New job, new car

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 20:20

Need some help choosing a used car. For the last 2 years I've had a daily commute of ~100 miles. On Monday I start a new job with a monthly commute of 100 miles, so quite a change. Once I've settled in I will begin my hunt for a suitable car, but while I'm holiday this week I thought I'd make a start.

Regarding my requirements, this is what I've come up with so far.

1. Budget up to 17k, but would rather spend less than this
2. Mileage 8k per year
3. Mainly just me in the car, but also needs to hold family of 4 for the occasional trip to France, so needs reasonable space for luggage.
4. Preferably 4 doors
5. No preference on petrol or diesel. Petrol probably makes more sense considering the low mileage I do.
6. Not looking for extreme power. Wife has a 120d. Something sub 8s would be nice.
7. Under 5 years old, preferably newer. Less than 60k on the clock.

Started looking at BMW, Audi and Mercedes.

All help appreciated.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 20:38

Minstadave said:
Is he not saying his wife has a 120d and that's quick enough?

Just wanted to give you some idea of the level of performance i'm used to.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 20:41

Disco Boy said:
Can you talk me through this? I don't understand why you mention your wife's car.

My recommendation is for a nearly new Volvo s60. You should be able to get a pretty new one with low miles and good spec for your money.

Never thought of a s60,could be worth a look.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 20:43

rodenal said:
You could spend quite a bit less than you've initially looked at and get a very nice octavia vrs tfsi - 0-60 7ish so not excessive given your needs, nice cars to drive, tend to be well specced and have a great amount of usable space for you, the family and the dog if need be. By all accounts they're reasonable enough on fuel and fairly reliable too.

I've been having a look at them recently and been really quite impressed, the facelift car looks fresh and the interior seems to be slightly improved too.

I always fancied one too, they seem to offer great value for money, but I can't seem to be able to convince the rest of the family.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 20:58

LiE said:
How does this look?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...s/200/postcode/m156bh/keywords/325i?logcode=p

Not 4 doors but the saloons seem to be rarer.

Edit:
Found a saloon but not the best spec.
http://www.sytner.co.uk/bmw/birming...ham-297397-974898.aspx?st=Vehicle&vhl=-297397

The 2 door looks great apart from the red leather! Obviously i prefer the 2 door looks but if I'm being honest I'll have to go for a 4 door.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 21:03

[TW]Fox;21663040 said:
Not for this budget. It's simply too much money to spend on an E60 and not enough for an F10.

I'm not questioning your expertise, but I would like to understand why this is too much money to spend on a E60.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 21:21

[TW]Fox;21663483 said:
It's car thats been around for a long time now - it first appeared a little over 9 years ago. £18k is a lot of money to spend on a car thats far from fresh in this way. It also majored on tech at the expense of quality. The facelift in 2007 went some way towards redressing the balance but, meh, I just don't see the point in sinking this sort of money into one really.

Could this also be said of the E90?

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 21:36

rodenal said:
To be fair the a3 is and feels very old now, nearly ten years. There's nothing wrong with it as such no but other cars even from the same stable and based on the same platform are that little bit more modern now and imo offer more. I still love the 8p s3 but the a3 design has had its day....around 5 years ago

Also the application of "drls" on the a3 in particular simply cannot be forgiven (I know why they're there), who the hell signed that off?

Still like the looks of the A3, but it's too small IMO.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 22:34

[TW]Fox;21664209 said:
No iDrive

Can't see anything beating a 325i in my eyes at the moment. Just need to wait for the right spec it seems.

gresty · 11 Apr 2012 at 22:46

LiE said:
You'll have a massively easier time if you can live with the coupé

The 120d is a 3 door. I was probably kidding myself about considering another to go with it. It has to be a saloon.

gresty · 12 Apr 2012 at 13:12

alx said:
Did you see Dr House's post about Jag XFs? Could be a good shout, although it's more of a 5 series competitor rather than a 3 series one.

Definitely worth considering. Anyone own one here?

What are the servicing / repair bills like on the XFs?

Is there a warranty worth buying?