Used car time!

[jpmonkey69]

Hello, I'm in the market for a new used car. Ideally it would have the following features:

Automagic transmission.
Leather seats.
Estate (but would consider a decent sized hatch/saloon).
Isofix for 2 child seats.

It'll be a motorway mile cruncher - about 100 miles a day during the week and more on the weekends.

I'm having trouble finding much for my budget of £6000, so thought that I would call upon the collective wisdom and experience of my fellow forumers!

Please can you help me find a decent vehicle? I would be able to stretch to 6500 tops, but ideally less.

Thanks very much ! X

 

[jpmonkey69]

Personally i would buy a Mercedes E-Class Wagon on an approx 2004/2005 plate. Pick whatever engine takes your fancy, i guess the sensible option is 280 or 320cdi.

Nothing else at this money will be as good. BMW this budget doesnt work.

Hello, thanks for the suggestion - what are the running costs on this type of car, i.e. servicing, tyre cost etc? I assume that any issues would cost a lot of money to fix, what sort of thing should I look out for to try to mitigate a large bill, or common fault?

The ones I've seen for the type of money I have on Autotrader have 100k+ miles on the clock - should I be worried about the mileage on one of these?

What is the order of the trim levels - I guess classic is the base model?

Should I consider the E220, or is it underpowered?

Thanks very much!

 

[jpmonkey69]

How is an octavia the worst suggestion ever? You can get it with DSG & the decent 1.9 PD engine the taxis use. It's not exactly an outrageous suggestion. You can get them either in estate or hatchback form, both of which have large boots.

Edit:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201404253669210

as an example

That's not too bad a suggestion I guess, it looks pretty small for an estate I think - I'll have a quick look on AT for one.

I hear the 1.9PD engine, whilst agricultural, is a pretty reliable engine.. Is there anything I should look out for on these cars?

 

[jpmonkey69]

A £2k SAAB 95 would be a good bet.

I had a look at a couple of later model 95s actually, but I admit I was a little put off due to the company going out of business, but would something like this be worth looking at?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...had/used/body-type/estate/model/9-5?logcode=p

It looks pretty good value - but are they reliable?

 

[jpmonkey69]

What about a Skoda Superb? The saloon is a sort of hatchback with tons of load space.

Again, I'd not considered it - have you had experience of driving one?

Also - Can anyone suggest how I might be able to get cheap insurance.. I live in East London, and the prices are seriously high compared to anywhere else, are there specialists for people living in this area?

 

[jpmonkey69]

Audi A6 avant?

You'll get quite a bit of car for your money, at the very least, what you're looking for. Go for a 2.7tdi / 3.0tdi with multitronic box. You'll also get quattro which is useful for winter / snow. I've had my '06' 2.7 quattro for a year now, average 40mpgish and have had exactly zero problems with it. Spec wise, for under £6k, i have BOSE, leather, DIS, colour nav, Bluetooth, Leather. Mine isn't an avant, but they are available for that price.

Hello, I've looked about - what sort of mileage does your car have, and what would be considered "normal" for this car / age.

On AT, I can only see A6s on a 2005 or later at < £6000 with more that 130,000 miles on the clock...

 

[jpmonkey69]

Hello, thanks for the suggestion - what are the running costs on this type of car, i.e. servicing, tyre cost etc? I assume that any issues would cost a lot of money to fix, what sort of thing should I look out for to try to mitigate a large bill, or common fault?

The ones I've seen for the type of money I have on Autotrader have 100k+ miles on the clock - should I be worried about the mileage on one of these?

What is the order of the trim levels - I guess classic is the base model?

Should I consider the E220, or is it underpowered?

Thanks very much!

Jez, if you see this can you offer your opinion please?

Thank you!

 

[jpmonkey69]

They are actually very reliable cars on the whole, I wouldn't worry about mileage at all as it won't be the mechanicals which give you any issues. Just do all the usual checks of the electronic systems.

Engine wise I'd personally go for a petrol v8 as these are what make a Mercedes a Mercedes for me, but all of the engines are good and all are reliable. I don't know what power/weight you are used to when it comes to saying whether any of them are underpowered. The gearbox is another reason to pick an e-class, they have the utterly excellent and ahead of their time 7G-tronic which is both fast and economical.

Good cars in my opinion, the best estate you will get sub £15k let alone this budget.

Is there anything else to look out for on the saloon version? I'm looking at buying from an auction and haven't seen an decent estate go through my local recently, but plenty of saloons. Looking at an 07/57 e320cdi

 

[jpmonkey69]

Mondeo, the Mondeo is the winner (maybe)

Only problem is finding a decent one with full leather without skipping back a generation.
Still considering a A6 Avant, or a 9-5 estate.