(Yawn) What car? Fast, Fun Estate with a 5K budget....

[WeirdNeville]

Hey all!

Time has come for a newer car. I can't kid myself that a Diesel S40 is the car for me any longer.... And it doesn't fit dog+baby+kit+wife, or bike for when I get to go away cycling.

Criteria are:

• Mid sized estate.
• 30Mpg or close enough I can pretend it gets that.
• 2001 or newer - I want ISOfix and decent crash safety. (Yawn).
• Fast enough and decent handling. If it's FWD would have to be something special to float my boat.
• Reliable and not too painful to work on/service.
• Pretty much MUST be manual.

Shortlisted:

• BMW 300i Touring
• Skoda Octavia VRS?
• Impreza WRX Wagons
• volvo V50 T5's

Potentials:

• Honda Accords?

Blacklisted:

• Mondeos
• Jag X types
• Alfa Romeos (for no good reason)
• Audis (Previous bad ownership experiences)

Anything I'm missing? Any experiences people would like to pass on? I've sort of set my heart on one of these cars, I just want to know if there is anything else to look out for?

[cat220]

Legacy spec b, might struggle with the 30mpg right enough.

Saab aero is another worth looking at.

[paulmoonraker]

Not the Impreza. They are a bit dull really...

[Mave]

I've got a 328i which lets me fit 2 x kids + kit and gives low 30s mpg. Fits the bill except you might want to check your bike fits as they aren't huge. 330i should be as (if not more) economical

[Baryonyx]

You should get a decent Mondeo ST220 for that price.

[rallycross]

325 touring sport.

330 sport touring.

Superb to drive.

[anonymous-user]

You can buy quite a lot of SAAB 9-3 for that!

[s m]

Mave said:

I've got a 328i which lets me fit 2 x kids + kit and gives low 30s mpg. Fits the bill except you might want to check your bike fits as they aren't huge. 330i should be as (if not more) economical

OP used to have a 328i estate iirc

[WeirdNeville]

s m said:

Mave said:

I've got a 328i which lets me fit 2 x kids + kit and gives low 30s mpg. Fits the bill except you might want to check your bike fits as they aren't huge. 330i should be as (if not more) economical

OP used to have a 328i estate iirc

Indeed, 2 years of leggy but good 328i touring under my belt. I can't think of a more 'complete' car than a 330i touring. They're fabulous - and cheap (IMO) for wha you get. But.... Replacing like with like isn't really my style. I want to try something a bit different. If it doesn't suit me then a 330i touring is only a trade in away after all.

[V8Wagon]

Accord 2.4 Tourer. Nice car, mega spec can be picked up cheap.

[anonymous-user]

V8Wagon said:

Accord 2.4 Tourer. Nice car, mega spec can be picked up cheap.

I definatelty recomend one of those! mine was reliable nice to drive and very practical

[SWoll]

WeirdNeville said:

s m said:

Mave said:

I've got a 328i which lets me fit 2 x kids + kit and gives low 30s mpg. Fits the bill except you might want to check your bike fits as they aren't huge. 330i should be as (if not more) economical

OP used to have a 328i estate iirc

Indeed, 2 years of leggy but good 328i touring under my belt. I can't think of a more 'complete' car than a 330i touring. They're fabulous - and cheap (IMO) for wha you get. But.... Replacing like with like isn't really my style. I want to try something a bit different. If it doesn't suit me then a 330i touring is only a trade in away after all.

Strange that you put it in your shortlist in the original post then?

The best all round car you can buy for that budget but they really aren't that roomy inside.

WRX - You will see nowhere near 30MPG in one of these and finding a good one for your budget is becoming more and more of a challenge.

MonkeyMatt said:

V8Wagon said:

Accord 2.4 Tourer. Nice car, mega spec can be picked up cheap.

I definatelty recomend one of those! mine was reliable nice to drive and very practical

fair enough but at the end of the day neither fast nor fun as per your original requirements.

If not the 330i then I would agree with the above poster regarding the ST220. Still unlikely to see 30MPG as an average but great to drive, cheap to fix and loads of room inside.

[SWoll]

doogz said:

SWoll said:

WRX - You will see nowhere near 30MPG in one of these and finding a good one for your budget is becoming more and more of a challenge.

Mine does 28mpg all week long, and that's with the PPP, so 265bhp as opposed to the standard 220/225bhp.

You must have an incredibly light right foot doogz and spend all of your time at 56MPH on the motorway.

Have a couple of friends who've had WRX's, both standard and PPP, and neither averaged much better than 20MPG during their ownership. Constantly complaining about the thirst and the fact that they really need SUL to perform at their best.

OP, just do a google search for WRX MPG to see what I mean. Great cars, but frugal they aint...

[Liquid Knight]

Fun estate and 30+mpg?

One or the other I'm affraid. Nissan Stagea for fun or a Passat TDi for economy. Both can be found for well under £5,000 so you can get both.

[kambites]

So far we've averaged about 32mpg out of the wife's Octavia VRS hatchback, if that's any help. I'd imagine the estate should break 30mpg if driven moderately sensibly.

You might even find that the hatch is big enough - the only difference is the shape of the glass-house, as far as I know, so if you're not loading it above the rear seats anyway, it's the same size as the estate.

ETA: A 3-series would be nicer to drive, though.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 25th January 09:22

[SWoll]

Liquid Knight said:

Fun estate and 30+mpg?

One or the other I'm affraid. Nissan Stagea for fun or a Passat TDi for economy. Both can be found for well under £5,000 so you can get both.

Rubbish. If the OP had specified 40MPG I might have agreed, but 30MPG is definitely acheivable without having to buy a VAG 2.0 TDi.

[SWoll]

doogz said:

SWoll said:

You must have an incredibly light right foot doogz and spend all of your time at 56MPH on the motorway.

Have a couple of friends who've had WRX's, both standard and PPP, and neither averaged much better than 20MPG during their ownership. Constantly complaining about the thirst and the fact that they really need SUL to perform at their best.

OP, just do a google search for WRX MPG to see what I mean. Great cars, but frugal they aint...

I spend a lot of my time at 70-80mph on the motorway.

Here are the official figures for the car in question:

Fuel consumption (urban) 19.6 mpg
Fuel consumption (extra urban) 35.8 mpg
Fuel consumption (combined) 27.4 mpg

If your mates were struggling to beat 20mpg, i'd suggest they were doing a lot of town driving, or they drove innappropriately, a lot.

My old STI, with some more power, and much shorter gearing, yeah, less than 20mpg.

But the WRX, with it's mega long gearing, and mediocre power output, it's not that bad.

As I said Doogz, have a look around on the net and I'm sure you'll find you are the exception rather than the rule TBH.

And let's be honest here, driving a WRX inappropriately is pretty much it's raison d'etre.

[alfa pint]

Does the MG ZT tourer come into that budget? Mate of mine bought one as a family car to replace his Mk 2 MR2 turbo and wasn't disappointed.

[y2blade]

Volvo V50 T5

[kambites]

alfa pint said:

Does the MG ZT tourer come into that budget? Mate of mine bought one as a family car to replace his Mk 2 MR2 turbo and wasn't disappointed.

You wont get 30mpg from a V6 (or V8) and I wouldn't trust a 1.8 K-series in a car that heavy (the 1.8 isn't particularly fast anyway).