Spec me a fun-to-drive dog carrier

Stringy

Stringy

Stringy

Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2004
Posts
4,288
Location
The moon
Budget - £10-13k (max £7.5k + my car, '08 Clio 197 45k miles, is £13k dreaming?)

Mileage - ~12k, my commute is 35 miles each way with mostly dual carriageway which I am happy to cruise control at ~70mph for economy.

Needs
- To be able to have a labrador-sized dog in the boot (hatchback or estate then)
- Some semblance of driveability for when I'm not commuting in it, both in speed and handling terms. Not as much as my current car obviously, but I don't want to be bored by it on a fun road. Potentially things <=9sec 0-60.
- Hopefully 45mpg+ on a long run (like the commute).
- Don't mind Petrol or Diesel
- Want something low mileage if possible, looking for hopefully hassle free motoring for the next 3 years.

Would like
- Cruise Control
- Any other random gadgetry and toys. In extremis geekery may make up for straight line performance.

Things that have caught my eye so far are Golfs/Leons in various guises, but the Leon interiors look a bit low rent from the pictures I've seen. There's a 1.4TSi 160 GT near me for £11.5k (Autotrader price is old) with 25k miles that caught my eye and I went to view - anyone have any real world experience of the 1.4TSi engine? There were also some 2.0 TDi 140 SE/GT's, one of which I'm going to test drive on monday alongside the 1.4 GT, anyone with experience of how the engines/trims compare?

I would think I'm limited to Hatchbacks/Estates - are there any viable coupes or anything else left field I might have discounted?
 
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rodenal said:
I like the 1.4tsi but apparently the 160 has all sorts of issues so I wouldn't buy one without warranty. What about a 5 door GTI or alternatively an a3 sportback with the same engine, could you live with 35mpg? (not sure if you'll get more out of the 2 litre on a run, mk5/6 owners should be able to confirm)

The civic is a pretty good mutt carrier if you wanted to go diesel, would be well under the budget, no dpf etc to worry about either - reasonably swift with the remap but you'll pretty much need to budget for a new clutch at some point.

Tdci focus or mondeo is the obvious diesel choice, but the engines come with many a tale of woe - do you only work a few days a week? 70 miles a day multiplied up by a nominal 48 week working year is more like 17k
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I work 4 days on, 4 days off, and if you deduct leave (30 days + bank holidays) I work roughly 140-150 days a year. Would something like Warranty Direct cover any woes from the 160 1.4? Do VW do any warranties like the BMW one I hear about on here whereby you can purchase a warranty up to certain mileage?

The Civic had caught my eye in its 2.2 Diesel form - what's the crack with the clutches?

edit: Just spotted this - Link - I'm stuck at work so I can't load the stratstone or BMW websites - can anyone tell me how it fairs spec wise and give me 3 series-type advice?
 
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[TW]Fox;22865001 said:
It's 4.5 years old, a prefacelift SE and has no Satnav. Probably the worst near £14k BMW I've ever seen! You should be able to get an LCI model for that sort of money..

Why diesel? You do 13k a year not 30k?
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I don't mind if it's Diesel or Petrol - I saw it and knowing nothing about BMWs I thought I'd throw it in the ring to get feedback on it. If anyone can find more sensible suggestions I'd be more than willing to look at them :)
 
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What are Vauxhall Insignias/current Astras like to drive? Seem to be quite a lot in my price bracket and are generously spec'd...what's the catch?

(I know my range of options seems quite diverse - the main constraining factor is dog carrying and not-silly economy, everything else is negotiable!)
 
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Anyone got any opinion on how the latest Focus drives? There are a million and one 1.6 125s on autotrader which aren't fast in the slightest, but are quite well spec'd (one Titanium in particular has Nav, bluetooth, climate, rear view camera and the kitchen sink) so as per my original post I wonder if gadgetry + handling would satiate me...
 
rodenal said:
Same problems ad the golf 160 - do like them though
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Although I have read that a lot of the problems with the 160 were with the earlier made models - how true that is who knows. I've seen a hatch and an estate at the same garage a 2 hour drive away on 60 plates so I'd get some manufacturer warranty still and I'd enquire into extended warranty (although it states it can only be spec'd from new) - provided they're on the same hymn sheet as me for part ex then I might be onto something...
 
I'm looking for something on the newer end of the spectrum - the ambition is to keep it for 4-5 years and be happy to live with it with the potential for sprogs on the horizon at about year 3-4...buying an older car with the need to change again sooner than I'd like isn't desirable but I'd willing to listen to reasoning and logic if people think that's pap.

Anyone ever had any dealings with Volvo V50s? There's a 09 D5 R-Design with 30k miles for £13.5k (tickling the top end of my budget) in the lolvo dealership next to the VW one I'm test driving from tomorrow. It had only just come in so the cream interior looked mucky which turned me off at first, but I am intrigued by absurdity and unusualness of it as an option...
 
rodenal said:
Do like the volvo but how much would an equivalent with a decent petrol engine be? Seems a waste for you to go diesel as it's not going to save you an awful lot and come with the potential to go belly up, though at least if your journeys are of decent length you'll be at less risk of the usual dpf worries
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With most of the cars I'm browsing near by it's more than anything to get me a feel for what the car is like to then lead me down a different route in the browsing. Odds on £13.5k is more than I'd like to spend anyway, but if I like the car then I'd be more willing to search further afield to fine tweek the one I'd actually buy. I'm especially looking forward to test driving a Fabia vRS tomorrow with a view to potentially driving 2 hours to Dumfries to have a pick of a hatch or an estate!

edit: I've just scoured Autotrader for petrol ones and the selection is spread thin in my price bracket. There's a 12-18 month newer 2.0 petrol R-Design about 2 hours away for £13k with 26k miles which is slower and worse on fuel, so I'd be torn then between getting the newer less interesting car for £500 less, or the older faster one for £500 more. The more interesting V50s seem to be a rarity, although one I'd be interested in investigating.

edit-a-go-go: Just been reading about the prospect of retro-fitted sat nav in the Golf and that the RNS510 is pretty bells-and-whistly with a HDD etc...mighty tempting!
 
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