Occasional long distance estate ~£3k

Soldato
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Avoid the the XCs. They add complications which suddenly make a cheap bullet proof well galvanised volvo a potentially expensive one. Same with the gearboxes, the autos will be a weak point so manual is a must.

Ideally an SE or a Lux. Oh and the seats are epic.
 
Caporegime
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Avoid the the XCs. They add complications which suddenly make a cheap bullet proof well galvanised volvo a potentially expensive one. Same with the gearboxes, the autos will be a weak point so manual is a must.

Ideally an SE or a Lux. Oh and the seats are epic.
Seconded.

I bought my D5 from a Volvo specialist, and the two things he said he didn’t touch with a barge pole was V70 automatics and the XC/Cross country variants for the reasons you described.
 
Soldato
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The Octavia is quite a bit smaller though - more Focus sized, this is possibly not an issue though depending on the internal length, rear window to dash (will a 9ft board fit inside it overnight? :p)

Quite the contrary in my experience to be honest - I went from a Mondeo Titanium Business X to the Octavia and I can fit far more in the Skoda! The Mondeo is deceptively small - for example the spare tyre takes up a huge amount of space from thge boot!

The Octavia is way bigger than a Focus!
 
Man of Honour
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How long is a piece of string? 120k of city centre based minicabbing and it'll be fit for the bin, 120k of trips back and forth from a holiday home in France and it'll be lovely. Mileage is a poor indicator of condition. Age is probably more useful but nothing as useful as judging each car on its merit.
 
Soldato
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How long is a piece of string? 120k of city centre based minicabbing and it'll be fit for the bin, 120k of trips back and forth from a holiday home in France and it'll be lovely. Mileage is a poor indicator of condition. Age is probably more useful but nothing as useful as judging each car on its merit.

Fair point :D
 
Caporegime
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What's a realistic mileage for the v70? Most of the ones in my budget are 120k+
Mine was on 168K when I bought it, now on 171K a few months later, touch wood, not missed a beat as of yet....

The highest mileage I saw when looking was 390K - and the seller still wanted £1k! - Ultimately, buy on condition, not mileage.
 
Soldato
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V70s are great but I was under the impression that their engines weren't particularly economical and they achieved around 35mpg not 50+.

Still. That or a mondeo would be a good buy I think.

It looks like that depends on whether it's the older (163 bhp) or newer (185 bhp) version (with the 185 being considerably worse). Another reason to look for a <2005 model.

Worth considering the Mazda6 estate

That's a possibility, although I had a hatch version before, and while I like the look and the drive, it was horribly thirsty for relatively poor performance. Aren't they just built on a Mondeo platform?
 
Man of Honour
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I can't remember anymore. Just conscious that whilst the Mazda is likely to go rusty faster, that they do tend to be very reliable.
Being fair, I've never compared one to a similar aged Focus or Toyota, just saying that it might be worth including it in the hit list of cars to go look at.
 
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V70s are great but I was under the impression that their engines weren't particularly economical and they achieved around 35mpg not 50+.

Still. That or a mondeo would be a good buy I think.
Petrol V70’s aren’t brilliant on fuel but the D5 is very good given its age and the size of car, mines giving a consistent 50mpg calculated over miles driven & fuel used rather than the computer reading - the computer reads 54 average, they are often optimistic.

Despite being a 2.5 5 pot mine is slightly better on fuel than my old Mk3 Focus 1.6 tdci Estate which it replaced, probably because you had to work the focus quite hard to make decent progress whereas the D5 being more powerful and having more torque you don’t.

A Mondeo will be a more involving drive compared to the V70 but it won’t beat the Volvo for comfort and I’d say build quality.
 
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Soldato
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Well, I've been looking for a while, and decent looking V70 D5s seem to be basically non-existent or on the other side of the country (also ran a few insurance quotes and the ones I've found are double what I'm currently paying!).
Petrol Mondeos are pretty thin on the ground as well, other than a couple of 2.5 & 3L models which have the fuel economy of a small passenger airliner.

What about the S Max? Whilst I wouldn't need the 7 seats, they have plenty of space, and from what I've read they drive pretty much like a normal car. Or am I at risk of becoming my mother? :p

Another promising option is an Octavia (thanks @StevieP). Seems there are quite a few decent 1.9 diesels around my price range, and whilst not petrol, from what I can tell, the 1.9 TDI PD engine is pretty bombproof (no DPF, DMF may have issues but can be replaced with a SMF). Have spotted a decent looking one with just over 100k, had a new clutch fitted recently.
 
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