New car

crom7

Suggestions please?

I need to replace my car and can't decide what to get. I have a 7k budget so will be looking at used cars.

Criteria:
Good size family car
Not too sluggish.
My wife isn't keen on people carriers.
Neither am i really but a colleague showed me how to fit a bike i the boot without having to take the wheels off and i was pretty impressed!!

cheers

invincible

how about a skoda???

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-SKODA-OCTAVIA-VRS-2-0-TDI-170-BHP-6-SPD-MAN-DIESEL-/110749377694?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item19c92d649e#ht_500wt_951

rebs

nice... it's like you 2 have never met

garrynolan

I have a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 1.6HDi. I know it's an MPV but it's fast enough, amazingly frugal (55mpg on a run at 60mph) and I think it looks good. I'm a short @rse so my bike is a 52cm. Went to Cork for a weekend - me and wife in the front, two girls behind, bike straight down the middle (UPRIGHT) and luggage each side of the bike. Brilliant. I've had 3 people and three bikes in it without removing the wheels. Probably pick one up for your money. Worth a look...

unixnerd

Good size family car
Not too sluggish.
My wife isn't keen on people carriers.

Mate just picked up a 2002 BMW 745i for a shade over 7k, it ticks all those boxes and cost 80k new :twisted:

inkyfingers

unixnerd wrote:

Good size family car
Not too sluggish.
My wife isn't keen on people carriers.

Mate just picked up a 2002 BMW 745i for a shade over 7k, it ticks all those boxes and cost 80k new :twisted:

My dad somehow ended up with one of those (think it may have been a 740) when his car went it to the garage for repair. It was like driving an oil tanker and as for the fuel economy, well you'd better have some shares in Shell. Those cars look like a great deal to buy second hand but the fuel economy and the cost of fixing it when anything goes wrong would make your eyes water.

upperoilcan

Go for a nice Audi A4 Estate,solid,safe and reliable,a perfect family car.stick your bike up on the roof......job done.

Whatever you do buy German....

Yossie

upperoilcan wrote:

Go for a nice Audi A4 Estate,solid,safe and reliable,a perfect family car.stick your bike up on the roof......job done.

Whatever you do buy German....

Problem is that the boots are tiny (its also pretty small inside) and unless you buy the S/RS versions they are slow.

The wife has a 2010 Honda Accord estate - I think its the the 2.0 turbo VTEC job but I'm not sure because its her car not mine and I don't like cars: the boot is big enough to fit crud for two adults and two kids for a long weekend away with room to spare, big enough in the back seat for two large kids seats and an adult in middle, bike on the top (I've had one in the boot with the seats down without taking the wheels off), loads of driver/passenger space inside, looks good, won't annoy anyone because its not an Audi/Beemer/ etc.

Being Japanese its 100% reliable, cheap to run, cheap to insure and when she smashes it up again you won't mind. Cheap as chips and fully loaded as well.

Only downside is that its a bit, well, bland. But hey, its a car, so what do you expect.

Agree 100% about buying German/Japanese though.

chiark

upperoilcan wrote:

Whatever you do buy German....

Or Japanese... Or Czech... Or anything but French

I have a 3 series estate, and I can get my bike in the boot with the seats up if I take the wheels and saddle off... Put the seats down and it'll fit right in with wheels and saddle on... and also have space to stack two fully assembled bikes on top too.

It also has roof bars, and I have bike carriers for those too.

It's rear wheel drive, which is (to me) a huge amount more fun than front wheel drive. Of course, as soon as it snows and you have summer grade tyres on you won't move anywhere. Being petrol and having a 3 litre engine means it likes a drink, but it'll average 35 on the motorway and 24 around town.

If I were in the market for new-ish, I'd be looking at a V60 or Subaru Legacy diesel, but at the moment I can't justify changing the car.

mattv

Volvo estate? The later ones (v70 or xc70) are really good spec and if you get one with the T5 engine they SHIFT. Bombproof too, space in the back for kids AND bikes! Also not too bad on fuel if you drive sensibly.

thecrofter

Yossie wrote:

upperoilcan wrote:

Go for a nice Audi A4 Estate,solid,safe and reliable,a perfect family car.stick your bike up on the roof......job done.

Whatever you do buy German....

Problem is that the boots are tiny (its also pretty small inside) and unless you buy the S/RS versions they are slow.

The wife has a 2010 Honda Accord estate - I think its the the 2.0 turbo VTEC job but I'm not sure because its her car not mine and I don't like cars: the boot is big enough to fit crud for two adults and two kids for a long weekend away with room to spare, big enough in the back seat for two large kids seats and an adult in middle, bike on the top (I've had one in the boot with the seats down without taking the wheels off), loads of driver/passenger space inside, looks good, won't annoy anyone because its not an Audi/Beemer/ etc.

Being Japanese its 100% reliable, cheap to run, cheap to insure and when she smashes it up again you won't mind. Cheap as chips and fully loaded as well.

Only downside is that its a bit, well, bland. But hey, its a car, so what do you expect.

Agree 100% about buying German/Japanese though.

A4 estate has a tiny load capacity, for an estate and will be overpriced "'cos it's German". Honda's are not cheap to purchase either (I work at a Honda dealer) Skoda re good and usually reliable although can be dearer to buy than you might expect. In your price range there are any number of French cars but reliability can be the issue with them. On balance try and find a low milage diesel Skoda Octavia Estate (yes, we also sell Skoda) They are robust , mostly reliable and pretty economical to run (my bike is in the back of mine , with the wheels on, just now).

bompington

+1 for Skoda, I've been very, very impressed by mine (Octavia 4X4). Bike goes in boot with wheels on with the small half of the seat folded, averages way over 40mpg, 50+ if I take it steady - not bad for a 4X4. Does 0-60 in 18 seconds towing a > 1 ton caravan.
Plus you have the TdF image...

prawny

I just got a 6 month old Hyundai i30 diesel for 9 grand with 4 and a half years warranty left. Couldn't fit the bike in the back without taking the front wheel off but it's a really nice car. Fairly quick too, in the real world. My first non Ford and definately not my last Hyundai/Kia.

For 7 grand you can get a nice year or 2 old i30/Cee'd and still have warranty left. Check out the car supermarkets depending on where you are Motorpoint in Derby or The Motorhouse in Cannock are good round my way. For £8k I nearly bought a pre registered petrol one that had 20 miles on the clock, but I fancied a diesel for a change.

rolf_f

bompington wrote:

+1 for Skoda, I've been very, very impressed by mine (Octavia 4X4). Bike goes in boot with wheels on with the small half of the seat folded, averages way over 40mpg, 50+ if I take it steady - not bad for a 4X4. Does 0-60 in 18 seconds towing a > 1 ton caravan.
Plus you have the TdF image...

Ahhh yes, the car that is advertised on the basis that it is capable of being driven for 3500 km without falling apart!

thecrofter

Rolf F wrote:

bompington wrote:

+1 for Skoda, I've been very, very impressed by mine (Octavia 4X4). Bike goes in boot with wheels on with the small half of the seat folded, averages way over 40mpg, 50+ if I take it steady - not bad for a 4X4. Does 0-60 in 18 seconds towing a > 1 ton caravan.
Plus you have the TdF image...

Ahhh yes, the car that is advertised on the basis that it is capable of being driven for 3500 km without falling apart!

We get Octavia diesels in that have been used for private hire with over 200,000 miles on the clock.....it's not that unusual.

Which ever car you are thinking of check out it's reliability at http://www.reliabilityindex.com/ . This site is run by Warranty Direct who are the biggest independent providers of Used car warranties in the UK so it has REAL information on what's good and what's not.

upperoilcan

Do the Skoda's use the same Diesel engines as the VW Golf's ?

DavidBelcher

thecrofter wrote:

We get Octavia diesels in that have been used for private hire with over 200,000 miles on the clock.....it's not that unusual.

You are Tom Jones, and I claim my £5!

Sorry. :oops:

David

chiark

bompington wrote:

+1 for Skoda, I've been very, very impressed by mine (Octavia 4X4).

that's another one on my shortlist... Only other one is the Skoda yeti. Really.

MattC59

4motion Passat Estate.

47mpg
bags of torque
I can get everyone's bikes in the back, fully assembled. (seats down, obviously )
I can get even more bikes on the roof if I need to.
4wd if faultless in the snow.

Smokin Joe

crom7 wrote:

Suggestions please?

I need to replace my car and can't decide what to get. I have a 7k budget so will be looking at used cars.

Criteria:
Good size family car
Not too sluggish.
My wife isn't keen on people carriers.
Neither am i really but a colleague showed me how to fit a bike i the boot without having to take the wheels off and i was pretty impressed!!

cheers

I don't have to take the wheels off my Astra to fit the bike in the boot and that only cost a grand.

Chip \'oyler

VW Passat CC - GT looks, sumptious interior, massive boot

bompington

upperoilcan wrote:

Do the Skoda's use the same Diesel engines as the VW Golf's ?

Yes, as do a whole lot of other cars. Mine's the 2007 140PS 2.0 diesel, not sure exactly what the various VW group cars have now.

Yossie

mattv wrote:

Volvo estate? The later ones (v70 or xc70) are really good spec and if you get one with the T5 engine they SHIFT. Bombproof too, space in the back for kids AND bikes! Also not too bad on fuel if you drive sensibly.

Yup - another good option.

The wife had a V40 or a V70 (one of the two, but I can't remember which) that she repeatedly smashed up before getting the Honda to smash up: cheap as chips fully loaded, perfectly reliable after 50,000 miles, but its not the biggest inside - bigger than an Audi but not as big as the Honda.

Had cool phat alloy wheels as standard and wasn't that bad to drive, safe as house for the sproglets as well. Excellent stereo with a big phat bass box as standard.

We looked at a new V70 when buying the Honda - wifey dearest blossom petal aaah isn't she sweet could lie down in the back with her head against the back seats and her feet still didn't touch the boot door (and she's no midget either - sort of like normal burd height).

Perfect serial killer/adulterer/dogging car, if you're into that sort of thing

As Dudley said: "Volvo: they're boxey but they're good".

Special K

Mazda 6 estate TS2. Better to drive than the passat and A4 and cheaper than the BMW. Quickish and engaging to drive and surpassed only by the subaru legacy during our test drives. The small Volvo estate was spectacularly badly put together and didn't even bohther test driving. What we like about the Mazda is that it is well thought out (easy to get the seats down etc) and doesn't feel like a massive boat to drive. Got a rubber mat for the boot which is handy. With seats down can take four bikes with front wheels off.

MattC59

Special K wrote:

Mazda 6 estate TS2. Better to drive than the passat and A4 and cheaper than the BMW. Quickish and engaging to drive and surpassed only by the subaru legacy during our test drives. The small Volvo estate was spectacularly badly put together and didn't even bohther test driving. What we like about the Mazda is that it is well thought out (easy to get the seats down etc) and doesn't feel like a massive boat to drive. Got a rubber mat for the boot which is handy. With seats down can take four bikes with front wheels off.

I don't know what they're like now, but I had a Mazda 6 TS2 (petrol) about 5 years ago. It was a nice car to drive, and quick enough, but I was a little disappointed with the quality. It felt a little tinny, or plasticy. In the 18 months (~55k miles) I had it, I went through two clutches and two drivers seats.

crom7

Hey,
Thanks for all of the suggestions...i had been contemplating a passat or volvo but will also check out the Honda.

garrynolan

crom7 wrote:

Hey,
Thanks for all of the suggestions...i had been contemplating a passat or volvo but will also check out the Honda.

Cast aside yet again...:-( The Citroens been great and 70K up on it now...

hopper1

Yossie wrote:

upperoilcan wrote:

Go for a nice Audi A4 Estate,solid,safe and reliable,a perfect family car.stick your bike up on the roof......job done.

Whatever you do buy German....

Problem is that the boots are tiny (its also pretty small inside) and unless you buy the S/RS versions they are slow.

The wife has a 2010 Honda Accord estate -

Comparing the A4 with the Accord estate is not like for like, that would be the A6 Avant.
As for slow... I have an A4 2.0 Quattro and can get all 4 wheels loose when required :twisted:
Have to drop the rear seats to put the bike in the back, without removing the wheels, or use the rack on the roof.
It is fun, it is fast (restricted to 155mph), it looks great. They are expensive as new, but you can get a great deal shopping around.

DrewDubya

Surprised no-one's mentioned Mondeo estate

Definitely not the most exciting car out there - but one of the biggest boots available. Very similar to the Volvo V70 (unsurprisingly) but considerably cheaper for similar spec. As its a Ford running costs, repairs etc. are much more reasonable than German motors. (don;t know how it stacks up against Japanese/Korean options).

Other option would be an old E-Class Merc Estate - also huge, an old one in budget will be close to equivalently specced to a lot of new cars.

upperoilcan

DrewDubya wrote:

Surprised no-one's mentioned Mondeo estate

Firstly it's a Ford,Secondly it's not German.

Gazzaputt

Another vote for the Skoda. Exceptional value for money.

Don't touch anything French they're all shite. I say this from experience after owning a Renault, Citreon and Peugeot.