Large Estate, Nice Interior, Reasonably Economical and Fun ?

[Baldy881]

Goochie said:

Skoda Octavia VRS Estate?

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/SKOD...

or

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/SKOD...

Edited by Goochie on Tuesday 14th July 13:18

DITTO, just given up my company car diesel 2.0 vRS Octavia Estate... 45mpg, 140mph, massive torque and the people who bought it bought an 09 plate with 6k on the lock for £15200. Bargain of the century. If you've never driven one YOU SHOULD! Handling is awesome

Baldy881

[bramley]

Obviously I'm biased, but an E39 would fit the bill. You say a nice interior is a requirement so that's volvo and saab out. Audi is apparently very dull (never driven one though) and the E39 will happily pop the back end out on a roundabout, has a lovely interior, and is generally a nice car to drive and be in.

[WildCards]

scott_i said:

ever considered these?

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MITS...


http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MITS...

You'll struggle to see 30mpg out of a manual Legnum VR4, although you shouldn't have any issue finding a manual Legnum for £5k.

bramley said:

You say a nice interior is a requirement so that's volvo and saab out.

Volvo's are built well and I'd challenge anyone to find better seats in a car than those in a sporty Volvo 850 or V70, they're fan-bloomin-tasticly good. I can't comment first hand about Saab's but i've always heard similiar to that of a Volvo.

Edited by WildCards on Wednesday 15th July 09:53

[bramley]

Seats are pretty good in my 530 touring too!

I was referring more to the aesthetics of the interiors:

Volvo V70


Saab


E39




Tough call eh?

[RicksAlfas]

bramley said:

Tough call eh?

Yup. They're all as bland and multi-shades of grey as each other!

[bramley]

www.specsavers.co.uk

[mat59]

I think the E39 5 series touring has a nice interior in Sport trim. 530i Sport or 530d Sport would be my choice. Although you say the 328i interior is boring, is it a Sport?

Otherwise I'd go for 9-5 aero or vector sport.
156 GTA
E320 CDI
Or
Some huge engined barge plus LPG, preferably already converted as this will be the best value. Check the classifieds menu page and serach all adss with 'LPG' as a key word.

[cuneus]

I was looking for the same a few months ago - very difficult to find a decent E39 touring but also had the V70 on the list

Ended up with a V70 2.5T + MTE chip = lots of fun though it's not the last word in driving dynamics

[RicksAlfas]

bramley said:

www.specsavers.co.uk

Glad YOU like YOUR car bramley!

[bramley]

RicksAlfas said:

bramley said:

www.specsavers.co.uk

Glad YOU like YOUR car bramley!

How did you guess I like it?!

Sure, the interior is not to Alfa levels of design, but I do think it's a lot better than the volvo and saab (even if I didn't own one I'd say that )

[RicksAlfas]

I don't mind the Saab interiors but the typeface Volvo use makes me want to Rotozip all the switches out of the dash.

BMW interiors are of course very crisp and efficient but just a bit bland for my tastes. Bit too Braun calculator. At least you haven't got shiny wood in yours!

[redgriff500]

Cheers...

I don't like the look of the Volvos, in or out and drove a V70R the other day and wasn't impressed. I had a Legnum for a couple of weeks and thought that was plasticy and dull as well.

It may be that I'm expecting too much and that no car will suit as it seems to be that with very few exceptions manufacturers seem to think that when you need an Estate you've given up on enjoyment.

I think the 156 will be too small (2 baby seats and an 11 yr old to fit in the back) but I'll go and have a try.

I'll have a look at the VRS too.

THe interior of the E46 isn't the problem, its the way it drives, I'm guessing the 5 series is as heavy as the E46 and think that contributes to the problem, the E36 was much lighter but whilst I like the other E36's I think the Touring looks terrible.

Or maybe I should cover my eyes, open my wallet and buy the Impreza.

Edited by redgriff500 on Wednesday 15th July 11:25

Edited by redgriff500 on Wednesday 15th July 11:27

[GravelBen]

redgriff500 said:

Or maybe I should cover my eyes, open my wallet and buy the Impreza.

The Legacy is much nicer inside, bigger and apparently more economical than an Impreza while still being a very nice drive. I say apparently because I haven't owned an Impreza to compare directly, but as I said earlier in the thread (may have been missed) I average around 27mpg from my 280bhp Legacy GTB, 30-33 is easily achieved on a run while 'making good progress'. Or around 10% worse if you have to run it on 95 instead of 98.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 15th July 11:44

[scott_i]

how about this.?

large?.. yes
nice interior? ...i should think so
30mpg?...starting to fall down a bit here
up to £5k?...

[LukeBird]

Get an E55.
I know it doesn't follow your spec, but just think of that V8...

[Goochie]

This particular one is slightly over-budget but how about one of these:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1109489.htm

[lord summerisle]

bramley said:

You say a nice interior is a requirement so that's volvo and saab out.

i like the interior of my Saab. prefering the lower spec model interiors to the Aero model interior you showed (dash is wood, rather than metal)



(mine has the dark grey leather interior, but it doesnt show up well in photos so found these with the cream leather/carpets


Where as i can't stand the German offerings - of masses of hard, dull grey/black plastic

[Stu_00]

MK4 Slowride said:

Peugeot 407SW 2.2d Sport.

I think not - Really cannot stand Peugeot at the moment, dont think the designers have driven a decent car to benchmark current range !

[bramley]

lord summerisle said:

bramley said:

You say a nice interior is a requirement so that's volvo and saab out.

i like the interior of my Saab. prefering the lower spec model interiors to the Aero model interior you showed (dash is wood, rather than metal)



(mine has the dark grey leather interior, but it doesnt show up well in photos so found these with the cream leather/carpets


Where as i can't stand the German offerings - of masses of hard, dull grey/black plastic

[lord summerisle]

bramley said:

as i said - i feel the same about BMW, Audi, VW and skoda interiors.

well acutally they just dull me silly... utterly boreing, with that horrid plastic everywhere.