It would have to be roomy, as in largish estate sized roomy. It would have to be reasonable on fuel, maintenance and insurance. It would be nice if it was quick and handled well. "She" would like it to be tall. I'm not bothered. It would need to cost no more than £10k but less is good. It can ( might have to ) be second hand but newish is nice.
Suggestions, thoughts or insults welcomed.
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>> Mondeo TDCi estate ;-)
Yeah well that might do actually. Oddly enough.....
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If she wants it tall, roomy, nice handling and quick, its has to be a TDCi Galaxy. If you want it at 10k as well, its has to be less quick and a used Seat Altea XL 2.0 tdi.
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Never looked at an Altea properly. Might indeed be OK.
I think, well I know, she quite envies my company Qashqai. Still fairly expensive yet though.
Also, there's the "matching jumper" problem to overcome if she goes down that track....people might think we were caravanners for goodness sake.
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Yep I'd second the Mondeo... the new owner is still over the moon with my old one.
Re the matching jumper know what you mean. We've done that a couple of times over the years... with Rover 3500s and Xantias... other folks seemed to think it weird but it was what suited at the time.
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I think that's why we remain so undecided Fenlander. You might know that we already have an old but very serviceable Mondeo estate which more or less does everything we need it to. I now have a Squashy for work and SWMBO is using the Mondeo in preference to her Ka. She just fancies a change and wants something a bit whizzier if that's understandable but we do keep coming back to how good the old bus is. We could of course go and buy a newer one but I sort of wonder why we would do that as it wouldn't be any more useful and would just cost more !
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All the best handling mass produced cars are Fords and you like Fords, Humph.
How about a C-max?
However a Merc A-class meets those requirements and you can find them for reasonable money. Very spacious, you sit high, not too long so quite chuckable around corners, you can get them in fairly decent engines, well built, nice 'surprise and delight' features.
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Couple of good suggestions there Espada. She did have a Mk 1 A-Class when they first came out. It was never any bother but she just didn't get on with it and didn't keep it long. I think the clutchless manual was a mistake to be fair. You have the latest version in your "fleet" don't you?
C-max sounds like worth a look. She will now want to know if they do a fast one !
;-)
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Thu 25 Feb 10 at 19:08
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Yes we have an A-class and Espadrille will not give it up and certainly not for the Volvo tank I have now. She likes the nippiness and space for such a small car and its only the 1.5.
Imagine the speed with the 1.7 or 1.9 petrol or even the big engined manual diesel? The auto is now a full TC box so that should be fine also.
Can't think if there is a 'fast' C-Max, but suspect they do a 2.0 petrol and diesel.
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Hmmm just had a quick scan on AT for "new" model A-Classes. Prices are more reasonable than I thought. Any horrors lurking as apparently there were with the previous model?
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Thu 25 Feb 10 at 19:20
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Just ran the latest crop of ideas by head office. Casual mention of Alfa 159 Sportwagon lit a few synapses......tha's my girl.....
;-0
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The horrors of the previous model do not exist in the new model, which has been facelifted for the 2009 model year.
If you could look at the Car by Car page of a certain website you would read all about it! My only disappointment is that the radio is operated by optic fibre cable so the Parrot does not mute the audio system when the phone is operational.
We had new front tyres fitted at about 17,000 miles but that is partly a reflection of a lot of urban driving and also they were changed early when the snow really got to grips with the North West and we were sliding everywhere (especially down our drive - don't smirk Humph!). New Continental Eco-Contact 3 made a big difference when it snowed here last weekend.
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Sounds like a VW Touran 2.0TDi 140 to me, Humph. Goes like stink, handles nicely, easy on fuel, only downside being servicing and maintenance costs if you go main dealer.
Alteas are fine but you'll be disappointed if you really need largish estate type capacity. We were, that's why we wnet Touran. Twice.
Perhaps a Mazda 5?
Both tick the "tall" box too.
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>>> Sounds like a VW Touran 2.0TDi 140 to me <<<
I wouldn't touch a used TD Touran for all the tea in Tesco's, even if they threw in a 'nice example' MX5 4 3.
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What about other VAGs with the same engine, Dog? Would you avoid them all or are Tourans special?
I've been running Tourans for nearly 6 years now, only had a minor suspension fault to complain about really.
I've even got Satan's own DSG gearbox now and even that's refusing to go wrong!
I've been so pleased with VAG reliability in the 7 years I've been running VAG cars that I've just bought a 2002 TDi Golf as the second family car (daily urban use), and that feels far younger than it is. Nice car.
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>>>What about other VAGs with the same engine, Dog? Would you avoid them all or are Tourans special?<<<
I am a dyed in the wool petrol head for a start Alan, although I have owned a couple of oil burners in the past
I would only consider a modern diesel if it came with a decent warrantee, due to the horror stories I have read about on HJ and pistonheads + first hand from local tradesmen.
As has been discussed before - modern diesels are becoming just too damn complex with their turbo's, hp fuel pump, valves and vents, the electronics etc, although the engines are quite sound on most makes.
Good to hear about your own experience of VAG vehicles comrade - and long may it continue.
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The AlteaXL has a spare wheel........
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How about a Zafira? A 1.8 petrol would probably be fine. Reasonable economy, cheap to buy, not much to go wrong...
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You might be surprised to find how little £10k buys you in the second hand or newish market these days.
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I'm becoming less surprised hour by hour. I'm only being a tightwad setting a £10k budget anyway. Fortunately we are in a position to fund rather more than that but just didn't really want to. However, this weekend has put a somewhat different light on things. Whatever she has and however little or much we end up spending, it'll be a safe something.
Might get another Squashy after all. One with roof rails for the bike rack. Where's Mr Umgonna when you need him.........?
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If an Octavia estate is a bit on the big side, how about a Golf estate like the one I had before the Skoda? Much less bulky than a Touran and will feel a lot faster, and surely more robust than an Alfa.
I don't know whether DP and Will de Beest have come over here yet, but they would plug the Volvo S60 as being both solid and good to drive. Or a V50 - maybe that's not very roomy.
Last edited by: Avant on Mon 1 Mar 10 at 21:17
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Can't see a Volvo passing her scrutiny. Even when I had a fast one ( T5 ) she couldn't love it. She's an ex-biker y'see.....Still got the leathers and helmet just in case. Mental block when it comes to Volvos. Silly maybe but there it is.
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Does this car exist ? - rtj70
