Replacement estate car

Subaru Legacy Diesel Estate.

No dealers locally. I need something a bit more mainstream to keep running costs down. Nice, but no thanks.

Steve

Do as everyone else does nowadays, order online from Amazon!

But it is a good car, really. I used the petrol versions in Alaska.

In article , Davey scribeth thus

I have heard quite good things mentioned re the Skoda, a local cab co use them and mileage's of up to 350 K on quite young cars seem the norm.

I'm quite a fan of Audi, my Audisaurus is 19 years young now and has been fine over that time> I see you can get quite decent ones now for around 5 to 7 K and if the build quality is as good as it used to be then all should be well. VW much the same too had those in the past in fact there is a "E" yes E (1987) REG Passat down the road in daily use!.

One final thing forget the main dealer for servicing there are some good smaller garages around they just take some finding. The one who looks after our cars is a real genuine "underneath the railway arches" outfit just two of them and I think their labour rate is still 30 quid an hour!..

Mind you whilst you might get a courtesy car or van or something that moves but do NOT expect the tea to be made for you!, if you want tea its the custom to make it for everyone who's there mechanics and customers alike;)>..

I just wouldn't go anywhere else.

'Fraid I don't know much about Fords and Astra's etc no one around here seem's to have them that I know of!.

they come out right at the top of reliability tables, parts prices are better than most too.

I like my 10yr old Octavia Estate diesel (1.9 auto), can get a bath in there but it's a bit narrow if ye have plans on carrying things like 6x4 fence panels (where a friend's more recent Astra just swallowed those easily).

No stupid design flaws I've seen. Only things that have failed in that time are the passenger side window winder mech, the battery and the brake light switch.

I have a Mk 1 Octavia estate (so probably a bit older than you are looking for) and it is reliable, despite it having the known-to-be- ridiculous AQY engine (2 litre 8v) and there has been issues with it, most significantly the check engine light has been on for the best part of a decade and despite several investigations, nothing has cured it. But the fuel consumption has been fine, emissions are fine, all is fine, basically.

I previously had an Octavia with the 1.6 8v engine which never had any problems.

I think the newer Octavias with an engine other than the AQY would see you right.

My father has an '08 Mondeo and it is superb. It is a very big car though, but the 2 litre TD engine and the 6 speed autobox are a magic combo!

Both cars are easy to deal with regarding bulbs, etc. The only downside of the Mondeo is that to do an oil change, you have to remove the under-engine tray, but really, it's no big deal. Mondeo also has a great stereo, whereas the Octavia's is a bit anaemic. Mondeo is incredible on long journeys, quiet and smooth and very roomy (I am 2 metres tall)

The one thing I would say to look out for on any car you choose is:

Try to avoid low profile tyres, they are a bit of a nightmare in my experience. I like cars to be smooth and comfortable, but the stretched elastic bands on 18 inch wheels the Mondeo have do not make for as smooth a ride as smaller wheels & higher profile tyres would. The Octavia has

15 inch wheels and higher profile tyres and soak up bumps a lot better than the Mondeo, but the Mondeo has a /smoother/ ride over all. If it had the h/p tyres, I think it would be pretty much perfect!

Neighbour is a taxi driver and has an '06 E class Mercedes 2.7 diesel. He loves it, but he is fairly short and I found it much too small headroom-wise for any sort of distance driving. Other than that it's pretty good. Problems he has had with it (all electrical) were traced to a faulty voltage reg (iirc) on the alternator. Once this was swapped (he actually had the whole alternator done for sake of time), problems disappeared. This car has two batteries, one in the boot, a smaller one under the bonnet. The Merc also has 18 inch low profile tyres, but the suspension must be made from magic as it soaks up bumps better than the Mondeo. He had the engine serviced last month, inc. all fluids & autobox oil, a shade over 400 quid from the main dealers. He thought it was a bit steep but they did it very quickly - time is money for him concerning the car, so he paid it due to the turnaround).

My order of preference would be:

1. Octavia (keep in mind mine is the Mk 1 and I have no experience living with newer models) due to large interior for driver, colossal boot, put the rear seats down (or remove them) and you've got a large, long load space. My dickie engined one (petrol / manual box) will do

50-ish MPG at 60-ish on a motorway run. Older car, cheap parts, very easy DIY. Narrower body than the Mondeo, and good visibility from driver's seat makes parking very easy.

1. Mondeo. All the luxuries (Titanium X spec) loads of passenger room in front and back (serious amount of rear legroom). 2 litre turbo diesel (auto slushbox i.e. not DSG type thing) at "motorway speeds, officer" motorway run will return 50-ish MPG. Parking radars very useful. Still a massive vehicle though.

2. Merc. Too small for me to realistically live with, no other experience with it but it must be durable to keep a taxi driver happy. No idea about running costs other than example given. Looks nice, I suppose.

And that's all the experience I have. Hope it can help in some small way.

But they don't break down as often as your current shortlist and are much more rugged for unmade tracks.

Your use is exactly what Subaru have in mind when they design their cars

- in rural locations, you don't need to go far to find an ancient, leggy Subaru estate still being used as daily transport for a farmer and often a family of sheep.

They're a thirsty combo - I had a 2.0TDCI Zetec Auto when my old Golf spat its conrods. The Golf was a 1.4 twin-charged petrol with 170bhp, but the 130-ish bhp diesel Mondeo turned in 5mpg less - ie. low to mid

30s mpg.

That's absolutely awful for a 2lt diesel.

Also used quite a bit in Oz, along with Toyotas of course. So they must be bulletproof.

Got a heavy right foot? ;)

My BMW 120d Auto is running at 47.something.

But then, BMW diesels have been miles ahead of the competition for a number of years now. (Although Volvo and Audi look like they may have finally caught up - suspect BMW will refresh things with the 1 and 3 series facelifts)

The turbo blew on my 5 year old, 90,000 miles well maintained octavia recently. They aren't all reliable :-(

I'm not sure the Passat will be best for you. My parents have had a 2006

2.0TDI 140 for a while now and whilst it's been OK mechanically, it's had a few electrical problems such as the electronic handbrake switch and something to do with the steering column electronics (don't remember exactly what) oh and it's also had a new EGR valve fitted. The electric windows have been playing up recently too.

There are loads of Octavias used as taxis where I live and they seem to clock up some serious mileage.

Sounds like you're a typical Volvo V70. Have you noticed that most of these are dull dark blue standard issue colour. People who drive these tanks are considering it as a solid appliance for doing a job, hence never wash or tidy the car.

That scores 60. Which is actually quite good.

Skoda score worse.

Volvos are too big for me. My sister-in-law in Sweden had one and I didn't really like to drive it. Yes, it was fast and comfortable, but I never felt in control of the thing tbh. I preferred to drive a Saab as they always seemed less of a handful.

New Passat electrics, like most cars with gizmo's, seem to be a problem. A work mate has the VW Touran and they had problems with the EGR and a few other bits. I may look at an earlier model with moderate mileage.

I think I am narrowing down to either the Octavia or another Astra at the moment.