After the wedding this summer I’ve decided to treat myself to a newer car as there’s a good chance we might actually have some disposable income again.

Trouble is, I don’t really know what I want. I have several cars I like the look of but they’re all quite different and I’m not sure which way to go.

Basic criteria;

- Has to be diesel (I do 40 miles a day just getting to and from work, then I have travelling throughout the day)
- Needs to have space to transport 4 adults in relative comfort and also to be easy to get in and out of (no coupes or 2 door hatchbacks)
- Needs to be relatively modern (6 years old as a maximum, I’d say)
- Must be reliable and not too costly to run or maintain.
- I’d like it to have a good amount of toys on it. Aircon and electric windows being an absolute minimum, Bluetooth connectivity being a big plus.
- Decent performance preferable. By no means does it need to get to 60mph in 6 seconds or be as sharp as a Caterham in the corners, but the ability to comfortably overtake when necessary would be nice and I don’t want the engine to be struggling if I’m doing a long trip at motorway speeds (I’m envisaging a 2 litre turbo diesel of some sort).

Would like to spend less than £10k.

Another point I have to take into consideration is the image of the car and what it says about me. I don’t like this aspect of my job (middle-upper market estate and letting agency) but it’s a fact that we get judged on first impressions and the wrong car could impact quite seriously on our chances of winning business. If I turned up in an M3, say, I wouldn’t even get through the door. The perfect car for my market would probably be a grey Discovery or a brown Volvo (neither of which I’m considering).

A few cars I like...

Alfa 159

I’ve yet to see another four door saloon as attractive, especially in Ti trim. It ticks many of the boxes and either the diesel options should offer a good mix of cruising ability and efficiency. The spec.-cost ratio is good when compared to other 4 door saloons but my concern is the reliability (is this still a problem for Alfas?)

Honda Civic

I like these as they seem interesting to look at (especially when compared to most European hatchbacks) but they still seem fairly inconspicuous. I don’t think I’ve ever cursed a Honda driver in my life and the build quality and reliability (from what I’ve read) seem to be very good.

BMW 3 series saloon

Potentially still an issue surrounding the image of a BMW driver but I quite like them and I think in the right trim they can be boringfairly neutral. However, my budget is unlikely to get me anything other than a high miler.

VW Golf

The vehicular equivalent of porridge but well built and so flexible. I had a mk5 as a company car a while back and I couldn’t fault it. It was practical, comfortable, fast enough, solid and cheap to run. Image-wise it’d be excellent as I can’t imagine anyone getting offended by a Volkswagen, ever. I can’t help but think I could just have something a little bit more exciting. Something that puts a smile on my face when I walk up to it in the car park or when I sit in it for the drive home after a long day.


Very much open to other suggestions and/or comments on my likes and dislikes.

My vote goes for anything with the VAG 2.0 litre TDi (140 or 170 bhp) Should give you plenty of choice, but I'd go for an Audi A3, A4, A6 and the estates (Avant) look good too. The image is not as bad as a BMW. An altogether sexier image than a Golf - but don't get me wrong, the Golf is a great car, but having the Audi on the drive would probably make you smile more.

Honda Accord or Civic also good, 2.2CDTi is a great engine, but be warned, parts are pricey.

Used Audi will be my next car.

PS, Japanese generally more reliable (not always), but usually less sexy.

I'm not sure I could recommend an Alfa for an everyday car. Much as I love Italian cars, and it's a cliche, I think they are likely to be more unreliable than a VAG car. A few friends have come croppers on new Alfas. Happy to be proved wrong though.

Alfa is only car there where rear is big enough to comfortably sit 2 adults (of a proper size) but a 159 diesel isn't at all frugal. Yes I have sat in the back of the others, no it wasn't comfortable.
A6 TDI, Mazda 6???

On the VW-Audi 2.0tdi theme, I test drove some 2009-10 Audi A6 2.0TDi SE's recently and thought the build quality, ride comfort, toys etc very good.
I have run a A6 for 8 years and whilst it needed a few expensive jobs doing, its done almost 200k (and its a 1.8 petrol Quattro - not even a diesel).
In the end though, we opted for a 2.0 TDi Golf GT, as my wife wanted a more compact car for the weekly shop etc
Whilst admittedly it's not the most exciting car to look at, the Golf (Mk6)interior and build quality, mean it gives you a reassuring sense of well being every-time its driven. Its got heated sports seats, reversing camera, touch screen entertainment system etc, so it's not exactly short of toys.
170bhp versions, also have that extra zip....

I had a hire Passat 2.0 tdi which for the 3 month was a fantastic car.
It was a black estate, full leathers,dsg gearbox, 17 inch alloys and really enjoying driving it. Felt solid commanding and should be achievable easily for under the 10k mark. Bags and bags of room and very comfortable.



similar too this. Looked much better in the flesh.

Passat sportline? Yeah not a bad motor. Golfs are a tad common imho, i also think they are getting a little common place although the latest itteration is the best looking golf since the 1990 big bumper stuff.

Seat Exeo. It's basically an Audi A4 but much cheaper. This one is a 2011 and within budget, FSH, low miles, Sat nav, heated leather, BOSE. You can get lesser specced cars for a lot less.


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201305026567453


Lexus 220d

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lexus/is/lexus-is-220d-2-2-td-saloon-4dr/1340327

VW Phaeton

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/u...tomatic/1080905

Saab 9-3?
Seat Leon?
Skoda Octavia VRS?

Caution on new diesels: if you're not doing sufficient high speed cruising so they can clear the particulate filter, you're looking at hundreds of quid to change it in a year...

I've done 50k in my s/h Bravo 150 diesel (pre particulate filter) in the last eighteen months and the only thing I've had to do beyond consumables was a blocked EGR valve in the first month, cost about sixty quid. Joe reckoned the cambelt change (72k) was the easiest he's ever done.

The previous owner must have ragged it; the long term economy was under 40mpg; now it's mid-fifties.

Years ago (I mean in the late 70's and early 80') cars in the US were strangled with anti-smog features such as compressors injecting air back into the exhaust, and when such cars were impotted to the UK (I'm thinking of the Fiat 124 Spider) all this gubbins was removed, since we didn't have such strict requirements.

So I wonder if the DPF's were removed, would it matter? Would the car fail an MOT?

The Exeo is nice, I’d prefer a saloon but I see that there are quite a few examples within budget.

My mum has a Lexus IS and it impresses me in a very Golfish way (mundane, but well built and inconspicuous). Equipment levels are very good.

The Phaeton is a hell of a lot of car for the money. Aren’t these about £70-80k new? Although it’s quite an alluring proposition, my worry is that I’ll still be paying to run and maintain an £80k car.




I was completely unaware of this.

The 40 mile daily round trip I do is all motorway apart from the first and last mile. The rest of my daily travelling is a mixture of town/village driving and the B roads in between them.

Is this likely to be sufficient to avoid clogging this filter?

That should be fine.
My Dad's Meriva diesel recommends that the car is sometimes driven at in excess of 2k revs for 15 minutes to clear the DPF.

I don't think your choice of the Alfa is too bad.
From what I've seen BMWs, Audis, etc are just as (un)reliable as Alfas and BMWs appear to be prone to occasional turbo failure.

I keep looking at the 2 litre JTDM 159 TIs.

I would say the Alfa of all of them.

I don't believe that the 159 suffers from any major problems.

My brother had the 159. On surface a very good car but very vague on the rear wheels. Just never felt right and not the same feel and older generation alfas inside.

I prefer our 147 to the 159 when driving both. Both are jtd m-jets.
Would highly recommend the 1.9 jtd though if going that way.

Phaeton runs passat parts, and Bentley also use passat parts ;-)
Parts shouldn't be expensive, it's a good runner for the money!