Does a Petrolhead's Family Car Exist?

[apsona]

Ash_ said:

I had a Merc C320 Cdi for a while, pretty powerful, with a decent turn of speed, nice inside etc, it was an upgrade to the last performance big car I had, a Mondeo ST.

I never had any problems with it and liked it, in sport mode 0-60 came in about 7 seconds'ish, limited to 155 (not that you'd ever get near that of course). But it was nice, with AMG styling, and subtle too, no-one would know it was that quick unless they clocked the twin exhausts.

Mine was like this one;
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008313...

Another great option, I have some searching to do!

[ZX10R NIN]

If you don't mind spending a bit on fuel then the E350cgi is a very good option, the one below in Avantgarde trim is a nice pick & with nigh on 300bhp it'll get down the road at a nice rate.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105232...

E500 Sport (saloon) a nice mix of AMG light but still with a cracker of a N/A torque laden V8

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105263...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103310...

E350cdi Estate

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202106083...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202106013...

If you want an SUV then I'd say that the Infiniti FX50 S ticks the luxury side of things & it has a nice mount of go:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265184959992?hash=item3...

Or the 4.8i X5

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105273...

[BobsPigeon]

apsona said:

Keepersball said:

Skoda superb 272 bhp 4x4 is my ultimate sleeper and I can’t recommend it enough however it is slightly out of your budget range - that said you could have a look at an older (2014 3.6 v6 4x4 superb?

Nice looking car, great colour!

I'm picking one of these up on Friday.... 68 plate in red... Can't wait

[defblade]

Another vote for the Legacy... mine was a JDM spec-b twinscroll turbo, but less (and more!) silly versions are available.
I'm also 6'4"; mine was an auto which was probably just as well as I'm not sure there was knee room for operating a clutch, but obviously you'd be able to make up your own mind on that one.... otherwise, I did fit in ok. There was plenty of room in the back seats and as it was a wagon/estate, masses of room in the boot.



For your consideration, I'm now running a Skoda Rapid sport spaceback, which is roomier in the front than Legacy, still has decent rear rear seat space (hence the spaceback part... the saloon version has, IIRC less legroom and far less shoulder/headroom due to the c-pillar) but a much smaller boot than the Legacy estate
Compared to the Leggie, it also has under half the power, costs £100/year less to insure, tyres are £60 less per corner, about £230 less per year VED and runs on 95ron instead of 99ron and drinks it at 45mpg instead of 25, so a bit under half the petrol costs. Needs servicing every year/12k miles instead of 6 monthly/6k miles - uses cheaper oil, too. And it gets me to work at exactly the same time and I quite enjoy driving it, the handling is ok and power acceptable if you wring it out a bit. Might be worth considering having a sit-in if you're around a Skoda dealer. Mine was 3 years old, 17k miles and £8.5k with FSH... about the same as I spent on the Leggie which was 80k miles, 10 years or so old and zero history as a fresh import!

The Leggie was a heart (and right foot) car; the Skoda is a head (and wallet) car... both decent (tall) family sized cars for their own reasons, but which is better depends which way you're leaning. As others have said, the bigger engined Octavias may make a good middle ground


But a powerful Legacy estate is definitely the Holy Grail for this one... if you can justify the running costs

[Objective Alpha]

sounds to me like youll be fine with something like a mk6 golf gti, or any golf sized hot hatch sounds like itll be big enough. Suppose it depends if you want everyone to just fit in the back, or be able to relax in the back.

[BDKM]

Forester XT Turbo / close thread .

JDM ones have 280PS the UK ones 237PS bu can be mapped for 280 like the JDM ones , AWD and the space inside is very good, drive one and you'll never want another SUV

Edited by BDKM on Saturday 12th June 17:50

Edited by BDKM on Saturday 12th June 17:50

[Roboticarm]

Another vote for the twinscroll legacy here. Space and pace. It's a cruiser when you want and a bruiser when you want too

[Teddy Lop]

BDKM said:

Forester XT Turbo / close thread .

JDM ones have 280PS the UK ones 237PS bu can be mapped for 280 like the JDM ones , AWD and the space inside is very good, drive one and you'll never want another SUV

Edited by BDKM on Saturday 12th June 17:50

Edited by BDKM on Saturday 12th June 17:50

The Mrs has an 07 XT.

Not sure what the deal is on their newer stuff but I was surprised by how light and nimble it is, for a modern 4wd 5 door crossover estate; perversely it can also feel quite wafty for when you want to relax, I guess lightness means you can use more compliant springs etc. It certainly deserves consideration as a petrol heads family car, also because it's actually petrol

Road tax gives you the butt hurts but TBF it's best looked at as "only" a couple hundred more than whatever else you might be rolling in.

[DKL]

Perfect family car at £10k for trips away is what we needed so I bought an E55 estate. It's the best car we have had, huge, quick (very if you want it to be) fairly reasonable to run apart from fuel which inevitably sits a about 20mpg for tank,mup to 25 on a run. They are getting on a bit now, 53-56 plate and then the 6.2 e63 s211 but these are a bit more still.
I'd recommend one.

[Chris32345]

5 series is a petrol heads car?
It's more dull insurance Salemans type

[sevensfun]

Chris32345 said:

5 series is a petrol heads car?
It's more dull insurance Salemans type

Depends if m5 or v8 Variant