Looking to downgrade - £5K budget

[Pistonheader101]

Having had the pleasure of running the 335D for around 3 months now, I realise it was a foolish purchase. Spending c.20k on a car that just commutes to the train station and back. Will lose approx 1k selling it, so not the end of the world.

As such i'm looking for a replacement for around 5K - saloon and auto.

Lexus IS250 seems to fit this bill quite well, does anyone have any real life experience of this car? alternatively what 5K saloons are out there that are reasonably well specced

Edited by Pistonheader101 on Sunday 27th January 19:28

[rallycross]

I just recently sold my 335d for less than £5k, that was a 2007 saloon in black, 335d SE with full history, sensible mileage and nice spec.
If I was buying another in that price range I'd go for a 330i as nicer engine to rev and less to go wrong.

I'd go for somethign like this, 330i E92 sport, 2007 £4500, fsh, sensible miles (112k)

eBay item number:223235210092

[ollyh1988]

I'd echo the above about a 330. I've had a 325i touring (auto) for a few years now and really rate it. The 6 cylinder engines are lovely and smooth and I really like driving mine.

[Summit_Detailing]

Volvo S60, D5 if you want economy, T5 if you want some performance.

cheers

Chris

[ZX10R NIN]

Pistonheader101 said:

Having had the pleasure of running the 335D for around 3 months now, I realise it was a foolish purchase. Spending c.20k on a car that just commutes to the train station and back. Will lose approx 1k selling it, so not the end of the world.

As such i'm looking for a replacement for around 5K - saloon and auto.

Lexus IS250 seems to fit this bill quite well, does anyone have any real life experience of this car? alternatively what 5K saloons are out there that are reasonably well specced?

The IS250 is a very good car there are no real issues but changing the water pump at around 80k seems to be the norm apart from that they're very dependable the cats can start to break up but you can tell this by a faint rattling on the over run.

Look for one with the Nav as this also means you get the Mark Levinson sound system which is a very nice bonus, there's not a lot of sound from them but I've found fitting a HKS replacement filter which adds a bit of Induction noise.

I've fitted an exhaust to (due to the cats needing replacing) two & I have to say they sounded very nice, another thing that a lot of owners seem to upgrade are the headlamp bulbs as they're not that strong.

The steering is decent the Spark Plug change isn't cheap but it's not the worst.

One along these lines would fit the bill:

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

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

[Pistonheader101]

thanks for the tips for the IS250, those two examples look good.

Having a quick peer around auto trader it appears that the following cars are roughly in budget: saloon/coupe with an autobox.

-2008ish CLS 320 CDI
-2009 C Class saloon C200 CDI
-2009 Audi A4 2.0 TDI
-2008-2010 330i/330d
-2009 520d SE
-2009 XF 2.7 TD
-2009 IS250
-2009 Honda Accord 2.2 GT
-2008 S class s350

fair bit of choice out there so will try a few out on testdrives etc

[ninjag]

Is diesel worth it for what you are doing?

I'd stick to the Lexus petrol, or alternatively the Accord EX 2.4 is fully loaded and pretty much bullet proof. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Pistonheader101]

ninjag said:

Is diesel worth it for what you are doing?

I'd stick to the Lexus petrol, or alternatively the Accord EX 2.4 is fully loaded and pretty much bullet proof. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

It’s more a case of what’s on the market, well specced examples tended to be diesels in 2008 till about 2014 and there’s a lot more of them to chose from. Petrol is the preference however

Edited by Pistonheader101 on Monday 26th November 22:34

[Mr Tidy]

For your planned use I'd avoid any diesel.

As others have said 3 series 325is and 330is are great cars - and even if they are post 2006 they still get into Band K for road tax. I don't think the Lexus IS250 does.

[ZX10R NIN]

On the IS250 the Manual is £540 tax but the Auto's are £315