"family" Car Time

[notamondayfan 44]

I've an 04 reg A4 1.9 TDi Avant, I was lucky to find a nice one with highish miles (135k, full history and had done 85k in the previous 18 months on the motorway, had previously been supplied to the guy I bought it off as an "approved used audi" from an audi main dealer) for a decent price (well inside your budget) locally 12 months ago. The Mondeo is certainly a bigger car, but in my opinion the Audi is far nicer finished. My best mate has a Mondeo which I've driven quite a lot so I can compare.

The other big thing is that the Audi will hold its value far far better than a Ford or Vauxhall, 12 months ago I sold my previous A4 Avant which was S registration, for £1600. Similar S reg Ford or Vauxhall cars were certainly sub-£1000 at the time.

Parts wise I have found the main dealer can actually be suprisingly reasonable for certain things. For example, I needed a new water exp tank cap, £12.99 on ebay for a pattern, or £7 from the dealer for a genuine. I had a problem with the boot switch meaning the alarm would go off, sadly it was built into the tailgate lock, but a new one from the dealer was £40, not so bad for what it was. Servicing wise I do it myself, but all the filters, oil, etc, can actually be bought from the dealer at comparable cost to retail price at the motor factors. I get trade at my factor which alters the balance a little, but I like using geniune parts on my car as you know they will fit right and are the correct spec, so my A4 gets genuine service stuff.

Good to know genuine service parts arent going to break the bank!

 

We have a 51 plate diesel Zafira. It does the job of carrying me, the missis and the 4 kids around. It is good on fuel and with the seats down it is like having a baby transit.It is not to bad on parts prices either. I can not it fault really for what it is but if I did not have 4 kids I would probably be going for somthing like the octavia, passat or saab95. A freind has a Mondeo and he has had some body rust problems on his. I know it sounds a bit old man but look for the safest car that you can get. (Zafira is not great on the safty front).

Yea saftey is quite high on the list, another reason not to go 3 doors. I know it sounds daft, but if we were ever in a bad accident, I want to be able to get to the rear seats as quickly as possible!

We had a Scenic, which again was like a little van when you removed the rear seats. It came in handy a few times, but I think a small trailer / roof rack would probably be more useful and practical.

 

you could consider a PCP deal, we got our Mazda2 at £160pm for 2 years (3 years was less) after 2 years, we can pay £4k for it, trade it for another car or hand it back to the finance company and walk away.

I think I would consider that if the car was just for myself, but I know the car is gonna take some abuse with ferrying the family up and down the country, and I dont want to have to panic over minor spills / damage that could end up costing a fortune.

 

Right my two pence i would steer well clear of the mondeo`s unless its seriously low milege.They seem to hit around 100k milege and then start having serious problems.

 

Im talking from experience here not just on one car but on a fleet of taxis . So if it were me i would steer well clear of them and the petrol ones aswell because they get to around 100-120k and normally require another engine or a rebuild because there burning oil .But when ther working right they are a nice car

Thanks, useful to hear from someone who's used them for business.

 

I agree with Anthony that, especially for one child, you don't need an estate. We did perfectly fine with 2 kids (inc cot and high chair) on a 2 week self catering holiday in Wales with a 307 and a roofbox. Women tend to go over the top and want a massive pushchair for their first and you will soon realise it is a pin in the backside and you need a Discovery to fit it in! it is not really logical to spend £5k to hold a £300 pushchair.

So save yourself a load of cash and get some roofbars from ebay and borrow / hire a roofbox off someone when you are going away

 

Oh and I love my 307 90 HDI that I have had for 5 years. It has been faultless bar wishbone bushes and one ball joint. 110 ones have dual mass flywheel problems

I'm not totally dead set on a estate or MPV, a larger hatchback could work. I also cant fault the Peugeot HDIs, I very rarely hear of anything going wrong with them.

 

Avoid Vauxhall's, Bad on pretty much everything I think, Controls, Equipment and general finish is poor, Plus Rust is a major issue or will be in time plus I'd personally avoid any MPV type car as whats the point, You get seats but no boot space and pay for the type of car.

 

Mazda is another option and having had a 6 Estate during a job it would be on my short list above the Mondeo although a good choice

 

A4 is too small and I have no idea why people are hung up on the VW reliblity thing, Its not true above anything else mainsteam

Mazda6 isnt something I initally thought of but it looks like you can get a lot of car for not a lot of cash. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/adv.../1500?logcode=p this caught my attention, and looks pretty good. I have never had any experience in buying a high millage ex-rep mobile, is there anything I should specifically look out for? Obviously service history is a must, but other than that what else is there to bare in mind?

 

Our SEAT Altea 1.9 TDI has done us proud for almost four years now. It's battered and encrusted with child debris but is still nice to drive, gets about 55mpg on average and has lots of torque. It's also been utterly reliable. Only down-side is the boot won't quite take a standard child buggy straight across.

 

On the flip-side, your 207 will be more than enough to tote you all about. Other than the lack of rear doors being a bit of a pain, I can't see why you'd bother changing it. We once decided to go for a weekend away with baby in a Citroen C1. It was a bit of a squeeze, but we manged no problem.

Yea I would keep the 207, if it had 5 doors. Its just not practicle enough. I forgot to mention that my wife is also a childrens social worker, and having a car thats easy to transport kids would also help her out professionally, as at the moment he struggles.

 

Back on topic ,The biggest contributing factor is are you going to be fixing it your self.

Yes I would be doing the straight forward repairs and servicing, and the major stuff would be done by a garage.

 

you'll find out quickly that most of the rubbish you're told you need you actually don't and you end up 'as a family' to carry less around with you. All the bulk feels like its needed but like most thing they're not a necessity one the nipper has been around for a few months!! Then slowly all that rubbish gets left indoors.

 

Anyhow I'm a Volvo fan, even a high mileage 'cheap' 850 estate will provide years of sterling service and is both comfortable and easy to drive, they're not that big at all. And are IMO a better proposition to the BMW 5 series.

I'd even look at the saloons, massive space in both the Volvo V70 & 850, and the rear seats fold flat/split in two.

 

I'd steer clear of the 3 series estate at the price you're looking at, they're lifestyle estates and take very little in the way of boot rubbish etc, but they're good around town (we had one for 7 years).

Volvo V70 is on list of potentials, from what people say they are great work horses and good value for money.

 

This looks interesting and local to you... Worth a drive if you've not tried the 2.0 diesel.

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/adv...us/30?logcode=p

A focus is definatly tempting, plus surely spare parts will be dead easy to get hold of. Im just now wary of the "ford over 100k" issues.

 

 

Thanks for all your help so far guys, much appreciated! Keep it coming!!

 

Deano!

[boombang 2]

Our local cab firm runs current shape Focus tdci's.

 

They are very nice but knowing a few of the drivers they have their faults too - mainly injectors it seems. They seem to last 50-70k in average but there are some that have been faultless.

 

For reliability, I personally would still go Honda or Toyota, however like most people on here I need a car to have some character - not sure either provides that too well.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Having run allot of different car's the only ones with little or no problems (These are all new ones) are either Lexus or Mazda (Ex RX8) and they all got abused to the 8th degree, Mind the 6 MPI sport Turbo 4x4 had the gearbox break after around 400 J turn's.

[Baz 421]

Another quick +1 for Volvo's here, proper sized estates and damn reliable, we've had one or more in the family all my life!! You should easily get a decent V70 D5 in budget too!

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

My girlfriend has a '54 plate V70, the 2.0 petrol. Such a well built car, handles pretty well for its size. Parts arent too expensive I guess, but it has needed such little doing to it so far its (hopefully) not too much of an issue. Such a nice interior to be in as well.

 

Saying that I do quite like my 406 estate

[GTIAndy 0]

Just to throw this into the mix I have a VW Sharan 1.9 TDi bl**dy ugly thing but just so practical with kids plus reguarly get 48mpg even with people in all 7 seats. Take seats out and you can get bikes etc in the back. The boot size is enormous we can get all the camping gear and the family in without the need for roof racks or trailors. Also the rear seats in mine have built in baby seats and then convert to booster seats with the pull of a lever as they get older.

 

You can pick them up quite resonably and not too expensive to maintain. But I do need my GTI as respite from it!

Edited October 7, 2010 by GTIAndy

[Lankylad78 0]

Congrats and my two penneth.

 

After the birth of our 1st daughter the wife decided her Xsara wasn't up to the job. So with a budget of £5k we decided to get an estate. Our criteria, and choice of cars, was uncannily similar to your current predicament. This was around early 2010.

 

I was pushing towards the Audi, passat, octavia route. The wife however took one look at a Zafira and fell in love with it. TBH I can't stand MPV's. I don't begrudge anyone their love of them, just not my cup of tea. Fortunately the wife turned out to be a number plate snob and wanted at least an '04 plate. All the Zafira's around at the time for that price and year were base models which didn't appeal to her either.

 

We looked at countless different makes and models for months, and one of the nicest and most comfortable drives was the Toyota Avensis estate. Unfortunately the ones in our price range were ex rep mobiles which had been teated in a way that you wouldn't even treat a dog!

 

Just as we were both becoming ratty with each other as the search dragged on I stumbled across a Honda Accord Tourer. It was an estate (obviously), met the "strict" number plate snobbishness ('54), and up for exactly £5k. Downside was that it wasn't a diesel. In fact as far from a diesel as we could get - 2.4 petrol Type-S! Wife gets a nice big estate for transporting her and El' Stroppy one (aka the daughter). And I get a bit of fun, which is currently about once a month when she lets me have the keys!

 

A couple of pro's and con's on the 6-months with the Accord:

 

1. I'm am 6'4" (clue is in the name ). I can set the drivers seat to a comfortable position and still have room for me behind.

2. Boot is very spacious. Rear seats fold completely flat with one lever (headrests fold in). Plus there is a sizeable cubby hole in the floor of the boot.

3. Very comfortable drive even on 17" wheels with stiffened suspension.

4. Remote tailgate opening is a god send when holding child + shopping + pram etc....

5. No spare wheel, hence cubby hole in the boot. Not a major problem unless you have a blowout. Honda will fit a spare for around the £200 mark.

6. Anything less than 17" wheels look too small given the size of the car.

7. Remote tailgate opeing is a pain in the arse! Ours developed problems within one week of ownership. 5-minutes on Gooogle confirmed this is a common fault and Honda extended the warranty to cover ths. After 6-months, 9 visits to our local Honda dealership, countless phone calls to Honda UK our tailgate now works as it should. Fortunately it didn't cost us a penny. I'm led to believe the parts costs alone were approaching £1k!

8. I read a lot of reviews prior to viewing the Honda. Most stated that if a diesel goes wrong it's gonna cost you. Hence why we went for a petrol.

 

So there you have my brief view of the Honda Accord Tourer. Despite it's niggles it's a great car and load lugger. Low down torque when fully laden isn't great, but then it's a VTEC and they like to be rev'ed.

 

TBH though throughout our search the Avensis really took my fancy. If we could have found a top spec one in decent knick then we wouldn't have a Honda.

 

Have to say though next time we change it's going to be hard to ignore the Skoda Superb. There were no estates about when we were looking (recent addition?). Saw some of the saloons though and they looked lush.

 

It'll be interesting to see how your search pans out. Hope this helps a little and keep us posted.

 

Sean

[eldoro 0]

Id say, forget about the Vauxhall Zafira, these cars are unreliable and dangerous when it comes to turn!

Honda Accord Estate are good comfy reliable cars and have some bh under the hood, and look good.

Ford Focus Estate is allso reliable and good, might be cheaper then the Accord.

Peugeot 307 Estate is ofcours a Peugeot which we all share the same interest in. and youl know what your coming at buying a peugeot if youv owned a 205.

Vauxhall Astra Estate are alright if you get the 1.2 motor in there, if 1.4 and highere your gona have some mechanical problems.

Volvo V70 are pritty solid, cumfy, good looking but im not sure if its reliable or not.

[notamondayfan 44]

Well I thought I'd update on how the car search went.

 

In the end of a lot a driving and searching, I eventually bought a 2004 Mazda 6 Estate TS.

 

I had a budget in the end of around £4000, but it proved rather tougher than I thought to find anything half decent. I looked at loads of diesel estates, but none seemed either in good enough condition, or looked dodgy (mainly a Peugeot estate, which apparently had 80k on the clock, but I'd eat my hat if it was genuine).

 

Eventually I drove a 6 estate, which was priced at £3300, but didnt have much proof of history, MOT, or tax, the clutch was really low on the pedal, and needed two new tyres, but the lowest they would go was £3000. I passed on it, but I liked the car. I found another about 50 miles away, so had a look.

 

Felt so much better, nice feel to the car, looked a lot better, but it had done 107k. Maybe higher than I would like, but it had full service history, 12 months mot, and more importantly it had a new dual mass fly wheel, clutch and timing belt at 99k. There was some slight rust on the rear arches, just on the inside lip, but they also took it back to their mechanic and ground it back and resprayed it. They also delivered it too.

So in the end I ended up paying £3500, which I'm happy with. We have just been down to Newquay and back last week in it, with 4 adults, 1 baby, and all the luggage to accompany us! It managed it all very easily, but in terms of space and comfort, but also for drive and performance. Even with a full car, it still worked out to do 45 mpg, which I think it pretty amazing. We weren't hanging around too much, and did a mix of motorways, A roads, and town driving too.

 

Overall I'm pretty happy with it, it does exactly what we need. It doesn't have the prettiest interior, and the ride it a bit soft, but the space inside is massive, it pulls and accelerates very well, and also looks pretty good too.

[NOsMAN 10 1 Cars]

Welcome to the suckers club (I have 3 kids) I have a zafira, they are o.k except my chocolate flywheel is getting noisy and the car has only done 20k from brand new. Just wish they didnt put these chocolate flywheels on the car (only on the cdti's). Vauxhall wants 2k to replace one Besides that it hasn't given me any trouble in the 3.5 years i've owned it.

[christopher 5 1 Cars]

I had the same problem 3 years ago. How could I have a 205 Rallye and kids....?

 

For someone loving a 205 Rallye so much there was only one answer. A peugeot 405 T16

 

And of course i kept the rallye too..

 

Two kids now and still going strong..