Bangernomics Estate car, advice needed please.

forgotmyname

cybervic wrote: »

Ah, I guess I got it wrong then, I thought age and mileage give a good indication of its condition when comes with good service history? The only reason for the 130K limit is because we think an engine might start to cost us dearly after 180K. I think the most difficult bit for us is how to judge a car's condition. We plan to ask question about advisory items on last MOT and service and the last time cam belt was changed,
and hope we could get some idea of how long the car will last us.

Nope, Age and mileage does not guarantee the condition, my 2001 car was 8 years old and i was looking at cars that were 5 years old and some of them were money pits just waiting for the right buyer who just saw shiny paint and not all the worn out bits under the skin.

Direct from a lease company with a full upto date service history is a good way to buy them, but your budget wont get that, so the next step is where the driver bought the vehicle and kept the vehicle and servicing without cost cutting, that was my 2001 car.
Same name on the paperwork from when it was a lease vehicle and afterwards. And receipts for brake fluid changes etc that usually get neglected when a cars out of the warranty period.

My last car had just over 170k miles and i spoke to the new owner recently, they have added over 8000 miles since January and no signs of trouble.

My old 2001 petrol car sold in 2009 with 150k miles is still going, taxed and MOT'd. I wonder what the mileage is now?

gilbert_and_sullivan

V40 a fine car, avoid the 1.8GDi engine.
This question would have been a simple answer if you didn't need an estate, or if the two makers had offered estate versions here, Hyundai Sonata or Kia Magentis.
You could look at Daewoo/Chevrolet Lacetti estate, not as good as the other two but often looked after well by the right first owner.
98 to 2002ish Avensis, many have been taxied.
Primeras rust, otherwise good.
Subaru Legacy/Outback/Forester heavier on fuel but seriously tough and reliable.

Generally agree with Forgotmyname's posts, but you shouldn't necessarily expect receipts, many of us run cars in this age bracket because 90's designs (build up to about 05) were the best car years before things started getting silly.

Many of us overservice our cars, and us older ones learned when we were youngsters, because we were broke and taught that borrowing money (except for a house) was the never never route to ruin, how to fix our own and learned the hard way that neglect kills vehicles quickly, hence the regular maintenance, the only problem with that is that we're usually hopeless with paperwork and a receipt for 25 litres of best quality Millers/Morris synthetic oil, bought cheap and enough for 5 oil changes isn't worth diddly as proof, nor is receipt for 5 oil filters on offer, nor 5 litres of brake fluid, nor 25 litres Dexron 3 transmission fluid etc etc.

In this budget and market you judge the seller as much as the car, if it quacks and waddles its a duck/wide boy, the genuine home mechanic won't talk in sales patter, and generally he'll know every single thing that's been done to the car in his ownership because he's done most of it and only uses trusted people to do other bits, he wouldn't be seen dead in a crap fit centre.

The gems are out there, usually but not exclusively owned by more mature people.

I've said this before, first thing you look at are the tyres, wheels, and brake discs visible...you want to see a set of decent tyres not mix and match far eastern widowmakers with worn out sidewalls through kerbing, straight unkerbed wheels and clean unworn brake discs...if you see all of these it's an indication that the car might well have been cared for in the unseen places.

Joe_Horner

Agree that it's worth looking at '90s cars. You can then:

(a) consider diesel without any DPF (or cat) worries to sting you and mileage becomes even less or a worry.
(b) have far less chance of nasty electrical or computer woes, and usually fewer electrical bits to get expensive come MOT time.
(c) slightly counter-intuitively, condition becomes a little less of a gamble because most of the dying ones are dead already - the ones still out there tend to have gone through the "banger" stage and into "cared for" already.

That opens up (if you can find one) things like the Pug 405 and e34 5 series touring - both can be snagged in your price range if you're lucky, both are cracking and capable cars, and both are easily capable of reaching the moon.

loskie

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201506064090716/sort/default/maximum-mileage/up_to_150000_miles/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/transmission/manual/radius/1500/channel/cars/price-to/1000/fuel-type/petrol/postcode/dg71tr/page/6/seller-type/private_adverts/body-type/estate/usedcars?logcode=p

something like this but you may want a fresh MOT

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/postcode/dg71tr/radius/1500/sort/default/maximum-mileage/up_to_150000_miles/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/transmission/manual/channel/cars/price-to/1000/fuel-type/petrol/page/6/seller-type/private_adverts/body-type/estate

cybervic

Thanks guys, for all the helpful advices.

We will scrap the 130K criteria and look for a full or long service history then. As for age, aren't newer cars generally more fuel economical? (We don't want a diesel due to environmental concerns and DPF cost.)

Mazda 6 and toyota Avensis seem like a good choice to add on our search list now, thx. However, not sure about Peugeot and Hyndai because we haven't heard much about their reputation, will need to do more diggings then.

By the way, even though we are not using mileage as a main critiria, is there a max mileage that I should not consider? I am guessing the answer will differ depends on the make as some make will last longer than others?

Johnmcl7

cybervic wrote: »

By the way, even though we are not using mileage as a main critiria, is there a max mileage that I should not consider? I am guessing the answer will differ depends on the make as some make will last longer than others?

As someone highlighted earlier, you should be looking at condition not mileage - the problem with mileage is that it's not an accurate indicator of condition for the car. A car that's clocked up many miles cruising up and down the motorway with regular services is likely a far better buy than a low mileage car that's been hammered around town by someone who thought servicing an optional extra if they had the money.

You're going to have to be very careful with the choice of car, not just the specific make and model but the specific car itself as there's no guarantee even if you pick a reliable option that a particular car you look at won't be a money pit.

John

Herzlos

I'd drop the 1999cc requirement too, a lot of older estates have bigger engines, around 2500cc and the fuel economy isn't much worse despite the fear mongering about gas guzzlers. Tax will likely be the same anyway.

But as said, at that price range your only concern should be condition.

harveybobbles

Mazda 6 is no good if you'd like your spine to be where it should.

My choices, in no specific order would be:

Mondeo Mk3.
Passat.
Octavia.
V70.
406.
Carina/Avensis.

veryoldbear

Just go for a bit of comfort ....

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201506044030756/sort/default/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/body-type/estate/postcode/ox136sq/channel/cars/radius/1500/page/1/make/saab/usedcars/model/9-5?logcode=p

forgotmyname

MK3 Mondeo, go for the 2L petrol. Dont buy the 1.8 and only get a diesel if you really need to and the clutch/DMF has been done or you save enough to do it.

A 2.5 V6 petrol is reliable also, but your going to be getting less than 20mpg around town.