Medium-sized interesting petrol estate - £3-4k

[Tall_Paul]

I'm looking for an A4 sized estate, petrol, with all the toys (leather, cruise, heated seats, xenon/hid's etc) with a decent sized petrol engine - 180-200bhp+ for about £4k max (ideally less).

Currently the list consists of:

Saab 9-3 Aero 2.0T or 2.8 V6 sportwagon (new shape 07-onwards preferred)
Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B
Volvo V50 T5
Volkswagen Passat 3.2 V6

It'll be used for occasional commutes of 2 miles (more often in winter) and also for carrying mountain bikes in the back with the seats down. I don't want anything A6/V70/9-5 sized, just don't need something that big. Mpg isn't a consideration as I'll be doing 4k miles a year max, and petrol only for this reason.

Not really interested in an Audi/BMW, AWD would be a massive benefit for muddy fields and snowy winters.

Anything else I should be looking at?

[RizzoTheRat]

Octavia vRS is a shade under 200bhp and happily takes a bike with the seats folded down. 4 pot turbo though rather than the V6's you mentioned above
I think the AWD Octavia Scout is only about 150bhp though.

[Tall_Paul]

A four pot is fine, but the Octavia is out of my price range in the 09 onwards and there's literally 1 petrol version for sale in the 04-09 version on autotrader, I'm guessing most people went for the TDI VRS version.

[ZX10R NIN]

Mondeo

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Mercedes C280 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Elegance SE

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

3.2 Passat SEL

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

C230 Avantgarde

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

2.5 Mazda6 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

4.2 A6

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[steve-5snwi]

Just bare in mind the facelift 93 RFL is £500 plus per year

[Zetec-S]

ZX10R NIN said:

3.2 Passat SEL

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

2.5 Mazda6 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Either of these would get my vote

[Tall_Paul]

ZX10R NIN said:

Cars...

Believe it or not I've actually looked at almost every single one of those on autotrader in my browsing. Some are a little old, 15 years is pushing it a little.

Theres a few Jag x-types as well but like the mercs I don't think I'm quite old enough for one of those yet, I'm still in my 30's

steve-5snwi said:

Just bare in mind the facelift 93 RFL is £500 plus per year

I know, sucks tbh - I think the manual 2.0T is less with the Auto being the full £500-odd, but I've pretty much prepared myself for something with £500+ RFL a year, anything less will be a bonus. However if I save £500 on the price of the car then that's 2 years of the extra covered.

[MaxSo]

Outback

X-Type

[RizzoTheRat]

Tall_Paul said:

A four pot is fine, but the Octavia is out of my price range in the 09 onwards and there's literally 1 petrol version for sale in the 04-09 version on autotrader, I'm guessing most people went for the TDI VRS version.

Amazed by that, just looked Autotrader for my own curiosity and only 7 petrol vRS's for sale nationally for <£4k and <100k miles, and 6 of them are hatchbacks.

Do you definitely need an estate though? I can fit my bike in the back of my hatchback easily enough and if I take the front wheels off can fit 2 bikes and our luggage for a week away.

[powerstans]

I have a VRS estate (TDI and not the TSI) and regularly get 2 large mountain bikes in the back with front wheels off. Not sure of the exact dimensions but pretty sure the hatchback is the same length as the estate (unlike the golf).

[Tall_Paul]

powerstans said:

I have a VRS estate (TDI and not the TSI) and regularly get 2 large mountain bikes in the back with front wheels off. Not sure of the exact dimensions but pretty sure the hatchback is the same length as the estate (unlike the golf).

RizzoTheRat said:

Tall_Paul said:

A four pot is fine, but the Octavia is out of my price range in the 09 onwards and there's literally 1 petrol version for sale in the 04-09 version on autotrader, I'm guessing most people went for the TDI VRS version.

Amazed by that, just looked Autotrader for my own curiosity and only 7 petrol vRS's for sale nationally for <£4k and <100k miles, and 6 of them are hatchbacks.

Do you definitely need an estate though? I can fit my bike in the back of my hatchback easily enough and if I take the front wheels off can fit 2 bikes and our luggage for a week away.

A large hatch may be big enough, but to give you an idea, my bike is an XL size with wide bars, in my dad's Insignia Country tourer it fits but there's not a huge amount of length left, maybe 200-300mm - this has a 1900mm long boot with the seat folded, so will need to be something approaching this size. The 9-3 is just under 1800mm, can't find the length for the Octavia, do you know what the length is? Hatch might be an option tbh if it's the same length.

[Mr Tidy]

I know you didn't want an Audi or BMW OP.

But I bought a BMW E91 325i in March that had winter tyres on and it coped just fine when the "Beast from the East" arrived!

I paid just under the lower end of your budget and although it had 132K miles on it there were only 3 previous owners and good history - plus it has heated seats!

And it has a petrol straight 6 - that will soon be a thing of the past.

I don't commute with it (as I don't work any more) so most of my driving is on dual-carriageways and Motorways, but the OBC is showing an average of 35.3 mpg which seems pretty good to me!

Anyway good luck finding the right car for you.

[Tall_Paul]

Cheers - yeah I'm a fan of slightly left-field choices, hence the Saab's etc. BMW and audi's just don't really appeal to me, I might be tempted by an A4 but BMW 3-series just aren't my thing.

The Legacy 3.0R Spec b is quickly rising to the top of the list, quite rare (check), lovely 3.0 H6 engine (check), MASSIVE boot (check!), and reliability in spades.

This one seems nice, one owner from new apparently! https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[MYOB]

A Volvo v50? Not sure if a bike will fit but there's only one way to find out.

[Tall_Paul]

MYOB said:

A Volvo v50? Not sure if a bike will fit but there's only one way to find out.

Yeah that's on the list already, either the 2.4i or the T5, the latter preferably as the MPG/insurance is the same for both, but T5's seem to go for a big premium over the non-T5 models.

I'm quite amazed by how much cheaper Saab 9-3 diesels are, £1500 for a one owner from new mint condition tid vector sport estate, the same car but in a 2.0T version is £1000-1500 more!! But diesel just ain't an option, I'll be doing 2 mile each way commutes (maybe once, twice a week max in summer, 3-4 days a week in winter) then weekend use of maximum 60 miles each way with occasional longer trips. Even if I commuted every single day that's still only 1000 miles a year, then allowing for a few k miles for weekend stuff it's never going to be over 5k a year.

Edited by Tall_Paul on Friday 8th June 09:04

[Tall_Paul]

So, as an update to this (as these threads rarely see any closure!), I pick this up at the weekend




The Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B rose to the top of the list and stayed there, I really don't think there's much to match it for the price. Which was £4700 for this one - Diamond grey (the best colour for these IMO), 91k miles, well looked after; new shocks, 4x recent new tyres, new exhaust, bushes done recently, FSH, 3 owners, 2 small marks on the bumper and that's it - the bodywork is in brilliant condition.

[ZX10R NIN]

Glad you got sorted OP enjoy it.

[flatso]

What brilliant machines these are....the Outback version is, for me, even more attractive.
The looks are gorgeously elegant/sporty, the mechanicals are spot on....great machine.
What is the suspension like? Too hard or is there still some comfort left?

[Toed64]

Excellent choice... enjoy.

[Sargeant Orange]

Great choice, I have one for exactly the same use as you. Recently had a American fridge freezer in the back

Things to check straight away:

Sunroof can leak due to clogged drainage pipes

Radiator will need replacement at some point so keep an eye on coolant

Brakes, brakes, brakes! If it's on oem discs and pads you'll find them very poor. Search the legacy forums for recommendations

Enjoy!