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[Varche]

We have both always preferred saloons but you can't get away from the better load carrying capacity of an estate. Something that is handy when you are transporting an elderly person, their mobility devices, a dog , other people, building materials and shopping. So the physical differences are obvious but what about the practical differences.?

Driving, Parking, visibility, noise, fuel tank size, mpg, different insurance group, less weight on the back end unladen, any longer (for garage space), rear legroom, different rear shockers/springs to allow more load carrying than a saloon.

For those with experience of both, what do you think please?

[tigers_gonads]

Estate bad bits compared to a saloon.

A little noisier
Hotter in summer due to the extra glass
Doesn't handle as well as a saloon

Estate good bits compared to a saloon.

Absolutely loads of room
Put it this way, if you cant fit it in a estate, buy a van 

[zirk]

Heres my take on the Omega, having driven both. Fold the back seats down flat on the Estate, loads of carrying space, with seats back and getting stuff under the load cover, probablky the same room as saloon.

Driving, - bearing in mind your facing foward, no difference, Estates do give the impression of bigger interior, more roomy.
Parking, - probably easier to park an Estate when reversing.
visibility - Estate better, see Parking above.
noise, - Estate slightly nosier on a Motorway (if empty), not by much though.
fuel tank size, - No difference.
mpg, - Personally Ive always found the Estates slightly better on a run.?
different insurance group, - shouldn't make FA difference at our age.
less weight on the back end unladen, - if you really push them to their limit, the back end can be a bit twitchy.
any longer (for garage space), - very slightly, you wont notice.
rear legroom - probably the same, better head room for tall people and better width room on Estate, 3 people in the back have more room over saloon.
different rear shockers/springs to allow more load carrying than a saloon, - Estates perform better fully loaded over fully loaded saloon.

[05omegav6]

Re physical sizes, facelifts are two inches longer than the earlier cars... like for like, saloons and estates are externally the same dimensions. Same inside although, as Zirk says, estates have better rear passenger headroom and better rear access due to the shape of the doors

Estate boot is 10% greater to window line, 540 litres iirc, plus the 'extra bit', also, unlike the saloon,  fold the estate rear seat and you get a flat load space that is full width all the way through, no stupid shaped loading hole

[alfie]

I love my estate,best car I,ve ever had,and it love's my caravan.
                                                                       Alfie,

[baggedestate]

ive had both and find it much easier with my estate to move my elderly old man about and his bits and bobs

[Tick Tock]

I'm not so sure if the saloon has the fold forward front seat (CDX version and above), but with the estate you can get almost 10ft length items in at floor level with ease   

[05omegav6]

I'm not so sure if the saloon has the fold forward front seat (CDX version and above), but with the estate you can get almost 10ft length items in at floor level with ease   

Saloon cdx definitely does

[Nick W]

Practical difference? You can't put the back half of a £25 beach buggy body in the boot  of a saloon. Although you might be able to tie the front half to the roof, you can definitely do that with an estate at the same time. This does earn you some funny looks on the 80mile drive home

[Steve Brookman]

I've had two estates-wish they still did them-far better than the contempory BMW's and Mercs.

Steve

[YZ250]

With the rear seats folded down you can get a double mattress in the back of an estate. Apart from where it moulds around the wheel arch mouldings it will fit in easily.    I took one to the tip, so that's how I know, before anyone thinks otherwise. 
The estate spare wheel is under-floor level so the boot is full width and with the rear seats down the estate load area is enormous. With the rear seats locked in the upright position I've not noticed any additional noise but they can rattle when locked down flat if no load is on them.
The estate has a bigger area to warm up on cold days and more to cool down on hot days. I bought the estate to tow our touring caravan and needed the larger load area, a job that it carried out with ease. 
I like the saloon but it just wouldn't have held the gear that we have loaded in the estate. 

Oh, and when you get into an argument with the manager of Currys, and he sarcastically asks very loudly "so, does Sir have a car big enough for this replacement 50" TV", I can smugly say 'Yep'. 

[YZ250]

Oh yeh, and you can get bigger plants in an estate.     

[Varche]

 

[Viral_Jim]

I'm not so sure if the saloon has the fold forward front seat (CDX version and above), but with the estate you can get almost 10ft length items in at floor level with ease   

Saloon cdx definitely does

When I was looking into this for my estate (cdx cloth interior folding front seat), I think I found out that you can have leather and fold, heated and fold, but not electric and fold - although I think someone did make one  . However its a bit of a lottery as to whether you get it or not as it wasn't standard fit I don't think. Also, I'm only speaking about FL cars, not sure about PFL or MFL.

I can however confirm its amazingly useful. 2.4m lengths will go in easily and 3.0m will go if propped on the dash (would lead to "interesting" results in the event of passenger airbag deployment though  . 3.6m will go in on the diagonal if they have a bit of a bend on, or you can open the passenger side window - this is also good for the drive-by jousting of cyclists  .


The only other estate car I know that has it is the skoda superb and I have no idea why more cars don't!

[johnnydog]

Having had 3.2 Elite saloons for years (since my first in 2004), I thought about a 3.2 Elite estate for a long while before I actually found one at the right price. Elite estates seem to get better money than saloons.
Now got a black saloon and a black estate - my wife refuses to drive the estate saying 'it's too big'🤔, but her other arguement for not driving it is that she says it looks like a hearse.....
Another plus for the estate is that you can sleep in the back if need be!! (saves putting the tent up at 2 day classic car shows /autojumbles..)😀