Morning all,
Have verbally agreed a new job with which will be provided a new car. My immediate requirements are that it is a LC150 (joke), seriously a V70/ Passat/ Mondeo/ Accord/ (not French) estate as it has to be a family load lugger as well as a decent mode of mile munching for me. Any pros, cons, suggestions, experiences on any of the above or any I might not have mentioned?
Hard to believe it is 2 years since I killed my LC120 and I have been plugging away in a XC90 since, which, despite my initial doubts, has been rock solid and a super family car and is now at 135k miles and does the best part of 40mpg.
We've got a V60 D2 and an XC70 D5 here, and have had XC90's in the past. I'll pick up on comments below, and then add in at the bottom.
A few years ago, my boss of 2 years asked what car I wanted in my annual review - I replied "an Escort Cosworth please" he went mental! His veins started pulsing in is forhead and everything - He ranted" people would give their right arm for a job like yours" My reply was " if they are as good a salesman as me, fill yer boots....." I ended up with an RS2000 instead! Everyone else had Mundane'os....Dont ask, dont get!
Out the above choices, I think a VW or Volvo estate would be best bet.
Good luck with the new job and well done!
Cheers
Steve
One of Dad's cousins was an engineer for Cosworth; his car of choice was not the Escort Cosworth, but the RS2000 4x4, a much better car by his reckoning. Most recently we heard he was helping to get the BRM V16 running properly... he always had interesting cars including a Muira (one of the first RHD ones in the country), various prototype TVR's and god only knows what else!
Congrats Paul.
If you like the Volvo, have a look at the V60 which looks pretty decent.
V60 is a bit smaller than the V70, we use the XC70 as the dog bus and for going to the tip, but the V60 drives a bit better. Can't completely compare like with like because the XC sits that bit higher, and has the 215bhp D5 and auto box, whilst the V60 is the fuel sipping D2.
The 70 is a much more usable boot space (they designed it to take a washing machine in it's box!) than the V60, and has a lot of nice features. Big benefit is that you can specify a 70 with a spare wheel (albeit a space sava, but it's better than a can of silly string)
I sold our Volvo V70 recently and replaced it with a Passat Estate. I do miss the Volvo as the Passat is not as comfortable a car or as well equipped (even though its the HighLine with full leather) nor does it seem to much up the miles as easily, but surprisingly the boot on the Passat is far larger and swallows much more than the Volvo did. We swapped cars in a cost saving exercise as the Volvo was a T5 Auto giving 16.5mpg round town and 24mpg on a run, giving us an average of 19mpg over the three years we owned it. The Passat on the other hand is a TDi 130 and give us 36mpg round town and 52mpg on a run, giving us an average of 42mpg so far since we've owned it. The savings don't finish there though the Tax on the Passat is £90 a year less and the insurance is half what it was for the Volvo. All this said and even though Im very happy with the Passat and have now got used to it I would have another Volvo in a heart beat as for me it is still the better driving car. A point to make is that even the D5 diesel V70 would still be far more expensive to run than the Passat, mpg is worse, TAX is higher and the insurance is more. If your not having to pay for any of this then the Volvo is the clear winner for me and if your talking about newer models then they may well be cheaper to run than the ones that I owned. A friend of mine now living in America hired a new Passat Blue Motion when he cam over rescently and after a long run to my house we were both gob smacked that the fuel computer was reporting an mpg of over 70mpg!!! I can't comment on the Mondeo as I have no experience of them except that someone I know recently got rid of there's as it was to large (very wide) and another friend of mine has had Accords for years now and is currently driving around in there fourth one (although one was totaled in a very bad accident that they walked away from), all of them have been diesel estates.
If your not paying listen to the voices,
Volvo Volvo Volvo Volvo 
I think you're comparing 2 quite different cars; a T5 V70 is going to be more to run than a TDi Passat on all of those measures that you've used.
My choice? I've been brought up in a Volvo family, so my gut would be to say Volvo.... my V70 is in pieces in the driveway being sold off bit by bit at the age of 13yo with 225,000miles (had I not gone to Aus it would be nearer 300,000 with my annual mileage!)
Realistically I'd look at the following:
-Ford Mondeo with the EcoBoost engine; good engine, good size car (bigger than the old Granada/Scorpio now!)
-Hyundai i45 Estate; good if private buyer for the warranty
-Volvo V70 D2; same engine as the Ford IIRC, devil that you know, and comfy. Get with a manual to get stop-start technology. City Safe, Intelligent Cruise etc are really good; I use intelligent cruise on the motorway every time... not had to try City Safe yet... Don't put big wheels on them, they're always best with the smallest standard wheels; they crash and ride too hard otherwise!
-VW Passat; just make sure you get rid of it before the warranty expires!
-Skoda Supurb Estate; just don't drive near the airport or into town on a Friday/Saturday night, and you won't get mistaken for a minicab!
Things that I'd be looking for:
-Spare wheel
-Fuel economy
-BIK
-How I fit in it; I don't get on with the electric seat in one of our cars (I can't remember which) as it doesn't go low enough for me, but I'm 6'3" ish, and the cars all have sunroofs.
Hope that helps,
Ed
Let them get you a good second-hand one!!!
