Best estate car?
Discussion
Twincam16 said:
rob.e said:
I'm baised too:
My kiddie carrier: vRS with the 2.0 TSI petrol engine (same as a mk6 golf gti). 600 litre boot, stage 1 re-map to 245bhp 420 Nm torque. Still does 33-ish mpg overall.
Quick, big boot, cheap.
Who stuck football stickers to the passenger door?My kiddie carrier: vRS with the 2.0 TSI petrol engine (same as a mk6 golf gti). 600 litre boot, stage 1 re-map to 245bhp 420 Nm torque. Still does 33-ish mpg overall.
Quick, big boot, cheap.
My four year old. The joys of parenthood
If it's space and practicality, you can't really fault an MPV, I looked at V70's, Legacys (really fancied a boxer engine) and SAAB 9-5's but in the end decided a people carrier as I could treat it like a van without it being a van as far as the council tip are concerned.
I' needed a mobile skip for the purposes of renovating my house so parted with £700 for a battered old VW Galaxy 2.0 (fast, it is not) but I can whip out the seats and make it a van to fill it with furniture and junk or just use it as a woeful party bus for 7.
Plus, the 12 months MOT it has means I can probably abuse it for six months and probably still get £500 back out of it.
I' needed a mobile skip for the purposes of renovating my house so parted with £700 for a battered old VW Galaxy 2.0 (fast, it is not) but I can whip out the seats and make it a van to fill it with furniture and junk or just use it as a woeful party bus for 7.
Plus, the 12 months MOT it has means I can probably abuse it for six months and probably still get £500 back out of it.
It depends on the OP's priorities and budget. If it is practical usable space then you can't fault a V70 although the accord also has a large load area . If you want performance as well then maybe a BMW or Merc or RS6. As a family vehicle you can't beat an estate. People carriers are good at doing just that moving people but compared to an estate with all the seats up they have quite small load areas.
The 156/159 are great looking with the 159 more practical than the 156. I recently got rid of a 156 as fitting the buggy in the back left it with no space. When I looked at 4x4's and MPV's the load areas are typically short and tall which is useless and no better than the 156. Also an estate should always be a better drive and more economical for the same engine. Lower C.G and smaller frontal area, also probably lighter.
The 156/159 are great looking with the 159 more practical than the 156. I recently got rid of a 156 as fitting the buggy in the back left it with no space. When I looked at 4x4's and MPV's the load areas are typically short and tall which is useless and no better than the 156. Also an estate should always be a better drive and more economical for the same engine. Lower C.G and smaller frontal area, also probably lighter.
ALawson said:
Christ indeed.That is a rare car.
rob.e said:
I'm baised too:
My kiddie carrier: vRS with the 2.0 TSI petrol engine (same as a mk6 golf gti). 600 litre boot, stage 1 re-map to 245bhp 420 Nm torque. Still does 33-ish mpg overall.
Quick, big boot, cheap.
Always looks good Rob.My kiddie carrier: vRS with the 2.0 TSI petrol engine (same as a mk6 golf gti). 600 litre boot, stage 1 re-map to 245bhp 420 Nm torque. Still does 33-ish mpg overall.
Quick, big boot, cheap.
I appreciate Skoda are the VW/Audi whipping boys but you'd have thought the remap would be smaller and fit under the bonnet not on the roof
white_goodman said:
My wife would probably like an SUV or an MPV as our family car but I would much rather drive an estate. Just as much space, better looking and cheaper to run but which estate is the best? On which criteria do you decide?
Whatever the wife wants!Seriously though, I find that most SUV/MPV feel much more spacious inside that their saloon equivalents eg:
X5 v 5 series touring
X3 v 3 series touring
C-Max v Focus
S-Max v Mondeo
Golf Plus/Tiguan v Golf
Seat Altea v Leon
LeoSayer said:
Whatever the wife wants!
Seriously though, I find that most SUV/MPV feel much more spacious inside that their saloon equivalents eg:
X5 v 5 series touring
X3 v 3 series touring
C-Max v Focus
S-Max v Mondeo
Golf Plus/Tiguan v Golf
Seat Altea v Leon
I think a lot of that is an illusion. Unless there's some serious length to the wheelbase, then a lot of that extra space is just headroom, which unless you have a bad back, are very tall or like wearing a top hat, isn't much use.Seriously though, I find that most SUV/MPV feel much more spacious inside that their saloon equivalents eg:
X5 v 5 series touring
X3 v 3 series touring
C-Max v Focus
S-Max v Mondeo
Golf Plus/Tiguan v Golf
Seat Altea v Leon
For example - pack a load of holiday gear in an estate and everything can be laid flat. In an MPV or SUV, you end up piling it up in a precipitous stack that, once it's been joggled around by the journey, comes tumbling out when you open the tailgate.
Also, taller car - higher centre of gravity - higher frontal area - poorer drag coefficient - worse handling and fuel economy.
Twincam16 said:
I think a lot of that is an illusion. Unless there's some serious length to the wheelbase, then a lot of that extra space is just headroom, which unless you have a bad back, are very tall or like wearing a top hat, isn't much use.
For example - pack a load of holiday gear in an estate and everything can be laid flat. In an MPV or SUV, you end up piling it up in a precipitous stack that, once it's been joggled around by the journey, comes tumbling out when you open the tailgate.
Also, taller car - higher centre of gravity - higher frontal area - poorer drag coefficient - worse handling and fuel economy.
No argument on the economy and handling front. For example - pack a load of holiday gear in an estate and everything can be laid flat. In an MPV or SUV, you end up piling it up in a precipitous stack that, once it's been joggled around by the journey, comes tumbling out when you open the tailgate.
Also, taller car - higher centre of gravity - higher frontal area - poorer drag coefficient - worse handling and fuel economy.
The extra headroom thing is a fallacy. The extra space between the floor and the ceiling is used up by the seat being higher up – ie. your bum is further from the floor meaning your head is just as close to the ceiling as a normal car.
This gives a more ‘armchair’ seating position and negates the need for you to stretch your legs out in front to get comfortable behind the pedals. As a result, the driver’s seat doesn’t need to go back so far, leaving more room for people in the back.
This is of more benefit for taller people who, in an estate car often need to have the drivers seat as low and far back as possible with legs stretched out in front to fit behind the wheel.
As for packing the boot…well you probably have the same width and length as the estate equivalent – you don’t have to use the extra height if you can’t pack properly
LeoSayer said:
No argument on the economy and handling front.
The extra headroom thing is a fallacy. The extra space between the floor and the ceiling is used up by the seat being higher up – ie. your bum is further from the floor meaning your head is just as close to the ceiling as a normal car.
This gives a more ‘armchair’ seating position and negates the need for you to stretch your legs out in front to get comfortable behind the pedals. As a result, the driver’s seat doesn’t need to go back so far, leaving more room for people in the back.
This is of more benefit for taller people who, in an estate car often need to have the drivers seat as low and far back as possible with legs stretched out in front to fit behind the wheel.
As for packing the boot…well you probably have the same width and length as the estate equivalent – you don’t have to use the extra height if you can’t pack properly
We have an A4 Avant and a C-Max. The C-Max is easier to live with for the kids as it's easier to get them into the car seats than the A4 as you don't need to bend down all the time. The slightly elevated driving position is nice, and the car drives well. It's no rocket, but it handles well. The extra headroom thing is a fallacy. The extra space between the floor and the ceiling is used up by the seat being higher up – ie. your bum is further from the floor meaning your head is just as close to the ceiling as a normal car.
This gives a more ‘armchair’ seating position and negates the need for you to stretch your legs out in front to get comfortable behind the pedals. As a result, the driver’s seat doesn’t need to go back so far, leaving more room for people in the back.
This is of more benefit for taller people who, in an estate car often need to have the drivers seat as low and far back as possible with legs stretched out in front to fit behind the wheel.
As for packing the boot…well you probably have the same width and length as the estate equivalent – you don’t have to use the extra height if you can’t pack properly
The compromises are exactly as you've highlighted - MPG is less than my A4 which is 110BHP up on the C-Max, and the boot is a bit of a jumble when you pack stuff in. However, that's not how we use it - it's a family car that gets used in town and occasionally at weekends, shifting buggies, bikes etc. For that it's brilliant.
It's decent at big loads as with the seats flat the internal space is vast, but I can get longer loads in the A4. It's about what's right for the person at any time.
That Passat is a good option, my brother has an R36 and if you can live with the MPG it's about perfect.
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