What is the car for me?

What is the car for me? I have a 00 Passat Estate. I do less than 5k miles per year (mostly suburban). I like the space an estate gives me. I like as much whistles and bells as possible. And as low running costs as possible. Budget €10k. Any suggestions?

31.08.2015

Our answer:

Hi Declan,

OK, first off – forget diesel. With that kind of mileage and driving profile, what you need is petrol. You could go a bit nuts and get a Lexus RX 400h, which are available within your budget but they’ll be expensive to tax and not as economical as you might think, so perhaps not. If you wanted something really stylish, we found an Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon with the gorgeous 2.2 JTS petrol engine, but it’s actually not all that practical so again, perhaps not.

How about this – a 2009 Volvo V70 2.0-litre petrol? Big, comfy, classy and reliable. Can’t go wrong. Or how about a 2005 Mercedes E-Class 200 estate with the extra seats in the boot that turn it into a seven-seater? Cracking car, albeit not the most reliable thing out there. The most sensible thing we found was probably a 2008 Volkswagen Golf Estate 1.4 TSI. Low tax, lots of room and slightly cheaper to run than the Passat, but still with lots of space and all the usual Volkswagen reliability and quality. Sounds like a winner to us.

Answered by Shane O'Donoghue
03.09.2015

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