Need another car...

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:35 pm

Evening all,

I am fast approaching the end of my time in the forces and must look ahead to a new (As yet undetermined!) job. As a result I need another car (in addition to the Liz!) that is a wee bit more practical and it must be cheap (£2.5k max) to get me to and from my new work and easy to work on. Looking at estates...

My suggestions are:

Audi 80/100 Estate
BMW 3/5 series estate
Vaxhall (!) Omega/Astra estate

Anything else I should consider?

cheers
Rich

renmure · Post by **renmure** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:51 pm

I cant say a bad word against my Peugeot 406 Estate. It is the Diesel version and does great mpg. It has done about 20k miles/year for the last 3 years and never missed a beat or cost anything other than general servicing stuff.

My last Estate was a Volvo 850 T5R which was more exciting to drive but a tad too much fun!

Jim

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:54 pm

i had a BMW 325tds

it survived me

Post by **pete** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:02 am

I had an Omega MV6 (not an etate). RWD. cheap to buy, fun to drive, uses quite a lot of petrol (3.0 v6) and not very reliable. My mate bought it off me, he' a Vauxhall nut and knew what he was buying, but there was a fair list of stuff. They rust too.

Comfy mind. And everyone thinks you are a cop which is cool - the only car I've ever driven where other cars don't just let you past they actually pull over and stop - class. ( it was dark blue).

Dad had an Astra estate. That was a bit sh*t too. Atrocius to drive too.

pete

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:54 am

buy a Toyota Carina E for about £200. My other half just sold hers for £50 to a mate, and it was raking happily past 100k miles. Never had any bother at all, and only needed a new radiator & zorst over the last 4 years! You'll hear lots about german build quality, but the japanese know a bit about that too!

The_Rossatron · Post by **The_Rossatron** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:45 am

Talking about Carina E's - I think the Avensis would be the one to go for. Can pick them up now for £1200+ and I prefered driving it to my dad's 04 plate Merc, very smooth practical cruising machine.

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/CA ... 5231310325

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:10 pm

Opinions of Mitzi Galant? I quite like the look of it and there are quite a few at the right price.

MacK · Post by **MacK** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:55 am

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:Opinions of Mitzi Galant? I quite like the look of it and there are quite a few at the right price.

I had one of them for nearly 4 years, great car, did over 100,000 miles in it

Loaded with kit, especially the newer ones and quite rare.

I rember 1 guy in Aberdeen, stopping staring at it for a bit and then saying, "that your car? what is it? Great looking car!"

Not the average statement made by someone about a 3year old Jap estate!

Watch out for drive shaft or gearbox problems, other than that nothing went wrong...

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:07 pm

Cool cheers MacK, Looks like the one to look for then. I like them and they seem to be solidly built and high spec for low money.

TVM All, I'll keep you posted

Rich

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:47 pm

Turns out they are high spec and high insurance group too... £400 to insure as no no-claims to apply

Hunting for better insurance...

Baggy · Post by **Baggy** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:31 pm

I had a 96 525i touring SE 5speed auto...

magic car, fuel consumption was atrocious & not huge inside.

hugely reliable but parts quite pricey & mucho complicated when they go wrong.

I'd recommend steering well clear.

Father in law had a dzl omega which was huge inside and you'll get a far newer car for your cash (my recommendation) I think the dzl engines are detuned bimmer units of the era & pretty unstressed/reliable.

we went for a dzl touran, just for acceptance into the suburban 2+2 kids suburban death clique you understand. (but you might struggle to get one for your 2.5k & a 2.5k zafira would be pretty poor (the early dzl engines have a rep for being prety sh*t)

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:47 am

Just read an interesting article on the MG ZS. (touring car style one) The V6 got a good right up for its "dynamics" and pure driving feel. Better to drive than the "sanitized" hot hatches.

Much cheapness...

Post by **ironside** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:55 pm

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:Turns out they are high spec and high insurance group too... £400 to insure as no no-claims to apply

Hunting for better insurance...

AON will mirror your NCD across as many cars as you insure with them, that's how I got around that problem.

Audi 80s are good btw, I have a J plate saloon one with 156k on the clock that I got for £200 last September.

Simon

Post by **Shug** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:59 pm

ironside wrote:
RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:Turns out they are high spec and high insurance group too... £400 to insure as no no-claims to apply

Hunting for better insurance...
AON will mirror your NCD across as many cars as you insure with them, that's how I got around that problem.

Audi 80s are good btw, I have a J plate saloon one with 156k on the clock that I got for £200 last September.

Simon

Simon Ironside - shed collector.....

Post by **ironside** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:15 pm

Shug wrote:Simon Ironside - shed collector.....