Searching for an Estate car....

[Roger Woods]

..After selling my Impreza last week we need a second car for the family 'cab' I was so sure I wanted another Volvo as our XC90 has served us well and started looking for about an 04/05 V70 diesel Auto upto about £5000.

Last night whilst mooching (which is all I ever seem to do now days!) I had a thought about a decent E class estate diesel and it appears that I can get a good, full history one in my budget.

My question is which would be the best buy - 220/270/320?

The 7 seat option would be really handy.

The aim that this car is a 5 year plus ownership car

We where 'bitten' by a petrol ML320 a few years back that was the most horrid car ever.

Any real life views out there?

[GlenMH]

I paid about 3k for a late 2001 210 series E320 diesel. I am lucky in that the one I got is mostly rot free apart from a couple of areas that I'll sort next summer.

I get around 36-40mpg on a 50:50 mix of town/motorway driving and I don't hang about. More is certainly achievable! It will also be better when I get 2 injectors replaced next year as they are out of tolerance. It is a very old-school turbo installation: wait, wait, 3k rpm, and away we go! Not the more modern seamless style of acceleration.

As a load lugger/family wagon, it is epic. Very comfy cruiser. Try and get one with the load bay tray - it makes cleaning so much easier. There are a few electrical niggles but nothing earth shattering.

Find a good indy to take some of the pain out of servicing.

I have heard mixed reports about the 211 series estates but there are still quite a few about.

[Rob_T]

i have an e220 diesel (57 plate) which i've now owned for 4 years and put 40k miles on it. very smooth, extremely comfortble, very easy to drive.

perfectly suitable for motorways and around town. no problems overtaking BUT it is a little slow to move away from junctions which, when you are on a busy roundabout you want to press on. that is a minor issue though.

cheap to run and own. over the 40k miles i've done i have averaged to be precise 39.3 mpg (had a log reset when i bought it)

i'm sure you could pick an 07 plate up with 70 - 80k miles on it for your budget. very happy with mine. will run it into the ground, and possibly beyond!

[Doofus]

Rob_T said:

i'm sure you could pick an 07 plate up with 70 - 80k miles on it for your budget.

Really? I'm looking for an estate to replace the old Volvo, and I'm also looking at 07's, and they're more like £12k

07 320 Cdi Sports with 60,000 miles are going for £15,000

[Rob_T]

Ok, I stand corrected. I was thinking of 220's though. However a quick scan of the ph classifieds brings up this

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

Which is more than I thought.

My mistake. Still excellent value for money. Sorry for misinforming!

[Doofus]

No problem. I was just worried that I was looking in the wrong places!