Family car needed - advice much appreciated - Page 1 - Car Buying

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Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

Hello, newby here

I'm looking at a family car and currently have shortlisted a VW Passat 2016 plate with 70000 miles, DSg R-Line and a BMW 5 Series Touring 520d, similar miles.

What would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance everyone driving

journeymanpro

921 posts

106 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

Skoda superb Mk2 or mk3 estate.

journeymanpro

921 posts

106 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The dsg dq250, 380 and 500 are very good gearboxes and have little issues if serviced correctly. These are 6 and 7 speed wet clutch and usually found on 140hp plus engines.

If you get the dry clutch used on the 1.6d and smaller petrols you'll likely have issues.

Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

Thanks for your replies so far. Given I only drive around 7k miles a year im hoping I won't put too much strain on the car I get.
I did test drive the VW Passat with the DSG transmission, loved it.

journeymanpro

921 posts

106 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

anonymous said:

[redacted]

If you say so. If it's got history of oil changes every 40k miles then no reason not to buy.

Pothole

34,367 posts

311 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

Budget?

Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

Thanks for your replies so far. Given I only drive around 7k miles a year im hoping I won't put too much strain on the car I get.
I did test drive the VW Passat with the DSG transmission, loved it.

Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

£13K there abouts

30,514 posts

154 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

30,514 posts

154 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020

180-320bhp is hardly high powered as for wanting to offer the OP nice spec cars I'll make no apologies for that.

Also 200bhp for a 5 series/E Class is adequate.

Anyway glad to see your alternatives listed wink

oh wait!

Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

Thanks for the list, interesting to look at alternatives. However, when I do drive it's usually 350 mile round trips so..my requirements would be

Diesel
2.0 ltr engine
Auto box preferably
Estate

Optional pipe holder and slipper storage.

Thinking of driving to and around France next year so motorway muncher, comfort and good MPG

Thanks :-)

DoubleD

22,154 posts

137 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Kids are fine in higher powered cars, its throwing a car around that makes them ill and not accelerating.

Stuart70

4,152 posts

212 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

ZX10R NIN said:

oh wait!

He said again 2.0L diesel. Appreciate your view, but you could respond to what he is looking for.
Alternatively you could choose not to.

I always value your lists as every time you come up with something that I would not have considered. Albeit, often it is an Infiniti. smile

Tall_Blk

377 posts

220 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

I don’t see an issue with the dsg box. I ran a VW Cc with dsg for over 90k miles without any issues. Just need to have the oil changed every 40k miles

30,514 posts

154 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

Stuart70 said:

Cheers but the OP did specify diesel only after I'd made my list smile

Dan_The_Man

1,163 posts

268 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

journeymanpro said:

Skoda superb Mk2 or mk3 estate.

Yup, don't they always win the "best family estate car" anyway ?

30,514 posts

154 months

Thursday 16th July 2020

buzztightgear said:

Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Friday 17th July 2020

Thanks for the list of alternative cars 👍

The DSG oil change will be due in 10000 miles and as it's done 70000 miles I'm thinking about the cam belt too. So potentially, I'll have an additional bill next year of around £1000 for the cam belt, DSG oil change and a service.

Hmmm...

gman88667733

1,196 posts

96 months

Friday 17th July 2020

I've had 2 DSG cars now, one 7sp dry clutch and one 6sp wet clutch.
The dry clutch one was quicker to change (much newer car) horrible for relaxed driving though as they all change up far too early leaving the engine to noticeably labour and require a firmer press of the accelerator which usually then results in it dropping more than 1 gear and you shoot off far too quickly. Just my experience, but it happened on both.
Wouldn't have another 7sp dry clutch DSG as mine started slipping when changing gear at only 3 years old and 25k miles. Really quick and smooth shifts, but I had a constant fear of it breaking.
The 6sp wet clutch DSG was a bit better, felt quite robust and never really misbehaved other than being slow to engage reverse (this was an 05 car, so much older, this would have been fixed by now) and it also engaged too high a gear, far too soon and made it really annoying to drive.

Id have another of the wet clutch DSGs if it had been serviced correctly, even considering the issues I noticed. It was very smooth and didn't actually go wrong in the year I had it, just wish they held onto gears a bit longer!

Edit - another thing I noticed on both of them which I was told by other users was NOT normal, but the garages swore it was... Was that when letting them 'creep' (letting the car move with no accelerator during maneuvers) on the slightest incline, they both shuddered and vibrated like crazy, struggled to move any more and then let go of the gear and put itself into neutral. Needing me to go into neutral, then back into gear. This was the biggest issue for me with them as it made tight maneuvers horrible as they were shuddery and jerky. It may well have been an isolated insure in my cars though (2014 Yeti 1.2 TSI and 2005 1.9tdi Octavia)

Best advice I can give with DSG is do a very thorough test drive, make sure you are happy with how it responds when maneuvering uphill, during relaxed driving, hard driving. Lots of different scenarios. I didn't notice the 'quirks' on the test drive as I was so focused on the gadgets and the smooth gear changes etc...

Edited by gman88667733 on Friday 17th July 14:10

Edited by gman88667733 on Friday 17th July 14:15

Original Poster

8 posts

74 months

Friday 17th July 2020

Thanks all for your advice, much appreciated. After doing my sums and realising it'll be an extra £1k next year for a cambelt, service and DSG oil change I walked away. Loved the car, great dealer but couldn't justify the extra expense within the first 12 months.

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