Right ive decided to sell my landrover just dont use it enough ' off road ' and its become the ' daily driver ' and its none to sensible... spending up to 3k on a good TDI estate ive come up with the choice of a 525Touring and a Passat though im a bit turned off with VAG group stuf due to the number of issues i know the Passats have and also the issues ive had with Golf's Boras' and Audis over the past few years..

any other choices out there for load lugging and comfort / cheap to run on a daily drive ?

 

Nissan Xtrails can be had for around 3k now and it keeps a bit of off riad functionality if needed, not sure how cheap it would be to run though.

 

It's the response to most of these type of questions.....Mondeo?

 

im really not a Mondeo fan .... i really want something thats good MPG ideally , id even maybe tempted with the 406 HID's... the landrover is just to thirsty to run at 27Mpg over long trips

 

5 Series are nice, but you pay for the badge and can be left with potentially eye-watering bills (trust me, I know). At that price, you're looking at some old kit which makes the bills more likely.

I'd look at the Swedes, big miles are no problem for Saabs and Volvos and they all swallow large loads with no complaints, are comfy and reliable. OK they're not the last word in driving fun, but I get the impression that's not really what you're after.

 

stay away for VAG....from my recent experience, they are POS with nice wrapping paper....especially those 1 ring short of an olympic committee...

 

I am into three years and about 80k of abuse with my Passat 2.0Tdi SE 2007 now.
Its being chopped over soon as the lease is well out now but I haven't had any issues with it really.
Never failed to start, never played me up, and relatively light on rubber.

The interior, mainly glove-box, is squeeky and it eats the inner edge of rear tyres whem loaded but mechanically no trouble.
Its not very economical though, long term average is 40mpg.

You could get a high miler for 3k I guess, and its a cheap banger at that.

 

You could go for a Scoda Octavia TDI - Y reg 2001 plate on autotrader with 57k on the clock for £2,900?

VAG group but for that money it could be a bargain