Obligatory another "what car should I buy" thread

strtdv

I'd left my MX-5 in for some suspension work yesterday (rear hub carrier bushings worn, a well documented issue on ND/Mk4 MX-5s, had the other side done about 18 months ago, bushings aren't designed to be replaceable so needs a rather expensive part), knew the bill was going to come to close to 2k as I also needed new pads all round and probably rotors on the front. 

I got a phonecall from the garage today saying the rumbling of I'd noticed which prompted me to leave the car in urgently wasn't a wheel bearing as I'd thought but was actually the rear differential, and the bill is more likely to be £5500.

The car is almost 10 years old and has north of 90k miles, and in full working condition is worth about £7500, so obviously not worth doing the work when the scrap value is around £2500-3000.

The garage is going to offer a trade-in value and I'll be looking for a new car on Saturday. 
Options are trade in and buy from this dealership if the trade-in value is decent (obviously would need to beat the scrap value), or straight sale on something from another dealer. 


Criteria:

-decent size (estate or Tiguan/Ateca/Karoq SUV sized) as my wife is fed up with me carting DIY equipment/table saws etc in her car 

-2 litre (or bigger) engine. I don't like the feel of the small heavily boosted engines in a lot of cars (eg 1.4/1.5 TSI engines from VAG

-DSG or manual, on an engine this size a torque converter doesn't make sense

-located in Northern Ireland 

-under 40k miles, 2021 or newer

-£28k or under

-I'm WFH a day a week now so have reduced my annual mileage from about 16,000 to about 12,000 so I don't have a preference for petrol or diesel.


The dealership is a Mazda franchise so have a large selection of CX5s.

Positives are a nice manual gearbox, nice interior with all the extras (Bose sound, heated seats and steering wheel, reversing camera, Android Auto) I'd want. It also looks smart, and decent value (2022-2023 under 20k miles for around £22k)

The main negative is the petrol is a bit slow/gutless and the diesel is a notoriously unreliable unit which suffers from oil dilution so I've ruled out the diesel.


They also have a few Audis in stock, particularly a 2021 A4 estate with 40tfsi petrol power and the same in 2022 35tfsi power for £27k. This seems on the relatively high side but both single owner cars and seems to be around market value. 

Any other obvious suggestions I'm missing? 

I should add that while I like cars to be well engineered and a nice place to spend time, I'm not precious about them and view them as ultimately things that are designed to be used and wear out.

snowblind

Given your criteria I'd probably be looking at a BMW 5 series estate. Lots of space in the back, decent drive and the 2L tractor is quite a punchy motor. There seems to be lots of the 530e hybrids about too. 

boogieman

We part ex’d our Audi Q5 recently, I think it would’ve filled a lot of your criteria. 2 litre turbo petrol (there’s a diesel version as well), with a DSG box. Nice to drive, seamless gear changes, punchy engine with good acceleration and 40+ mpg on a run. The ride was a bit firm on ours but it had massive 21 inch wheels, which didn’t help. The S line version has most of the toys you would use regularly. Reliability was good over the 7 years/60k miles we had it and it never once broke down or failed to start. 

TheMarlin

snowblind said:

Given your criteria I'd probably be looking at a BMW 5 series estate. Lots of space in the back, decent drive and the 2L tractor is quite a punchy motor. There seems to be lots of the 530e hybrids about too. 

The 3L diesel is an amazing engine. Loads of power and torque, but still has decent fuel economy. 

snowblind

I think BMW have pretty much stopped making the 3L tractors. Shame in some respects since they were bloody missiles.
Engines aside they are one of the few estates that really have a lot of space in the back without having to put the seats down. A lot of the SUV stuff isn't as spacious in the back as you might expect.

TheMarlin

snowblind said:

I think BMW have pretty much stopped making the 3L tractors. Shame in some respects since they were bloody missiles.
Engines aside they are one of the few estates that really have a lot of space in the back without having to put the seats down. A lot of the SUV stuff isn't as spacious in the back as you might expect.

OP said 2021 or newer, so should be something with that engine available. 

I’ve got a 330 with a 3L 6 cylinder diesel engine.  it uses recovered power from braking to fill in power gaps with diesel engine. 

Consequential, with its excellent gearbox, it drives nothing like any diesel I’ve drive before.  It drives and responds like a sporty petrol engine, and delivers almost 300BHP. 
I frinkin adore this car. Also benefits from excellent emissions, so won’t be hit with any charges in cities where emissions are a pay-day. 

munckee

Missus munckee has a 2.0 diesel volvo v40 from 2013 and its punchy as anything, I've got an XC40 2.0 petrol with 200 bhp and that's pretty much a great car in every way - better than the VW Tiguan I had before in everything except boot space.  Having had VWs for years I think we will be getting volvos for the foreseeable - not too flashy, well made, everything works well.

guitarmangler

I’d look at either the ŠKODA 2.0 Octavia or try the Toyota Corolla Touring (it comes in 1.8 and 2.0). The Toyotas come with a 10 year/100000
miles warranty (as long as you service it with them. The Suzuki swace is the same car, just rebadged, and cheaper. The Toyota is the safe bet, all the taxi drivers around here use them. That and Octavia’s.

Snap

Thought about a BMW X3? 
Those big DS cars are quite cool too.
We had an Omada 5 on hols recently as a hire car, that was quite good. Certainly well put together and drove well. Lots of unnecessary tech though, which can be v annoying.

goldtop

Nothing to add on the car choice thing, but genuinely dismayed* that a 10yo and sub-100,000m Mazda MX5 is uneconomical to repair for expected wear and tear! I guess the spares cost is the biggest issue, with Mazda UK's mark-up. In old-Honda world, it's common to order spares from Amayama/etc and pay well under half of Honda UK's prices.

(*I'd been thinking of the ND or NC to replace the NSX when I finally sell it.)

Emp_Fab

Yeti - or an MX5.

Gassage

Cayenne Hybrid or Diesel. Different league to anything else listed.

dazzajl

£5.5k to replace a diff for an MX5? That’s somewhere between highly implausible and outright criminal. 

Nerine

The missus test drove a Volvo XC40 T5 Recharge a few weekends ago. 

260bhp. Hybrid. 1.5 petrol. Very plush inside. Nice to drive, plenty of shove. I’m a big BMW fan, but honestly I might get one as well. It was really nice. 

Well worth a look. 

GuyR

TheMarlin said:

snowblind said:

I think BMW have pretty much stopped making the 3L tractors. Shame in some respects since they were bloody missiles.
Engines aside they are one of the few estates that really have a lot of space in the back without having to put the seats down. A lot of the SUV stuff isn't as spacious in the back as you might expect.

OP said 2021 or newer, so should be something with that engine available. 

I’ve got a 330 with a 3L 6 cylinder diesel engine.  it uses recovered power from braking to fill in power gaps with diesel engine. 

Consequential, with its excellent gearbox, it drives nothing like any diesel I’ve drive before.  It drives and responds like a sporty petrol engine, and delivers almost 300BHP. 
I frinkin adore this car. Also benefits from excellent emissions, so won’t be hit with any charges in cities where emissions are a pay-day. 

I have the 520d tourer. It’s a magnificent car and not my first one.

Quality feel to the interior, Super comfortable, decently quick, great on country roads, enormous boot/load capacity and returns 39.1 mpg driving into central London from the suburbs. 55 mpg on a run. 

swiller

I think you should buy my 2006 porsche boxster s and continue the glory of 2 seater convertible, but this time, mid engine, 3.2l 6cyl and 911 brakes. Maybe buy a cheap and cheerful denzil for commuting.

Paul_C

Instead of one expensive car you could buy a load of cheaper ones. 

 

strtdv

dazzajl said:

£5.5k to replace a diff for an MX5? That’s somewhere between highly implausible and outright criminal. 

Not just the diff, but the rear hub carrier (£1200 fitted) and then also new pads and rotors all round (about another £1k) for the MOT so just a bad combination of lots of things at once. 

I could probably get it all sorted at an independent for about half that using non-OEM parts, but was planning on changing the car in the next 6 months anyway, and frankly my time is worth quite a bit to me

strtdv

Paul_C said:

Instead of one expensive car you could buy a load of cheaper ones. 

 

I'll need a bigger driveway but there's a distinct possibility of a Mk1 MX5 as a summer car 

strtdv

Gassage said:

Cayenne Hybrid or Diesel. Different league to anything else listed.

I'd be mistaken for a cardiologist at work if I drove a Porsche, couldn't have that

strtdv

I should also mention I'm keen to avoid a plug in hybrid as my commute is slightly longer than the typical electric only range and I'd end up effectively just driving a heavier and less practical petrol car on the way home. Lots to go wrong too