Estate car for £2500?

xHannahx

If your doing low mileage avoid modern Diesel engines. We had one on HP and the it kept breaking down. The AA man said modern diesels need frequent long journeys to keep egr and DPF working. We ended up returning it to the finance company as it was becoming financially crippling with frequent break downs.
Round here there are plenty of bmw 3 and 5 series estates well within budget and they'd be where I'd put my money.

harveybobbles

Mate has just bought an R reg V70 2.5 20v with 140,000 on it inc recent timing belt and its in better condition than most 3 yr old stuff. Full history and goes really well. Plus has the wonderful Volvo 5 cylinder bark.

Oh and he paid 400 quid for it.

You'll also be surprised at how much a Megane estate will carry. It was the only estate car that would carry a cello. Not mine - a customers.

brightonman123

Saab's are like tanks. very reliable, but heavy so big on fuel/repairs.


Local taxi's use mainly VW Octavias. 'Nuff said.

NeverEnough

harveybobbles wrote: »

You'll also be surprised at how much a Megane estate will carry. It was the only estate car that would carry a cello. Not mine - a customers.

Good heavens, my cello fits easily into all our cars except the Smart Car! What sort of cello is this that it is too big for an estate car? You don't perhaps mean a double bass, do you?

getmore4less

harveybobbles wrote: »

Mate has just bought an R reg V70 2.5 20v with 140,000 on it inc recent timing belt and its in better condition than most 3 yr old stuff. Full history and goes really well. Plus has the wonderful Volvo 5 cylinder bark.

Oh and he paid 400 quid for it.

You'll also be surprised at how much a Megane estate will carry. It was the only estate car that would carry a cello. Not mine - a customers.

This is a reasonable strategy worth £100+ as scrap,

look in the £400-£800 bracket you get a few goes to find a good one with £2500 available.

chances are if reasonably careful the risks are similar at £400 as at £2500.

bowlhead99

If you're considering a Mondeo you could also consider a Jag x-type estate which are basically the same under the skin. If you stick £3k as the asking price (i.e. with intention of paying 2.5k) into Autotrader there's 40+ to choose from nationally. Depending where you are, that might be zero in your neigbourhood but it just adds an extra option to look out for on your search.

BigDaddyGee

I'm away to look at an 04 plate Mondeo today.

100,000 miles on the clock. The bonnet lock is knackered, so they can't open the hood. I've looked online and this looks like a simple fix.

Is it risky buying something without looking at the engine? There is a full service history, and it's MOT'd till September.

Oh, and it's at the knock down price of £750 because of the bonnet problem. I figure that even if it needs a bit of work I can't really lose at that price!

Any thoughts folks?

Oh, and I really appreciate all the input! :beer:

Marktheshark

On the Mondeo, look at the starter, if its "new", the DMF is going, they start by shredding rivets in to shavings before any noise appears, starters fail after a few hundred miles and next up it just without warning it begins to sound like a tin of beans on string as the rivets let go and you have the DMF of death syndrome.

The other issue on Mondeo diesel estates apart from injectors failing is rear suspension.
The springs get very weak, so people need to sit in and see where it levels, once the springs and bushes go replacement is the full rear subframe off and it is a big expensive job.
Get someone to sit in the boot, if it drops down on its springs , its gone.

forgotmyname

I would wonder, Why sell a car with an obvious problem like the failed bonnet lock. How long has it been broken?

So not serviced or had the oil and other fluids checked in that time also.

I would walk away from that one.

harveybobbles

Marktheshark wrote: »

On the Mondeo, look at the starter, if its "new", the DMF is going, they start by shredding rivets in to shavings before any noise appears, starters fail after a few hundred miles and next up it just without warning it begins to sound like a tin of beans on string as the rivets let go and you have the DMF of death syndrome.

The other issue on Mondeo diesel estates apart from injectors failing is rear suspension.
The springs get very weak, so people need to sit in and see where it levels, once the springs and bushes go replacement is the full rear subframe off and it is a big expensive job.
Get someone to sit in the boot, if it drops down on its springs , its gone.

Or it could be like mine and had a new starter motor because the old one was packing up (diagnosed with a hammer each morning)

Estates dont have rear sub frame, but do have self levelling suspension, so check for no leaky shockers as they are £250 EACH.

Bonnet lock would bother me - how long has it been broken? Wonder when they last did their weekly check of fluids...