Buying a reliable used family saloon

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Buying a reliable used family saloon

I'm helping a friend replace her car, she's a mum with two primary-school-aged children, doing average mileage, but mainly short local distances (1 to 5 miles). Currently drives W/2000 BMW 318, which is getting unreliable and expensive to maintain.

She's looking for:

Petrol
Medium-sized saloon
Engine around 2 litres
Age 2-4 years
Reliability more important than economy
High spec level, eg leather interior
Prefers BMW / MB / Audi or similar.

Her budget is £12,000 - but could stretch to £14,000

Asked on 16 October 2011 by Daddy Greybeard

Answered by Honest John

There aren't many saloons. Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class. She can probably get an A4 B8 1.8TSI within budget. That's chain cam, so no worried about replacing belts. A Mazda 6 is another possibility. All engines are chain cam.

Tags: buying family cars used cars

Dear Honest John,

Please help me choose my next car. I would like it to have:

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