thunderbird,

Will stay locally, don't really want fo too far..:)

Looks like I'm going towards Toyota Verso, it fits our needs and my headroom too lol.

I noticed that there is a huge headroom over drivers head:))

Thank you

Edited by SLO76 on 31/01/2022 at 20:03

Those two links take me to the same car in both cases. MOT history looks OK, you may need new front brake pads soon, but nothing alarming.

Hello guys, thank you for your answers!

Sorry for being quite for a while.

Been lost in autotrader and other life aspects.

Me and my wife had another conversation about our budget for the car. We decided to increase our budget. Being in mind with today fuel prices we were about Toyota Prius, but for our budget it was impossible to get a sound car for 7-8k both private sale and dealer.

Its a lot of money, but still was something wrong with those hybrids..

We said goodbye for Prius and focused on diesel cars.

On our list are 2012 + year 2.0 l, manual estates: up to 100k miles on clock (potentially on finance)

VW Passat, SKODA Octavia or Superb, Toyota Avensis.

I like Passat, very speciuos, looks nicer on and out, but not sure about vw reliability.. been reading some good and bad reviews on autotrader. Someone was saying "engine is solid, but parts around engine are cheap import" other was writing "it's ok up to 80k miles and then leave it alone, a lot electric problems" like el park brake and other.

I noticed that Skoda Octavia is a bit less roomy than passat, but its ok, i can fit myself in with adjusted seat position, also has a "proper" park brake :), and looks like you can get more out of the car, higher specs and upholstery, very good reviews on Skoda estates.

I haven't seen avensis so far, but it looks decent family car too.. it has el park brake also.. :/

Mind is to get a decent Skoda Octavia or a bit more spacious Superb.

What your thoughts on 2012 + VW Passat's reliability..?

Thank you,

Thinking about any 10+ year old diesel when you are covering 3k miles per year sounds like a particularly bad idea.

And we still don't even know if this car will be auto manual.

On the note side I'm 6'2 height.

For a tall driver I'd strongly recommend a VAG (VW Audi Group) car - despite a bit of a dislike on this forum. I think one of the VW directors was tall so insisted he fitted into the cars. I'm 6ft 4" tall and have always had trouble re head/leg room & B pillar position with many makes of cars.

With your upped budget you are now in the range of a petrol Octavia with the fabulous EA211 engine - be it 1.2 tsi, 1.4 tsi or the later 1.0 tsi. My son had trouble finding a suitable car as he is 6ft 5" tall and eventually bought a 2016 mkIII 1.2tsi Octavia in 2019 and he loves it. It's roomy, has a HUGE boot, refined, has been reliable, quite nippy and long journeys are usually 50mpg+ Another car to consider is the Seat Leon tsi.

Don't confuse the later EA211(oil filter at low level) with the older and totally different and less reliable EA111 tsi cam chain engines (oil filter at high level above the alternator) . The mkIII Octavia 1.0/1.2/1.4 was only fitted with the later good engine though.

Saying that, myself I have the EA111 1.4tsi in a 2014 Skoda Superb II which I got rather cheap when only 14 months old - Fast forward to 2022 - over 8 years old / 100k miles and all is well. It's probably fitted with the latest revision of cam chain/tensioner and has had regular 9.5k mile oil changes(not longlife!). For a big petrol bus it's proving more economical than I originally expected - I've been averaging circa 46mpg. It's heaven for the taller driver especially with those bigger front doors. The rear legroom is something else!

[EDIT] Toyota Verso manual would also be fine - just don't buy the auto!

Edited by Big John on 22/03/2022 at 16:51