Which Estate Car

rdwarr

My best one was a Mitsubishi Sigma. Big Australian-built thing. Bit thirsty but over 200,000 miles without a serious problem.
But I'd recommend the Mondeo these days. Why buy a small estate car? You either need the room or you don't.

inmypocketnottheirs

ahll wrote:

I am not sure I know enough about car to buy one from an Auction ! I might end up with a dodgy car !

The car you buy might have been bought from an auction.......!

I am a bit of a diesel estate anorak, having driven combinations of both for the last 10 years. I drive around 40,000 miles per year and need a large estate car to carry six-eight large suitcases full of samples.

My current cars are: 54/04 plate Saab 9-5 turbo diesel estate, purchased in March with 6000 miles on the clock from Saab main dealer with balance of 60,000/3 year warranty, paid £13500. I also have a E Class Mercedes, 300td Avantguard Estate, automatic. Paid £13500 in September 04 with 70,000 miles. The latter is 7 seater and is also used for towing a caravan.

I have also had in the past Volvo V70 D5 SE Estate, C Class Mercedes 250TD Estate, Peugeot 406, Ford Mondeo, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Omega 2.5 TD, a VW Golf estate, all diesels. The Saab is quieter than the Volvo although lacks the performance, both Mercs have been superb but indulgent, the 406 and Mondeo lack lustre. The Omega shares the same 2.5 six cylinder diesel as the earlier 5 series BMW and older Range Rover diesels, and is a remarkably refined and surprisingly economical engine. The Focus suffers from a lot of road noise at motorway speeds, especially on concrete sections. It is quite nippy and easy to drive, but not for a long distance vehicle. The Golf is better than the Focus, better made, better to drive. The Focus was probably my least favourite, with the Mondeo and Peugeot neck and neck thereafter.

The Saab meets all my expectations, comfortable, good load carrier and economical.

A good friend of mine has a new shape Laguna diesel estate and is very happy with it. Although he has discovered that not all estate cars are that large when you fold the seats down. The Laguna has a sloping rear window/boot and this reduces the load carrying capacity.

It really is all horses for courses. How much do you want to spend, how long will you keep the car, how many miles per annum do you drive, how big is your family, what do you need to use the car for. These are all questions to consider.

HTH

Wig

inmypocketnottheirs wrote:

The car you buy might have been bought from an auction.......!

Change that to:
"the car you buy will probably have been bought from auction and then had its miles adjusted"

I noticed you said 60,000mile/3yr warranty, so OP will want to make sure they know the details of the warranty, they don't all expire after 60,000 miles do they? Depends on the manufacturer.

inmypocketnottheirs

Wig wrote:

Change that to:
"the car you buy will probably have been bought from auction and then had its miles adjusted"

I noticed you said 60,000mile/3yr warranty, so OP will want to make sure they know the details of the warranty, they don't all expire after 60,000 miles do they? Depends on the manufacturer.

Correct, I was referring to the Saab purchased in March 06. Sorry for any confusion.

Wig

No confusion as such, I just felt it was a good point to make the OP aware of.

ahll

Hi again
Has anyone bought a car off ebay ? Would anyone recommend it ?

Dan29

Yep I bought my Mondeo on eBay. However I'd only buy from a dealer advertising on there, not a private seller, and if I couldn't go to view the car I'd check the service history with the dealer who'd been servicing the car.

Also of course you have to make sure you know how much you should be paying so you don't get carried away and bid more than it's worth

xxMandyxx

hey my dad has a passat diesel estate and its brilliant, so handy space wise and no trouble so far, its reliable and he would definetely buy another passat. HTH xxMandyxx

Dan29

Yes I'm sure the Passat is the 'better' and more reliable car, and that the less dramatic depreciation may well mean the overall cost of owning one turns out to be about the same as the others, but you do need to have quite a lot of money to buy one in the first place

inmypocketnottheirs

ahll wrote:

Hi again
Has anyone bought a car off ebay ? Would anyone recommend it ?

Not bought a car off ebay, but a motorcycle. A good deal too, and very satisfied. A genuine and helpful seller, and a bike bought at a better price than from a dealer.