Daily driver - Now what?

[dr_gn]

So my much loved ‘02 E46 330i seems to be coming to the end of its reliable life, with electronic gremlins.

Question is -what next?

I’ve never bought expensive, new cars, and have stuck with stuff I can mostly fix myself.

I need a family car for 4 people, occasional 300+ mile trips.

Something like a Golf or Focus perhaps.

Decent power (8 secs or so to 60 would be fine).

Budget - Ideally less than £10k.

Reliability is what I’m after, over gadgets.

I have no idea what modern cars are like to service, or how reliable they are these days. Any advice much appreciated! Thanks.

[mibman2004]

I’d say maybe a Golf or a Focus

[LJF_97]

dr_gn said:

I have no idea what modern cars are like to service, or how reliable they are these days. Any advice much appreciated! Thanks.

Not much different to cars from 03, unless it's the infotainment system. My dad's 2000 golf and my 2012 polo are similar to work on.

[Tiglon]

dr_gn said:

So my much loved ‘02 E46 330i seems to be coming to the end of its reliable life, with electronic gremlins.

Question is -what next?

I’ve never bought expensive, new cars, and have stuck with stuff I can mostly fix myself.

I need a family car for 4 people, occasional 300+ mile trips.

Something like a Golf or Focus perhaps.

Decent power (8 secs or so to 60 would be fine).

Budget - Ideally less than £10k.

Reliability is what I’m after, over gadgets.

I have no idea what modern cars are like to service, or how reliable they are these days. Any advice much appreciated! Thanks.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202312044535129

Will seat not just 4 but 5 people.

Can be used for 300 mile journeys.

Just like a focus.

8.1 seconds to 60.

Less than £10k, as long as you can negotiate 1p off the asking price.

Pretty much any modern car is reliable as long as you look after it.

[Hoofy]

Rather than a VW Golf, try the equivalent Seat Leon. Parts might be cheaper (you'll have to investigate this) but certainly the equvalent car is 10-20% cheaper.

[Robertb]

Late mk 5 or early mk 6 Golf GTI?

[dr_gn]

Thanks very much all.

Re. The Golf, I like the sound of a 1.5 EVO DSG version, but have read some horror stories about kangarooing engines (manual gearboxes) and DSG failures.

I wonder whether these issues would be obvious on a test drive, or are they more intermittent? I’d be looking at c.70k miles at my budget I think.

At this kind of age/cost, is a private seller an option, or is some kind of warranty essential?

Thanks.

[dr_gn]

Tiglon said:

dr_gn said:

So my much loved ‘02 E46 330i seems to be coming to the end of its reliable life, with electronic gremlins.

Question is -what next?

I’ve never bought expensive, new cars, and have stuck with stuff I can mostly fix myself.

I need a family car for 4 people, occasional 300+ mile trips.

Something like a Golf or Focus perhaps.

Decent power (8 secs or so to 60 would be fine).

Budget - Ideally less than £10k.

Reliability is what I’m after, over gadgets.

I have no idea what modern cars are like to service, or how reliable they are these days. Any advice much appreciated! Thanks.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202312044535129

Will seat not just 4 but 5 people.

Can be used for 300 mile journeys.

Just like a focus.

8.1 seconds to 60.

Less than £10k, as long as you can negotiate 1p off the asking price.

Pretty much any modern car is reliable as long as you look after it.

Thanks, but I don’t fancy a diesel tbh.

[dr_gn]

Hoofy said:

Rather than a VW Golf, try the equivalent Seat Leon. Parts might be cheaper (you'll have to investigate this) but certainly the equvalent car is 10-20% cheaper.

Thanks, a friend of mine has a Leon. I must say I don’t like the interior as much as a Golf. Not the end of the world I guess though. Presumably the engines and gearboxes are similar?

[a340driver]

Well if you loved an E46 saloon I'd go for a late generation E46 or an early E90?

But based on the body work. My much loved E46 330Ci (2000) had horrid wheel arches when I sold it at about 12 years old (but only £100 to replace) I would probably go for the later model. I understand they had plastic wheel arches too but don't know how problematic they were.

I really wouldn't be going for a hatchback instead. Especially if you want 4 doors.


I'd also say go for the 3.0L if you can. So much nicer!

Edited by a340driver on Tuesday 5th March 22:12

Edited by a340driver on Tuesday 5th March 22:15

[Tiglon]

It does sound a bit like you already know what you want...

[Vsix and Vtec]

In the great game of automotive word association, you say reliable, I say Honda.

Civic or Accord, maybe CRV of you want a bit more ground clearance. Cant go wrong with them really, just check for rust.

[dr_gn]

Tiglon said:

It does sound a bit like you already know what you want...

Kind of: Focus/Golf/Civic, yes.

But there is such a huge array of marks, trim levels, engine and gearbox options etc, that I don’t know where to start.

I read online articles where they’re great, then look at forums where they’re not so great…

[Tiglon]

dr_gn said:

Tiglon said:

It does sound a bit like you already know what you want...

Kind of: Focus/Golf/Civic, yes.

But there is such a huge array of marks, trim levels, engine and gearbox options etc, that I don’t know where to start.

I read online articles where they’re great, then look at forums where they’re not so great…

All I'll say about forums is that you can pick absolutely any car/engine and easily find horror stories about it.

[dr_gn]

a340driver said:

Well if you loved an E46 saloon I'd go for a late generation E46 or an early E90?

But based on the body work. My much loved E46 330Ci (2000) had horrid wheel arches when I sold it at about 12 years old (but only £100 to replace) I would probably go for the later model. I understand they had plastic wheel arches too but don't know how problematic they were.

I really wouldn't be going for a hatchback instead.

I'd also say go for the 3.0L if you can. So much nicer!

Edited by a340driver on Tuesday 5th March 22:12

I’d be looking towards something newer. Today I bought the last locally available E46 throttle pedal assembly (from the BMW scrapyard), in a vain attempt to solve an FBW potentiometer issue. So when critical parts like this are NLA new, it’s getting towards game over for maintaining them. I’d guess the E90 won’t be far behind. I tend to keep cars for a long time - my E46 I’ve had for 12 years, and done 100,000+ with very few issues until now.

[dr_gn]

Tiglon said:

dr_gn said:

Tiglon said:

It does sound a bit like you already know what you want...

Kind of: Focus/Golf/Civic, yes.

But there is such a huge array of marks, trim levels, engine and gearbox options etc, that I don’t know where to start.

I read online articles where they’re great, then look at forums where they’re not so great…

All I'll say about forums is that you can pick absolutely any car/engine and easily find horror stories about it.

Very true.

However, the VW 1.5 engines and DSG boxes do seem to have a lot written about them.

Guess a bit like rear suspension mounts on the E46 - Reading forums, I half expected the back end of mine to have fallen off by now, but every inspection it’s ever had showed it was in perfect condition.

[Tiglon]

dr_gn said:

Tiglon said:

dr_gn said:

Tiglon said:

It does sound a bit like you already know what you want...

Kind of: Focus/Golf/Civic, yes.

But there is such a huge array of marks, trim levels, engine and gearbox options etc, that I don’t know where to start.

I read online articles where they’re great, then look at forums where they’re not so great…

All I'll say about forums is that you can pick absolutely any car/engine and easily find horror stories about it.

Very true.

However, the VW 1.5 engines and DSG boxes do seem to have a lot written about them.

Guess a bit like rear suspension mounts on the E46 - Reading forums, I half expected the back end of mine to have fallen off by now, but every inspection it’s ever had showed it was in perfect condition.

There are a lot of them out there, so there are more of them to go wrong.

[CG2020UK]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402106...

Can’t really go wrong with a Vauxhall Insigna

[Alfa Pete]

For something a little more interesting than a Golf or Focus how about one of these?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024021766...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024021566...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024011956...

Edited by Alfa Pete on Tuesday 5th March 22:45

[Hoofy]

dr_gn said:

Hoofy said:

Rather than a VW Golf, try the equivalent Seat Leon. Parts might be cheaper (you'll have to investigate this) but certainly the equvalent car is 10-20% cheaper.

Thanks, a friend of mine has a Leon. I must say I don’t like the interior as much as a Golf. Not the end of the world I guess though. Presumably the engines and gearboxes are similar?

Yes - check the ads and you'll see similar sounding engines being used on equivalent models.

Re the DSG, I had a 2010 Leon with about 120k miles, the gearbox was perfect. For me, the DSG seems to be the best gearbox for someone who wants a fun drive but is too lazy to change gears. Just pop it into S when you want to hold the gears for longer on a corner, pop it back into D when you want to change up for a straight road and you've hit the speed limit.