Warm 'family' estate - Octavia vRS or...?

[Ynox]

It's come to time for me to replace my much loved Mazda 3 MPS with something a little newer and a little bigger (would like it to be able to carry bikes easier and in time, family / kids crap).

Ideally the car would have the following:

• Be an estate
• < 7.5 to seconds to 60
• Petrol
• Up to 3 years old
• < 40k on clock
• < £20k (ideally. Possibly could go to ~£25k though at a big push).

This has made me think to go for an Octavia vRS. I had a MK1 a few years ago (estate) and loved it. A quick check on the prices and these, whilst competitive compared to BMW etc, they're not amazingly cheap. There's not a huge number of approved used petrol estates out there right now either.

Unfortunately the market seems dominated by diesels, which I don't really want.

Cheers!

[Dannbodge]

They do a 2L Turbo Mondeo which is a great looking car:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Zad]

The Mondeo is a decent car with a good chassis, but 99% of the 2.0t are autos and (admittedly this is just me being a snob) 4 cylinder.
Audi S4 Avant just starts to creep into your budget. Are you after a manual gearbox?

[Ruskie]

RS4/RS6 with £5k emergency fund. Does everything you want plus 4WD and and a nice place to sit.

[sjg]

Seat Leon ST Cupras are under £20k these days. £25k gets you a virtually new one.

[Dannbodge]

Zad said:

The Mondeo is a decent car with a good chassis, but 99% of the 2.0t are autos and (admittedly this is just me being a snob) 4 cylinder.
Audi S4 Avant just starts to creep into your budget. Are you after a manual gearbox?

I think all the 2l petrol ones are auto.

[BrettMRC]

With a bit of haggling you could get:

Golf-R estate
Passat R36
H6 Subaru Outback (not sure they are new enough though)
A4 Avant with 3.0 tfsi


Harder than I thought actually....

[CO2000]

Dannbodge said:

They do a 2L Turbo Mondeo which is a great looking car:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Nice car, whats the structure on the rails in the boot?

[a7x88]

I had similar criteria but a lower budget - plumped for an S6 Avant. If you can live with the mpg they get a big thumbs up from me

[Ynox]

Zad said:

The Mondeo is a decent car with a good chassis, but 99% of the 2.0t are autos and (admittedly this is just me being a snob) 4 cylinder.
Audi S4 Avant just starts to creep into your budget. Are you after a manual gearbox?

Ideally a manual, yep.

An S4 avant. Hmm

[sinbaddio]

BMW 328i Touring - high spec, low miles, manual

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[randomeddy]

sinbaddio said:

BMW 328i Touring - high spec, low miles, manual

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

How accurate are the A.T. figures?
0-60, 6 sec from a manual. Rather swift.

[Davey S2]

sinbaddio said:

BMW 328i Touring - high spec, low miles, manual

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Really like that

[sinbaddio]

randomeddy said:

sinbaddio said:

BMW 328i Touring - high spec, low miles, manual

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

How accurate are the A.T. figures?
0-60, 6 sec from a manual. Rather swift.

It does, although that's what BMW quote on their site:

http://www.bmw.co.uk/en_GB/new-vehicles/3/touring/...

[Section 8]

Another vote for a 328i here. Was a toss up between one or a GTI PP and the GTI won due to my other half would probably write off a RWD in bad weather.

Estoril blue M sport with 19 inch wheels in estate form looks fab.

The Leon 280 estate would also get a look in. Don't they do an Octavia 230 estate? Same engine as the GTi performance i think.

[s55shh]

Skoda Superb 280

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say the manual will be the hardest part also, to get a decent 328i you'll be at the top of your budget, if you can live with an auto then options really open up a bit.

328i M Sport Plus

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

S4

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Mondeo Vignale

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

If you're considering the Leon then I'd say also take a look at the Focus ST-3

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Leon Cupra 300

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Loaded Cupra 290

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

CLA 250 AMG Sport Depending on how much space you need

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

All the above are good options out of those I'd go for the S4 as who doesn't want 300+bhp to play with every now & then, but if it was my money I'd probably go leftfield & grab one of these two:

Insignia VXR Supersport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Polestar V60

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

If you could live with the lack of space then the RS3 has to be worth a look:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Ynox]

Some good pointers here. Thanks!.

[ALawson]

Aren't most of all those suggestions pretty small for an estate, unless you go E class, Audi 6. Even the BMW 5 isn't that big in the boot.

[PomBstard]

In a similar position to the OP a year ago - 3 kids, need to carry stuff, bikes, and so on. Preference for a manual petrol less than about 5 years old led me to a 2012/13 Subaru Liberty GT. Plenty big enough and fun enough for the money - not sure if you can get them in the UK though.

No, parts aren’t cheap but my experience with Subaru is that you don’t need them that often, and yes it likes a drink, but it’s fun, I like driving it, and the kids like going in it too!