Audi Allroad vs. Audi A6 vs. Vectra vs. E46 BMW

[mondeoman]

Time for a change of car and I've narrowed it down to 4 possibles:

Audi Allroad 2.5 TDi
Audi A6 1.9TDi
E46 330d Touring
Vectra 3.0 CDTi SRi estate

Requirements are decent sized loading space for two dogs, reasonable / good economy (hence the diseasels), good towing capacity (minimum 1800kg) and it has to be reliable: my last E46 did 40k miles and 4 years with just oil, tyres, alternator and a couple of wishbones, but its got terminal fuelling problems now so its time to say goodbye to it.

Questions I have are:
does the Allroad really suffer badly from leaking suspension or is that just internet talk?
Is the vectra a nice place to spend time - I do like the BMW layout...

Budget is max £3k, have I missed any obvious contenders?

[johnnyBv8]

Volvo V70? I've just bought a T5 as I needed an estate runaround.

I love the Allroad, but always a bit wary of the suspension repair costs.

[johnnyBv8]

Of your choices though, I'd probably go for the Audi. I dislike Vectras - boring, 1.9 A6 will be underpowered, E46 not very large. What about something like a Subaru Forester?

[anonymous-user]

Out of that list I can only say there's no reason to get the 3.0 CDTi Vectra over a 1.9 SRi - which you can tune to 200bhp very comfortably. The Audi's and E46 are better cars overall, but would probably be pretty ropey at £3k.

[mondeoman]

I've had bus for the last ten years, possibly time for a change. Couldn't find a Volcano locally at the budget, hadn't thought of the Subaru.