£1000 ish estate?

[junglie]

Good evening,

I recently sold my BMW F11 535d Touring and had not thought everything through!

I bought a Lexus GS 300 (excellent car) as a cheap commuter as we may be moving soon so just wanted something to rack up the miles and not worry about. Next year we will be buying a couple of ‘new’ cars.

The issue I have is that the Lexus can not carry a bike rack. Can’t fit a tow bar (I am lead to believe) and a usual bike rack will not fit. You also can’t fit roof bars. Looking for something to bridge the gap until next year.

Does a £1000 ish estate now exist? It does not even need to be an estate but needs to be able to carry the bikes as well as take stuff to the tip etc.

Thinking of the usual suspects such as V70, V50, Legacy, Outback, A4/6, 3/5 series, 300C, C/E class as well Jeep, ML etc.

Would a hatchback or similar work (my old Ford Cougar was actually quite big with the seats down).

Ideally I would want more than 5 cylinders even though beggars can’t be choosers!

Thanks

[Trif]

What about this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seasucker-Talon-1-Bike-Fo...

[junglie]

Trif - great idea bit my fault I was not clear. Need to take 3 - 4 bikes for the family rather than just one.

Thanks.

[ZX10R NIN]

2.8T Signum

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Signum-2-8T-V6...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Signum-2-8-V6-...

3.0CDTI Vectra Estate

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-VECTRA-3-0-CDT-V6-...W0AAOSwZDxf~Z34

With haggling you should be close to 1K

ST220

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011276...

2.5 V6 Mondeo

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103230...

V70 2,4

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103230...

[littlebasher]

ZX10R NIN said:

2.8T Signum

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Signum-2-8-V6-...

Looks like they got the engine light off, after it was remapped it used to come on all the time

Oh, and its a CAT D, looks like he forgot to mention that in the advert........

[sbk1972]

Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6.

They come with autos, leather, swallow a ton of stuff, good on mpg (40)

[SlowV6]

At this budget I feel this is a case of Autotrader with price <=£1500, body-type = estate and whatever radius you are happy to travel to. Sort by Distance and work down the list. if you are in a ULEZ zone then filtering out diesels of this age may be required. These seem to come up for me:

Pug 407s
Honda Accord
Mk3 Mondeo (it is a 2.5 Ghia X - quite fancy it actually!)
Toyota Avensis

Also do the same on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace.

Accept the best <<anything>> with the longest MOT rather than a particular model. Keep an eye on road tax for anything newer than March '06 as you don't want to be paying top tax for a shed.

[gj1245]

They do still exist but good ones are snapped up quickly so keep a good look out, despite it's flaws Facebook Marketplace is probably the best place to look. A B6 Audi A4 with the PD engine would be my personal choice, seen a few of them up for £1000-1500 ish recently, they'll do well over 200k if well looked after so don't worry about mileage. Make sure the cambelt's been done, that it's got a long MOT, four good tyres and you're laughing.
EDIT: if you're feeling brave you could also go for the V6 TDi A6/A4 although I have no idea how reliable these are.

[boyse7en]

Saab 9-5 Estate is big, comfy and a reasonable steer. I replaced mine with a Mk VII Honda Accord Tourer which is smoother and quicker, but not so much fun to drive. I bought both with towbars - its worth looking for a car with one fitted already as they are a few hundred to fit but don't seem to add value to a used car.

[Jamescrs]

My advice is don't get caught up looking for a make or model, as someone said above search all the local classifieds, especially the free ones such as Gumtree and Facebook and buy on condition. I've done it a few times myself as I love a cheap daily beater.

[junglie]

I might be able to get my old ST220 estate back for about £500.

I owned it for 10 years so know it well.

Can’t fit a tow bar but you can fit roof rails.

[boyse7en]

junglie said:

I might be able to get my old ST220 estate back for about £500.

I owned it for 10 years so know it well.

Can’t fit a tow bar but you can fit roof rails.

Get something with a towbar. You will be soon fed up of lifting four bikes on and off a roof.

[dhutch]

boyse7en said:

Saab 9-5 Estate is big, comfy and a reasonable steer. I replaced mine with a Mk VII Honda Accord Tourer which is smoother and quicker, but not so much fun to drive. I bought both with towbars - its worth looking for a car with one fitted already as they are a few hundred to fit but don't seem to add value to a used car.

I there any way, or any site, which allows you to select just cars with tow bars?

As you say, unless you find a second hand one and fit yourself, it can be mental money.


Daniel

[ElectricSoup]

Mazda 6, 2.0 petrol.