Planning on buy an estate (1998-2002) - any tips

joker77

Hi there

I'm planning on buying an estate car (new baby on the way, need the extra room also because I need to be able to throw a bicycle in the back the odd time).

So I'm looking at a couple of options, paying under 4k. I'm hearing good things about the BMW 318 Touring - few of those around, how reliable are they and how much are parts? There's ones for sale from '98 to '02 that all look decent for the price

There are another couple I'm looking at - a '99 Merc C180 and '98 Honda Civic VTI, both estates. The Civic as an estate would be rare enough, but a nice engine in it. Do you know what the cost of parts would be for those 2?

Any tips that anyone has on things I should be looking out for would be well appreciated, thanks

Stevie Dakota

Merc and BMW's of that vintage and age can start being right money pits and are not great load luggers to begin with, the BMW in particular.

PD engined Passat would be worth considering, much more spacious all round.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201107380063383/sort/locasc/usedcars/price-to/4000/engine-size-cars/1-7l_to_1-9l/body-type/estate/price-from/2000/model/passat/make/volkswagen/page/1/keywords/2002/postcode/w37tz/radius/1500?logcode=p

johnos1984

Volvo all the way

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volvo/V70/V70-2.0-/201051200613814/advert?channel=CARS

Owen

The BMW 3 Series has a surprisingly small boot. I looked into everything when buying mine. The C5 estate was very practical, but the dashboard nearly put me to sleep. The 3 Series was a non-runner due to size. The A4 was just ... dunno, nothing appealed. Skoda Octavia was good, but dated again IMHO. I really liked the Mondeo Estate too. Nice driving dynamics, good sized boot, and not the worst looking inside, or out.

joker77

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

Merc and BMW's of that vintage and age can start being right money pits and are not great load luggers to begin with, the BMW in particular.

PD engined Passat would be worth considering, much more spacious all round.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201107380063383/sort/locasc/usedcars/price-to/4000/engine-size-cars/1-7l_to_1-9l/body-type/estate/price-from/2000/model/passat/make/volkswagen/page/1/keywords/2002/postcode/w37tz/radius/1500?logcode=p

Thanks for the tip.

Apologies for the n00b - PD?

I'll take a look on cbg / carzone / donedeal for Passats, cheers

joker77

johnos1984 wrote: »

Volvo all the way

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volvo/V70/V70-2.0-/201051200613814/advert?channel=CARS

Cheers, a mate recommended getting the BMW - reckons the Volvo 2 litre is underpowered for the size of the car?

2 Litre would be as high as I go

johnos1984

joker77 wrote: »

Cheers, a mate recommended getting the BMW - reckons the Volvo 2 litre is underpowered for the size of the car?

2 Litre would be as high as I go

I wouldn't call it under powered at all, it won't se the world alight but is perfectly adequate for a family wagon

Stevie Dakota

joker77 wrote: »

Thanks for the tip.

Apologies for the n00b - PD?

I'll take a look on cbg / carzone / donedeal for Passats, cheers

Pumpe-Düse, refers to the engine, basically pre-common-rail diesel. Not very high tech so less to go wrong.

joker77

There's a couple of Subaru legacy around, any thoughts on those?

here's a couple of Volvos that I was looking at:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1934064

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1966596

Big, big cars though

bijapos

I'd go a bit older, 3-4k would get you a top one of these. A good well serviced Merc is about as reliable as you can get.

fonecrusher1

joker77 wrote: »

Hi there



There are another couple I'm looking at - a '99 Merc C180 and '98 Honda Civic VTI, both estates. The Civic as an estate would be rare enough, but a nice engine in it. Do you know what the cost of parts would be for those 2?

That civic estate is mean't to be a savage machine. 170bhp standard from the 1.8 vtec block. It'l rip the arse out of any of the other cars you've mentioned.

Was going to get one a few years ago but the insurance on them is very high & fuel economy wouldn't be great. It is very much the wolf in sheeps clothing. I'd love to get one but not in a position to get one at the moment. Soon maybe.

Heres one; http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1945544

joker77

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Heres one; http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1945544

That's the one I was looking at. Insurance no different to me on the 318 Touring (well 40 euro more is all)

joker77

So there's a bit of a divide on whether to go with BMW/Merc or not then eh?

I was thinking that. I would have thought, as Stevie Dakota says - anything goes wrong and you are into serious money in repairs. (I have a reliable mechanic, wouldn't be going to a dealer, so it'd just be parts + reasonable labour)

fonecrusher1

joker77 wrote: »

That's the one I was looking at. Insurance no different to me on the 318 Touring (well 40 euro more is all)

Jesus what are ya waiting for so?!:pac: Its a nice looking car & practical & fast & reliable & the tax isn't too bad on a 1.8. I'd have it over the others in a shot.

What size engine would you need to get 170 brake in a late 90's merc or bmw estate?

joker77

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Jesus what are ya waiting for so?!:pac: Its a nice looking car & practical & fast & reliable & the tax isn't too bad on a 1.8. I'd have it over the others in a shot.

What size engine would you need to get 170 brake in a late 90's merc or bmw estate?

Parts wouldn't be a problem no? (Seeing it's such a rare car)

fonecrusher1

joker77 wrote: »

Parts wouldn't be a problem no? (Seeing it's such a rare car)

Rare enough here, there would be a good few in england since the civic vti aerodeck (estate) & hatchback were only built over there. Im sure all parts are easy enough to obtain online. Don't think theres much that goes wrong with them.

Joker77 i wouldn't know enough about the VTi civics to be giving out advice.

This forum might help you; http://www.hondacivicforum.co.uk/

joker77

Had a deal done, on the donedeal.ie site - on this car - http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1960164

The arrangement was I was going to pick it up at lunchtime and bring it over to my mechanic to look at it. All sorted.

In the meantime, even though the guy had accepted my offer, he took another offer - the reason being the guy was going to take it without having a mechanic look it. Very annoyed, nothing I can do though.

So the search resumes. After looking at 4 cars on Saturday (2xBMW,1xMerc, and the Honda), I'd like to get a BMW 318i estate. Prob hard to find one as nice as that inside though, the other cars I saw were all very worn inside.

joker77

Anyone any opinion on Saabs?

SouperComputer

Chirst on a bike! A VTEC estate? The idea of having to ring the arse out of one of those as an estate sounds horrible to me, but to each their own. As mentioned the Passat and V70 are very good estate cars by this I mean they have a sizable, useable boot and are well thought-out. I would pass on the Civic, 3Series and Saab estates they are not so much thought out IMO. It really depends on weather you think the boot is decent enough I guess. We bought a '98 V70 T5. With a little over 240BHP its nippy enough but still pretty torquey low down.

Henry Ford III

Mondeo and Focus estates are decent used buys.

Older Mondeo's can be had for very little money these times.