Well, after looking at countless estate cars I finally bit the bullet and bought one. I looked at many estates, and then narrowed it down to a few.
My narrowed down list was;
Audi A4 TDI 1.9TDI
Skoda Octavia VRS
BMW 320d
Subaru Forester
Honda Accord Tourer
Having spent countless hours on the internet reading up on all these cars and asking for advice here. I was mainly interested in the A4 2.0TDI Sline, yet I only wanted to spend £3k ex my Yaris T-Sport on top. I read that the 2 Litre engines be it 140 or 170 variants had many problems, injector seals/cambelt/waterpumps?. Since I did not exceed 10k miles per year there wasn't really a need for me to get a diesel.
The Skoda Octavia as much as I liked the look of it, I couldn't get past the badge.
Now the BMW 320d, really liked the look of these as well. Again problems, the swirl flap plastics disintegrating, I just couldn't risk it. To be honest I wanted a japanese car again.
The Honda Accord ticked all the boxes for me, excellent engine's but I did look at the 2.2CDTI however a lot were high mileage's and weren't in the best of conditions. I didn't think the car would be too big, but it was like a barge. I drove my cousins 2.0l petrol although the engine is good it just didn't give me what I wanted. The tourer is heavier so it felt quite lacking to it's saloon counterpart.
Then one evening I just thought to myself, why not look at the old Subaru Foresters. They were big 4x4 chunky box on wheels. Excellent. I wasn't too fussed about the performance or image at this point. I just needed an estate, then came the models. Which shall I go for? The UK Spec S-Turbo or the Import with 250bhp. Now you might be wondering, why look at diesels then a heavy petrol drinking japanese performance motor. Well, I thought to myself if I'm going to go for an estate, might as well be something quick. Until I read up on the heavy maintenance costs of a Turbo.
I was going to view an import one nearby it was quite cheap but wasn't in the best of nick. I spoke to the owner if he had done the cambelt/waterpump but he wasn't sure. That was asked, because of advice from here (thanks Kostas). He did have the car for several years and said it was running fine. Yet I wasn't confident so I gave it a miss.
So there I am in a dilemma, should I just give up my search or just get any estate car. Now I wasn't fussed about performance, my requirements had changed as I wanted a 4x4 after going from front wheel drive, and having it driven in the snow I didn't enjoy the experience. I really enjoyed the Yaris, it was good on fuel and a fun car to push to the limit, yet on long distance journeys it was tiring, sometimes I did not feel safe in it. I was just so light, and because they're getting common as chips where I am, I was wanting a change.
So I had one last bash for a 4x4 estate. Looked at Volvo V70R AWD. I was out of my debths them things do something like 15mpg urban, lol couldn't afford it. And the word Lolvo kept going around in my head.
So this time I thought ok, I'll go a little less on bootspace, it's not too important, I can't always fold the seats down. Subaru Impreza non-turbo I thought, l'll try find a good one. Well I was lucky, I found one. It's a 2003 awd as standard and looked appealing to me. FSH including a cam belt change at 60k. It's done 74k and in quite good nick. It also came with a unequal manifold/decat/big loud exhaust which is sort of doing my nut in now. But for what the car is I quite like it.
It's not the fastest of the bunch or the most economical. 15.05/Litres has given me 85miles so far, reserve hasn't come on, and I've been driving like a granny. I am getting people wanting to give it a go on the roads even though it does not look like a WRX/STI with a big scoop on the bonnet. Ignoring them is the best way before I embarrass myself.
Compared to my Yaris, what a difference. Ok ok, it has the cheap plastic interior, but finally the dials are in front of me and not to the side. The seats are more supportive and the car generally feels more planted. I actually have thought why have I gone without AWD for this long. It just feels really secure. I plan on having it for a while, it's got excellent bootspace when the seats are folded, even when they're up it's not too bad.
Anyway sorry for the long read here are some pictures.
My narrowed down list was;
Audi A4 TDI 1.9TDI
Skoda Octavia VRS
BMW 320d
Subaru Forester
Honda Accord Tourer
Having spent countless hours on the internet reading up on all these cars and asking for advice here. I was mainly interested in the A4 2.0TDI Sline, yet I only wanted to spend £3k ex my Yaris T-Sport on top. I read that the 2 Litre engines be it 140 or 170 variants had many problems, injector seals/cambelt/waterpumps?. Since I did not exceed 10k miles per year there wasn't really a need for me to get a diesel.
The Skoda Octavia as much as I liked the look of it, I couldn't get past the badge.
Now the BMW 320d, really liked the look of these as well. Again problems, the swirl flap plastics disintegrating, I just couldn't risk it. To be honest I wanted a japanese car again.
The Honda Accord ticked all the boxes for me, excellent engine's but I did look at the 2.2CDTI however a lot were high mileage's and weren't in the best of conditions. I didn't think the car would be too big, but it was like a barge. I drove my cousins 2.0l petrol although the engine is good it just didn't give me what I wanted. The tourer is heavier so it felt quite lacking to it's saloon counterpart.
Then one evening I just thought to myself, why not look at the old Subaru Foresters. They were big 4x4 chunky box on wheels. Excellent. I wasn't too fussed about the performance or image at this point. I just needed an estate, then came the models. Which shall I go for? The UK Spec S-Turbo or the Import with 250bhp. Now you might be wondering, why look at diesels then a heavy petrol drinking japanese performance motor. Well, I thought to myself if I'm going to go for an estate, might as well be something quick. Until I read up on the heavy maintenance costs of a Turbo.
I was going to view an import one nearby it was quite cheap but wasn't in the best of nick. I spoke to the owner if he had done the cambelt/waterpump but he wasn't sure. That was asked, because of advice from here (thanks Kostas). He did have the car for several years and said it was running fine. Yet I wasn't confident so I gave it a miss.
So there I am in a dilemma, should I just give up my search or just get any estate car. Now I wasn't fussed about performance, my requirements had changed as I wanted a 4x4 after going from front wheel drive, and having it driven in the snow I didn't enjoy the experience. I really enjoyed the Yaris, it was good on fuel and a fun car to push to the limit, yet on long distance journeys it was tiring, sometimes I did not feel safe in it. I was just so light, and because they're getting common as chips where I am, I was wanting a change.
So I had one last bash for a 4x4 estate. Looked at Volvo V70R AWD. I was out of my debths them things do something like 15mpg urban, lol couldn't afford it. And the word Lolvo kept going around in my head.
So this time I thought ok, I'll go a little less on bootspace, it's not too important, I can't always fold the seats down. Subaru Impreza non-turbo I thought, l'll try find a good one. Well I was lucky, I found one. It's a 2003 awd as standard and looked appealing to me. FSH including a cam belt change at 60k. It's done 74k and in quite good nick. It also came with a unequal manifold/decat/big loud exhaust which is sort of doing my nut in now. But for what the car is I quite like it.
It's not the fastest of the bunch or the most economical. 15.05/Litres has given me 85miles so far, reserve hasn't come on, and I've been driving like a granny. I am getting people wanting to give it a go on the roads even though it does not look like a WRX/STI with a big scoop on the bonnet. Ignoring them is the best way before I embarrass myself.
Compared to my Yaris, what a difference. Ok ok, it has the cheap plastic interior, but finally the dials are in front of me and not to the side. The seats are more supportive and the car generally feels more planted. I actually have thought why have I gone without AWD for this long. It just feels really secure. I plan on having it for a while, it's got excellent bootspace when the seats are folded, even when they're up it's not too bad.
Anyway sorry for the long read here are some pictures.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
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