New Car Search - Possible Estate

[DOD]Asprilla

[DOD]Asprilla

[DOD]Asprilla

Soldato
Joined
10 Nov 2003
Posts
14,034
Location
Surrey, by the river
Morning All,

I've currently got an 52 plate Volvo S60 T5 that Mrs Asprilla uses for her daily commute (A and B roads around Surrey) and we both use on weekends for, shopping, shifting loads and motorway trips. We do around 14,000 miles a year at the moment.

The car is only worth as much as the outstanding loan on it (probably less by a few hundred actually).

Having had my nieces to stay over easter we've come to the conclusion that it's not really practical should we ever have kids and so we quite fancy replacing it later this year, probably towards the end of summer.

We'll have around 15-20k to spend. That's max and lower would be better.

Mrs Asprilla fancies an S-Max, her mate has one and they apparently quite good to drive. I reckon that it will be too big, especially as she (and I sometimes) find the Volvo unwieldy; anyone who has ever driven one knows the transverse engine mounting means it steers like the Queen Mary, regardless of Parkers claiming a 10m turning circle.

I reckon that we should be looking at an estate. The Volvo has a big boot (450l) it's just that the aperture isn't very big, making it hard to get big or odd shaped things in and out. Something with about this capacity or more, but as a hatchback would be ideal, especially as there may be dogs involved at some point.

Also, I really enjoy the poke I get from the T5. I know 6.8s isn't earth shattering, but for a daily drive and for overtaking it's excellent, so I wouldn't really want to take too much of a hit on the performance.

So, I've been looking at either an E60 Touring or an E90 Touring of some description (I freely admit that my view may have been influenced by this forum). The E90 looks lovely and will be an excellent drive but it also looks a little small in the back when compared to the Volvo. The E60 on the other hand looks a much better option, but I was wondering how it handles, particularly around town. I know it's not a Focus, but is it a super tanker?

Also, has anyone else got any other options to throw into the mix? Doesn't have to be an estate, just practical, capacious and with some poke.

Cheers for any help.
 
for £20k you could probably get the new V70, although everyone is getting the D5, so finding a big petrol might be hard, although they look really nice

£15-20k should buy you a rather nice E60. 530i/d or maybe a 535d?
 
I was just having a look at a V70 in the car park actually; conveniently there's a 318 Touring, an A4 S-line Estate and V70 next to each other so I checked them out.

I don't fancy the V70. I like the S60, but it's about the only Volvo I do like. Plus Mrs Asprilla has had the 2l auto as a courtesy car a few times and she hated it, mainly because it's dog slow. I know the D5 would be better, but she won't see it that way.

The A4 looks a decent size and, but the 318 looked pretty tight in the back.

At the moment I'm looking at the 530i/d but there appear to be a lot of repair stories on here regarding the diesels and I think that Mrs Aprillia will think it's too big.

Really she want's some kind of TARDIS that can hold loads of stuff, but can be parked like a Fiat 500.
 
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Update, for anyone that's interested:

Have been to the Audi, BMW and Ford garages this afternoon. Not test driven anything, just kicked tyres and what not and here are my thoughts:

Audi A4: Cabin space is excellent and it read leg room and, crucially, it's very easy to get in and out of the back, the doors open a long way giving you a lot of room.

Audi A6: More the same. Probably too big for our needs.

Ford C Max: Looks a good little run around and would probably be a good second car, but we're not getting a second car we're replacing our first.

Ford Focus Estate: I actually don't remember much about it. It's a Focus, it's perfectly functional and probably pretty good to drive.

Ford Mondeo / Mondeo Estate: Again, it's a nice car, Mrs Asprilla likes it for value, but it doesn't inspire anything in me. I also though it was odd that the central dash controls (radio and such) are angled towards the passenger and not the driver. Only a little thing, but still strange. I think, and this goes for all the Fords, that the seats would be too big a step down from the Volvo.

BMW 5 Touring: Don't know. Neither Guildford or Cobham have any 5 Series of any description.

BMW 3 Touring: Actually very disappointing. The cabin felt cramped, especially in the front and I thought the boot was very small. Although I didn't take it out, I also felt that the driving position was weird, it's almost like your legs are stretched out in front of you like you are sitting on the floor instead of a seat. Can't say I liked it, but it might be something you would get used to.
 
The BMW 5 Series is no supertanker. Frankly the handling is excellent for a car of its size and it shows up many smaller cars. It is not appreciably 'worse' than the 3 Series, which is also excellent. With the exception of longer jaunts on average once a month mine lives exclusively in town and I've never found its size to be an issue. It's easy to park as they've all got front/rear PDC as standard anyway. The ride is reasonably firm on the Sport models but the longer wheelbase gives it a slight advantage in the comfort stakes over smaller stuff.

The 3 Series is quite a small car - it's smaller than a Mondeo so its not suprising you found it cramped. I find the same thing, the 5 Series is a better car than the 3 Series in virtually every way bar those weird intangiables such as 'coolness' and 'looking like an old mans car' but you seem way to mature to care about that anyway.
 
I don't really understand what you mean with what you thought of the 3's position but I've certainly not had an issue with either my 5 nor the E60.
 
The driving positions are basically the same yea, you get a little more room in the 5 obviously. The seats probably make the biggest difference actually. I find the sports seats very much better in both cars than the standard ones.

Arhh ok I saw your edit, I'm not really sure about that, I don't have a 3 and a 5 series here with me to compare that right now. I never found my old 330 to be particularly shallow in the footwell, but I'm not that tall, I'm 5'9" ...although I have longer legs and a shorter body, so I tend to sit further back but need the steering wheel at it's full extension to be comfortable. I guess it entirely depends on what you find comfortable and what you are used to. I had an auto though, you can sit further back in one than a manual anyway, now I have switched back I'm having to sit further forward so I can use the clutch to it's full extent. Again, depends on the person I suppose.

Thinking about it, I think I may have missunderstood you a bit, did you mean that you find the footwell shallow in the BMW because your legs are quite straight as a consequence of you sitting quite low down in it? ...BMW's do tend, on the whole, to have quite low driving positions, although the 7 series isn't particularly low and I can't say that I thought the 5 series was either. The 3 coupe with sports seats is quite low though. I dunno, I'm confusing myself now :D
 
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Well I'm only 5'10", but I do have long legs and Mrs Asprilla who is 5'5"ish noticed it as well. Our seat positions in the Volvo aren't that different and we regularly use each others memory settings without noticing (thinking about it I didn't adjust the seat today after she had been using it all week).

Unfortunately this could put the breaks on the 5. I've arranged for them to contact me when they get one in though. The cramped feeling of the 3's cabin could have accentuated the feeling more than it would in the 5.
 
Mmm ok, I'm still not really sure what you mean to be honest. Still if you sat in it and didn't find you could achieve a comfortable driving position using the many adjustments, then I guess that's that. Although I would be surprised if you couldn't find a good position.
 
I'm not sure how else I can describe it, and for someone who drives or has driven one on a regular basis they probably wouldn't notice.

As I said we didn't test drive the 3 but we probably will test the 5 and I'll get a better idea then. It's just that the A4 felt a more natural position than the 3 series.

Maybe this image will help:

Cars.jpg


The first two are how the 3 series felt and the last one is how I am used to sitting. It might not be true, it's just how it felt.
 
if you do plump for an E60, try and get one with the comfort seats, they are rather nice as the standard seats will no doubt be a step down from the volvo
 
And back from the dead.

Ok, am going to test drive a 530D Touring Sport this weekend and I've also found a second hand one that I'm going to go and look at:

55 Plate 530i SE Touring
20,000 miles
Media Pack
Visability Pack
Slide Tilt Panoramic Sunroof
Comfort Seats
HUD
Dakota Leather
Electric Mamory Comfort Seats
Professional Sat Nav
TV option
PDC
Rain Sensitive Wipers
Bluetooth Preped
Climate Comfort Glass

At £21k it's £2k over priced acording to Glass, but it looks like an awful lot of car for the money. Only thing that wories me is low mileage (claims one owner and FSH). I just can see why someone would buy that car new and only do 5k miles a year.

Anyone got any comments as it looks like exactly what I'm looking for?
 
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