SK

The past 3.5 years have seen sti 2, sti5 type r and now evo 6 (for current 15 months).After constant abuse from the missus about rock hard ride etc etc blah ,and now 8.9 months pregnant ive been regrattably forced into buying a family car.
These are the current runners:
BMW 320 d se touring estate(150bhp) in black,full leather,18" m sport alloys, privacy glass,climate control,cruise control and all other gizmos endless list.
Volvo v40 estate sport lux D 1.9 115bhp full leather,climate ,criuse,heated seats, blah endless list
Having spent the last 5 days literallly visiting dealers from a to z and test driving/ hagling these are my top 2 cars.has anyone owned any of these cars, and all advice would be help ful depreciation ,running costs etc.
J

ianfergus0n

Bad Luck mate.....

OK, Although I havent owned either if these cars, I have used both for 3+ months.

BMW... Well its a BMW whatmore can I say... reliable comfotable the new 320d if a very fine vehical indeed, put that together with the 3yrs UNLIMITED milage warrenty and its a pretty good package.

Volvo... I had certain expectations when I recieved this car, but the car excided my expectations 10 fold altought the engine wasn't as good as the BMW (not much in it though) the standard of equiptment on the car wia brilliant for the cash. as you have probably seen for yourself. the ride is a little less firm than the BMW and I felt a bit more relaxing.

Neither are ever going to be performance cars so don't even start to measure them against one. If you do excessive milage then the BMW would be the one to get but for me the V40 is the pick of the bunch.

I will through one other into the mix..... Lexus IS200 Sportscross OK it has less room than the other 2 and it isn't a diesel but it's a great mota with more gadgets than u can shake a stick at a similar price to the other 2 the service and reliability of the lexus is very good, I was a bit douting about this one until I had tried it so it's not a diesel but the fuel economy is better that the last few cars you have had and it has got a nice bit if grunt if you use the gears, baiscally I would put it on par with the bmw but you get more bang for your buck, check one out you might be pleasently suprised..... Oh yeah one other thing, it's RWD so when your out on your own you can still have a bot of fun getting the **** end out abit.

Hope this helps.

Or you could always go for a B4

peelo

Hey SK is this your first kid?

Seems a bit hasty to be going for the family estate. I've got two under fours and we get on fine with a New Beetle which has tiny boot and is three door.

Why not get something she thinks is sensible... but is really 200BHP and easily modable up

Dream Weaver

J

Honda Accord Type R - my uncle has a red one, and it is v nice

Si

logiclee

I'd also go for the 320d if its a choice between the bmw and Vovlo.

The Alfa option is interesting, I had a 2.4jtd as a loan car recently. The 2.4 5 cylinder 150bhp engine sounds excellent, on road performance is better than the 155bhp 2.0Twin Sparks. I have put one on my next car short list.

Motorpoint are selling them with £6000 of UK list price. Alfa build quality isn't as good as BMW etc but its as good as mid range manufacturers like Subaru and Ford. I've had mine a year (156 Selespeed Veloce), done 13000 miles without a single problem.

On the downside most people do not rate the dealers and the sportwagon will not compete with the others for space.

Motorpoint Advert
Vehicle ALFA ROMEO 156 VELOCE JTD SPORTSWAGON
Body 5 DOOR ESTATE
Engine 2400cc Colour SILVER
Reg NEW Mileage 1
Extras Air Conditioning, Leather Upholstry, Alloy Wheels, Central Locking, Power Assisted Steering, Electric Windows, Please enquire for full spec
Price £13,999


Cheers
Lee

[Edited by logiclee - 1/13/2003 10:38:02 AM]

SK

Thanx for the comments,
Looks like its going to be the volvo for now ,so much car for your money, £15995.00 at autopoint with 2 yrs warranty,and £20680.00 at main dealers with 3 year warranty. Nearly half the price of the bmw but not half the car.Volvo will extend the warranty to 3 yrs for 425.00 which can be taken after 2 yrs is up so still a 4 grand saving and the colour i want.Think ill take the saving and feel content.
Also motorpoint have offered me £1250.00 more for the evo than bmw against a thier 32 k car can you belive that!
AND Bmw insurance =£1195.00
Volvo = £398.00
Cheers
J
P.S Mitsubishis new galant V6 24v estate £15995.00 thats 5 grand off list from a main dealer.(walker farrimond nelson).

MattOz

SK,

320d SE in that spec sounds great. You'll be chuffed with the performance and fuel economy too. It's only going to need a service every 15k miles and will hold its value far better than the Volvo. It would also be worth more than an equivalent petrol model.

Sure, it won't give you the overall buzz that you're used to, but will be a very satisfying car to own

Matt



[Edited by MattOz - 1/12/2003 6:32:26 PM]

polarbearit

Based on the two above selections -

Buy the BMW if you're buying new simple as - the volvo will be worth f*ck all in 3 years...

Or buy a second hand V40 for next to nothing! Cheap as chips.

Now may I add a random selection - Alfa 156 JTD Sportwagon, not the same quality as the BMW but a friend of mine picked one up fully loaded (leather, sportpack etc) for £15k from motorpoint!

edited to say they are £14k now! Now thats surely a good deal...

[Edited by polarbearit - 1/12/2003 7:19:08 PM]