What family car - £1,000 - £2,500

[pmanson]

Hi All,

The insurance company are in the process of writing off my wife's Impreza (stolen during a burgulary and damaged in the process).

As a replacement I tried to suggest giving her my Focus Estate for family duties and getting myself another MX5 for the commute to work. This suggestion was met with disgust even though 99 times out of 100 I drive on my own (although up to a 1000 business miles a month might be a strain in the 5).

So suggestions wise for replacements I/we have come up with the following:

• Renault Clio 1.2 Dynamic (Amy had one before and loved it)
• Peugeot 206
• Mk4 VW Golf GTi 5 door - Autotrader
• Skoda Octavia VRS - Autotrader

I have no problem with running a car on 100k+ miles and it won't do huge levels of miles (commuting to work/nursery).

She'd like something cheap to run (with a bit of power) and it needs to be 5 doors.

Any thoughts?

Edited by pmanson on Tuesday 23 November 16:13

[staceyb]

A4 Avant?

[MattW]

For that price I think you've already hit the nail on the head. I don't think you'll go far wrong with the Skoda Vrs, supposed to be very good value for the money.

[pmanson]

MattW said:

For that price I think you've already hit the nail on the head. I don't think you'll go far wrong with the Skoda Vrs, supposed to be very good value for the money.

That's my preference but Amy is thinking about smoething cheap and cheerful.

I think what ever we get in this price range carries some risk.

[5lab]

old shape mondeos seem to last forever with very few known issues, could get a lovely st24/st200 for that money

[Emsman]

Octavia estate- room for the little ones stuff, and convenient for transporting things like....oh, I don't know....a 50 inch plasma??

[carlove]

Alfa 156 http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

[V88Dicky]

2 litre Primera hatch? Well built, strong and reliable and decent economy to boot.



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

[worsy]

V88Dicky said:

2 litre Primera hatch? Well built, strong and reliable and decent economy to boot.



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

THIS IS Pistonheads!!!

[pmanson]

Emsman said:

Octavia estate- room for the little ones stuff, and convenient for transporting things like....oh, I don't know....a 50 inch plasma??

I've got a Focus Estate already... And you know full well that a 50" plasma fits in the back of an Impreza wagon (as did the feckers that did my house over!)

O/T You any good up ladders mate? I need to fit the alarm box to the front of my house

[Emsman]

pmanson said:

Emsman said:

Octavia estate- room for the little ones stuff, and convenient for transporting things like....oh, I don't know....a 50 inch plasma??

I've got a Focus Estate already... And you know full well that a 50" plasma fits in the back of an Impreza wagon (as did the feckers that did my house over!)

O/T You any good up ladders mate? I need to fit the alarm box to the front of my house

I'm good up a ladder, graceful in the air falling from aforementioned ladder, and lousy at landing/ground level (the bit that hurts)
go with the Octavia though mate- mine is v reg with 130k and still fine- not a vrs though

[V88Dicky]

worsy said:

V88Dicky said:

2 litre Primera hatch? Well built, strong and reliable and decent economy to boot.



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

THIS IS Pistonheads!!!

And yet no mockery of the Clio 1.2 or Peugeot 206 already mentioned? How bizarre.

[pmanson]

V88Dicky said:

worsy said:

V88Dicky said:

2 litre Primera hatch? Well built, strong and reliable and decent economy to boot.



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

THIS IS Pistonheads!!!

And yet no mockery of the Clio 1.2 or Peugeot 206 already mentioned? How bizarre.

Double standards matter a lot around here

[robsco]

carlove said:

Alfa 156 http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

+1

He who dares, wins.

[worsy]

pmanson said:

V88Dicky said:

worsy said:

V88Dicky said:

2 litre Primera hatch? Well built, strong and reliable and decent economy to boot.



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

THIS IS Pistonheads!!!

And yet no mockery of the Clio 1.2 or Peugeot 206 already mentioned? How bizarre.

Double standards matter a lot around here

The wife's had both of those.

[BenMk3]

5lab said:

old shape mondeos seem to last forever with very few known issues, could get a lovely st24/st200 for that money

This, Mk2 Mondeos are brilliant cars, I saw a modified ST200 estate the other day, forgot how nice they looked

http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2060979.htm
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2254829.htm
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2245621.htm

Some other options

http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2227093.htm
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2271983.htm
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2247236.htm
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2261091.htm
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2256417.htm

EDIT: Sorry missed out the 'cheap to run' part. Would you consider an LPG conversion?

Edited by BenMk3 on Tuesday 23 November 16:49

[pmanson]

What are Passat's like? Passat?


How thirsty will the VR6 be?

[Emsman]

Thirsty!
Comfy though, well specced and generally a nice place to be

[pmanson]

Emsman said:

Thirsty!
Comfy though, well specced and generally a nice place to be

I thought you might say that...

Real world driving for the wife is - trip to nursery to drop Alfie off (1 mile) then onto work 15 miles (then back again).

Realistically it's lots of short journeys.

She'd like something that would do 30+ mpg day to day

Edited by pmanson on Wednesday 24th November 10:39

[550Hep]

Saab 9-5 plenty for that money and they generally last well and are not expensive to run..