Estate or SUV/Jeep around 3.5K

vikkthor

Hi all

I have a nice top specs 05 Accord 2.0 petrol, nice car with full leather and all but the boot is not really practical to carry bulky stuff (double boogie) or large flat packed items, so I'm thinking to replace it with something with larger boot either estate or SUV/Jeep.

Annual mileage is around 10K/15K km mainly in town so diesel not an option and MPG not too much a concern although I don't want to end up with a petrol guzzler.

On top of the additional practicality priority would be reliability (I regularly have to leave the car parked for a few days at the airport so I want to make sure battery won't go flat if I don't use the car for a while).

Engine has to be no more than 2L.

Price range between 2.5-3.5K

I was looking at different options around 2003-2006 years:

Estate

- Honda Accord estate 2.0 petrol : it would be my first choice but there are very few available

- Subaru Legacy estate 2.0 non turbo: nice car to drive, a bit thirsty, and must have full service history otherwise repairs can be expensive - still very few on the market

- SAAB 9-3 estate 1.8 or 2.0: 1.8L seems a bit too heavy on juice, also reliability is a mixed bag

- Volvo V50 1.8 or 2.0: not overly practical estate but interiors are great, still reliability is not as good as other Volvo's

- Mercedes C-class 1.8: same as SAAB and few available + repairing costs are high (I had a Merc before)

- Lexus IS200 : great interiors, decent boot, good reliability but too heavy on petrol

- Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6: chap to buy and run, large boot, uninspiring interiors and overall nothing exciting about it

Not interested in Focus, Mondeo, Golf, Passat, Avensis estates, Impreza Sportwagon and French car not an option (too many bad experiences), Audio A4 usually with high mileage and BMW seems over the price bracket or too old/with basic trims


SUV/Jeep

- Kia Sportage 2.0: great boot, quite a few with top of the range trims and full leather interiors, not the prettiest of the bunch, poor MPG around town (especially the 4WD version which will be the best bet to hold the value better)

- Nissan X-Trail 2.0: interiors are not great (leather seats are rare), great boot and good reliability, same poor MPG around town, although I found one with LPG conversion which could do for me (any cons with LPG?)

- Toyota Rav4 1.8: decent drive, boot is not that large, interiors feel dated and seems quite in demand so prices are on the top end of the scale

- Honda CR-V 2.0: good boot, reliable, decent interiors although MPG is not fantastic (in any case decent for a SUV), but it seems outside the price range unless I'll go for something older

Hyundai Tucson and Santa Fe are a not an option.

Any suggestion?

Thanks!

bazz26

What about a Volvo V70, more practical than the smaller V50 and more robust:

If this one is genuine then it's worth a look:

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volvo-v70-est-auto-nct-d-03-16-06-only-95kms/11177728

vikkthor

Thanks

I had a look, boot space is great, good solid car, although the 2.0L seems underpowered for the weight of the car and not exactly nippy.

Also this is an automatic ..I'm not a fan of automatic and per my experience I won't go close to an automatic unless is a BMW or Merc

My girlfriend would like to stretch the budget for a Jaguard X-Type estate 2.0 diesel; it seems a pretty decent car, fairly reliable (it's a Monday after all), although for my mileage there is no point having a diesel

bazz26

I cannot see the V70 being anyway slower than the majority of the cars you have listed in your original post. They are available in manual too if you don't like the auto.