Family Saloon

Ridley Orion

Hi Folks,

I'm in the process of moving from a '96 Citroen Xantia 1.6 to something newer. The trouble is that I have taken test drives in different models (petrol & diesel) of Avensis, Mondeo and Passat and they are all so much better than the Xantia I can't decide which to go for ! With my budget I'm looking at a '05 1.6 petrol or '03/04 diesel. Any advice appreciated.
Also, how much room is there for negotiation with the figures quoted on Carzone - I hear stories of people getting €1500 reductions when calling into dealers with an envelope full of cash.
Are these urban myths ?
Thanks.

Berty

Im wondering why there is a 2 year difference in a 03 - 05 in your requests. The price difference should not be too great by any means.

Personally having driven diesels for years(company car) I would pick one on account of finances / mpg.

What are YOU looking for as the driver?

Heated seats? Air Con? Cruise? All elecs?

And all important? What kind of budget?

Toyota_Avensis

Well due to Finances you may be ruling out the Diesel Avensis due to the cost of annual Road Tax. However, I believe it outrides the rest for reliability, I'm presuming you plan on keeping it a long time, with a regular service every 12-18 months it will return years of trouble free driving.

Just take a look at all the taxis on the road, surely thats a sign of their leading reliability. If extras are what you crave, Avensis might not scream with the gadgets you may obtain from the Passat.

In relation to your comment about the knocking of €1500 from asking prices, I'd be inclined to agree with that statement. It IS a buyers market, many dealers have gone belly up in the last 12 months or so and as the year draws to a close, dealers would be wanting to move on stock, especially that of those cars in the year your after '03/04/05. Many garages wont want them on their forecourts in January.

Make sure to let us know how you get on.

Ridley Orion

Because I never had them previously, I must admit I wasn't really looking for any major features like Air-Con, heated seats or high end stereo. I just want to be fairly confident of having reliability for a few years. This is why I have not looked at the C5 for instance - pretty enough but most reports of it are negative.
Even though the interior of the Avensis is not as nice as say, the A4, that is not a worry.
Anything I have read seems to place the D4D way ahead of the 1.6 or 1.8 Strata so I could live with the extra road tax.
This equaly applies to the diesel versions of the Passat or Mondeo.

Berty

Put it this way I have an A4(2006) and I do not find the interior that good and the spec of ANY audi is not that great.

Im now more interested in comfortable and preferably bucket type seats and air con and all elec windows as a minimum. Anything after that is a bonus.

MPG is also a concern for me. Diesel will always solve that.

Mondeo in my opinion is an ugly car(new shape).

Avensis is a bit boring and old manish for me.

How about a Subaru Impreza?
Skoda Octavia(good spec)?
Passat Comfortline - I had a 2005(old shape) 1.9TDi and I loved it.

Esel

You can get some good background info from Honest John and Parkers.

Toyota_Avensis

Ridley Orion wrote: »

Because I never had them previously, I must admit I wasn't really looking for any major features like Air-Con, heated seats or high end stereo. I just want to be fairly confident of having reliability for a few years. This is why I have not looked at the C5 for instance - pretty enough but most reports of it are negative.
Even though the interior of the Avensis is not as nice as say, the A4, that is not a worry.
Anything I have read seems to place the D4D way ahead of the 1.6 or 1.8 Strata so I could live with the extra road tax.
This equaly applies to the diesel versions of the Passat or Mondeo.

Test drive Diesel/Petrol versions of the Avensis and the Mondeo. There isn't much of a muchness between them really. I know from the Avensis (Can't speak on part of the Mondeo) but the Avensis is well capable of doing 200k-300k mileage, once looked after to a reasonable standard.

Ridley Orion

I hadn't considered the Impreza at all - must have a look now.
One of my colleagues has a Passat and reckons the Avensis is better.
I have driven a friend's Octavia diesel and thought it was quite nice - my friend reckons it has lost value quicker than the Bora he had before though.

bazz26

OP, not sure what your budget is but you should also look at the Skoda Superb, basically it a stretched version of the old Passat with the same running gear and engines. The spec is pretty good on them, they are cheaper than a similar Passat and the rear leg room and boot are huge.

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200944195700678
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200940195361644

If your buying straight (no trade-in) then yes you should be pushing for a discount off the sticker price. Depending how well the car is priced compared to other similar cars I would expect to avail of around 8 to 10% discount for a straight sale.

Berty

bazz26 wrote: »

OP, not sure what your budget is but you should also look at the Skoda Superb, basically it a stretched version of the old Passat with the same running gear and engines. The spec is pretty good on them, they are cheaper than a similar Passat and the rear leg room and boot are huge.

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200944195700678
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200940195361644

If your buying straight (no trade-in) then yes you should be pushing for a discount off the sticker price. Depending how well the car is priced compared to other similar cars I would expect to avail of around 8 to 10% discount for a straight sale.

Both cars are screaming 2005 Passsat which I drove but for significantly less. Its ALL about the badge!

In the current climate its a buyers market WHATEVER they "TRY" to tell you!

Ridley Orion

The Superb is lovely alright - I think I'd be looking for an 02 though.
My budget is half of those two links !
The '05 Avensis or Passat costs about the same and should have similar maintenance costs.
A colleague who has a '01 C200 reckons the same money would get me a 2001 or '02 C180 and costs the same to run. I'm not too sure. I have been in his and it seems to me to be about the same size (at least on the inside) as my wife's Focus - am I wrong ?