I've got to find a car for my sister. She's a landscape gardener, so needs something practical but good for long journeys too.
She's currently got a Peugeot Partner, which is fine for work but crap for distances. She needs an estate car to fit plants and gear in the back.
Four wheel drive would also be useful as she does drive a fair bit off road down steep private lanes around Bath.
Budget is up to £3-4k, current contenders are:
Volvo XC70 (Cross Country)
Subaru Forester
Audi Allroad (mostly over her budget)
Any thought about these cars, or any other options I should look at?
passat 4 motion estate? Proper audi quattro system not the haldex stuff too.
somethin like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2003-Volkswagen-Passat-Estate-V6-193PS-4motion-Black_W0QQitemZ230453763156QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutomobiles_UK?hash=item35a81d
5c54
Of those three I'd say Forester.
I've got a renault Megane RX4, 4x4 I want rid of. Bit easier for loading than an estate with it's extra height and the rear seats remove.
Fine on the motorway. I got it in Jan' and there's nothing wrong with it apart from a few small scratches, etc, but just can't get on
with it.
On Y plate. I'm looking for £2100 for.
adrian
Thanks - but I wouldn't buy a French car if it was the last car on the planet!
The VW looks nice, probably too smart for a gardener though .....
Forrester every time.
HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT FRENCH CARS! PEUGOET ETC SEAM TO RUST LESS THEN THE FORD TYPE COMPETITION! ANYWAY I'D GO FOR 407 ESTATE (PETROL AND FIT AN LPG KIT 55p/l AND GOOD PERFORMANCE.
Forester is what I thought too, there's a nice one near me, 10 years old, but only one owner and 54k on the clock with FSH - that'll do....
I would have thought forester as well out of your list!
forrester....
quote:
Originally posted by tomblyth
HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT FRENCH CARS! PEUGOET ETC SEAM TO RUST LESS THEN THE FORD TYPE COMPETITION! ANYWAY I'D GO FOR 407 ESTATE (PETROL AND FIT AN LPG KIT 55p/l AND GOOD PERFORMANCE.
TBH they only way to choose between that list is to get out there any try them! They all have their equal advantages and disadvantages really.
I'd say Disco.
Definately not a Forrester. They are either dog slow and heavy on fuel, or really quick and heavier on fuel......
I'm not impressed with my Ma's Berlingo. It eats road springs and always has some sort of electrical fault!
I'd say aim for some sort of Audi Quattro. Good enough to get off muddy fields and cheap enough depending on the model.
Or a Disco......
get her a seven with a trailer
Subaru = poor fuel efficiency
And no, wouldn't want one of those French cars. They are nowhere near as good as all those English ones, well known around the world for
mechanical reliability, especially those new Mini's, one of which, my wife has. Upon return from an out of town trip, she found her car in the
airport lot, with the windows down, sunroof open, and her seats invisible due to heavy snow fall! Not really a good choice.
I think you'll find the Mini is a German car. If we're gonna start classifying cars by where they're made, not the home country of the
company that made them, things are going to get very complicated.
And I'm certainly not defending British car making - I've got a classic Mini, you don't need to tell me just how totally crap our car
making was, we certainly don't deserve to have any car industry left with the total rubbish we turned out for decades.
Just as an example my Mini is just 10 years old with 60k on the clock, and it's had 3 body panels replaced due to rust and the gearbox was
totally knackered. And who thought it was a good idea to use three different thread types, UNF, UNC and metric just on the engine block!!
German or Japanese for me everytime.
if you took out the 4wheel drive I would say
VW passat ( on my 2nd )
but a long shot
VW / ford /seat Sharan/ Galaxy / Alhambra and take the back row of seats out
regards
Agriv8
A lot Subaru's running around on diy fitted LPG conversions --- it seems to work well on them.
Peugeot are less French than other French cars when they ran the old Rootes/Chrysler plants they absorbed a lot of good old fashioned common sense,
however Peugeots have a bad habit of wearing out the rear suspension pivot bearings in a expensive way --- reconditioned rear assemblies are
available but they are still relatively expensive and take a fair amount of manhours to swap over.
The Volvo XC70 Cross Country I have no experience of but I have never heard of any reliability issues.
I would suggest a Rover 75 Diesel Estate but I suspect the ground clearance issue would not make it suitable, likewise a Mondeo Estate.
Major warnings not to touch a Ford Ranger or the its Mazda clone these should carry a warning sign danger money pit. Likewise anything with a
Renault/Nissan DCi engine especially give the Nissan Navarra a very wide berth.
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
I'd say Disco.
Definately not a Forrester. They are either dog slow and heavy on fuel, or really quick and heavier on fuel......
I'm not impressed with my Ma's Berlingo. It eats road springs and always has some sort of electrical fault!
I'd say aim for some sort of Audi Quattro. Good enough to get off muddy fields and cheap enough depending on the model.
Or a Disco......
How about a Mitsubishi LWB Pajero 4x4 (import version of Shogun) ?
Jap reliability, supremely comfortable with all the toys, cavernous boot and just as capable (if not more so) than the disco off road without any of
the rust issues etc!
I've got one and love it!
£3 - 4k would get you a real beaut with good example older models ('93 - '96) going for around £1.5 - £2k
forrester
Passat 4 motion if she doesnt mind a petrol. Theres are some 2.5 tdi syncros about but not many.
Audi allroads are good too.
406 hdi estates are good and cheap for what they are. Good cars and shed loads of room in the back. Just get a 110 hdi not a 90.
Forrester will cost her money in the long run.
I'm glad you mentioned that bit about the different bolt standard in the classic mini: makes my car seen right at home in Blighty, should it ever
end up there! I was going to try to keep it all metric, but gave up because it was too hard to find the bolts. It's a real mish mash over
here.
BTW, all cars have their good and bad points in my experience, but you can't beat the Audi for reliability. The A2 looks nice and not a lot of
dough - probably equivalent to the Subaru but better on fuel mileage. And I've crashed an A4 and was told normally people in those kinds of
accidents don't survive, and here I am, with slightly less brain cells. I bought another one shortly after.
Are you suggest ing an A2? or just pointing out that you like the looks? Just curious because it doesn't fit the bill and my mates mum had one
and said it was rubbish.
Have you considered a Skoda? I'm sure you can get an octavia 4x4 estate though its not the biggest estate in the world.
If you can do without the 4x4 you couldn't got to wrong with a vectra or mondeo estate.
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
I'd say aim for some sort of Audi Quattro... ...cheap enough depending on the model.
Jeep cherokee diesel would fit.. Drinks fuel but you can run it on straight veg oil without any complaints (one of my friends does all year round..)
Petrol Mondeo estates are great all round cars. Cheap parts, not bad on fuel, handle great. The bumpers are made of chocolate and they don't have great off-road capabilities but you can't have everything.
quote:
Originally posted by andrew.carwithen
How about a Mitsubishi LWB Pajero 4x4 (import version of Shogun) ?
Jap reliability, supremely comfortable with all the toys, cavernous boot and just as capable (if not more so) than the disco off road without any of the rust issues etc!
I've got one and love it!
£3 - 4k would get you a real beaut with good example older models ('93 - '96) going for around £1.5 - £2k
Yeah, but what an image problem. Most of them round here belong to people who live in caravans and work in fairgrounds
My Espace has been fine so far (3 years olf this Oct). Wouldn't touch german myself - for the same reason that others on here won't touch
british - it's seriously overrated/priced. I had a K100 it was 5 years old and had had it. I had two beetles, both of which had rusted away. My
father has had BMW/Merc, and I think they're horrible to drive/sit in.
I've had numerous Rovers from old Minis, SD1's, 827 vitesse, BRM 200 and finally my ZT260 and not one of them let me down. Strangely enough
it's the BMW bits that let the ZT down, so stick that in your pipe etc.
ATB
Simon
lol re. the mitsubishi and fairground folk, can't disagree there!!
I did actually factor that in when I bought mine, figured that if they can't break em then they are pretty much unbreakable!!
I mean, stealing caravans, ramming police cars and forcing your way onto illegal sites is a good test for any 4x4
Chaps chaps for all your input, she's decided to keep the Partner for dirty work jobs, and now just wants an estate for dogs and family, so a Volvo V70 it is ....