ULEZ compliant Estate under £5k

[mickyfix]

There are a gazillion threads on Estates here, I own a van and am very far out of the loop. Can you lot help with some advice?

Would like to buy an estate to take from from filthy London to Sunny Devon.

• Optional rant inserted see below for thread drift within first post.

I’m thinking petrol as it’s likely to be cheaper to buy than an equivalent compliant diesel?

I would like to emerge after 250 miles like I’d just got out of the armchair, smug that I didn’t use a supertankers worth of fuel, having just driven there and back ‘Dumbo’ Mitsubishi Chariot Grandis grey import (big door mirrors like big ears hence Dumbo) with its unnerving steering, having a motor that feels planted to the floor - doesn’t need to handle A road burn ups - would add to the pleasure I think.

A decent load carrying ability is preferred.

So:
ULEZ
Merc like ride?
Economy
Good on M ways /A303 :-)

Could you help with a few car related suggestions?

Ta.

• ULEZ is an expensive disaster for motorists, we are being forced to buy redundant expensive vehicles which I think will drop like stones in value when no one wants to buy your diesel /PHEV/electric because it’s out of date after 3 tmyears from new.

[thebraketester]

Wouldn't it be easier to just avoid the ULEZ zone?

[mickyfix]

I live in it...

[T-195]

Had a 2 litre petrol Primera Estate that was ULEZ compliant. 03 Plate, T Spec version which means loads of kit. Surprisingly spacious and comfortable. Paid £1700 for a rather nice one with 60k.

[thebraketester]

mickyfix said:

I live in it...

Ahh bugger. Wife had to change her car too. Faff.

[mickyfix]

Am I right in thinking the ULEZ in years means
Diesel 2015 onwards (Euro 6 min)
Petrol 2007 onwards (Euro 4 min)

Then we get into NOx emissions or some such witchcraft that might be how the Primera Gets through?

[thebraketester]

Bentley Continental passes too. 6L W12

[T-195]

As does the MK3 MR2, which can't have changed much since the late Nineties.

[ZX10R NIN]

Simple this one:

2.5T Mondeo in Titanium X Spec

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

2.0T Titanium X

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

Or if they don't work for you then there are these:

E Class in 280 form

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

Or a C230 Sport Edition

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

Saab 9-5 Turbo Edition

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

Another option would be a 3.0 Legacy Sport

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

[JJ55]

Petrol is 2005 onwards. I bought an 05 petrol V70 last year in preparation for it happening. There is a ULEZ website that you put the reg plate into & it tells you if it’s ok or not.

P.s. the V70 would fit your brief I think. Amazing on the motorway & unbelievably comfortable, like driving along in an armchair.

[Mr Tidy]

You could always buy my BMW E91 325i for about 60% of your budget - Euro IV compliant so no issue with ULEZ!

[mickyfix]

Many thanks for the replies

So from a little digging:
Mpg not going to get anything better than 25-30mpg in preferred auto box spec for a petrol estate, agreed?

325i Touring is choppy but drives well
V70 is neutral /boring to drive but comfortable.
Merc E280 / C230 - somewhere in the middle of these two?

Fords despite offering loads for the money I’d rather not own, same with Primera.
Saab looks lovely but unknown to me about reliability.
Scooby is also unknown.

Read another thread here about buying cars and only really experiencing them after a few days driving, more hours of YouTube virtual tours ahead!

[T-195]

Primera Estate on Ebay for £750.

135k miles on an 05 plate.

Petrol engine, doesn't say what size. One thing I found with these was the 2.0 used far more fuel than the 1.8 (40ish mpg), while being barely any quicker.


If you want comfort these are certainly worth a look.

[anonymous-user]

mickyfix said:

Many thanks for the replies

So from a little digging:
Mpg not going to get anything better than 25-30mpg in preferred auto box spec for a petrol estate, agreed?

325i Touring is choppy but drives well
V70 is neutral /boring to drive but comfortable.
Merc E280 / C230 - somewhere in the middle of these two?

Fords despite offering loads for the money I’d rather not own, same with Primera.
Saab looks lovely but unknown to me about reliability.
Scooby is also unknown.

Read another thread here about buying cars and only really experiencing them after a few days driving, more hours of YouTube virtual tours ahead!

You're making your life difficult by ruling out Ford. There's nothing wrong with their cars unless its snob value you're after.

[ZX10R NIN]

keirik said:

mickyfix said:

Many thanks for the replies

So from a little digging:
Mpg not going to get anything better than 25-30mpg in preferred auto box spec for a petrol estate, agreed?

325i Touring is choppy but drives well
V70 is neutral /boring to drive but comfortable.
Merc E280 / C230 - somewhere in the middle of these two?

Fords despite offering loads for the money I’d rather not own, same with Primera.
Saab looks lovely but unknown to me about reliability.
Scooby is also unknown.

Read another thread here about buying cars and only really experiencing them after a few days driving, more hours of YouTube virtual tours ahead!

You're making your life difficult by ruling out Ford. There's nothing wrong with their cars unless its snob value you're after.

Unless you're a badge snob I can't see why you'd rule out the Mondeo, for example the V70 in your price bracket will not be a better car than the Mondeo, if it has to be auto then the Mondeo has the better/more reliable Gearbox.

2.0T Mondeo Titanium X

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

V70

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

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