RE: The best fast estates to buy in 2020
Discussion
My Skoda Octavia vRS estate has been great, apart from the dodgy water pump - a known issue with these cars. I was looking for a cheap, large family car that offered a modicum of fun as well and this car ticked all the boxes. It’s been completely reliable (apart from the slow leaking aforementioned pump), cheap enough to park in the streets of London and not worry about being vandalised from time to time, and the boot is cavernous - perfect for tip runs, kids’ and dog stuff. When the weather’s too grotty for my weekend car to drive the vRS provides enough fun to make out-of-town drives pleasurable enough. It’s not quite as torquey as I’d like but once the revs get up it’s great fun.
Dapster said:
Money no object is a no brainer for me. An Alpina B5 Touring. 612bhp, £130k with a few options. Decal delete and Bob's your uncle - 200mph, 60 in 3 and a bit seconds and limo luxury....
https://www.alpina-automobiles.co.uk/en/models/b5/...
Feel like this is one of the first new BMWs that’s made me go “yeah, now that looks fantastic”https://www.alpina-automobiles.co.uk/en/models/b5/...
You can get the Saab with less than 150k for the money but unfortunately it will almost certainly be an auto. Which blunts performance, and economy noticeably.
A manual, with a few inexpensive mods is a very rapid, tidy handling wagon. You can't do anything about the featherlight uncommunicative steering though. Or the Vauxhall cheapness..........................
A manual, with a few inexpensive mods is a very rapid, tidy handling wagon. You can't do anything about the featherlight uncommunicative steering though. Or the Vauxhall cheapness..........................
Very timely article. Need an estate car to replace our E90 325i which is showing it's age and we need more space. Would like an auto and flipping between a Legacy, the Octavia vRS and a cheap E63. Or dare I say, an E-Class diesel, because one benefit of all those lease deals are a huge amount on the used car market.
t.I used to love Saabs. But a very leggy example of the worst built Saab ? Saab used to be on par with Volvo back in the day, but Volvo were miles ahead by the time this car came out, that why T5's are so much more money, not because the Saab is the leftfield unknown choice of the cognoscenti , its cheap because by this point in its production it was a very old design, in a very old factory, built by a workforce on the verge of redundancy, using loads of cheap GM parts bin bits that were lying around at the time.
Yeah, id change a few.
Sub 2500 Id still be leaning more towards a classic Volvo or even more left field a V6 Laguna with only 88k on the clock for £2300
5k, only issue with Legacy 3.0R are most are auto and really saps the performance so id probs get an A4 with a V6 or 2.0 turbo
10k, Focus looks a bit meh to me and the interior is naff, so id go left field again 159 1.8 TBi
15k id get a S4 13 plate with 70k on the clock
25k Youd be looking at a very nice range of Cupras and Gold R's. but probs go for a V60 Polestar (the 6 cylinder one)
35k I think, Id buy any of the above and spend the change on something fun.......
Sub 2500 Id still be leaning more towards a classic Volvo or even more left field a V6 Laguna with only 88k on the clock for £2300
5k, only issue with Legacy 3.0R are most are auto and really saps the performance so id probs get an A4 with a V6 or 2.0 turbo
10k, Focus looks a bit meh to me and the interior is naff, so id go left field again 159 1.8 TBi
15k id get a S4 13 plate with 70k on the clock
25k Youd be looking at a very nice range of Cupras and Gold R's. but probs go for a V60 Polestar (the 6 cylinder one)
35k I think, Id buy any of the above and spend the change on something fun.......
Saab 9-5 Aero. Here's mine that I bought for 900 quid with a full S/H, 18 (!) service stamps, and a ridiculous spec - remapped to 330hp, manual gearbox and delivers power with a wave of old school turbo lag. I have a SAAB specialist 3 miles from my house, which is a handy resource when buying and maintaining an 18 year old wagon like this. I'm so pleased with this machine :-) well looked after by it's previous two PHer owners... On sale, the guy even gifted me a huge barrel of ale, strapped down in the boot.
GM bought Saab around the time my Aero was built, and it does *feel* solid in terms of build quality, everything works as it should, and the design I really appreciate in terms of just how ergonomic everything is. Especially that cup holder...
It makes me laugh to know someone would've paid near £30,000 for this new, in 2002. The seats are unbelievably comfy, fully electric adjustable, heated front AND rear and the audio system with the tactile mid/bass/treb controls is ridiculously good.
It also makes for a good overnight camper for weekend trips to Wales. I've been all over the country in it and shame modern leased german stuff on the roads all the time. A smug feeling comes from knowing the car value of this thing is probably just a couple of months worth of their rental payments.
At the time I was considering a green 3.0r Legacy for the fact the rear seats fold completely flat whereas the Saab's do not. However, the terrible MPG and lack of well maintained lower mileage manual examples (and it needed to be green) pushed me towards the Swedish.
The best I've had out of the Aero so far on the fuel consumption is 37, and that was feathering the throttle and reading the motorway ahead to never leave cruise control at 75 ish... rather good considering it weighs 1.7 tonnes :-)
GM bought Saab around the time my Aero was built, and it does *feel* solid in terms of build quality, everything works as it should, and the design I really appreciate in terms of just how ergonomic everything is. Especially that cup holder...
It makes me laugh to know someone would've paid near £30,000 for this new, in 2002. The seats are unbelievably comfy, fully electric adjustable, heated front AND rear and the audio system with the tactile mid/bass/treb controls is ridiculously good.
It also makes for a good overnight camper for weekend trips to Wales. I've been all over the country in it and shame modern leased german stuff on the roads all the time. A smug feeling comes from knowing the car value of this thing is probably just a couple of months worth of their rental payments.
At the time I was considering a green 3.0r Legacy for the fact the rear seats fold completely flat whereas the Saab's do not. However, the terrible MPG and lack of well maintained lower mileage manual examples (and it needed to be green) pushed me towards the Swedish.
The best I've had out of the Aero so far on the fuel consumption is 37, and that was feathering the throttle and reading the motorway ahead to never leave cruise control at 75 ish... rather good considering it weighs 1.7 tonnes :-)
Edited by NorthernSky on Thursday 1st October 10:52
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