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The Picasso is a fair shout. Loads of space especially for rear seat passengers and for your money you'd get a newer lower mileage (Berlingo aside) choice than the other ones you mention. Only problem with an MPV or Berlingo type alternative is IMO at motorway crusing speeds the aerodynamics murder the economy; my (from new) 2.0 Picasso HDI would rarely do better than 40 mpg on long runs and my current well worn 110K miles Mondeo gives me 45+mpg on the same runs and is much quieter and more relaxed. Can't argue with the Japanese recommendations - I tried out a Mazda 6 and found it quite unrefined at speed so maybe an Avensis or Primera for less money and miles than the Accord and similar or better mpg? I spent £4.5K on mine and figured I'd rather have a grand or two put aside if anything untoward happened. Time will tell!
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Neil has a fair point about aerodynamics and mpg in the Berlingo. Ours (1.9IDI) will just about manage 40mpg laden and cruising at 3000rpm/65mph. Try and push it over 75 and you're looking at mid thirties, the IDI engine also has a marked increase in noise above 3000rpm. Having said that 65 is easily sustainable and oddly relaxing, find that what I loose on speed compared with 80+ in the Xantia I get back in needing shorter stops to unwind.
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If you can forget the diesel bit, I would recommend a Legacy estate. It has road-holding to die for although not quite as big in the load area as my old Passat due to the rake of the back door. After a Volvo it will be like driving a racing car1
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OK,
Legacy ? Fuel economy not good enough. Yes I know about the drive (ex SVX owner)
Berlingo - if thats as good as the economy is on a long journey - and implied not a relaxing drive then forget it. I get 40+mpg from the volvo and 50+ from the audi at 80 and can drive either for 5 hours without hassle.
Merc - Concerns re corrosion. When did they finally sort it out ?
Nobody want to comment on the mazda, the honda or the saab then ?
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I have a Honda and it is large inside (have had four over 6 feet in it). Due to a minor bump I was recently offered a C-max as a loan and turned it down as (even with the seats removed) it takes less in the back than the Honda. I got another Accord for two weeks with 23k on it and mine drives just (nearly) like it - in reality mine feels slightly more sprightly!
Handles nicely - not quite as good as the Mk1v Mondeo and is averaging 50mpg.
They will be high milage at £7k but mine is one of the oldest diesel Accords and has 105k on it (Registered March 03) so they WILL have done lots of long runs/ motorway miles which a modern car should take in its stride. From my experience I would not worry about an 80-90k Honda.
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Thanks ijws15
thats the sort of info I'm after. And you sound like you have the sort of thing I would buy. Are there any particular niggles? Particularly big/expensive services?
In the past I've not had any problem buying high mileage (100K) quality cars on the basis that they always seem cheaper and can only really have done motorway cruising to get the miles up so much.
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"C5 hdi"
Just what I was going to say. £7k buys an awful lot of C5 HDi estate (like 3 yr old, 20k SX example I saw advertised recently). The HDi 110 engine seems to be v reliable - OK there are a few that throw their toys out of the pram, but there are plenty on e-bay that have done >150k.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Re C5, a friend has one, and says he would never buy another Citroen because so many things have gone wrong.
That said, his is an early one (2001 or 2002), and I believe that there has been a massive improvement since then, with most problems ironed out.
£7000 would get you a 2005 C5. With a Honda Accord it would be 2003.
Interestingly enough, if you look at the owner reviews on the What Car site, you will find more unhappy Accord Tourer owners than C5 estate owners - which surprised me.
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Mine is a company car so I don't pay for servicing (12500 mile intervals). There is a post somewhere on here that recorded my experiences to 100k - all it has needed are brake pads, set of discs, a clutch master cylinder, a seat motor and tyres.
The niggles are minor
* the window motors cut out when a door is opened if the ignition is off.
* there is no "one touch" on the passenger window
* the child switch on the e/w cuts out all the windows except the drivers and also stops the drivers door switches operating them.
* With one third of the rear seat folded you can only access one of the seat belt buckles - rather defeats the obejct of the 1/3-2/3 split.
* You cannot have the radio on without the key in the ignition
* There is no "shuffle" on the CD Changer
* the indicator audible tell tale (Tick tick) is very quiet and sometimes I get caught with the indicators staying on (e.g. exiting roundabout where you don't actually have to turn the steering to the left so the self cancel does not pick it up.
Things to note: the space saver spare is an option so many will not have one and the sat nav (I have had one with it for 2 weeks) is very poor compared to TOM TOM.
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BTW - it has never needed any oil between services!
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I've had both a 01 Mondeo TDDI and a 04 138bhp Mazda 6.
From memory the Mondeo had slightly more rear leg room (I don't think you would better it's interior space in this class)
The Mazda's cambelt requires changing at about 80000, quite an expensive job I believe!
IMO the Mondeo is a better driver's car, the Mazda's engine is quieter and smoother, both returned 43mpg.
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Legacy ? Fuel economy not good enough. Yes I know about the drive (ex SVX owner)
I get a genuine 36 MPG (and sometimes 37) on a decent motorway journey. Normal running about is 33 MPG. This is with a boot full of carp as well!
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On a long run I get over 30mpg out of a manual Spec B driving 'normally'. If I enjoy it then a bit less!
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A few thoughts and experiences to add to some previous comments. Earlier this year I was looking for a large estate, preferably diesel. I had a Toyota and was used to excellent customer service and reliability: I did not want to compromise on the latter. My son, 14, 6 feet 4 and still growing(!), needed some serious legroom. To cut a long story short we bought a Berlingo HDI. We looked at just about everything and this was the car that did what we wanted or as close to it as made no difference.
We have just got back from our French house after five weeks that included a week in Spain. 3K miles and a number of 300 mile journeys later we feel utterly vindicated in our choice and don't feel we have had to compromise at all. Comfort has been excellent. The seats are supportive and comfortable. The seating position is more upright than in a 'conventional' car and I feel this must contribute to the lack of backache or tiredness felt after two particularly long days on the road. Fuel economy has actually improved to mid 50s over this period that included two 600 mile motorway journeys at 75mph average. Our local dealer offered the observation (unprompted) that the Berlingo is by far their most reliable model. After 10 years or so in production I guess all the foibles have been ironed out.
Add into this the huge storage space, the 'modutop' flight lockers and the surprising range of toys and extras on such a utilitarian vehicle and it would take a very special vehicle to move me from the Multispace. A great car.
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We have a 2001 Saab 95 estate - plus points are that it is really comfy, an "effortless motorway crusier" as they say. Lots of room, really comfy seats. Five star ncap rating - HJ called it the safest estate. Very good value used. These were our priorites, plus we just like Saabs.
Down side is that there issues with reliability, though Saab fixed ours under the 8 year engine warranty thing. Saab owners club will tell you more. Dealers are very pricey, so you need a good independant specialist. Ours is petrol; OH dreams of 30+ mpg.
If you can get a good, cheap one they may be worth a go, though I am not sure that the Saab diesel engine is well thought of.
I would be interested to know why you are getting rid of the V70 - we considered these but they seemed a bit more expensive by comparison.
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