Comfort, economy & reliability. Can it be done for £3k?

[eltax91]

Hi all

After the sad news that my Octavia needs £2k's worth of repair following a recent crash, I fear it will be a total loss.

I will have a budget of around £3k and the car will cover moon miles. The Octavia has consitently done 35k a year for the last 3 years! I love it, it serves the purpose of work hack very well. However, on the longer journeys the seats are awful. A run up to Scotland tends to leave me with huge back-ache. So, on to the what car. All my mileage is motorway, very little outside town work, apart from finding the next customer. Requirements below stated in order of importance. Comfort is key though, I spend A LOT of time in this car.

• Comfort - must be nice, sick of back ache!
• Economy. Skoda gets a reliable, calculated 50mpg. Needs to be 40mpg MINIMUM
• Reliability (and ideally inexpensive to repair)
• Easy of self-servicing - this is how I keep my costs down
• Must have a Diesel range-topper so I can get cruise/aircon/good stereo

Toy-wise i'm sorted with the 'fender and off roading for now, so no MX5's

[StottyZr]

Can't really think of anything that suits your requirements more than another Octavia. Or something similar such as a passat... Possibly a Vectra, but a colleague always complains his was uncomfortable on long journeys compared to his Mondeo he had before. Mondeo could be worth a look?

Edit for link

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...

Worth a look?

[Jayho]

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2885218.htm

VW Bora? A bit different from the sea of Golfs around.

[kambites]

If you have back problems, Volvos are meant to have very good seats.

[r1ch]

mondeo

[SVX]

Volvo S60 D5 (as suggested further up), or a post 2001 Mercedes C220 CDI would seem to fit the bill here...

[hornetrider]

Bora is a nice car to soak up the miles in. Will see 50+ mpg average (my PD115 did anyway)

[300bhp/ton]

eltax91 said:

Hi all

After the sad news that my Octavia needs £2k's worth of repair following a recent crash, I fear it will be a total loss.

I will have a budget of around £3k and the car will cover moon miles. The Octavia has consitently done 35k a year for the last 3 years! I love it, it serves the purpose of work hack very well. However, on the longer journeys the seats are awful. A run up to Scotland tends to leave me with huge back-ache. So, on to the what car. All my mileage is motorway, very little outside town work, apart from finding the next customer. Requirements below stated in order of importance. Comfort is key though, I spend A LOT of time in this car.

• Comfort - must be nice, sick of back ache!
• Economy. Skoda gets a reliable, calculated 50mpg. Needs to be 40mpg MINIMUM
• Reliability (and ideally inexpensive to repair)
• Easy of self-servicing - this is how I keep my costs down
• Must have a Diesel range-topper so I can get cruise/aircon/good stereo

Toy-wise i'm sorted with the 'fender and off roading for now, so no MX5's

Not sure how many in budget, but have a look for a 2.0d X-Type or even a Mondeo.

But to be fair most diesel powered largish hatches or saloons are likely to do what you are asking, so take your pic.... loads of different car makers still.

[S3_Graham]

E39 5 series. Job Done.

528 will return you an average around 30mpg. can take starship mileages and rumoured to be one of the best handling saloons about.

[V88Dicky]

I do mostly motorway/DC miles in my daily driver, and am currently getting a verified 45mpg for the week, out of a manual version of one of these;


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...

Your budget might even stretch to a MK11;


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...


Mine came with leather, A/C, full electrics, satnav, fake wood etc etc, and I'm very happy with it. It's better on fuel than the 1.4 Fiesta that I replaced it with!

[zakelwe]

Worlds most reliable car?

http://www.motors.co.uk/VehicleDetails.aspx?carID=...

All it lacks is the cruise control but you can probably get that on another sale. They are very very comfy as well.

Andy

[hornetrider]

S3_Graham said:

E39 5 series. Job Done.

528 will return you an average around 30mpg. can take starship mileages and rumoured to be one of the best handling saloons about.

I'd agree but the OP wants up to 40mpg. In which case I'd pick a 523 over a 528 to eke out a few more mpg on the run, given 35k miles a year. 530d could be an option but may have to stretch the budget for a nice one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-530-d-se-auto-/160559980...

[djt100]

Volvo, S60 / S80 or if you want to extra room go for an estate, V70... Very comfy places to be for long periods. and if you don't need a 4 door a C70 coupe or cab would be nice.

[Rammy76]

One of these?

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2714198.htm



Mileage is high but I believe these go on forever, have amazing seats and most of the gadgets you lust after! I think the standard sound system is meant to be good although some have an upgraded one that's meant to be amazing.

[chriscoates]

E39 530d: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2879390.htm

3.0 diesel, auto, leather - it oozes comfort

[Gatsods]

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2718719.htm
If you can stretch to £4k, this is a frankly unbelievable amount of car for the money.

Will get about 45-50mpg+ on the motorway too, if the old man's 05' E280 CDI was anything to go by in terms of weight & engine size.

• EDIT for wrong link and clarification

[nuster100]

A4 or Passat I would say

Both very comfortable cruisers.

[Bonefish Blues]

Gatsods said:

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2846805.htm
If you can stretch to £4k, this is a frankly unbelievable amount of car for the money.

Will get about 45-50mpg+ on the motorway too, if the old man's 05' E280 CDI was anything to go by.

Looks like it has been lowered at the front to me...

[Gatsods]

Bonefish Blues said:

Looks like it has been lowered at the front to me...

Yeah, that was a too-good-to-be-true 03 E320 CDI that has been Cat D! I had copied the link at that, then realised it had issues. Might have forgotten to change the link....

[hornetrider]

Outrageous VFM.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2848024.htm