£10k Estate Options?

[David87]

In a few months' time, the Nissan Qashqai that I leased for my wife goes back after three years of acceptable, but forgettable motoring. It arrived the week before our first-born and we are now due a second baby in July. Leasing has been fine and I wouldn't rule it out again in the future, but for various reasons (primarily an upcoming house move) I'd like to buy her a used car outright instead and avoid paying out each month as I do now.

I appreciate this is PistonHeads and many could apparently fit a family of four into an MX-5, but having a nice practical estate will be useful with two children! I'm looking at something up to around £10k, but will gladly spend less. I'm happy to go for petrol or diesel and am no badge snob, but what it absolutely must have is ISOFIX for the rear seats. We already have expensive car seats that are ISOFIX fitment only and even if they weren't, I can't be arsed to dick about seatbelting them in.

Size-wise, stuff in the D- and E-segments (think 3- and 5-Series) would be suitable, but I'm most drawn toward the bigger cars because well, bigger is better, right? The car will do around 12k miles per year, so 15mpg is not acceptable, but at the same time, a reasonable amount of oomph will be greatly appreciated. My wife had an R56 MINI Cooper S before the (1.2-litre petrol!) Qashqai and desperately misses the performance that it had. We'll probably keep the car for three years or so as by then it'll likely be knackered (I've discovered hauling a small baby and the associated clobber around can be quite hard on a car!), plus I have an early Tesla Model 3 pre-order in that'll likely arrive sometime around then and will take over family duties.

The two cars that immediately came to mind are a) the policeman's choice (3rd gen Volvo V70) and b) the German taxi driver's choice (W211 Mercedes-Benz E-Class). I very much like the idea of both of these, but know little about them. Anything else that you good folk of PH would suggest?

Thanks.

[poing]

Skoda Superb?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/s...

[David87]

Ooh yeah, that looks good already. Forgot about those.

[gazzarose]

What about a gen8 Honda Accord Tourer. I've got a Type S and its refreshingly different.



Mine is a 2.2 diesel 180, but the other specs are available with the 150 diesel and a 2.4 petrol.

[JasperT]

May be a little biased, but, Subaru Legacy?
Really, really tidy Gen 4 (2003-2009?) cars can be had for significantly less than half of your budget.

Or you could spend 5-8k on a JDM import twinscroll turbo model... a lot of speed in a very unassuming package!

[Vaud]

Volvo XC60?

V70 a good call, though they are pretty long.

Don't rule out something smaller with an occasional roof box.

[gtidreamer]

The standard answer (because it is a good one) suggests an Octavia VRS.

[Rockmonkey]

If you could stretch the budget a little you could get a Jaguar XF sportsbreak. 240 or 270bhp and 40mpg in a car which is great to drive, looks great and handles great.

[ZX10R NIN]

Depending on how you do your 12k diesel & petrol as you say are options the Mondeo is a good shout especially the 2.0T version but they're hard to find.

Here are a few worth looking at.

2008 Mercedes E320cdi Sport 76k FSH

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2012 Mondeo Titanium X Sport 2.2 tdci 75k 200bhp FSH Average 47mpg

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2.0tdci version of the above 160bhp 57mpg average

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

2011 Titanium X Sport 2.0T 62k 200bhp 36mpg average Auto FSH

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2012 facelift version of the above 34k FSH 240bhp same mpg average

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

2011 Peugeot 508 GT 2.2hdi (same engine as the Ford) Auto 51k FSH 200bhp

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2009 Accord EX 2.4 48k FSH 200bhp Auto 32mpg

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

2012 Mazda6 Sport 2.0 Petrol 165bhp 47mpg 88k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

2011 Skoda Octavia VRS 2.0T 42k FSH 200bhp 37mpg average

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2012 Diesel VRS 170bhp Auto 47mpg

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...


Leftfield:

2009 Insignia Elite 2.8T 260bhp 24mpg 72k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2008 VW R36 Passat 124k 300bhp Auto 26mpg

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Sunday 22 January 12:40

[CaptainSlow]

I've just picked up a Mazda 6. The one in the post above looks like a good price.

[Rockmonkey]

PetrolJosh said:

Rockmonkey said:

If you could stretch the budget a little you could get a Jaguar XF sportsbreak. 240 or 270bhp and 40mpg in a car which is great to drive, looks great and handles great.

I wouldn't. They have far too many electrical faults for a car of that stature.

The early 2.7 model is best avoided for that reason. Later ones with the 3.0 diesel engine are much more reliable. Mine has been absolutely spot on.
VW's are the worst I've had for electrical faults.