Recommend a Daily Driver for me for £4K

[AGAR]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new daily driver within my budget of £4K. The car must be a diesel, have 5 doors, cruise control, be able to last me for another 3-4 years, and have enough room in the boot to carry a snow board or mountain bike.

I've looked into Audi A4s but no decent ones are to be had for my price range. VW Passats look like good value for money but are a bit too dull for me.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Agar

[Matt UK]

Ford Focus / Mondeo

[Chunky La Funga]

Not exciting but - Corolla Verso. Will get bikes inside without having to remove wheels and is ludicrously reliable and cheap to run.

[andy43]

How about a mnnnnnngh......zzzzzzzzzzzzz

[plg]

Saab 95 estate 2.2 or 3.0 diesel?

[AlexC1981]

I'd recommend a Laguna. Don't flame me!

I've had a Laguna GT 2.0 DCi (old shape) for around 18 months. I'm getting 42mpg at the moment, although I was getting 47mpg when I did a lot of motorway driving.

It's no sports car but it has 175bhp and plenty of torque so it's no slouch either. Handling is safe and predictable, but it's not a car that's going to get you in any way excited.

It has very comfortable leather seats, lots of toys and it's had no problems in the time I have owned it apart from requiring new brake pads and a bulb. It's done over 70K miles now.

[Jasandjules]

I'd say a Passat but if they are too dull, then I can't really come up with an alternative, because we chose a Passat ourselves as we felt it was the best of the competition.

[andy43]

Sorry. Dozed off.
How about a Mondeo. Or a rust-era C Class estate?
Citroen Picasso seem quite popular, but they all seem to come with England flags and children with excessive facial snot.
Might be able to get a Honda Accord estate for that - either that, Mondeo or Saab are probably the only choices for anything remotely approaching a positive driving experience. Audi and BMW will quite possibly be knackered at that price point. Off-the-wall (and on the back of a low-loader) choice - 156 jTD Alfa?

[The real Apache]

You can have my H reg Renault 19 on 75k if you like, being a 1.4 it is cheap on insurance, fuel and tax. I know I only paid £50 for it but I'll gladly take your offer of £4k, hell, I'll even let you keep the Alpine head unit

[AndyKH]

I paid under £4000 for this. Massive boot, decent performance when needed, different from the norm. If you can get over the badge and can handle narrow minded losers trying the old Skoda jokes on you it's brilliant car.

Edited by AndyKH on Saturday 19th June 15:24

[bassanclan]

Volvo s60/s80/v70 D5
Toyota Avensis
Mazda 6

[lost in espace]

Condisered a Galaxy with the 110bhp engine, runs well on veg oil mixes. Big enough for your use, and cheap to run!

[300bhp/ton]

Chunky La Funga said:

Not exciting but - Corolla Verso.

I think the phrase "no %^&* Sherlock" would be apt

[pilchardthecat]

e46 330d

[AGAR]

Thanks for the replies guys - i've been busy over the past couple of days researching some of the cars that were suggested both on here and on another forum.

The e46 320d tourings seem like the best value for money at the moment, and there are three good ones I'm looking into at the moment. I think out of the above its probably the least likely one i'd get bored of, coupled with the excellent spec that the SE's come with (cruise, auto dimming rear view mirror, steering wheel controls, rear parking assist) it seems like the winner. I've also noticed that if I can find a Y reg one it'll save me £50 on tax a year, plus those ones do not have the butterfly inlet valves that are known to cause engine failure.

Thanks again.

PS isn't that Octavia a petrol engined car?