Considering a V50 for ~£5K....worth it?

[Mario149]

We've decided to add a practical car to the fleet and was wondering what people's experiences of V50s are, especially at the cheaper end of the used spectrum at £5k? We'd be looking at the diesels, either the 2 litre or the 2.4 D5. We don't need massive space (at the moment our 2 most practical cars are a 1976 Mini and a 1994 Porsche 993 so it will be a massive improvement whatever ) but do need a little straight line performance, comfort, leather, some good looks and reliability. V50 seems to tick all these?

Or should I be staying clear and going down the E90 3-series touring route? Or pushing the boat out a bit further for a V70?

[ben5732]

I'd go for the v70 but I'm bias... V50 ain't a bad car but I find its a little small and a bit to much Ford influence for my liking...

[martinrpeachey]

Try to avoid the 4-pod diesels, especially the 1.6 "Drive-e" crap. The focus based V50/S40 are nice but not a patch on the V70. The V70 D5 will make you wonder why you didn't get one sooner

[anonymous-user]

martinrpeachey said:

Try to avoid the 4-pod diesels, especially the 1.6 "Drive-e" crap. The focus based V50/S40 are nice but not a patch on the V70. The V70 D5 will make you wonder why you didn't get one sooner

^^^ This. The 2.0D is pretty mundane and may have the irritating ELOYS DPF system that requires expensive fluid changes, 74K filter replacements and the right computer to tell the car that each has been done. The V50 is a nice car with a proper Volvo 5 pot engine but it really isn't a patch on the V70 and now the 2nd hand values are all so close I don't see any reason to get the smaller car.

[Mario149]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, in the end I've decided to go with a 133k mile 55-plate BMW 330d Touring that I found going cheap near me. Had an inspection done, and barring some minor cosmetic bits, it's all good it seems. I couldn't resist the lure of a 6-pot....

Swirl flap removal and remap to ~280bhp/480lbsft booked already