Used car time!

jpmonkey69 · 29 Jun 2014 at 17:41

Hello, I'm in the market for a new used car. Ideally it would have the following features:

Automagic transmission.
Leather seats.
Estate (but would consider a decent sized hatch/saloon).
Isofix for 2 child seats.

It'll be a motorway mile cruncher - about 100 miles a day during the week and more on the weekends.

I'm having trouble finding much for my budget of £6000, so thought that I would call upon the collective wisdom and experience of my fellow forumers!

Please can you help me find a decent vehicle? I would be able to stretch to 6500 tops, but ideally less.

Thanks very much ! X

Jez · 29 Jun 2014 at 17:47

Personally i would buy a Mercedes E-Class Wagon on an approx 2004/2005 plate. Pick whatever engine takes your fancy, i guess the sensible option is 280 or 320cdi.

Nothing else at this money will be as good. BMW this budget doesnt work.

Dyson · 29 Jun 2014 at 17:49

A £2k SAAB 95 would be a good bet.

wesimmo · 29 Jun 2014 at 18:41

Space wise, if you're not a badge snob, the Skoda Octavia saloon has huge carrying space.

Jez · 29 Jun 2014 at 18:47

wesimmo said:
Space wise, if you're not a badge snob, the Skoda Octavia saloon has huge carrying space.

That is about the worst suggestion ever, he ideally wants an automatic estate, and you suggest a saloon which doesnt even come with an automatic option?

wesimmo · 29 Jun 2014 at 19:00

Ok I missed the auto bit. But I've got leather in my Octavia and he said he'd consider a large saloon. The Octavia is much more practical imo than my brother in laws A4 estate.

[TW]Fox · 29 Jun 2014 at 19:08

wesimmo said:
But I've got leather in my Octavia

Oh well thats that then, automatically makes it a Mercedes rival, that does.

Bear · 29 Jun 2014 at 19:08

Jez said:
That is about the worst suggestion ever, he ideally wants an automatic estate, and you suggest a saloon which doesnt even come with an automatic option?

Good old OCUK never fails to deliver on its recommendations

I reckon MX5

mccarf · 29 Jun 2014 at 20:05

How is an octavia the worst suggestion ever? You can get it with DSG & the decent 1.9 PD engine the taxis use. It's not exactly an outrageous suggestion. You can get them either in estate or hatchback form, both of which have large boots.

Edit:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201404253669210

as an example

jpmonkey69 · 29 Jun 2014 at 20:25

Jez said:
Personally i would buy a Mercedes E-Class Wagon on an approx 2004/2005 plate. Pick whatever engine takes your fancy, i guess the sensible option is 280 or 320cdi.

Nothing else at this money will be as good. BMW this budget doesnt work.

Hello, thanks for the suggestion - what are the running costs on this type of car, i.e. servicing, tyre cost etc? I assume that any issues would cost a lot of money to fix, what sort of thing should I look out for to try to mitigate a large bill, or common fault?

The ones I've seen for the type of money I have on Autotrader have 100k+ miles on the clock - should I be worried about the mileage on one of these?

What is the order of the trim levels - I guess classic is the base model?

Should I consider the E220, or is it underpowered?

Thanks very much!

jpmonkey69 · 29 Jun 2014 at 20:27

mccarf said:
How is an octavia the worst suggestion ever? You can get it with DSG & the decent 1.9 PD engine the taxis use. It's not exactly an outrageous suggestion. You can get them either in estate or hatchback form, both of which have large boots.

Edit:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201404253669210

as an example

That's not too bad a suggestion I guess, it looks pretty small for an estate I think - I'll have a quick look on AT for one.

I hear the 1.9PD engine, whilst agricultural, is a pretty reliable engine.. Is there anything I should look out for on these cars?

jpmonkey69 · 29 Jun 2014 at 20:32

Dyson said:
A £2k SAAB 95 would be a good bet.

I had a look at a couple of later model 95s actually, but I admit I was a little put off due to the company going out of business, but would something like this be worth looking at?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...had/used/body-type/estate/model/9-5?logcode=p

It looks pretty good value - but are they reliable?

Rilot · 29 Jun 2014 at 20:35

What about a Skoda Superb? The saloon is a sort of hatchback with tons of load space.

jpmonkey69 · 29 Jun 2014 at 21:15

Rilot said:
What about a Skoda Superb? The saloon is a sort of hatchback with tons of load space.

Again, I'd not considered it - have you had experience of driving one?

Also - Can anyone suggest how I might be able to get cheap insurance.. I live in East London, and the prices are seriously high compared to anywhere else, are there specialists for people living in this area?

wesimmo · 29 Jun 2014 at 21:20

[TW]Fox;26532865 said:
Oh well thats that then, automatically makes it a Mercedes rival, that does.

Because being a Mercedes rival was in the criteria? As has been proven the bits he wants you can get in a Skoda, they're a good size, I thought mine was the biggest in its class at the time, and decent cars for running up big miles.

mccarf · 29 Jun 2014 at 21:36

jpmonkey69 said:
That's not too bad a suggestion I guess, it looks pretty small for an estate I think - I'll have a quick look on AT for one.

I hear the 1.9PD engine, whilst agricultural, is a pretty reliable engine.. Is there anything I should look out for on these cars?

Just make sure it's been serviced regularly and keep servicing it properly. It should last for hundreds of thousands of miles, taxi versions often make it over 500k.

wez130 · 29 Jun 2014 at 22:18

Audi A6 avant?

You'll get quite a bit of car for your money, at the very least, what you're looking for. Go for a 2.7tdi / 3.0tdi with multitronic box. You'll also get quattro which is useful for winter / snow. I've had my '06' 2.7 quattro for a year now, average 40mpgish and have had exactly zero problems with it. Spec wise, for under £6k, i have BOSE, leather, DIS, colour nav, Bluetooth, Leather. Mine isn't an avant, but they are available for that price.

Dyson · 29 Jun 2014 at 22:47

jpmonkey69 said:
I had a look at a couple of later model 95s actually, but I admit I was a little put off due to the company going out of business, but would something like this be worth looking at?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...had/used/body-type/estate/model/9-5?logcode=p

It looks pretty good value - but are they reliable?

I had a 2.3T, got it to 170k miles before I sold it (and it's still going well at over 200k), with no costs other than fuel and servicing over 2 years.

jpmonkey69 · 29 Jun 2014 at 22:49

wez130 said:
Audi A6 avant?

You'll get quite a bit of car for your money, at the very least, what you're looking for. Go for a 2.7tdi / 3.0tdi with multitronic box. You'll also get quattro which is useful for winter / snow. I've had my '06' 2.7 quattro for a year now, average 40mpgish and have had exactly zero problems with it. Spec wise, for under £6k, i have BOSE, leather, DIS, colour nav, Bluetooth, Leather. Mine isn't an avant, but they are available for that price.

Hello, I've looked about - what sort of mileage does your car have, and what would be considered "normal" for this car / age.

On AT, I can only see A6s on a 2005 or later at < £6000 with more that 130,000 miles on the clock...

[TW]Fox · 29 Jun 2014 at 22:50

wez130 said:
Audi A6 avant?

You'll get quite a bit of car for your money, at the very least, what you're looking for. Go for a 2.7tdi / 3.0tdi with multitronic box. You'll also get quattro which is useful for winter / snow. I've had my '06' 2.7 quattro for a year now, average 40mpgish and have had exactly zero problems with it. Spec wise, for under £6k, i have BOSE, leather, DIS, colour nav, Bluetooth, Leather. Mine isn't an avant, but they are available for that price.

The Multitronic box is terrible and unreliable - I didn't think it was available on the 6 pot diesels anyway.