The £35k nearly new ‘do it all’ fast family car?

[PaulConst]

Apologies if there’s a similar thread out there to this. I have already browsed several but every scenario is slightly different.

I’ve sold my F-Pace 3.0d S two months ago with a paltry 8,000 miles on the clock after 14 months of ownership and taken a significant hit on that. Reason for selling, it was too wide for my daily commute down the lanes of Shropshire and frankly I found the proportions overall too big for me and as a £60k car I could never relax parking anywhere (playbarns etc!) ending up using the wife’s Focus (soon to be new Peugeot 3008 – surprisingly good). I had bought a 2006 Suzuki Swift Sport for my commute instead (hilarious drive) and the Jag was then relegated to the drive, an expensive piece of jewellery with a second child on the way at the time - now born.

So, I’ve spent the last several months deciding on what’s needed from my next car. Where you guys come in I hope is appraising my logic and perhaps suggesting some fresh alternative cars to my shortlist?

- 0-24 months old
- Petrol not diesel (fear of future taxation) and only doing 7-8k miles pa
- Not too wide for the aforementioned country lanes
- Still big enough to potentially take an adult and one kids mountain bike in the boot with all seats down (not essential as could use a rack)
- 30mpg+ ideally on my short commute down the lanes. Whilst I can afford £35k on a car that does not mean I am not tight on the daily running costs and tax
- Comfortable for the wife and a 6 year old who can get car sick, and a one month old (2 boys, no more planned!)
- All wheel drive for the lanes in winter
- The ability to be fast for a 42 year old Dad so as to remind himself he can still have fun but sleeper’ish enough it’s not being sized-up daily by the criminal fraternity
- Plenty of toys
- Not ugly

My last car list: 2 Elise’s, RX8, TT, A5 coupe 3.0d, BMW 330d coupe, Evoque 2.2d (kept it 4 years so clearly that’s a sign), F-Pace S 3.0d

Front runners

S4 Avant

Looking at a 2017 in black this week with lots of spec and 11k miles. However, being registered in April 2017 that’s £450p.a. tax and realistically 20mpg on my commute. Lots of good tech though and fits the bill nicely size-wise but at £38k is also over budget and I expect my Swift will be worth £2.50 as a p/x.

Golf R Estate

£30k should buy a Mark 7.5 nearly new with LED dash and a couple of bits. More economical that the S4, more of a point and squirt machine for my commute but not the build quality, looks or badge of the S4 (sorry, a little vanity there). Still, great engine and buying a £25k Mark 7 would mean I could be less precious when parking it and running costs will be low (‘ish)

Other Contenders

C43 estate – great sound. Ageing
Volvo V60 Polestar – Rare. Uber cool. Ageing
3 series estate/ Alpina – Ageing and mostly diesels
Octavia Vrs 280(?) – Comfortably under budget nearly new just need to get over my inner badge issues
Evoque – it was a great car, always felt comfortable driving it and there’s a petrol option, albeit thirsty and ultimately slow and it’s also ageing

As you’ll see from the above I would like a car which still looks fresh in a couple of years!

Thoughts very welcome. I have a feeling I may need to compromise somewhere!

Thanks in advice authorities

Edited by PaulConst on Monday 22 January 10:00

Edited by PaulConst on Tuesday 23 January 17:18

[PaulConst]

This is good stuff, Thank you people. Keep it coming!

By my reckoning the Golf R and Skoda Superb are coming out top closely followed by the Polestar then the Leon and left-field Outback/ Legacy

I cannot help thinking that the Superb may be overkill on my space requirements but you can never have too much I guess as long is it's a better fit down my lanes to work than the F-Pace.

The Golf R Estate meantime is starting to bump the S4 and in doing so potentially saving me £ '000's on purchase and running costs. Key now is to find a nearly new one with a few options (Indium grey met, leather, pano, Pretoria's) which is tough as so many have been bought boggo on surprisingly economical lease deals

[PaulConst]

ZX10R NIN said:

If a Golf R is in the Mix what about the CLA45 Estate:

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

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

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

Or the Audi RS3

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

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

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

Interesting..... I'm thinking limited boot space (compared to an R Estate) and perhaps both have an overly firm ride but certainly they can join the party

[PaulConst]

richatnort said:

I'm going through exactly the same process as you at the minute and this was on my list at the start

S4 avant
S5 sport back
340i touring
440i gran coupe
merc C43 estate.

Having driven the 440 & S4 I'm between the the 440 gran couple and the s5 sport back.

Both really good cars and in terms of practical space i thought they were close to the estate as they're boot opens wide unlike a saloon.

Also the 440 anyway you get more standard on the car then the 340i (elec seats, pro nav and few others) and for a couple of hundred more might be a good choice

Be interested to see what you choose

Curious. What moved you from the S4 Avant to the S5 Sportback?

I have so far not test driven either but as I have small kids am thinking the swooping roof of a Sportback/ Gran Coupe could be tricky for access.

Numbers-wise you encouraged me to check and the S4 Avant and S5 Sportback have quite similar boot space seats up (505 plays 480). Naturally, seats down the S4 has more at 1510 versus 1300 but I imagined the gap would be wider as both cars are in-fact similar in width 2022 S4 v's 2020 S5 SB and length 4725 S4 v's 4712 S5 SB.

If my sensible-side wins out there's also the option of the 2.0 TFSI 252 Quattro engine instead of the 'S' engine cars

[PaulConst]

HJMS123 said:

IMO the 4 series grand coupe is more practical as the boot hatch opening is way more user and child 'cr@p' friendly ... surprised the 340i was mentioned twice before the 440i

OP ... 440i gran coupe gets my vote

Interesting. In the Gran Coupe/ Sportback challenge the A5/S5 wins for me based merely on it being a fresher model than the 3 series and Quattro

[PaulConst]

Thanks for all your feedback.

Right now I'm looking seriously at a Golf R Mk 7.5 Estate at the £30k mark ideally with leather, pano and Pretoria's in Indium grey.

Not found one yet as they are over £40k list with those options and if registered after April '17 means £450 pa tax as opposed to £190

Edited by PaulConst on Thursday 25th January 11:29

[PaulConst]

p1stonhead said:

How about a club sport s OP?

Not sure if better than an ‘R’ though.

http://www.romansinternational.com/car/1464/volksw...

Post now edited as it's the estate I'm after due to child crap carrying duties.

That's said, the lack of a back seat on the CS does make the boot considerably more spacious!

Edited by PaulConst on Thursday 25th January 11:33

Edited by PaulConst on Thursday 25th January 11:34

[PaulConst]

Love the idea of the 440i GT and good deals too but trying to avoid RWD due to slipply roads and an inclined drive making for snow chaos.

Leon FR estate just turned-up as a work hire car for me for the next few days. Could be an interesting lead to a Cupra.....?

[PaulConst]

So, after a lot of deliberation and coming extremely close to pushing the button on a £33k Mk 7.5 Lapiz blue, pre-reg Golf R Estate with leather, pano and the Pretoria's which formed my ideal spec I could not get past the £500 p.a. bill I would be incurring because that car with that spec was (just) over the £40k registered after April '17 government stealth tax.

Finding a Mk 7.5 R with the spec registered before last April is like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack and I'm really not keen to compromise on my options

Then, I did another search for an S4 Avant which I had put further down my shortlist and came up with this.



Registered Jan '17 so £220 tax, 10,500 miles, £36k with pano, privacy, leather, 19's, virtual cockpit, B&O, hill hold, Matrix LED's, sport diff, adaptive damping (£53k new before discount)

With my pitiful 7k miles pa I've calculated the 20mpg of the S4 versus say 30mpg for the Golf R is £640 difference - half of that is covered by not paying the extra tax. Maths Win!

OK, at this stage my deposit is down and I've yet to test drive and finalise the deal on Saturday but I doubt the drive will be a disappointment for what I want

Right decision? Only time will tell but thanks again for all your help. Looking at all those suggestions was an essential part of the process

Edited by PaulConst on Wednesday 14th February 13:23

[PaulConst]

48 hours into ownership and the S4 Avant would appear to indeed be “THE £35k nearly new ‘do it all’ fast family car” (for my purposes at least)

[PaulConst]

Bryans69 said:

Interesting read. Similar dilemma, and S4 currently top of the list.Bit fussy on spec (red with red leather and black pack), so may end up new, but discounts pretty good anyway. Did find one at York, but wife says we are not ready to change just yet...

I assume you tested a Golf R. how does it compare to that?

My perfect spec would have been Daytona Grey with Red leather and Black Pack but the car I bought was up at the right price and very well spec'd compared to others. Panoramic was most important, B&O, Adaptive damping, Sport diff, Light & Vision pack, privacy and the surprisingly important red brake calipers a bonus.

Bad bits: In Jan '17 you could order B&O as a stand-alone option. Now it's only available at part of the Comfort & Sound package. I had assumed my car had the Comfort & Sound package because it has B&O - it doesn't. That means I do not have Rear cam or Advanced key (keyless entry), both things I'm used to having. I am likely to have the Audi rear cam retro-fitted but will be looking at £600-£800. The paintwork has typical Audi 'service wash' swirl marks and a few imperfections so it's off to my friends at Perfect Polish in Shrewsbury for paint correction and ceramic coating (actually something I had done straight from the dealer on my new F-pace in Sept '16).

I test drove the Golf R Estate Mk 7.5. Cracking engine but I refuse to pay £500 p.a. tax (at least not yet) and that's what I was looking at for a well optioned 7.5 as they are registered after April '17 and list over £40k with leather, pano, wheel upgrade. The build quality and interior of the Audi is a cut-above, it has proper Quattro, decent leather and other bits as standard and likely better resale over the Golf. I've also been able to capitalise on the sizable 12-month depreciation hit Audi S and RS cars tend to get so I now own a car which was £53k new before discount for £36k after just 13 months and 11k miles and as it was registered in Jan '17 £220 p.a. tax. From this point depreciation should (hopefully) start to level-off where the Golf will lose more over time.

[PaulConst]

gazza5 said:

The joys of depreciation, tbh I would not have bothered with leather on the R - i find the standard seats better than the leather, and the leather seats in the R are not worth the option price at all imho, and certainly not worthy to put up the price above £40k for additional tax.

Plus you get the heated seats with the cloth anyway on the standard 7.5 R.

S4 is possibly next on my list, but will be looking after my lease on the R is up, 15 months to go.

Going for cloth on a Golf was actually going to be the next plan for all the reasons you've stated had the S4 not come up.

Kids were my primary reason for leather over cloth but in reality their car seats would cover most of the rear and a car seat cover could have crap-protected the rest of the rear. After the option price and the extra tax because I would have been going over £40k with my options the leather would have been a VERY expensive option, particularly as it's pretty poor 'leather' anyhow (like most cars these days)

Having just sold the 2006 Suzuki Swift Sport I've been using for the last 6 months to get around I have to admit now I'm missing cloth a little