Best £1000 motorway muncher estate.

[stedaley]

Having found a house up north but working down south, looking for a car to do the trip every other week.

Manual
Estate
Reliable (as it can be)
Guessing diesel?

What would you go for?

[Pistonheader101]

volvo v50

[DaveH23]

Passat
V50
E Class
5 Series.

You have quite a selection at that price point.

[stedaley]

Pistonheader101 said:

volvo v50

Reliable? Haven't heard many good stories..

[stedaley]

DaveH23 said:

Passat
V50
E Class
5 Series.

You have quite a selection at that price point.

Can't find any e class without issues, and very few BMWs, plus I've had a few mates have the 20d/25d engines and just never have it out the shop!

V50 seems to be limited to,

Shall look for Passat's!

[anonymous-user]

V50 is Ford focus platform. Not a big or particularly comfy car.

Would not recommend a manual either, limiting your options with that.

Can you get an accord for that?

[stevekoz]

Ultimately for £1000 anything you get will likely be high miles and you will encounter problems with any car no matter the value, so just be prepared that in terms of reliability its all relative.

My top picks would be -

Ford Mondeo - Plenty of them about so spares are easily come by on the likes of fleabay. Fairly easy to work on and usually quite steadfast when it comes to the workhorse element.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101168...

You could stretch to find a newer shape but the mileage increases quite a bit -

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102098...

As already mentioned the Passat is a good mile muncher. Personally i prefer the PD diesel over the newer ones for eating up miles and reliability, but not really had any issues with either.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102048...

Watch out for rust on the newer models, especially on the wings, like Golfs they suffer but the parts are easily swapped out and quite easy to get a hold of.

If its volvo you are thinking of, i would stick with the v70 over any other model for the mile munching and reliability. The D5 is a well known for going way around 200k.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102058...

Peugeot 407 SW - Bit of a leftfield choice but they are quite nice to look at, very comfy and the HDI lump is generally pretty great in terms of reliability. Clutch issues may present themselves at some point.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102048...

Pretty much the same as the Passat. Skoda Octavia again with the PD version -

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102058...

[dontlookdown]

Japanese and petrol.engined for that money. Simplicity is your friend, no pricey injectors, DMFs or turbos. Unlikely to raise the heart rate but more likely to do the job with less trouble than anything cheap and German.

Original shape Mazda 6. 2.0 petrol, Toyota Avensis, Honda Accord.

[RazerSauber]

I'll poke my head out and say Vectra C. The 150BHP 1.9 Diesel is a well known and pretty reliable engine capable of nearly 50mpg. Cruise and AC as standard. Even the base 1.8 petrol could do nearly 40 to the gallon on a much simpler none turbo engine. Parts are dirt cheap and easily available if anything goes wrong.

[DaveH23]

Get yourself on Autotrader with the following criteria:


Diesel
Minimum Engine size 2.0
<£1500

This returns 792 results, add in an Estate body type and that reduces to 113.

Filter mileage if it bothers you and it reduces it further. The cars I listed above are very common amongst Taxi's & Private hire companies so you know they are common comfy mile munchers.

[ZX10R NIN]

At this price point I'd say look for a Vauxhall Signum often overlooked but it's an Estate in everything but name:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-Vauxhall-Signum-1-...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-vauxhall-signum-ex...

Laguna

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102118...

407:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101298...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102058...

[mercedeslimos]

My pick would be a B5.5 Passat, 100 or 130 bhp 5-speed. Nowhere like the problems of the later B6, and soak up the miles fantastically. And for the poster who said petrol, the Honda petrol of the noughties are more complicated than a PD, which have very little to go wrong surprisingly! Also, big difference between 30mpg (K20 Accord does this, my mate is on his fourth CL7) and 50mpg from the Passat, especially on a long journey like this, perfect diesel territory.

[DailyHack]

- SAAB 9-3 Sportwagon 1.9 TiD
- Audi A4 Avant 1.9 Tdi
- Toyota Avensis d4d

[Cads]

I can’t speak highly enough of the Mazda 6 (petrol). In 5 yrs of ownership it’s only required consumables and never let us down.
When the rust kills it I’d get another. I’d also consider a Mondeo as a replacement.

Although at this price point I’d not be looking at long term ownership. It’s throw away money and anything purchased will be a risk.