Best family car with a bit of poke but inexpensive to run

[olibluegoat]

Well my octavia VRS diesel estate lease car is about to be handed back. Its been a great car but i'm thinking i need to save a bit of money, not do another lease and buy something second hand.

Looking for a family load carrier, that's still fun but cheapish to run and maintain, and no more than about £10k to buy

Was thinking possibly a 530d estate

Any suggestions?

Cheers guys

Oli

[jonnM]

Wasn't there a Mondeo estate variant with the 2.5 five cylinder turbo engine from the Focus ST? Could be fun.....

[jonnM]

Or a Passat R36 wagon?

[PapaJohns]

jonnM said:

Or a Passat R36 wagon?

Cheapish to run he said,

[Section 8]

The Focus ST mk 2 drinks like Oliver Reed in his prime so God help the heavier Mondeo and I dread to think how much the R36 guzzles.Plus they are quite rare. I would consider a mk 6 Golf gti 5 door a good contender.


ETA Estate car preferable. mk 2 Octavia vrs estate tfsi

Edited by Section 8 on Friday 2nd December 22:35

[anonymous-user]

olibluegoat said:

Well my octavia VRS diesel estate lease car is about to be handed back. Its been a great car but i'm thinking i need to save a bit of money, not do another lease and buy something second hand.

Looking for a family load carrier, that's still fun but cheapish to run and maintain, and no more than about £10k to buy

Was thinking possibly a 530d estate

Any suggestions?

Cheers guys

Oli

335d E91
Golf GT Estate
Mazda6 MPS

[Marvtec]

Be wary of depreciation, that £10k car could easily be worth £5k after 3 yrs, plus MOTs and associated repairs, no warranty, no supplied breakdown cover and VED, may not save you that much overall.

[PapaJohns]

Section 8 said:

The Focus ST mk 2 drinks like Oliver Reed in his prime so God help the heavier Mondeo and I dread to think how much the R36 guzzles.Plus they are quite rare. I would consider a mk 6 Golf gti 5 door a good contender.


ETA Estate car preferable. mk 2 Octavia vrs estate tfsi

Edited by Section 8 on Friday 2nd December 22:35

To be fair the the 3.6l v6 in the R36 isn't bad. I had it in the Passat CC and it was similar to the 2.0tfsi petrol I'm running now circa 26mpg to 31mpg on a run.

[Dapster]

jonnM said:

Wasn't there a Mondeo estate variant with the 2.5 five cylinder turbo engine from the Focus ST? Could be fun.....

You need a Mondeo but not the 2.5T. You should try and stretch to the later 4 cyl Ecoboost petrol 240bhp - fuel consumption is almost sane. If you can get the Titanium X Sport spec then it has every toy you need and is a great steer. It's huge too.



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[dazwalsh]

Another vote for the mondeo, I had the 2.2tdci in mine though so only had 200bhp ish, also looked ( and still does look) awesome in the titanium x sport guise.

[caelite]

Alfa 159 2.4JTD Sportwagon is a good shout. The Alfa diesels are pretty bulletproof and the fivebanger they put in the 2.4 sounds brilliant, especially with the right exhaust.

They look lovely too imo, inside and out.

[olibluegoat]

Anyone know how the Mondeo 2.2 (198bhp) diesel compares to the 2.5 ecobosst petrol. Worried the ecoboost will be far too thittsy

The mondeo looks like a great car in the titanium x sport - whats it like to drive?

[Willy Nilly]

I can't imagine a 10 grand 530d being anything other than blindingly expensive to run, but it's all relative.

[Motorrad]

This for 2 grand, you can let the family wreck it, it will be fast and comfortable and you'll have money to spare to fix any bork.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/s...

[GreigM]

Willy Nilly said:

I can't imagine a 10 grand 530d being anything other than blindingly expensive to run, but it's all relative.

Buy correctly and an E61 could be an extremely good buy. And if it can be found, a 525d with the same 3L engine and a remap will give you you a 530 in all but name for singificantly cheaper. I did this several years ago to get something that can tow and I can throw tyres in the back and it has been one of the singularly best cars I've ever bought - great drive (for a big estate) and has required nothing that moderately competent self-servicing can't deal with.

[f1nn]

Willy Nilly said:

I can't imagine a 10 grand 530d being anything other than blindingly expensive to run, but it's all relative.

I'd disagree.

Because there are so many of them, with great parts supply and a network of specialists and plenty of online support, I'd consider any BMW with the 6 cylinder 3.0 diesel a pretty safe buy.

Yes of course they have faults, which car doesn't, but those faults are far less likely to consign a car to scrap than some of the options mentioned in this thread.

Inexpensive to run is very open to interpretation though isn't it. On an ageing "interesting" car from a "quality" manufacturer, anything less than £1500 a year to maintain would strike me as a result, but from reading threads on here I get that some people would be aghast at that.

[Jimmy Recard]

f1nn said:

Inexpensive to run is very open to interpretation though isn't it. On an ageing "interesting" car from a "quality" manufacturer, anything less than £1500 a year to maintain would strike me as a result, but from reading threads on here I get that some people would be aghast at that.

I'd disagree that that car was manufactured with any kind of quality, for instance.

Does it really cost £1500 a year in maintenance to keep a diesel 5-Series going?

I mean repairs - tyres and services I wouldn't count in that total. Having had a nine year old petrol Range Rover that cost under £500 in repairs in a year, that sounds like quite a lot.

[DoubleD]

GreigM said:

Willy Nilly said:

I can't imagine a 10 grand 530d being anything other than blindingly expensive to run, but it's all relative.

Buy correctly and an E61 could be an extremely good buy. And if it can be found, a 525d with the same 3L engine and a remap will give you you a 530 in all but name for singificantly cheaper. I did this several years ago to get something that can tow and I can throw tyres in the back and it has been one of the singularly best cars I've ever bought - great drive (for a big estate) and has required nothing that moderately competent self-servicing can't deal with.

Did the 525 and the 530 have slightly different turbos and cooling? I'm fairly sure it's not just the map that is different.

[f1nn]

Well, it's pointless arguing over theoretical costs of course, but let's say the car needs a service, that could be £180-300 on its own. Things wear out, so perhaps it needs a set of discs and pads, that could be £150-300, unforeseen expense such as a water pump, and then you may as well do a cam belt if fitted etc, that could be £500-600, clutch on a manual, that could be £400-750 easily...that's before you start looking at tyres that for some reason you don't count in a yearly cost of motoring.

My point being of course, is that not it will, but that it quite easily could, cost in excess of the notional cost of £1500 a year that I work on, and you need to be ready for it.

Let's be honest, your Range Rover or whatever is capable of throwing unexpected large bills, in the same way that any relatively modern, complex modern motor can.

Some people will accept that as part of the game, some people won't, and others will turn a blind eye to the actual cost of running older cars.

[DoubleD]

You could spend £1500+ a year, or you might only need a £200 service.