Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Varche on 11 February 2017, 16:15:49
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We need a second car to become our day to day driver . We will keep the 4x4 for work and as a back up car.
Requirements:
Petrol
Well equipped (i.e. the Elite of the range)
Cruise control
bi zone climate control
5 seats
Space for a medium sized dog (either harnessed on back seat or in boot/rear),
folded up wheelchair and shopping.
Comfortable
Nice to hustle on windy roads
less than 60,000 miles
2010 onwards
Automatic.....
Budget 10 to 15,000
We researched and liked the Nissan Qashqai other than rear vision but with camera could live with. Not so keen on the old underpowered 2.0 petrol. Have big question mark over the durability of CVT auto plus the driving experience. Currently no auto Qashqais for sale in Spain in our budget! Whatever car we buy we are likely to have for maybe ten years.
Any suggestions please?
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10 to 15K"
Could get a nice late 3.2 Elite Estate with low milage for a fraction of that price.
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Seat Exeo estate?
Not a VW fan, but no harm in buying local... Mercedes C class estatewor 3 series Touring would be my second choices :y
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In no particular order...
Seat Altea XL/Freetrack
Opel Insignia Sports Tourer 4x4/ CrossCountry
Or new, Dacia Duster.
Biggest problem you have is finding a used petrol car in that age bracket. Here they are effectively non existent in larger, family sized vehicles :-\
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I was going to suggest Skoda. But since I saw you are in Spain, why not Seat? It's all VW so you know it will at least be more reliable than most. Unless you want something not as common there? But are Japanese cars well supported there? Meaning enough independents who work on them and chances to find needed parts in stock as opposed to need to order? Buying European gets you this type of peace of mind at least.
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Buying European is good advice for support. When I took my auto Omega to the Opel dealer in next town none of them had seen an Opel auto.
Seat Exeo. A Spanish friend has had a diesel one for a few years now. Just had a look no petrol auto saloon or estate in Spain for sale.
Altea XL 5 of which 3 are in Malaga. Would have to have a look at one.
Insignia Don't need 4 wheel drive . Insignia too big? Just found a 220 CV 2.0 turbo cosmo in a lovely blue at Seville
1 skoda favorite but long long way away in barcelona
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Had an Altea XL as a cab from new for 135k miles/2 years.
Was diesel manual and reliability wasn't great, but that car is still going strong.
Do an MoT history check on GV07NLU. The freetrack has better ground clearance along with 4x4, but same body as the XL. Seating position is a bit higher than traditional cars too. XL has much bigger boot than regular Altea, but seats slide forward and have backrest angle adjustment on both, so a versatile, if overlooked car :y
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Buying European is good advice for support. When I took my auto Omega to the Opel dealer in next town none of them had seen an Opel auto.
Seat Exeo. A Spanish friend has had a diesel one for a few years now. Just had a look no petrol auto saloon or estate in Spain for sale.
Altea XL 5 of which 3 are in Malaga. Would have to have a look at one.
Insignia Don't need 4 wheel drive . Insignia too big? Just found a 220 CV 2.0 turbo cosmo in a lovely blue at Seville
1 skoda favorite but long long way away in barcelona
So what about conventional VWs? Easier to find?
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Conventional? Like a Golf? Not big enough in the boot area.
Tiguan - None for sale in Spain.(petrol auto)
I am going to have a closer look at these Alteas XL. Don't need Freetrack 4 wheel drive so just an added complication and something to go wrong.
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Conventional? Like a Golf? Not big enough in the boot area.
Tiguan - None for sale in Spain.(petrol auto)
I am going to have a closer look at these Alteas XL. Don't need Freetrack 4 wheel drive so just an added complication and something to go wrong.
By conventional VW I meant one of the VWs which actually have a VW badge. ;) Meaning, not a Seat, Skoda, Audi etc.
Touareg is too big?
What about a Passat Crossover or just Estate?
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Tuareg is too big. Don't need 4 wheel drive.
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VW CC, they did it in a petrol Turbo flavour :y
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Boot is surprisingly big, no issues getting our giant iCandy pram in there
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Ah but what about our idog?
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Ah but what about our idog?
Harness on the back seat? The Mk2 CC's were 5 seaters :y
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Dogs do not travel on the back seats of cars, totally unsafe, despite the fact that you can buy restraints for them. It's just a useless compromise.
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Agreed. We have a secure set of bars that seperate the boot atea from the passengers. For distance and the big city trips he goes in there with a proper harness and clipped to the car.
Rightly or wrongly on local trips he goes on the back seat again secured
Tunnie. You might remember i had a Passat 2.0 diesl auto hire car for five or so weeks. I was very very impressed. A petrol estate might be a solution . Never been an estate person though.
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Agreed. We have a secure set of bars that seperate the boot atea from the passengers. For distance and the big city trips he goes in there with a proper harness and clipped to the car.
Rightly or wrongly on local trips he goes on the back seat again secured
Tunnie. You might remember i had a Passat 2.0 diesl auto hire car for five or so weeks. I was very very impressed. A petrol estate might be a solution . Never been an estate person though.
Ah yes. :y
I strongly looked at Passat Estate, they could be an option. Also with VCDS/VAGCOM you can easily get full access to car electronics :)
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For a saloon what about a Phaeton?Might be hard to come by in petrol form though.
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Also, given that they are rare as rocking horse wotsits, over a 10+ year period I suspect the cost and embugerance that goes with maintaining such a complex leviathan might not be ideal. Cracking car though.
In a similar vein, an Ls460 could be had comfortably in budget and probably ticks most if not all of your boxes. Feeding and maintaining a 4.6L V8 may not be so easy however ;D
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Phaeton and LS460. Not suitable. Too complex and none available in Spain as of now. Probably maintenance would be a problem too.
No petrol passats of any sort available either in whole of Spain.
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Phaeton and LS460. Not suitable. Too complex and none available in Spain as of now. Probably maintenance would be a problem too.
No petrol passats of any sort available either in whole of Spain.
Hmmmm......Spain......not exactly the motoring hub of the world...... ;D
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Friends of ours in Spain have a Mitsubishi Shogun , seems a very good vehicle certainly comfortable & capable. He has had it from new (2009) spoke this morning to him apart from annual services all he has replaced at 24,000 miles are the tyres . With a healthy budget like yours a decent one is possible.
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Dogs do not travel on the back seats of cars, totally unsafe, despite the fact that you can buy restraints for them. It's just a useless compromise.
Chuck the dog in the boot! What's wrong with that? ::)
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Mercedes R Class :y :y :y
I might be a bit biased thoughb :D
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Shogun too much like our back up car.
No big Mercedes for sale either in petrol auto.
Plenty of cars in Spain but people just do not sell very often due to the tax that is paid on secondhand sales(about 7% of government book value).
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In no particular order...
Seat Altea XL/Freetrack
Opel Insignia Sports Tourer 4x4/ CrossCountry
Or new, Dacia Duster.
Biggest problem you have is finding a used petrol car in that age bracket. Here they are effectively non existent in larger, family sized vehicles :-\
From my hands on experience, you won't get 10 years out of anything with a Dacia badge on it
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Why petrol? Short journeys? :-\
As already mentioned 2007-2017 nearly all family sized cars are diesel, the petrol ones are very low and massively impact what you can choose from. Instead of 1,000 cars, it's more like 20 :(
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Diesel cars have just become vey anti social. I expect them to be taxed into oblivion in the very near future.
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Spot on MigV6
We will be stuick with this car for years. Spain has a lot of cities with bad pollution. Granada and Seville have been picked up by the World health for consistently failing to improve. It is only a matter of time before governments ban diesels from city centres, tax the vehicle and fuel to death etc.
I think the VW scandal was the final nail in the coffin.
Shame as diesel here is cheap compared with petrol.
Had a look at some Altea XL's today in a car park. Still like the Qashqai shape.
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What about a late mondeo Mk3 3.0v6 (think they could be had up till about 2006/7).
You could probably have the very best there is for significantly less than half your budget.
I had an early 2.0TDDI, pretty much bulletproof for the 60k (60 to 120k) that I had it for and the v6 is a simple soul. Not the most economical engine in the world but meets most of your criteria I would think. 2.0 petrols could also be usable. Either the hatch or the estate would comfortably accommodate the mut. ;D
2.0 ecoboost Mk4 might also work, but I have no experience of them
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Diesel cars have just become vey anti social. I expect them to be taxed into oblivion in the very near future.
Historically the government don't alter VED tax in a significant way, they just introduce new schemes. March 2006 came in with £500 band for large petrols with high Co2, cheap for diesels.
Now in 2017, it's all change and Co2 is now not an issue, it's purchase price which adds extra levy. All cars registered previously are unaffected, so it's the same all again.
Diesels perhaps not as social, but their tax rate won't change to crazy rates, just go up with around inflation charges. Neither will will ones, the new scheme won't change in any big way for a good few years.
Also given that most cars 2005ish to present, a vast majority are diesel, no significant bans will come in near future. Vans/Trucks ect won't be able to deliver anything ::)
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I'd also add the I'm not convinced on new petrols either, they have gone for small 1.4's in things like the Mondeo, or even 1.0's with a Turbo. Small, highly strung petrol engines, that need spanking rev wise all the time to get anywhere Vs a slow lazy diesel?
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I have to say I'd agree tunnie.
I suspect the new highly strung petrols will suffer in the same way that the circa 2005 dpf diesels did. First of a new generation and all that.
Nothing will happen to diesels until the world (and Europe particularly) works out how you farm, produce and (most significantly) transport everything we use day to day without it.
Unlike cars, there's currently no viable alternative out there for diesel HGV's. My guess, you've got a good 15-20yrs of diesel before it even starts to fade. And you can forget big retrospective changes to VED, they're a desperately unpopular move and would be unprecedented.
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You may be right about change being slow to come.
Mrs V makes a good point about how can diesel owners drive around knowing they are contributing to ill health? She says cancer. You only need the health lobby to get on the bandwagen to raise money for more hospitals and staff. Who would have thought cigs would have ended up the price they are - forty years ago?
You only need some more battery breakthroughs and government backed scrappage of diesel for a new electric car scheme and tax increases. Could happen .
Dont know how that would work out in Spain as just about every car is a diesel . Not only that but you dont see any old cars. It is like they swapped mules for a new car.
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You may be right about change being slow to come.
Mrs V makes a good point about how can diesel owners drive around knowing they are contributing to ill health? She says cancer. You only need the health lobby to get on the bandwagen to raise money for more hospitals and staff. Who would have thought cigs would have ended up the price they are - forty years ago?
You only need some more battery breakthroughs and government backed scrappage of diesel for a new electric car scheme and tax increases. Could happen .
Dont know how that would work out in Spain as just about every car is a diesel . Not only that but you dont see any old cars. It is like they swapped mules for a new car.
Does she tell the bus driver that? ;D
Or the parcel delivery man, or the driver of the Tesco delivery truck? :)
Given I often see 55 seater coaches and busses empty, yet still drive about with their massive diesel engines. I'm not too fussed what comes out of the pipe of my diesel :y
I bet there will be scrappage schemes for old electric cars and hybrids, get rid of the batteries! What happens when they fail/leak?
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Indeed, an alternative to diesel for haulage and public transport is a way off yet, but these larger more expensive vehicles can be fitted with better and more expensive emission controls than the current generation of cars and I would imagine there is probably less incentive for their manufacturers to lie about their true emissions levels and / or add cheats to avoid using the systems for performance or economy reasons. Their usage regime of generally running all day is also cleaner than the stop-start nature of private car use.
Diesel private cars, on the other hand, are entirely avoidable. I suspect they will end up increasingly being banned from city centres. Congestion charging systems can easily look up the fuel type from the reg. number and apply fines or punitive levels of charging for tractors on days when air quality is poor, at peak hours, or all the time. They'll probably become the preserve of rural motorists eventually.
The other possibility I can see is that fuel duty is reduced for public transport and haulage diesel and hiked for private cars, but the logistics behind providing two separate supplies of fuel are not going to be trivial.
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Agreed Kevin.
We, as nations, have sleep walked into the current situation helped by the manufacturers fiddled emmissions data.
Here is an article where diesels will be banned from 4 city centres by 2025. It includes Madrid. It doesn't take a genius to realise that other cities will jump on the bandwagon in a desperate bid to meet pollution reduction targets.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/02/four-of-worlds-biggest-cities-to-ban-diesel-cars-from-their-centres
It isn't a personal comment about diesels and their drivers. On a personal note I find our diesel 4x4 superb in certain conditions. The torque for Towing and accelerating in gear for example.
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I think you're right about city centres, as they're an easy target to implement, justify and fund. There's also no need to affect buses etc as they can all be distinguished based on number plate. I suspect you'll see some cities going for bans (probably the wealthier ones) and others going for a congestion charge type scheme as a money maker under the guise of helping the environment.
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Marine diesel is a two tier system and has been for some time. No issues there :y
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Spain will have completely different taxation rules Mr Tunnie. And in so many European cities, they are getting nearer and nearer to banning soot chuckers, esp given VW's antics of lying and claiming their engines were just dirty, rather than the truth.
Something has to happen to keep the worse cars out of cities. And governments have to find a way to implement it. I think by now everybody realises that diesel cars in cities has to be drastically reduced.
That can be achieved by either taxation and/or outright city bans.
Taxation on fuel isn't that difficult - we already have red diesel for agricultural purposes. Wouldn't be that difficult to have another layer of taxation on the fuel. Taxation on Excise Duty is even easier, but less effective. Banning in Londonium would be easy as the infrastructure already exists, but expensive to implement elsewhere.
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We don't need to reduce the number of diesel cars in cities.
We just need to reduce the number of people in cities.
;D
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We don't need to reduce the number of diesel cars in cities.
We just need to reduce the number of people in cities.
;D
FTFY. Over to TheBoy to decide which ones are up against the wall first. ;D
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We don't need to reduce the number of diesel cars in cities.
We just need to reduce the number of people in cities.
;D
FTFY. Over to RumpelStiltSkin to decide which ones are up against the wall first. ;D
Its a long list. Lets start by thinning out tree huggers and do-gooders. Opti's avatar can go up first.