Help! Which diesel estate for 10-15k

[rscott]

My other half is planning on replacing her MINI Cooper in the next few months. I've persuaded her that it's her turn to have the practical car - I've currently got a Saab 9-3 Sportwagon as we need something which can transport two greyhounds in relative comfort. It also gets used to carry my cycle or bags of horse feed.

She does around 14,000 miles a year in the MINI and gets just over 40mpg out of it. Any replacement needs to be at least as economical, so will be a diesel.

We're planning on spending between 10k & 15k on something up to about 3 years old and hopefully less than 40,000 miles on the clock. Needs to be the mythical combination of reliable, economical and not too boring to drive.

Any suggestions and experiences welcome!

[milu]

Mondeo titanium x sport.

[Deerfoot]

Octavia vr-s?

[dowahdiddyman]

Insignia vx-line nav.

[mercGLowner]

Volvo V70 R Design

[rscott]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Does anyone have real world mpg experience of any of these?

The v70 might be a bit large - perhaps the v60 or 50 are worth considering?

[Orillion]

rscott said:

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Does anyone have real world mpg experience of any of these?

The v70 might be a bit large - perhaps the v60 or 50 are worth considering?

I've got an Insignia Estate 2.0 CDTI SRi (what a ridiculous name). It's big. Mine does
about 41 mpg - that's a real figure, not one taken from the car's fuel consumption
indicator. Performance is reasonable. Gearbox reminds me of lorries I have driven.

Would I have another one? Possibly, but not a manual.

[ChasW]

Mazda 6. Have not driven one but they get good write ups.

[vanordinaire]

milu said:

Mondeo titanium x sport.

This, I've had a Volvo v70 ,Audi A6, and E-class Merc(loved the engines and bargeness in all but fuel wasn't great and the wife hated them).Passat(60+ mpg but crappy handling and reliability). Suabaru Legacy fantastic but scary fuel consumption. And two Mondeos(current style and previous model). The Mondeos were both so good in every aspect that they were almost boring , but could actually cover a real life journey faster than any of the others.

[rscott]

Thanks everyone.

Mondeo will definitely be on the list to test drive, I think.

Does anyone have any views on the BMW 320d - there seem to be quite a few within the price range.

[rscott]

Hopefully testing a Mondeo this weekend. Any other suggestions?

[rscott]

Just to update. Found a low mileage 2 year old Titanium X (so pretty much every option on the list) at a reasonable price with the local dealer. Had one quick drive Saturday and heading back tomorrow for a longer one

[Luke.]

Just out of curiosity, why not a Skoda Superb?

[rscott]

It seems to suffer from the same problem as the 3 series - the boot line is very swooping and doesn't have enough headroom for a particularly large greyhound.

[BigMav]

I'm just about to hand back a 2010 Audi A4 Avant 2.0Tdi S Line - I've had it since new, and can't speak highly enough of how good these cars are. I'm guessing that it will probably fetch around £12-15K at auction, and wouldn't hesitate to spend my own money on one of these.

[Marko10010]

I have insignia vxline nav in new model, drives great even with manual. Bout 42mpg

[Kolbenkopp]

Marko10010 said:

I have insignia vxline nav in new model, drives great even with manual. Bout 42mpg

Rather big thing as well that Insignia. Not so sure about the cargo capacity compared to the Ford, but definitely better in that respect than a current 3 Series.

I recently did a longer run with a rental and found it pretty good. Had the current 160 something PS Diesel estate with a 6 speed manual. The box was quite pleasant to use so perhaps they improved it at some point? Pretty good on fuel as well (46 MPG over roughly 1k miles of German and French motorways).

Likes:

- Styling (for a modern car)
- Interior quality - IMO better than equivalent BMWs and almost Audi level
- Comfy seats, decent poke, pleasant controls and heavy, solid feel made it a good mile muncher

Dislikes:

- Satnav and entertainment system with trackpad / touch operation. Does everything one would need but I found the usability rather crude. Also not responsive enough for my taste. BMW kit miles ahead in that respect IMO.

- Touch controls for secondary stuff like climate control and seat heating. Give me buttons please with real tactile feedback.

- Electrical parking brake.

Minor stuff though. I was on the whole pleasantly surprised by the experience.

[Marko10010]

Yea I love the insignia. Nearly as big in the back as the mondeo. I hate the trackpad but never use it but I don't mind the touch screen. I think the nav is very good as far as typing very little info in it is smart enough to know where u want to go. The new vx line styling and alloys are awesome.

[Marko10010]

Yea I love the insignia. Nearly as big in the back as the mondeo. I hate the trackpad but never use it but I don't mind the touch screen. I think the nav is very good as far as typing very little info in it is smart enough to know where u want to go. The new vx line styling and alloys are awesome.