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Good fast estate budget £3-6k?
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Good fast estate budget £3-6k?
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AahBisto

Original Poster:

2 posts

90 months

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Saturday 6th April 2019
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Hi guys,

We need something that has a decent awd system due to our rural tracks with horrible verges, and safe enough to get to hospital quickly (due to my partners service health condition). We live in a rural part of wales and have to travel over 2 hours to get to a hospital that can treat her.

I've personally been looking at the a6/a4 avant/allroad 2.7/3.0tdi, they seem to tick all the right boxes, for everyday driving, practicality and speed.

Literally only have a budget of £3-6k any suggestions would be great

Chestrockwell

2,946 posts

186 months

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Saturday 6th April 2019
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Subaru Legacy, case closed

Roger Irrelevant

3,384 posts

142 months

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Saturday 6th April 2019
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I've had a 3.0 Outback for near three years now and it would fit your needs perfectly IMO. I too have often looked at Allroads - still do on occasion - but the things that always put me off are the slightly worse ground clearance, potential expense of the air suspension going wrong, and the fact that for the same money (mine was £4k) I think an Outback's likely to be more reliable especially if used off-road regularly. I just don't like diesels either - the flat 6 in the 3l Outback really is a peach. Plus points for the Allroad are that it'll probably bit a bit quicker, a bit more economical, and to most people will look better, so I'm sure it would be a perfectly good car for you.

Edit - beware the top-rate tax on post-2005 models though. There was a mild facelift in 2007 that added flappy paddles and a few driving modes but tbh I don't think it's worth going to the top end of your budget and paying £500+ per year for. You could get a very nice 2005 model for the lower end of your budget - they're a right bargain IMO.

Edited by Roger Irrelevant on Saturday 6th April 14:47

ninjag

1,878 posts

148 months

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Sunday 7th April 2019
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Toyota Land Cruiser can be had and will probably be unstoppable and reliable.

Volvo XC90 for more refinement.

Was going to suggest JEEP but every garage I spoke with rates their reliability as very poor and parts can be difficult to source fast. If willing to take a chance with reliably I'd be more inclined to go Disco3 or Range Rover as parts are more readily available and there's lots of owner clubs.

ZX10R NIN

30,528 posts

154 months

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Sunday 7th April 2019
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Funny about the Jeep as in this price bracket you'd be getting one with the Mercedes drivetrain & parts for those are reasonably, sometimes you have to order the Mercedes part rather than the Jeep part. I've sold & supplied a lot of these & rate them as being pretty robust, I seem to get a fair amount of repeat buyers for these so they must be doing something (the only gripe that I've been getting recently is that the dash/centre console could do with an update) right.

ninjag

1,878 posts

148 months

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Tuesday 9th April 2019
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ZX10R NIN said:
Funny about the Jeep as in this price bracket you'd be getting one with the Mercedes drivetrain & parts for those are reasonably, sometimes you have to order the Mercedes part rather than the Jeep part. I've sold & supplied a lot of these & rate them as being pretty robust, I seem to get a fair amount of repeat buyers for these so they must be doing something (the only gripe that I've been getting recently is that the dash/centre console could do with an update) right.
I don't know enough about them to be fair, although I noticed a 4th gen appeared at a neighbours house a few months ago but I never saw it driving until a few weeks ago whilst walking the dog. The engine sounded clapped out with a horrible banging. But then it may not have been maintained well. Looks nice though.


Edited by ninjag on Tuesday 9th April 15:27

stevekoz

577 posts

191 months

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Tuesday 9th April 2019
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The brief limits the number of cars and i can understand why you'd only want to consider very few given your reasons.

Personally - i think the cars already mentioned are good choices. My pick though would be a Volvo v70R.

It ticks your brief completely i think. Especially in terms of safety -

https://www.autoblog.com/buy/2006-Volvo-V70/safety...

Reliability is good and they are capable of swallowing the miles if you keep them regularly serviced and on top of things. For your money you could even find one with relatively low miles -

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

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

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-VOLVO-V70R-AWD-Aut...

They are surprisingly quick and swallow those welsh roads with relative ease. I really loved my own p1 v70r and always wanted the newer one but none were around when i was looking.

I ended up buying an A4 Avant 3.2 FSI Quattro. Its a very good car. Not as quick as the R but much nicer inside but nowhere near as big a place to be and in my opinion not as safe or as easy to maintain as the Volvo. So that is why for you i'd pick the Volvo.
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