Another "What car?" thread

Roland · October 2018

munckee said:
Would you get a 3 year old 520 for that price, if so worth a punt has everything except high seating position.

Autotrader is looking at £16,000 for a 2015 model. It’s just over the £15,000 target, but will last longer than many of the other cars in consideration, so a sensible consideration. Second hand diesels are getting harder to sell, so there’s scope for negotiation.

hywelg · October 2018

I had a 2003 Galaxy till this time last year. I used it with the seats out most of the time for work and when I was gigging it got the PA (including huge Peavey 118XT subs) in it along with all my guitar gear. I also used it for windsurfing trips with masses of gear in and on it. Plus it was great for camping in. Long flat load bay .

So I was unsure about what to replace it with , the new Galaxy (/Sharan/Alhambra) seats did not come out so big loss of headroom, plus other things like Euro 6 engines were dear as they were only fitted 2016 on (IIRC). I also looked at Ford Tourneo Connect, bags of space even with the seats folded, but too many gaps for work related dust and crap to fall down. I also looked at Merc E Class, nice ,but load height was too small, T5 , stupid money,

I ended up with 2016 VW Caddy Maxi Life. 7 seats, 5 removable, bought in a hurry when mine got written off just over a year ago. Huge load bay with the seats out, longer than the Galaxy and at least 150mm higher, but not as wide. I got the 150ps engine which is really nice, plenty of poke when you need it and the front seats are comfortable, I don't think the rear ones would be for a long trip though. Very economical. 62.5mpg coming back from Cornwall earlier in the year. Will easily do 40+mpg just pottering around. Downside is they are expensive for what they are, basically a posh van. I paid £18k for mine at a year old, prices haven't dropped much at all. I will run it into the ground and I'm hoping for 15 years out of it. It does have a proper spare wheel, unlike the two other I mentioned above, which was important to me.

As it happened I didn't need to get the Euro6 engine as since I bought it Nottingham City Council have backtracked on their intention to implement a levy on all older diesels. Hey ho.

Snags · October 2018

Thanks all. Off to do a bit more research, note any irrational personal prejudice, and then run the results past Mrs Snags.

crunchman · October 2018

Toyota Verso. Ok it's 7 seats but you can leave the back two folded down and have a big boot.

We bought a 3 year old one 4 years ago, and so far all we have needed to do is routine servicing and MOTs, plus the odd failed light bulb.

photek · October 2018

Take a Volvo V60 out for a test drive. I swapped over from an A6 Avant to one recently and I am impressed with it. Mine is the D4 R-Design with the polestar performance upgrade, genuinely rapid and 55mpg. Boot space is decent plus plenty of toys and safety stuff.