Estate Car Advice

[LyNx]

We are looking at changing our current car to a new estate. The pickings have been reduced down to:

Volvo V50 2.0D ES Lux pack

Audi A4 Avant 2.0tdi SLine

Does any members have either of these that they could cast any opinions

Thanks

 

[ByronBlack]

My family have always had Volvo's, they are superb machines, rock solid, very reliable, extremely safe, the new ones are rather stylish and luxurious, Audi's in my opinion seem to be more expensive to own and service, but both are lovely motor's.

 

[mailee]

I have had Volvo's for years and at present have an 850T5 estate. I am not too keen on the new Volvo's as they are smaller with a larger turning circle. My 850 has less room in the rear than the old 740 I used to own too but I manage with it. Given the choice I would go back to the 745 or 945 as they were a true workhorse with plenty of space. Still such is progress. :x

 

[ByronBlack]

Mailee, the 740 was our family car for about 15 years, we towed a caravan all over the country without a single hiccup. I remember when I was a child, we were going to devon or somewhere, the 740 was so big I made a bed and slept in the back, amazing car. My dad then made a bad decision by buying a 3 litre granada (the volvo was a 2.0) within about 2 hours of the first caravan trip, the weedy ford overheated and blew a gasket!

 

[Anonymous]

Having owned several Audi's and driven loads more and driven 3 Volvo's for long periods, i would say go for the Audi, the buid quality is superior

 

[cambournepete]

The pickings have been reduced down to:
Volvo V50 2.0D ES Lux pack
Audi A4 Avant 2.0tdi SLine

Out of interest, what didn't you like about the new Ford Mondeo estate - it's got a good review in one of the mags this month.

 

[Gary]

The rear problem with a modern Volvo is the Ford build quality :!:

 

[LyNx]

Out of interest, what didn't you like about the new Ford Mondeo estate

Got dismissed straight away. It is a nice drive but hasn't got that "look" we are after.

 

[kmcleod]

I've got the V50 - its nice enough to drive and live with, but the space inside is limited - had a mondeo previously and I reckon the Volvo is only marginally larger....

The downside for the Volvo for me has been the servicing costs - yearly major service can be anything from £400 to £500 depending on your main dealer....

 

[LyNx]

I think both a fairly high on services costs.

 

[DomValente]

My wife has had both Volvo and Audi estates.
She preferred the Volvo, I the Audi.

As Tony said the Audis' are of better build quality but servicing was dearer.

Dom

 

[RogerS]

Out of curiosity, just wondered whether you considered any 4x4's. I originally thought about getting an estate nut SWMBO pointed out that living where we do perhaps a 4x4 made more sense. I thought many of them were too macho with bull bars and the like and also gas guzzlers but could see the merit as I needed good carrying capacity. I bought a second hand Hyundai Santa Fe and thoroughly enjoy it.

 

[matt]

A friend was service manager for an Audi dealership for a while and he was very complimentary about the build quality.

 

[Waka]

Any reason you've not considered the mercedes estate?

 

[mailee]

I couldn't agree with you more Gary. I am so surprised that the 'new' Jaguar has got the Ford Mondeo engine in it! Mind you most car parts now are just generic ones, you just have to take a look at the Galaxy and the Vokswagen Sharon to see that, not to mention the Seat equivalent. Look for the VW logos on the parts. I work for a company that PDI Audi's, Mercedes, and refurbish Ford hire fleet and I know which ones I would buy if I had the money.........I wouldn't give a Ford garage space, and that coming from a man who used to be Ford through and through :shock:

 

[Routermonster]

I've got a Volvo V50 2.0D. It's stylish, reasonably roomy and its performance, ride and handling are great. One of the clinchers when deciding on it were the front seats and driving position - the seats are really comfortable on long journeys. It has lots of other nice touches, but there are signs of Ford's cost cutting in a number of areas - not so good.

I had a Golf diesel estate before, and the build quality was better, although ride, handling and seats were not as good. I don't know much about the cost of the V50 version you mention, but pound for pound I would go for the Audi. If I have another chance to have a company car, I think I would go back to VW (or Audi if available). One other thing - the standard of aftercare from my local VW dealership was better than Volvo's.

Hope this helps.

Les

 

[LyNx]

Thanks for the input. The wife is now not sure if we should opt for the "new" car and is starting to look around for second hand. We now have options on a 55 volvo v50, 2005 audi sports with high mileage and even a bmw 320d.

Is a 3 year old car with 79,000 miles on the clock a big no-no these days (audi A4)?

I've also been getting some good prices from online brokers. I've taken these into the showrooms but no-oone can beat the prices. Is there a catch somewhere with these or is it they have such high turnouts that they can offer a good price.

 

[ByronBlack]

you'd be mad to buy a new car IMO you lose a crazy amount of money in the first year, and an older car (2-3 years or so) would have had any factory problems sorted and the engine serviced, as long as it's not a rep-mobile you can save up to 50% of the cost of a new one and still a great car.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Is a 3 year old car with 79,000 miles on the clock a big no-no these days (audi A4)?

If I had a car with 79,000 miles on the clock, I'd be looking to trade it in. In fact I got rid of my last car because it had done 80,000 miles and it was starting to cost me money. Engines (particularly diesels) can go on for much longer, but all the other bits tend to go in my experience.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[gidon]

Is a 3 year old car with 79,000 miles on the clock a big no-no these days (audi A4)?

Well my last car before my current one was a Peugeot 306 HDi estate - bought 3 yrs old with 80,000 on the clock. All the advice given to me was go for it - that engine has barely been run in yet (ok I'm exaggerating ). As Paul says it's not the engines it's the other bits! I wouldn't buy any car with that sort of mileage again. Loads of problems with it.

I was ready to buy our latest car from a broker - but amazingly managed to get the local Toyota garage to price match. I prefer the ones that just source the cars from large dealerships, where you'll still be the original owner. Many of the sites buy / pre-register the car - then sell on to you. I didn't like the idea of paying for a new car but being the second owner. But doubt it makes much difference. I know a few people who bought this way and not heard of any catches. Check delivery price is all I can think of.

The best ones I found were:

http://www.drivethedeal.com/ and
http://www.carfile.net

both recommended in lots of places.

Cheers

Gidon