What Estate?

[junglie]

Budget is £15,000, fuel not as much of an issue as it perhaps should be!!, motorway journies mostly.

There are 2 options that I can see:

1. Buy a car for the full amount so it will be either a later model or a more pretige make.

2. Buy a car for half(ish) the amount and keep the rest for a bit of fun, trade in at a later date, etc.....

So far I have come up with the following for Option 1:

a. Audi A4/A6 3.0 tdi - more leggy than others.
b. BMW 330d/530d - more leggy than others.
c. Mercedes Benz E320/C320 cdi - autobox issues?
d. Volvo V50 D5 Sport - seem nice but have not driven one.

For Option 2:

a. The VAG 2.0 tdi fleet - a good Passat Sport for approx £8000 with 60k miles as an example.
b. BMW straight 6 petrols.
c. Volvo V50 T5 - seem fun but again have not driven.

I like the idea of the big capacity diesels for the prestige and the instant thump but the others mentioned are still good bits of kit - would you feel that perhaps yo have missed out if you bought an almsst new VW Passat when you could have had an older 530d M Sport with more punch but potentially more issues in the long term?

Thoughts please.

[nobodyknows]

had an E46 330D Touring for 4 years - chipped by DMS to about 225Bhp. Was a great all rounder but I wish I could have stretched to a Sport version to make the handling more fun. It was economical (44ish on a run), quick enough for a diesel estate, quiet & comfortable but the boot was not as big as you might think & with 2 kids/dog that did cause the odd problem!