Best banger estates under 2k - Page 1 - Car Buying

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Original Poster

176 posts

246 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Having sold my car at pay the bills at the start of the lockdown, I'm now starting to look for my next motor as things hopefully ease up and some form of normality resumes.
The budget is much tighter now so I'm looking for a estate/MPV under 2k.
Ive always had slightly odd cars so my last car (Seat Altea)... Well although it was good on fuel. Thats about it. It was boring and not particularly reliable for at the time, my most expensive car purchase ever. The value of it also dropped like a stone and I ended up selling it at £1500 and had just one call about it. Luckily they bought! It was a 1.9, 2009 with 87000 and FSH BTW.

So my question
.. What sort of reliable ish estates are out there.
Don't want anything too massive.

Currently looking Japanese. In particular the Mitsubishi Lancer Estate or a Subaru Impreza Wagon.

Other considered... Octavia estate (too boring), Volvo V40 (too grandaddy), Alfa 156/159 cant remember (reliability?)
Saab 93 (any out there?)

Any other suggestions.
Ta

TheAlastair34

369 posts

157 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Has to be a saab i would think, strong engines that remap well too

ElectricSoup

8,202 posts

180 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Mazda 6.

jwilco

335 posts

77 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Don't rule out a Mondeo. They are a decent steer as well.

Original Poster

176 posts

246 months

Friday 19th June 2020

I've always liked Saabs.
Ford Focus sensible choice but not what my heart wants.

Does anyone have experience of the Lancer Estate?
I like the Hawkeye Impreza Wagon but someone said they arent very reliable.

Cheers

Feirny

2,924 posts

176 months

Friday 19th June 2020

I’ve got a Saab 9-3 estate which I got for a smidge over £2k. It’s the 2.0T Vector Sport 175bhp. Very comfy and quite brisk even with the Auto box.

Really enjoy driving it and glad I got it. Only bought as a stop gap winter hack with winter tyres when my daughter was born, and planned to sell around now ish but I think I’ll keep it another winter.

ZX10R NIN

30,515 posts

154 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Friday 19th June 17:32

bigtomski

379 posts

225 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Don't know when you're thinking of buying but I will have a 2008 Saab 9-5 Aero auto estate for sale soonish.
It's lovely, has stage 3 bits on so goes pretty quickly if that's your thing.
We've had it i think for 4 years or so and it's been the most reliable car we've ever had.
Only going to be selling as we had an itch to scratch to get a convertible.

Original Poster

176 posts

246 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Thanks for that. Some good links there.

Mondeo/ Laguna/maza 6 bit big. Looking for a smaller estate. For the same reason a Saab is probably out.

Seat Altea. The last one was pretty rubbish. Their values sink like the Titanic and out of The VW group, seats seem to be the worst made. Mine had various electrical problems that cost a packet to fix.
Ford focus ok but a bit bland.

I've been suggested Toyota corolla verso. Honda stream
Two more Japanese alternatives.

ElectricSoup

8,202 posts

180 months

Friday 19th June 2020

How's about the oddest suggestion of them all then.

FIAT Croma.

Essentially a SAAB 9-5/Vectra underneath, in an Altea type body.

Not many about, but seriously cheap now and criminally under-rated.

LochTay

3,642 posts

94 months

Friday 19th June 2020

It might be too big, but there's some great Accord estates kicking around...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertisin...

Original Poster

176 posts

246 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Yep. Sorry the Accord is massive!
Pity the Civic estate stopped at in 2000 and only restarted in 2014.

ElectricSoup

8,202 posts

180 months

Friday 19th June 2020

philpalmer said:

Yep. Sorry the Accord is massive!
Pity the Civic estate stopped at in 2000 and only restarted in 2014.

On the money there, I've got a 2016 1.8 petrol i-VTEC Civic estate, an auto with flappy paddles, it's just about the most perfect all-rounder car imaginable. And great fun to drive too. A C-Segment estate is all the car car most people would ever need. Sadly the genre is on the way out in favour of baby SUVs, which are compromised in every imaginable regard.

Volvo V40/V50? Old V40s were a shared platform with Mitsubishi, the newer V50s were on a Ford Focus platform.

KomodoWagon

157 posts

113 months

Friday 19th June 2020

A neighbour of mine is on his third Corolla Verso (or just Verso I think now) and rates them for reliability and space reasons. Utterly unexciting, mind.

Mitsubishi Grandis popped into my head when you mentioned Honda Stream. I don't have any experience or knowledge of them I'm afraid. But it fulfils the criteria of Japanese and (somewhat) odd.

Honda FR-V sprang to mind as well. Definitely peculiar. Maybe not big enough?

Original Poster

176 posts

246 months

Friday 19th June 2020

Frv got a very weird handbrake.

Summit_Detailing

2,428 posts

222 months

Friday 19th June 2020

X-type - loads around within budget - both diesel and petrol.

Cheers,

Chris

NGRhodes

1,291 posts

101 months

Friday 19th June 2020

At this price the best banger is the one with the best history; not just service history, but documentary evidence of (preventative) maintenance.

Demelitia

689 posts

85 months

Friday 19th June 2020

B5.5 Passat, 1.9 pd130. £60 remapped ecu to get 165/170bhp.
Can be had for peanuts, but over £1000 will get a very well kept one.
There’s also the 2.5 tdi’s.
Not the last word in excitement but they are dependable.

ZX10R NIN

30,515 posts

154 months

Friday 19th June 2020

NGRhodes

1,291 posts

101 months

Friday 19th June 2020

KomodoWagon said:

A neighbour of mine is on his third Corolla Verso (or just Verso I think now) and rates them for reliability and space reasons. Utterly unexciting, mind.

Had one for 4ish years, never broke down, needed a wear and tear bits like a cat, battery and a radiator which suffered road damage). Dull, but comfortable drive, lots of body roll, but predictable handling dry wet, least steering feedback of any car I drove.

KomodoWagon said:

Mitsubishi Grandis popped into my head when you mentioned Honda Stream. I don't have any experience or knowledge of them I'm afraid. But it fulfils the criteria of Japanese and (somewhat) odd.

Grandis is nice, but parts is an issue now they are getting older and never been popular (so lack of pattern parts), some suspension parts are dealer only and Mitsubishi have never been cheap, but other more common parts like pads and discs are as cheap as any other brand.
We got ours after the Corolla as needed a bit more space and they are huge (builders bag fits in the boot with the middle row up), almost Galaxy in size. Sofa soft seating, comfortable but not supportive enough for anything more than the occasional stint of Spirited driving. At low revs/speeds Corolla was quicker but at 40mph+ the Grandis (both Petrol) was a noticeable notch ahead in a straight line or around a corner (but still not Smax levels of driver appeal).

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