Estate, auto, £5-8k - any ideas?

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

I currently have a 2005 BMW E91 325i straight six automatic petrol estate on 116k miles. I had to buy it in quite a rush after my previous car lunched it's engine in 2022, and a work friend was selling this so I bought it.

I was really hoping this car could go 5 years or so before having any major issues, but with it potentially on the blink (see other thread) I'm looking at options. It might be a good time to swap it if it's looking like engine issues are creeping in.

I'm aware the used car market is crap at the moment.

I mostly do motorway miles these days as my commute is 25 miles each way on the M6. Very little local short distance driving. So I'd like an automatic and I suppose diesel should be fine given the longer distance driving, although my current car is petrol and there are still high repair cost risks with diesel?

I need an estate as I carry my bike, camping gear, and DIY stuff regularly.

At a push I could spend £8k, but I don't really want to. £5k would have been much better. I've looked at auto trader and I'm struggling. If spending a bit more gets me into something with a lot less miles or materially better condition then I can do it.

Does anyone have any suggestions please?

 

[danlightbulb]

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Plenty on auto trader

I don't know what's reliable these days, or what max mileage I should go for, or what is good value for money in this inflated market. Even at £8k there are a lot of cars on 100k miles or more, which is not far off what I already have got.

 

[danlightbulb]

this dont look bad

2014 VW PASSAT 2.0 TDI EXECUTIVE ESTATE, FULL SERVICE HISTOR, LOW MILEAGE | eBay

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Looks dodgy to me. Has a trade plate on the front yet says in the description "Sad to see her go but I need a bigger motor".

With how crazy used car prices are i don't think you'll get much of an upgrade on what you've currently got unfortunately

I'd look at Avensis, Mazda 6 (but look for rust on these), Accord. I don't personally like the VW group stuff as i know far too many people who just seem to have endless issues with them compared to the Japanese stuff.

It's a real minefield and just doesn't make sense to me where any value is. My car is 19 years old and on 116k miles and at a push is worth £2-2.5k.

So for £6-8k I should be able to get something at least half as old and with lower mileage otherwise what's the point? I don't want to trade a £3k car that might be having issues for an £8k car with just as many potential issues.

I used to have an Accord estate and mechanically it was ok but the rear arches rusted through really badly. There aren't many around for sale and the newer shape seems be priced quite high plus it's not very spacious in the boot.

Ideally I'm looking at Mondeo estate sized really, the 3 series was smaller than I wanted but I had little choice at the time.

 

[danlightbulb]

At this end of the market the car could still have issues. Maybe it would be better to get the car you know fixed, if it's not going to cost £lol.

I don't know what's wrong with it. Please see other thread if you can offer any thoughts, I'm all open to fixing it. I don't want to send it to a garage blind as I'm paying for diagnostics which might not reveal anything more than I know already.

I've had no replies over on bimmerforums either, the enthusiast repair/DIY scene is just dead these days.

 

[danlightbulb]

I don't think you will and therefore I agree, what is the point?

I don't think the budget is large enough to fundamentally change your ownership experience - you're still going to be buying a car at the point where things go wrong quite often.

But how does it even make sense that I can't improve on what I have now for £8k, when my car is only worth say £3k?

 

[danlightbulb]

If it's VFM you are after I seriously doubt it is going to cost £5k to fix your car and whatever you do but could go pop the next week.

After what happened to my last car I'm scared the engine will lunch itself and the car is nothing but scrap value.

 

[danlightbulb]

Why would it? The N52 is a pretty solid engine.
It's got a missfire I can see from your other thread. Should be easy enough to sort as it's likely to be a coil pack, a vacuum leak, or a lambda issue. Have you had the codes read?

Because I know it uses oil and smokes a bit when cold, and now it looks like it's using a bit of coolant too.

I read the codes myself, please could you jump on other thread if you can offer any advice it would be appreciated.

 

[danlightbulb]

So how much do you need to spend to get a good car that will be problem free for 5 years?

 

[danlightbulb]

I had an Accord 2.4 petrol previously, mechanically good but went rusty at the back quite badly.

I'd have another but availability is poor. Obviously the gen7 era cars are getting very old now and mostly have the same rust issues at the rear arches.

The gen8's are very few in number. Very rare to see a 2.4 petrol so it's either a 2 litre petrol or 2.2 diesel. I'm not sure on the reputation of either of these.

My mileage and motorway commute warrants a diesel but I've been put off by diesel horror stories.