Estate cars - advice

[tommy]

Hi, we're looking to buy a second hand estate car having ruled out 4x4's and mpv's (for boot space and cost reasons)

Does anyone have any recommendations (we'll have 2 car seats in at all times), and cars to avoid.

Price range for a 3 or 4 year old car is about 8k. Looking for reliability so maybe the Passat estate (anyone had experience of the auto handbrake), or a Honda Accord / Toyota Avensis estate.

Any tips welcome. thanks.

[The Nappy Lady]

Tommy we have an old Volvo & it has been fantastic.

2 car seats in the back at all times & a very handy extra is that the arm rest folds down, then has a bit that flips up to turn it into a booster seat in the middle of the back seat (with 3 point harness as standard). This is a godsend when we have friends to play. Don't know if it's standard in the newer volvos but look out for it.

Car giant seem good for second hand estates from all I've heard - no personal experience.

[lillyanginger]

Tommy,

we have had the Passat Estate for 4 years now and are delighted. It is very reliable, lovely and easy to drive. We had the Volvo V70 before and again, fab car. Slightly bigger and we felt we were (kind of) able to downsize a bit. It had seats in the back which was useful but our children are too big to make use of those now (9 and 13). Also, we had serious issues with Volvo and would not buy another car from them.

[Pickle]

We've just sold our Jaguar X type estate, which was fab. Loads of space, extremely reliable. Ours was a 2006 model, we traded it so price we got isn't much help, but I think you'd pick up one just a little bit older for around ?8k.

We decided we no longer needed an estate car, and have traded for a large saloon which, if anything, gives us more room than we had before!

[womanofdulwich]

we have had 2 mercededes estates with extra seats in the boots. they have both been really good E300 D. They are quite old but have been safe family cars and had each for a least 10 years. I know the newer mercedes models have not reviewed so well but the older ones are really good ove 200,000 miles on the clock on the last one, 165,000 the current one.

[mumof3girlies]

love our passat estate, loads of room, 3 seat belts in the back for car seats and heaps of space for camping trips etc., we have got a diesel and it's pretty economical to drive, very reliable too - no probs in the last 3 years we've had it...(she says touching wood)

[Ruth_Baldock]

We've got an ooooollllld Audi a4 estate (Audi a4 1.9 tdi) and it's brilliant. You could get a lot for your 8k if you got a second hand one. Excellent fuel economy, managed to get 60mpg on motorways. We have our 18mo olds seat in the back as well as a newborn seat (still waiting for newborn though). Maclaren and Phil and teds in the boot- so v spacious. Couldn't recommend enough!!!

[snowboarder]

We have just ventured into the world of estate cars - our brief - maximum space and power for minimum cost. We ended up with a skoda(!) octavia vrs. I love it - so much easier to drive than our megane, and parking sensors mean I can reverse park - hurrah! It has a huge boot, but despite that my husband still went out and bought a roof box for a recent trip away - 2 car seats, 2 travel cots, high chair, bike, scooter, double buggy, luggage and food for a week...phew...

[tommy]

Thank you for all the recommendations. We went to Car Giant first thing on Saturday, it was a good experience all round.

Just comparing boot sizes and car dimensions on the auto express website to narrow it down.

One more question - are parking sensors really useful or just a gimmick ?

Cheers

T

[Pickle]

Parking sensors are one of those things that you don't realise you need until you've got them. Having had them on our estate and now on our new car I would never go without. Great, especially for squeezing yourself into a small London space.

[lillyanginger]

I find parking sensors really irritating, seem to be the only one though. I hate the noise they make when parking - it irritates me and I get parking wrong!!! When really, I am pretty good at parking, even if I say so myself.

[Mellors]

Surely the "London Kiss" is what most people use for a parking sensor?

[ladywotlunches]

Mellors Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Surely the "London Kiss" is what most people use

> for a parking sensor?

:), indeed I have parking sensors for the first time on my car now and although I do find them handy, for very tight spaces they are quite a pain, as even when its giving me the full on beeeeeeeeeepp to say stop NOW, theres a good few inches, or even more, to spare. But perhaps thats just Volvo being overly cautious, as ever!

[new mother]

Agree with Pickle re parking sensors to the extent that I wish cars had forward ones. Errrrr....

Ruth, 60mpg on the motorway is amazing. Are you sure?! We get about 30 in a similar car.

[Ruth_Baldock]

Yep- we worked it out, as we don't have a trip computer, but my husband is a bit obsessive about working things out like that, even has a spreadsheet (lord help me...). We've done over 16,000 miles in the two years we've had it (lots of long trips, the one in question was from SE5 to Edinburgh and back) and it's consistently been great. However, husband is a bit of a tyrant when it comes to fuel economy- no AC on or windows open. Scrooge.

[Townleygreen]

Have found Citroen Picasso great - big boot, 3 removable seats behind driver/front passenger seats, found it v reliable for the 7 years we had it.

[tommy]

Narrowing it down now...anyone had experience of the Toyota Avensis Tourer? What I've read is that it is reliable, solid, safe and economical, with a good sized boot (to boot)

Will take a test drive this weekend hopefully.

[sharls]

The new model toyota verso is brilliant - more boot space then an estate, can be 7 seats and is really comfy. We chose this over an estate and are so pleased with it