Used German Estate advice - ideally no more than £4,000.00.

lovinituk

Scooby Impreza WRX Wagon!

Loads of fun!! (But not exactly cheap on fuel )

OnanTheBarbarian

A 320i would be a road block and is a thirsty pig

If you're going for a 6 pot e46 you at least want a 325 or preferably a 330.

jimjames

For that sort of money I'd be looking at a Passat. I know the reputation might not be great but ours has now over 160k and has been excellent. If you're looking at Audis then VW is same engine and car with different badge.

Witless

insert_random_name_here wrote: »

Subaru Legacy - a cracking car with performance and reliability that'll give any German estate a run for its money.

... or a Forester. The back is cavernous and the fuel consumption better than you'd expect.

Mine is the 2.0 X (non turbo), appears to be totally bulletproof engine wise (currently on 166k miles) and consistently does 29 to 31 mpg 'round town' short runs and 42 approx on runs.

Bigger inside than you think (carries bigger loads than the Merc estate), comfortable and 'fun' to drive when you take the notion.

The AWD is superb - it makes cornering effortless though the engine could catch out the unwary, it's a LOT faster than the performance figures suggest. Top speed is only 112 mph - which is quite enough to excite the constabulary.

In all honesty I reckon it's twice the car my Merc 220 CDi estate was but was about 1/3 of the price!

(Already decided my next car will be another Subaru - the only question is manual 2.0 Forester or automatic 3.0 Outback).

(Just checked my records - the Forester (petrol) is averaging 32.17, the 220CDi (diesel) averaged 34.72)

Witless

Couple of Autotrader links to give you an idea

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603252322618?postcode=YO11%203LZ&sort=default&page=1&radius=1500&transmission=manual&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&model=forester&searchcontext=default&make=subaru&aggregatedTrim=X&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201604122896630?postcode=YO11%203LZ&fuel-type=petrol&sort=default&make=subaru&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&transmission=manual&aggregatedTrim=X&model=forester&searchcontext=default&page=2&search-target=usedcars&radius=1500&logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601250398859?model=forester&radius=1500&sort=default&make=subaru&postcode=YO11%203LZ&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&searchcontext=default&transmission=manual&aggregatedTrim=X&page=1&fuel-type=petrol&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

bigjl

Witless wrote: »

... or a Forester. The back is cavernous and the fuel consumption better than you'd expect.

Mine is the 2.0 X (non turbo), appears to be totally bulletproof engine wise (currently on 166k miles) and consistently does 29 to 31 mpg 'round town' short runs and 42 approx on runs.

Bigger inside than you think (carries bigger loads than the Merc estate), comfortable and 'fun' to drive when you take the notion.

The AWD is superb - it makes cornering effortless though the engine could catch out the unwary, it's a LOT faster than the performance figures suggest. Top speed is only 112 mph - which is quite enough to excite the constabulary.

In all honesty I reckon it's twice the car my Merc 220 CDi estate was but was about 1/3 of the price!

(Already decided my next car will be another Subaru - the only question is manual 2.0 Forester or automatic 3.0 Outback).

(Just checked my records - the Forester (petrol) is averaging 32.17, the 220CDi (diesel) averaged 34.72)

I looked at a Forester XT before buying my WRX, then changed that for a Legacy.

The Legacy from 53 plate all is a much nicer than the older ones.

I like the styling of that shake Legacy aswell.

Mechanically they do have the odd problem but they are pretty solid vehicles overall.

A good long term ownership prospect.

bigjl

Witless wrote: »

Couple of Autotrader links to give you an idea

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603252322618?postcode=YO11%203LZ&sort=default&page=1&radius=1500&transmission=manual&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&model=forester&searchcontext=default&make=subaru&aggregatedTrim=X&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201604122896630?postcode=YO11%203LZ&fuel-type=petrol&sort=default&make=subaru&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&transmission=manual&aggregatedTrim=X&model=forester&searchcontext=default&page=2&search-target=usedcars&radius=1500&logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601250398859?model=forester&radius=1500&sort=default&make=subaru&postcode=YO11%203LZ&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&searchcontext=default&transmission=manual&aggregatedTrim=X&page=1&fuel-type=petrol&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

The 2.0X is a good compromise between economy and performance.

OnanTheBarbarian

The 3.0 legacy has a brutal thirst. My boss had one new and struggled to get more than 22mpg out of it

bigjl

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

The 3.0 legacy has a brutal thirst. My boss had one new and struggled to get more than 22mpg out of it

I would probably only consider a 2.5 or 3.0 Legacy/Outback if it was on LPG.

Herzlos

If it's prestige German cars you're looking at (why?) won't you get better value from a 5 series estate (530i or whatever?). Though for that budget, I'd be looking at a Passat/Octavia/Mondeo/Insignia.