt bad etc etc.

got about £7500 to play with including 4k for the current car as a part exchange.what im after is a common rail diesel (no,i have no idea what that means) estate that is a bit nippy and gives me better than my current 30mpg.

given a choice what would you go for (bearing in mind she will be away for 17 days in august and the final choice is out of her hands)

really dont fancy a french motor

[bertie]

I know you said not french, but what about peugot 307 estate, great engines and more for your money then fords/ vauxhalls!

[pin]

New New, or new to you do you mean?

 

If you mean used you could get something like a 2000 plate A4 Avant 2.0Tdi quattro for that money. Bullet proof engine, should turn in 40+mpg. Similar year volvo s70 2.5tdi for the same money.

 

If you aint a brand snob and can see past the badge (many can't) you could pick up a relatively brand new Octavia (03 plate <35k miles). VW build quality, VW engine and running gear, cheap parts and servicing and should run for donkeys years.

 

Good luck!

[lurcherboy]

Echo Pin's reply and any common fuel rail, especially in a Peugeot can return 70mpg if driven sensibly. Ask your local minicab driver.

 

 

 

 

LB

[Tam]

Peugeots have good diesels, but be a devil & get a shooting waggon

[reefman]

I have a landy Defender.

My wife has a skoda Fabia 1.9 VRS this goes like stink and returns 44mpg it has the VW 130 bhp diesel engine.

you can pick an earlier one up for your type of money.

We a very pleased with it it's a gti for stingy people

[pin]

Not an estate though, is it [ edit: re: the vRS]

 

Lovelly little cars though, shame about the brand snobbery. Never considered one mind, not sure if I would have one or not, certainly good enough - just still some stigma attached.

 

Echo Pin's reply and any common fuel rail, especially in a Peugeot can return 70mpg if driven sensibly. Ask your local minicab driver.

 

On one of my shoots there are a pair of cabbies and they swear by Peugeot. I overheard one of them say something along the lines of 200k miles and not a single fault. Has to count for something

[Tam]

Don't overlook Skodas, Cheap VW & usualy all the extras

[kirky640]

skoda octavia estate lovely cars ~~ pugs still have that old bushes in the back axel problem nasty and exspencive to fix

[pin]

Don't overlook Skodas, Cheap VW & usualy all the extras

 

Totally. Xennon headlights are an option on my A4 @ £850. Same innards on the Skoda and the option is £500

 

Fully stacked Octavia, and I mean the lot comes in under £19k. Thats 5k less than the base model A4 on which you get almost nothing. Considering its the same engine, DSG gearbox (same as in the new TT) and VW build quality thats a lot of car for the money.

 

I think its me thats the mug, i've bought the wrong car

[jonno 357]

Go for the Skoda Octavia. Stay clear of the 307(bag of ****)

 

Jonno

[jonno 357]

Don't overlook Skodas, Cheap VW & usualy all the extras :unsure:

 

Totally. Xennon headlights are an option on my A4 @ £850. Same innards on the Skoda and the option is £500

 

Fully stacked Octavia, and I mean the lot comes in under £19k. Thats 5k less than the base model A4 on which you get almost nothing. Considering its the same engine, DSG gearbox (same as in the new TT) and VW build quality thats a lot of car for the money.

 

I think its me thats the mug, i've bought the wrong car

 

I

 

 

The DSG gearbox available for the VW AUDI SKODA SEAT

 

I have just bough the Seat Altea 2.0 TDI but not the DSG. The shogun had to go wit the fuel now over £1 per litre and talk of taxing even more on the chelsea tractors

 

Jonno

[Teal]

2nd hand the golf estate might be an option, they have very high depreciation in the first few years.

[old rooster]

Go for the Skoda Octavia. Stay clear of the 307(bag of ****)

 

Jonno

 

Sorry, got to disagree on that. I've got a Peugeot 307 HDi estate and it is a brilliant car. 03 plate 72,000 miles and I recently paid £5,000 for it. A lot of very useful car for the money IMHO but then I've had quite a few Peugeots over the last 20 years and can honestly say they've given me very little trouble. The 307 goes very well and handles more like a saloon car if you want to chuck it about a bit. Good fuel economy, comfortable, cheap tax due to low emissions etc. etc.

 

Seem to recall that it got car of the year award last year or was it the year before that ? Doesn't always mean too much I suppose.

 

If you've got some nationalistic reason to steer clear of French cars that's a personal thing but I have to chuckle when people who think that way are then prepared to pay out the vastly inflated prices asked for German cars ;-)

 

Still if Jonno has owned both and can make a direct comparison then I will have to bow to his superior knowledge on this occasion as I've never owned an Ocatvia. They look OK and you get the percieved reliability of the VW name behind it.

 

If you are after good used cars you can do far worse than buying a fleet car, they are maintained to a very high standard as the agreement with the leasing company usually has stiff penalty clauses for the car being off the road. Some will sneer at that suggestion and continue to pay over the odds for their cars, no problem to me cos I know how to get my reasonably priced motoring. My Daughter used to work for a big car leasing company so I've seen a bit of how it works.

[pin]

The DSG gearbox available for the VW AUDI SKODA SEAT

 

I have just bough the Seat Altea 2.0 TDI but not the DSG. The shogun had to go wit the fuel now over £1 per litre and talk of taxing even more on the chelsea tractors

 

 

Yep, densil is creeping up though. With a 75l tank it costs me £70 to fill mine! Ouch, mind I get 700 miles out of a tank :unsure: You have to love the look of the new A4 too, s-line spec with the 18's looks the ballacks

 

Perhaps I didn't get the wrong one

[karl h]

good advice after my dad being in the trade learnt a fair bit. do not buy french if you want strong well built then german, if ya want good engine anything japanese and if you want something cheap to put right if it goes wrong then go british speak to anyone in the trade I thing the opinion is the same hope this helps.

[Hardy]

I run an Audi A4 Avant 1.9TDI & can highly reccomend it. it's a 54 plate with 75k on the clock & the easiest thing to drive. Does good mpg - average is just over 45 at present which is a mix of motorway & rural driving.

 

Servicing is a bit pricey at the dealers but other than that it's had 3 sets of front tyres & 1 set of rears & thats it.

 

Before it I had the TT 225 - lovley car except when it was back with audi - all too often - and it needed driving all the time.

[Pedro]

Mondeo estate with the 130bhp engine. The quality has improved no end, servicing and parts are cheap and it goes like a train. Even Mr Clarkson says it's a good car :unsure:

 

P.

[jonno 357]

Yes Old Rooster I have owned a 307. Wasn't too bad. A bit bouncy and the suspension, but this is like all French motors. I have driven a Octavia but never owned one.

 

Jonno

[Axe]

Personally i'd go for a Golf or maybe an A4, good solid reliable motors.

[pin]

That said, when I picked my A4 up the parking sensors were not working (you try parking the saloon without them :unsure: and a wheel arch liner was incorrectly fitted. Last week a suspicious squeaking started coming from the nearside front when going over bumps (suspect the gas ram has a leak).

 

It also drinks oil, a lot of oil and it aint cheap oil either (SlxII longlife VW formula) @ £16/litre

 

On balance though I am not that annoyed, the audi dealership I do business with can't do enough for me and the guy there always lends me something fruity to hoon about in

[Axe]

I was only discussing car reliability with a colleague today. He has a 2 year old E320 Diesel Estate, its been back to Mercedes on 3 seperate occasions for total system failures! My almost 3 year old V70 has been back for both silly and some not so silly problems. The cooling fan duct for the ECU became loose and started vibrating after just 50 miles :unsure: Atr 1 year old, the left hand front suspension inherited a rather concerning 'knock' when going over pot holes. And now the steering rack has an annoying 'eek' on full left lock. Fortunately for me its all covered by warranty.

 

But the trophy must surley go to the Ford Mondeo. Amongst the company cars we run in our company we have 4 mondeo's. Every single one has had similar problems. All have had replacement injetors at 60,000 miles. Now you may think that fine but at £350 per injector (fitted) it aint funny. Nor the sudden power loss that they all suffer with from time to time. Funny though, as the Focus we also have with the same diesel engine, has been a very good car with little problems. Wont be buying ford again though.

[Nildes]

There nothing common about my Rollsdown Canardly with its three speed Bachman-Turner overdrive and limited slip tyres.

On a good day you can get a good sixty to the gallon downhill by turning the ignition off.

Of course, they prevent this fuel saving economy on modern cars by fitting a steering lock to the ignition too.

I understand that the brand name has been bought by a Shanghai company and they will shortly be going into production again. So sucks to MG.

Look out for this legendary vehicle, it will give the old Trabant a run for its money anyday :unsure:

[pin]

I had, we will call it a "mishap", some time back and the plod saw fit to take away my licence (wasn't drink driving but I am saying nothing more)..

 

Because of the penalty points I was awarded for my efforts I couldn't afford to insure anything fruity (previous car involved in the "mishap" above was a Lancer EvoVI GSR) so I bought a Ford Fiesta Zetec-s 1.6. Fantastic little car it was, never had a single thing go wrong with it in all the time I had it. I used to hammer that thing, as you would imagine coming from the car I had before, and it just kept on going. I put 48k miles on it in 3 years, and it cost me a couple of sets of tyres and a few oil changes outside of the service schedule.

 

As with anything, some people will swear by a make, some will avoid like the plauge. Say what you want about Ford, my experience has been positive. The important thing to remember is that make doesn't really count for much, if you get a bad one you get a bad one. People in the industry say you don't get "Friday" cars anymore, ballacks I say.

 

On the Merc front, wouldn't touch with a barge pole, JD power survey and top gear survey agree - some of the worst cars for build and reliability - certainly in the "affordable" price bracket anyway.

 

 

 

There nothing common about my Rollsdown Canardly with its three speed Bachman-Turner overdrive and limited slip tyres. :unsure:

 

****

[Mungler]

All I know is don't buy a car the Frogs or the Wops have had a hand in making and you won't go wrong.

 

Many years ago I dabbled with a Renault 5 Turbo and a Pug 205Gti - never again. More time in the garage than anywhere else.

 

The old BMW 525 on an M/N/P/R plate are a steel (as too the diesel versions). Any Merc pre "R" is worth a look - built like Grandpa's tool shed and with heavy depreciation a bargain second hand - E320 diesels are the cabby's favourite round my way.

 

If looking second hand, Munglers top tip is to log into autotrader, find the brand and broad model range of the car you want, then stick in "1 owner" (as part of the search criteria), limit the age / mileage / price as appropriate with the drop down menus and then hit search.

 

It's the best way to quickly turn up those bargains, bargain hunters.