Wanted - An uncool car that eats motorways

monquixote

Because I spent a great deal of my adult life living in London and thus didn't need a car I've only owned one car which I bought in 2008. 

I drive 70 miles a day up and down the A14 and as a result I needed an economical small car that was cheap and super reliable. I ended up buying a four year old Skoda Fabia TDi which has just been an absolute gem of a car. Over the last five years I've driven it to 175,000 miles and it's never had a mechanical fault. 

Now however it's getting a bit long in the tooth and I have a wife and baby to transport. Since the Fabia has served me so well it seemed obvious that I should buy an Octavia, but a disastrous thing has happened since 2008 and people seem to be aware that Skodas are bloody brilliant cars and thus the residuals have gone up considerably. 

So what I need is a car that is a rock solid (so nothing Italian or French) consumer of motorways and mover of families, but is deeply uncool and thus can be had for beans secondhand (£5-9k), 

From a bit of research on Auto Trader the things I've identified are: The Toyota Avensis, the Seat Exeo, The Mazda 6. 

Any other suggestions?

EricTheWeary

Toyota, Mazda, Nissan are the obvious ones but KIA and Hyundai lose enough money to be worth a look and couldn't be any uncooler.

wibble

Ford Mondeo, a 3 year old model will probably be at the top end of your budget. Avoid the 1.8 tdci and get the 2.0 tdci (available in 140bhp and 163bhp states of tune - both are good)

Bucket

Volkswagen Phaeton.

It's a VW that cost £60,000 new so, to the Merc-driving company directors etc that it was aimed at, it couldn't be less desirable if it came smeared in dog shit with a colony of wasps inside, so residuals were terrible and now it's basically a limo for well under 10 grand! 

Not the cheapest thing to run, mind...

EDIT: upon further research, seems a V6 diesel one will get 30 mpg on average. Not great but not as horrific as I'd expected.

EDIT 2: If it wasn't already apparent, I am not seriously suggesting you do this, you'd probably have to be mad.

monquixote

Bucket said:

Volkswagen Phaeton.

It's a VW that cost £60,000 new so, to the Merc-driving company directors etc that it was aimed at, it couldn't be less desirable if it came smeared in dog shit with a colony of wasps inside, so residuals were terrible and now it's basically a limo for well under 10 grand! 

Not the cheapest thing to run, mind...

I know someone who has got one. They are fucking incredible cars. Apparently they had the same level of crazy engineering that went into the Veyron. Unfortunately they are bloody massive and would probably bankrupt me when I needed to get it serviced or replace the tyres/exhaust/etc

monquixote

wibble said:

Ford Mondeo, a 3 year old model will probably be at the top end of your budget. Avoid the 1.8 tdci and get the 2.0 tdci (available in 140bhp and 163bhp states of tune - both are good)

A Mondeo is definitely on the list. Was a bit wary as apparently a lot of the diesels suffered engine failures, but I think that was pre 07 models.

roundthebend

My Octavia is still for sale and I want less than 5k. But it's already got high mileage so maybe that would put you off. It drives like new though and is a breeze on motorways getting 50+ mpg. The 2.0 litre TDi is smooth and torquey.

monquixote

roundthebend said:

My Octavia is still for sale and I want less than 5k. But it's already got high mileage so maybe that would put you off. It drives like new though and is a breeze on motorways getting 50+ mpg. The 2.0 litre TDi is smooth and torquey.

I could be interested actually. Cars with more than 100k worry me a bit as I'm going to be putting that up to 200k in no time, but if the price was right I could be convinced,

Hit me up with a PM if you would be so kind.

chillidoggy

Mondeo TDCi. 2.0l, '07 onwards.

gilby

monquixote;57830" said:

wibble said:

Ford Mondeo, a 3 year old model will probably be at the top end of your budget. Avoid the 1.8 tdci and get the 2.0 tdci (available in 140bhp and 163bhp states of tune - both are good)










A Mondeo is definitely on the list. Was a bit wary as apparently a lot of the diesels suffered engine failures, but I think that was pre 07 models.

I learnt the hard way !

I'd be looking at an Avensis, they tend to get snapped up by cabbies though.

TTony

If I go for the Merc, my A6 will be up for grabs.

Mine from new in 2003.  120k miles with FSH.  2.5TDi does 45mpg for me at the moment, mostly along the A14.  Boot is huge.  £1500.

spacecadet

I have an 08 Mondeo that is currently sitting at 211k on the clock. Clutch went at 100k but thats it. Not one problem. An absolutely incredible car and if you get the estate its massive.

Sporky

I had an Avensis. I cannot in good conscience allow you to purchase one.

The company cars (I opted out) we have now are Passats, and from some passenger journeys such a thing would fit the bill well. Entirely pleasant enough to be in.

Depending on your budget a Superb might be good - plenty on eBay with over 100,000 miles on them so there's good evidence that they're reliable enough. They seem to depreciate more than the Octavia.

stickyfiddle

My inlaws have a diesel 2005 Mondeo Estate that's been absolutely bomb-proof up and down Devon hills and the M4 alike. Still drives well and feels good after 120k or so.

chillidoggy

I forgot to mention that Mondeos are uncool because I've got one.

boogieman

Pretty much been said already, but a Mondeo is the way to go. The Avensis is a turd and although reliable, will cost you a fortune to fix if it goes wrong. (Bitter experience. £200 just for a Lambda sensor anyone? :x )

VimFuego

pretty much what's been said. We have a hyundai, which was very cheap for the mileage etc. However, it's now on 150k and things are starting to go wrong, clutch, brakes and so on, and all are very expensive to repair, both in terms of parts and labour (everything seems to be twice as complicated on it compared to other cars. When we got it, we were also looking at mondeo estates, but went with the santa fe cos it was bigger and could carry more. In hindsight this was probably a mistake. 

dindude

Maybe a VW Jetta. Same as a Golf but the addition of the boot and the name change makes them a fair bit better value.

jd0272

Toyota Rav 4 XT4 2.2 diesel with sequential 4WD.

Comfy, quite spacious (accommodates my lot and the Mrs' shopping etc) and I can get 2 guitars, head, 4x12, case and bags and a spare head in for the weekend activities. Not at the same time as the family mind.

Eats the miles, getting 47.2mpg currently, and goes through ANY weather.

Previous motor was a BMW Tourer. Having the Toyota makes me wonder what the fuck was I thinking having the BMW.

JayGee

Rover 75 or MG ZT (depending on whether you prefer to waft or Make Progress to/from the MWay). 

Yes they went messily bust (fortunately after having spun off the spares business so no problems there), and they're geting a little long in tooth (enough of the archetypal retired owner, immaculately maintained examples around to be worth the effort of looking for 'em) but the 75/ZT was a superbly engineered piece of kit.

I bought my ZT CDTi  at 5 years old after owning 2 C-Class Mercedes and an Audi A4 bought brand new in succession and the MG is just plain nicer...

Cirrus

My last two cars (though I've only had three...) have both been diesel Focus estates. The Y reg 1.8 tdi was good for three years until it sprung a leak and the passenger foot well became an occasional pond. The 06 1.6 tdci I've had since 2009 has been awesome. Really practical car - seats 5, big boot with fold-flat rear seats which make it great for gigging, and it's great on the motorway. The diesels have plenty of pull from 65-90mph and cruising at 80 you'll get about 50mpg. If money's tight, the best I've got out of a tank was 68mpg... but that included a run back from the lake district cruising behind a lorry the whole way. I got it at 47k and yesterday it passed 158k.