UKC

Looking to buy an economical Estate Car, I know next to nothing about cars but I do know that I need a large enough car to carry loads of kit and also one that's very good to the gallon. Again any advice would be great.

In reply to Sl@te Head: You must be new to this forum...

In reply to Submit to Gravity: Not really...Why?

In reply to Sl@te Head: just bought a 1.9 tdi golf no5 estate and love it. Loads of room and good on fuel.

In reply to Sl@te Head: Skoda is what the reference to being new to the forum means.

In reply to Sophiewhitter mk 5 even

In reply to Sl@te Head: 3 replies and no-one UKC has said SKODA OCTAVIA yet!!!

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Citroen C5.

Tick and Tick.

In reply to drunken monkey:

I did allude to it...

In reply to Submit to Gravity: Please tell me about the Skoda Octavia......

In reply to Sl@te Head: for what it's worth I have a volvo estate which does the job.
Try a Volvo V50 or V70 2.4D - you want the SE or SE lux or equivalent.
Love the winter pack with heated seats.

In reply to Sl@te Head: I haven't got one, but I think everyone else on here has.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

This forum loves Skoda Octavias. Someone will be along shortly to recommend one. I've never driven one, but I hear they are good...

First question: How big? If you want 4 or 5 people and all their kit, you'll be looking at Octavia/Passat/Mondeo type of size, whereas if you want 2 people and sometimes and 4 people less often then something Focus/Golf sized might be better.

What type of journeys? Lots of long ones, totalling > 20000 miles a year, get a diesel. Lots of short ones or a total of 5K a year, petrol will be better. Some people reckon petrol is more fun, but it's not my thing.

I have a 02 plate diesel Focus estate, and I like it. I can get 4 people and all their camping and climbing kit in, (as long as no-one brings a bouldering mat!), or two people and the kitchen sink. Efficient, reliable, though I would go for the TDCI engine if I bought another.

In reply to Submit to Gravity: Just had a look on ebay + the Skoda web site, do they really do 85 mpg?

In reply to Sl@te Head: Mahooosive boot size which is why it is popular with taxi drivers.

Lovers and haters on here though.

In reply to Jack B: 4 people + loads of kit including Bouldering mats, camping kit, surf boards or kayaks. Had VW camper vans for the last 15 Years or so which I've also used for the daily 50 mile commute. Have travelled extensively in Europe and Scandinavia but maybe not as much as 20,000 a year.

In reply to Sl@te Head: of course not in the real world.... you need to give us a budget.. otherwise we,ll be drowned out by octavia, octavia, octavia.

In reply to alasdair19: Not really sure until I sell my VW T5 camper would like to think a new one with warranty, but may decide to bank a significant chunk from the sale and stick to a budget of £2500 ish.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

My brother's been hammering a Passat estate (a Y reg TDi) round for quite a while now with few significant issues - it's towed a Caterham to the Nurburgring lots of times and it now gets filled up with kiddy clutter (complex pushchairs and the like) with space to spare. That would probably be my first choice for a car that size on your budget, either that or a Mondeo estate. I drive a Focus estate but think that would be too small for what you want.

In reply to Sl@te Head: stick to the budget and get an astra, designed in germany, made in uk.

also seat exeo is a cheap badged audi chasis with reasonably currnet VW engines.

In reply to Sl@te Head: Skoda Octavia mate. Every time.

In reply to Sl@te Head: I drive a Subaru Liberty Station wagon. AWD and ideal for everything I have yet thrown at it.

In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

The haters haven't usually run one for any length of time.

In reply to myth: Just driven back from Bolton to Cardiff in my new Octavia - 67 mpg and the Boss on the stereo SDD.

Not sure which gave me more pleasure!

In reply to Sl@te Head:

A ridiculously large amount of car, kit and quality for the amount of cash involved.

Basically rebadged audi/VW cars generally a bit bigger than the equivilant audi/VW (in the case of the Octavia a LOT bigger) and with all the (note - identical) kit you don't get for free in audi/VW installed as standard.

Same engines, same transmission, same switchgear.

Skoda owners tend to spend the first few months wondering if there's something horrendous the salesman didn't tell them, but after several tens or hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles can't see why others can't see what an amazing value for money they've got. They then tend to get a bit evangelical (hence the comments above).

The others are of the view that they won't buy a skoda regardless of how good the car is or how little it costs becasue they could never see themselves in a Skoda, and are prepared to pay tens of thousands of pounds for the same kit but a different badge.

Bit of a marmite opinion-setter.

The only snag is that the second-hand market is very alive to to skoda phenomenon and residuals are high.

JH

80,000 miles in an Octavia 1.9 tdi 4x4 Estate before I had to give it back... now busily putting 45,000 miles on a Skoda Superb 2.0tdi. 170 4x4.

My Octavia (55 plate) used to spend most of its time doing 55-60mpg on motorways, despite my, erm, rather heavy foot... (cruise at 80-90mph). The boot (your other criteria) is s*dding massive.

In reply to John_Hat: what sort of mpg are you getting on the Superb?

In reply to Sl@te Head: Ref your comment on buying new (possibly) - consider either an Astra or Insignia Estate from Vauxhall - you can get good discounts through internet car brokers on them and crucially VX have started doing a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty to first owner thats got to be worth its weight in gold if you plan on keeping a long time.

To my mind, if you are keeping a long time it just about makes sense as the depreciation is part dealt with by getting a good discount and part averages out over a long time and the warranty means any lingering reliability concerns vs other brands are less an issue. Although most brands have their adherents, having looked around a fair bit you can find horror stories on most (including VW/Skoda/BMW and all teh other 'reliable' brands), basically as cars are getting hideously complex, and overly expensive to fix these days.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

I've got a Mondeo 2litre diesel estate which I think is great. Its absolutely cavernous,pretty quicken the midrange and about 45mpg. The seats fold flat which I'm not sure they do in the Skoda superb

In reply to Sl@te Head:
I have 2009 Kia Cee'd SW 1.6 diesel. Reliable, relatively cheap and comes with a 7yrs warranty.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

The new model Octavia has recently been launched -- expect a 6 month wait for one. -- If buying new, you may still be able to pick up a bargain on a 2012 model - but it will be a case of getting what the dealer has in stock.

I replaced my 9 yo Octavia last summer and they were running a 0% VAT promotion and 24 months interest free credit with a 50% deposit. I was in the fortunate position to pay cash outright - however paying the balance off over 2 years at 0% interest was a bit of a no brainer.

I thought my old 90 bhp 1.9tdi Ambiente was good, however the added level of refinement in my 122bhp 1.4tsi Elegance is a joy.

I'm an OAP and dont do big annual mileages nowadays so reckon that this car is probably the last car I'll ever need. I may not be fit to drive by the time I'm 80!

In reply to Sl@te Head: I've now got the fabled Octavia estate and had a Ford Focus estate. Both are good cars, but like Ferret said you'll always find a horror story.

So pro and cons from my experience. The Octavia feels more refined and I prefer the VAG diesel engine to the Ford one. I preferred the suspension on the Focus and you can get more stuff in the boot.

I think the Skoda phenomena is like the Mac computers one. They once had a clear market advantage (value for Skodas), but that's no longer the case (not for 2nd hand anyway), so now it's customer loyalty.

In reply to Sl@te Head: I've got an '09 Octavia VRS diesel estate and it's my pride and joy. Goes like stink and still gives me over 50mpg on trips to the peaks even with 4 people + gear in it. Haven't got a lot to compare it with admittedly but would heartily recommend it based on my experience.

In reply to Sl@te Head: If you really want to move a lot of kit the Mondeo takes a lot of beating.

In reply to Siward:

The most I ever got was when I had the space saver spare fitted so was limited to 50mph for a long (300 mile) journey. 69.9mpg.

Usually around 45-50mpg on motorways when tanking it (my aforesaid 80-90mph), about 55mpg if taking it more sedately (65-75mph).

I did do a long term average (never resetting the second memory) once and averaged 48mpg over about 10,000 miles of mixed driving. Not bad for such a big car. I have checked what the computer is saying against a fill-empty-refill and its slightly optimistic, but only by a couple of percent.

Tyler:

They do with the double floor fitted. Which is handy as you can put stuff under it and the boot looks empty. Useful when parking in interesting places...

In reply to John_Hat:


Does the second memory not reset itself to zero ofter a shorter period? In my Passat est. I think it's after 2000 miles or something of that order. My long-term average is also 48mpg as it happens. (well, that's what the OBC says, never actually worked it out properly.)

In reply to Sl@te Head:

i HAVE A 2.2 dIESEL honda accord saloon. Wish I'd bought the 2.4 petol estate.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Have a look on this site for actual reported mpg figures.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/

Ian

In reply to Fraser:

Nope. mine has nearly 3k miles on it now. Lady Blue's Leon has about 4 miles less than is actually on the car itself (so about 15k). I don't think she knows the second memory exists...

In reply to John_Hat:

Interesting. I don't understand why it would reset anyway. I'd much prefer to know the stats for the longest possible period from the 2nd memory.