Recommend an estate car

[Bigjoe]

Morning all,
Having ruled out a discovery etc on the fact i do alot of miles,i would like a new (to me) estate car,budget is £5500 max ,its to replace a passat b5.5 1.9tdi lovely car (my second) but getting to the point of do i spend a great deal of money on it to futureproof as it were or replace it as i have the money,i cover 1200-1500 miles a month regularly,so more than likely another diesel.

Many thanks all,and no fighting at the back

 

[slim_boy_fat]

How about something like this random Google search - not suggesting this particular example, but you get the idea......

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-Vol...289029?hash=item1ed75e2085:g:hPcAAOSwfoNaVeb7

 

[MCKDAVID]

get another Passat, I agree with you.. brilliant had two, regret changing to a 5008, next one will be another Passat....

 

[Wildefalcon]

Volvo V70 D5.

Phase 2. Bomb proof engine, not too thirsty, orthopedic seats. Very stable on the road.

Problems include swirl flap link, injectors, intercooler and auto gearbox.

Change gearbox oil, use decent diesel and Meccano to fix the linkage.

 

[eSCHEn]

Passat all the way for me. Have a B5 now and have had Octavia and X-Type before. Passat had beaten them all

 

[bigegg]

Morning all,
Having ruled out a discovery etc on the fact i do alot of miles,i would like a new (to me) estate car,budget is £5500 max ,its to replace a passat b5.5 1.9tdi lovely car (my second) but getting to the point of do i spend a great deal of money on it to futureproof as it were or replace it as i have the money,i cover 1200-1500 miles a month regularly,so more than likely another diesel.

Many thanks all,and no fighting at the back

I've owned vauxhall omegas, Mondeos and a Volvo
Liked them all - preferred the omega tho.
There is a VERY good forum - "omega owners forum . Co UK". Buy a 2.5 diesel, not the 2.2.
1.8d Mondeo was very economical and cheap to buy.
740 Volvo was lovely - I picked it up from derby. Started first time, and drove it 100 miles home.
Parked up overnight, it never started again .:-( lovely to drive tho. Very solid.

Next door neighbour had a Renault Laguna. Horrible. Spent more time on the ramps than a professional skateboarder.

My recommendation is always: Toyota or lexus. Avensis seem popular for taxis-which says a lot for reliability and economy.
Me personally, I'd go for a lexus is200 or 300 sport cross - that's a 2.0 or 3.0 petrol tho, and the boot isn't huge.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Skoda Octavia estate.

 

[Burdekin]

Skoda Octavia estate.

The Fabia is a big wee estate car as well, but a bit more quirky looking. You won't go wrong with either in my experience.

 

[123hotchef]

Dont get rid of the VW B5.5! best car I ever had I regret getting rid of mine.

My mate has 2 of them too

 

[skotl]

I helped my mate buy an estate car and he looked at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllll of these (and more )

he eventually settled on a Mazda 6 estate, which turned out to be an overlooked but very good buy. That was (IIRC) around £4k for a 2010 with 90k miles.

 

[Fazerruss]

Skoda Octavia estate.

+ 1

I'm on my third now. Really good cars. I do around 2-2500 miles per month.

 

[fixerupper]

I'd have another Volvo if I needed an estate , when I bought the 740 there was a escort van for the same price same year same condition ...I test drove both ...the Volvo won hands down , I drove it like I stole it for five or six years in the UK.. fuel .oil, and tyres only, drove it down here and back a few times ,loaded with tools and materials to fix up this house and then back to the UK loaded with Olive oil , wine , Raki and cheese ...never let me down, very comfy and relaxing for long distance.. In 2005 I tried to re- register it on Greek plates when I moved here full time ...but the customs people wanted 12 thousand euros import duty !...So I took it off the road and bought the 4x4 Mazda 2500 for the same price .......

 

[Bigjoe]

I would like a 4motion passat b5.5 but quite rare,might keep the current one for a while,paid £1000 for it last January,ive done 20000 miles in it this year,and its the highline so all the toys

 

[Kayos]

Why no Disco?

I do loads of miles in mine and it’s very comfy and hardly ever breaks

I get 26mpg with it filled to the roof

Quite frankly I’m surprised you have considered anything else

 

[indy4x]

The cost of running a Disco probably discounts it based on fuel costs and am speaking from experience.

I do about 1000m per month in mine which costs about £200 each month, that's £2400 a year in fuel alone which if you don't need a 4x4 or have a requirement to tow 3.5t why bother

Add in maintenance costs and it all starts costing £££

Plus there are other minor annoyances, you can't fold down the rear seats without moving the front seats forward.which means if you are over 5'8" you then can't drive it comfortably while fully utilising the load space.

Yes I love my D2 to bits, really enjoy driving it, goes like a rocket having got the Turbo Technics VVT conversion, 3 bar MAP sensor and appropriate remap to take advantage of all that but sadly putting best part of £2.5k of fuel every year is not something that can easily be justified. Even with the mods mine still turns in 28mph which is no worse that most stock manual D2's

 

[Turbo]

The Toyota Avensis is a good wearing car but not nice to drive. No feedback from the steering or suspension, hard uncomfortable seats & a strange driving position make a journey feel long. The only thing it has going is a good lively D4D engine, though there are different hp available, depending on model. My Dad has one & I prefer driving my 17 year old Peugeot! His suffers from a lack of low down torque & it is very easy to stall it pulling away!

One of the last 407's would be a good buy, they had all the problems sorted out by then! I had one of the last 406's & loved it to bits, would still be driving it if I hadn't crashed it!

 

[Bigjoe]

Dont get me wrong,i still like disco's but general day to day use i like estate cars,i may have both one day .

I average 46mpg in my passat so 26mpg might hurt a bit

 

[Gareth J]

Quite like my old E46 320d. Nice to drive and averages just under 45mpg (measured). However, in your position, if it's causing you no grief, I think I'd stick with your Passat - sounds pretty good for the money!

Edit, I've just reread your post and realise you're looking to spend a decent chunk on changing. Ignore my comments, they aren't really relevant

 

[MCKDAVID]

Volvo V70 D5.

Phase 2. Bomb proof engine........

never gave these any thought before, but after your post I had a quick look at these on the equivalent of auto trader here...wow, I'm still shocked at the average mileage of these over here, majority had well over 350000, but a lot had around 450000km on the adverts....one had 480000 !!, pretty unbelievable for modern engines, especially as most seemed to be petrol !!...

I'll maybe need to have a look at Volvo myself for the next one.

 

[rcx132]

Just a suggestion because it worked for me. I used to like Estate cars until I discovered people carriers especially the ones where seats come out and leave you with a flat floor like a van. For people like us who are practical and have things to transport the space is amazing and, unlike a 4x4 which guzzles petrol and drives like a truck, a people carrier feels like a regular car. The downside is a complete loss of credibility of course....