It's a difficult quandary and probably comes down to how happy you are having that kind of money 'invested' in a car and whether you'd rather have it in the bank or spent elsewhere. Anything half the value of your Volvo will represent a compromise – it's unlikely to be as well equipped, for example, and will be an older car that needs more maintenance. How would you feel about having to make an outlay every year to get it through the annual MOT test, for example? That said, a used Skoda Octavia Estate would be a very sensible purchase. A budget of £15,000 will get you a 2018 model in mid-spec SE Technology or SE L trim. One thing to bear in mind is that the majority of used estate cars will have diesel engines - assuming you're not covering a huge amount of motorway miles in your retirement, we'd recommend hunting out a petrol.