Honda CR-V - Petrol Estate or SUV 35mpg+ capable around £3k

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Wed 23 Sep 2020 12:47
Honda CR-V - Petrol Estate or SUV 35mpg+ capable around £3k - lleiro

Hi fellow motorists.

Diesel witch hunt is soon approaching to greater London and will have to soon part way with my high mpg capable and reliable 2006 Touran 1.9 Tdi which I drove as far as Florence.

My budget is limited and I am thinking of looking for a petrol estate or suv capable of at least 35mpg that is comfortable and has a sunroof or pan roof as we do a lot of road trips and quite enjoy that feature.

Using this web's real mpg as a beacon I am thinking of the following models which I like

Honda CR-V MK3 (2007-) 2.0 Vtec

Honda Accord Estate MK4 (I think) (2008-) 2.0 Vtec

Ford Mondeo Estate MK3

VAG line up with the 1.4 TSI or even the 1.8 TSI

Volvo V50 1.6

When browsing I also looked kindly at the Mazda 6 which adopted euro 6 in 2012 but I am worried about getting stuck with DPF issues and else. and they are more on the £4500 region and up

The Astra Van also adopted Euro 6 with the 1.6 CDTI as early as 2013 but I don't like that much.

I am comfortable doing most repairs and maintenance myself not requiring a lift

Would you add any models or considerations that I might have missed?

Because it happened before please don't reply that I should save more and purchase a £7k model because I can't.

Thanks!

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Wed 23 Sep 2020 15:52
Honda CR-V - Petrol Estate or SUV 35mpg+ capable around £3k - SLO76
“ Honda CR-V MK3 (2007-) 2.0 Vtec

Honda Accord Estate MK4 (I think) (2008-) 2.0 Vtec

Ford Mondeo Estate MK3

VAG line up with the 1.4 TSI or even the 1.8 TSI

Volvo V50 1.6”

Some good options there but I’d leave out the TSi VAG range as the early cars in this price range used a chain driven motor which was pretty notorious for timing chain failures, they later switched back to a belt. I’d also avoid diesels as they’re much more complex and far more likely to go expensively wrong. The Mazda 6 is a good call too but not in diesel form as your talking of. The Toyota Avensis and RAV4 are both robust and long lived too but I’d personally stick with a large estate rather than go to the extra expense of a 4wd SUV which will use more fuel, be worse to drive and will cost more in repairs and maintenance.
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Wed 23 Sep 2020 16:19
Honda CR-V - Petrol Estate or SUV 35mpg+ capable around £3k - badbusdriver

The Volvo V50 is essentially just a Focus underneath and so if the V50 is big enough for your needs, so is a Focus estate. These are much more numerous than the Volvo and therefore you’ve probably more chance of finding a decent (and younger) example in budget.

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Wed 23 Sep 2020 18:08
Honda CR-V - Petrol Estate or SUV 35mpg+ capable around £3k - mss1tw

I ran an older CRV VTEC up until last year, good engine and a reasonable car but if you don't need 4WD (I work in construction and at the time was involved with horses) you'd probably prefer the Accord. As SUVs go though it wasn't bad. I have a 2.0 petrol Grand Vitara now which I prefer but you won't see 35mpg and the CRV engine is more willing to rev.

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Wed 23 Sep 2020 18:56
Honda CR-V - Petrol Estate or SUV 35mpg+ capable around £3k - nellyjak

I would certainly add the Toyota Avensis touring estate.

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