Need to buy a second vehicle that can easily carry all the stuff a new-born requires, and for the missus to ferry her yoga stuff about in, so I was going to continue with the VW theme and go for an old P/R reg TDI. Had a look and low miles, FVWSH go for buttons. However, I'm not precious about the VW badge and would consider another marque, if you can suggest something that is better in terms of:- Reliability Economy Safety Value for money All input appreciated. Sorry, got it in the wrong bit of the forum, dickweed...
Yesterday I bought myself another Seat Toledo. 1999 SE TDI, 110bhp, 67,800 miles on the clock. Full history and really, really nice condition. I paid 2,750. I could have probably got a Passat of a similar specification and mileage for even less than that. But I dunno, they're a bit bland. I liked the look of Boras, but for a Bora of similar specification and mileage I'd had to have spent 4,000. Trev
What about Skoda Octavia tdi? mondeo tdci,vectra cdti or something good looking; alfa jtd estate? loads of these on the market all pretty good value,modern,reliable diesel engines and loads of safety features.
I had dad's Ford Focus TD estate for a week or so last year. obviously not as big as a ford mondino or Passat, but suprisingly roomy, as long as you dont have adults in the back a lot, load space very big and fabulous to drive, felt like the hatchback version and surprised me how surefooted and tight it was for such a big car.
octavia est is a good one, had one at work the other day and im tempted. but the octavia and the golf mk4 est are a tad smaller than the late 90s early 2000 passats, and all moden estates seem to be getting smaller and more "styled" things like the volvo V70 have a way smaller boot than my mk4!! il be honest, i wouldnt trust a ford to feel as good as my golf estate at just shy of 200k, mines done that with out missing a beat, the only minor issue was a weeping head gasket at 170k, (the 115bhp engines prone for this, later ones are better) new gen gasket and jobs a good 'un, done another 10+k since then no probs,
wouldn't be so assumptive about ford build quality to be fair - i had a titanium x mondeo and that felt very well put together - much better than my previous passat.... and the great thing is, if you buy second hand, you don't have to drive the thing to 200k miles as you can buy two second hand fords for the price of your golf!!
http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...model=MONDEO&min_pr=2000&max_pr=&max_mileage= doubt you will find an estate of that age or condition with a genuinly nice interior and a few toys for of a different marque without paying double that!! bargains
the mk4s are coming down, ests can be had from 3k easlly, and on the quality i was thinking of the ones we have at work, admitadly they are hire cars but after 18 months and 20k-30k they are already looking a bit worn in places.
tbh, on the ford front, if you look after it you'll be fine, hire cars will get abused. ford have really sharpened the act up IMO and i'd rather have a recent mondino (i'm still not quite sure about the looks of the new one from the rear end) over a similar spec 3-series. fit and finish are just as good, and cost to buy and run would be so much more advantageous. But lets face it, blinkers back on. if you can afford the golf variant, or passat, who wouldn't?.
So true.... i went from a X plate B5 Passat to a 52 plate Mondeo Zetec TDCi and i didnt notice a massive difference in quality tbh.... the main complain was the the stereo system was better in the passat that was all!! Aside from this the spec is virtually the same, electric windows, mirrors, aircon etc etc I paid 2200 for mine with 120k miles on the clock and its been perfect in the 10k miles i have done in it so far. Fantastic value for money imo
went to meet a mate at witney car auction on thursday night ( www.woma.co.uk ) and they had a big police sale on. they had 2 black and 2 blue 02 plate plain cloths (no holes or stickers) bmw 530d estates all with less than 70k on the clock that went for between 3K-3.5K each they also had about 4 white octavia vrs's (again no holes) that all went for about 2850-3500 each (although you were after estates). the one that really cought my eye though was an 02 plate, skoda estate, white with 72k on the clock, 1.8 20vt with 4wd. it went for 2.5K!!!! and did I mention all of them had full service history and waranted mileage from the coppers themselves!!! personally I cant speak for the build quality etc as I never owned one myself although from whats been said I think any of them would have been a safe bet, just thought it might be a usefull place for you to look once you make up your mind.
The only thing I can recall from the ex-police car sales was the fact that the interiors were REALLY badly worn. I recall sitting in an old Volvo S40 T5 and the interior was disgusting. Like every toe-rag in Newcastle had been in the back of it...
