I'm in the market for a 4/5 door/estate diesel at around £6k.
I would appreciate any opinions on vehicles that will very occasionally be capable of seating five adults without sitting on one another. It's mainly for wife and myself doing 200 mile round trips to see the grandchildren.
I guess Focus - Megane - or similar.
Thanks Pete
You should easily get a 2001/2002 Astra 2.0DTI hatch or estate around that price. Good cars but under-rated by the press etc so used prices are low. Been very happy with my 2001 high mileage one in over a year. For long journeys 55mpg is realistic, and plenty enough power to cart 4 passengers and a boot full of luggage effortlessly up any hill. Very quiet at high speed for such a small car. Forget the 1.7DTI or 2.0DI as both are underpowered.
Just take a long test drive including some town driving and make sure the EMS (spanner) light doesn't come on. With the engine hot and idling, press and release the brake pedal several times and again see that the EMS light doesn't come on.
There are a couple of components which sometimes fail and cause this fault, they are the Air Mass Meter (£120, easy to fit) and the vacuum pump (£145, a bit fiddly to fit because air-con pipes obstruct access).
Dealers tend to overprice the estates, so consider buying privately and you could find a bargain.
James
If it' very occasional, hiring a car might be more sensible. Not what you want to hear though eh? ;-)
306 TD Estate should fit the bill if you can find one. Not the prettiest Pug, but at least it's not a Ford...;-)JH
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