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Recommend a fastish estate

Not quite an estate but what’s the opinion of the Subaru forester? Need something that can handle off-road, swallow 2 large dogs and their paraphernalia plus looks ok. Was toying with a d-max but the tax and desirability is putting me off
 
Not quite an estate but what’s the opinion of the Subaru forester? Need something that can handle off-road, swallow 2 large dogs and their paraphernalia plus looks ok. Was toying with a d-max but the tax and desirability is putting me off
I would. I regret not going for the VX over my CX3.
 
Not quite an estate but what’s the opinion of the Subaru forester? Need something that can handle off-road, swallow 2 large dogs and their paraphernalia plus looks ok. Was toying with a d-max but the tax and desirability is putting me off

Pretty popular out here in the shire: seem to last forever, they have good resale values - even ancient ones with inter-stellar milages...

The 4WD system will mean they have a bit less leg room in the back than you'd expect for a car that size, but I think you'll find them hard-wearing, intensely practical. No idea about the cost of parts though, but I suppose that if they last forever there has to be a reasonably lively aftermarket industry....
 
Not quite an estate but what’s the opinion of the Subaru forester? Need something that can handle off-road, swallow 2 large dogs and their paraphernalia plus looks ok. Was toying with a d-max but the tax and desirability is putting me off

Solid choice (I'd definitely have one over any Ford or VAG product) but definitely not easy to work on due to the packaging. You can order all the STI parts from Japan to turn it into the spicy 'tS' model.

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Dont buy an AWD car unless you really need it. Bigger costs and potential reliability issues. I haven't seen great reviews of the Forester btw.

Also that is not an estate but a boring crossover/SUV. Get an estate and buck the trend.
 
I don't think I've ever had a problem with the AWD system on any car I've owned (probably had 50+ AWD cars).

The things that fail most frequently on them are things that fail most frequently on all cars: gaskets, seals and ancilliaries like water/fuel pump or alternator.
 
Dont buy an AWD car unless you really need it. Bigger costs and potential reliability issues. I haven't seen great reviews of the Forester btw.

Also that is not an estate but a boring crossover/SUV. Get an estate and buck the trend.
I need awd/4wd for the places I need to get to. I also said I know it’s not an estate. If I didn’t need the off road capability, a fabia estate would be the badger
 
I need awd/4wd for the places I need to get to. I also said I know it’s not an estate. If I didn’t need the off road capability, a fabia estate would be the badger

What about an Audi estate 4wd thats been properly maintained fluids changed, all matching tyres replaced at the same time etc.

I would be looking at something solid but 10 years old for good value for money tbh.
 
I just had a rush of shit to the head and bought a Mercedes E430 estate. It was the second one for sale locally. I looked at one but it was twice the price and the guy selling it was a bit sketchy. Second one popped up
On Facebook market place and i struck at the speed of a leaping gazelle

It’s like a steroid blown hearse

It needs the power steering fixing but apart from that an incredible lump of metal for the princely sim of 1500quid

My Honda accord estate is getting serviced and MOT’d then pimped off.I feel quite guilty



The lump
 
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We need a green faced emoji for jealous.
If I remember, when I won best in class at Brooklands summer gathering, a cream one of those also won a best in class.
 
Honda Accord is nice
It was originally on my list of things to look at, but it turns out they haven't sold it in the UK for several years. None of the Japanese brands seem to sell their full sized estates here any more, the Corolla is the chunkiest you can get. We ended up with a CX-5 (Mazda 6 estate having suffered the same fate as the Accord). The Corolla estate was actually spot on for cargo space, but we need to fit three across the back and it was quite cramped compared to the CX-5. We tend to keep cars for 10+ years and I'm quite unconvinced by VAG products' long term reliability.
 
It's solid, it's dependable and only with only 45000 is worth a squirt for someone. Alas, it's German, so it might suit some.

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When my E430 finally gets too expensive i reckon it’ll be an E class AMG brute of an estate for me

What’s the money on that, I couldn’t see anywhere
 
In other fast estate news I’ve just booked tickets for the ferry to Santander, going to drive the 23 year old E430 estate down to Morocco.

Working on the principle that if I can get it to morocco and it does have issues I can get them fixed way cheaper than in the U.K.
 
When my E430 finally gets too expensive i reckon it’ll be an E class AMG brute of an estate for me

What’s the money on that, I couldn’t see anywhere
I seem to remember reading a book about someone driving a Merc from North Europe to somewhere in Africa where they flogged it. I think they referred to it as an African taxi or something such thing.
It's up for auction.
 
I seem to remember reading a book about someone driving a Merc from North Europe to somewhere in Africa where they flogged it. I think they referred to it as an African taxi or something such thing.
It's up for auction.
My experience of getting something fixed up abroad (Portugal) is that while the labour is cheap, access to cheap parts is nothing like the UK., not much generic or reconditioned stuff available, so you end up with branded parts at a significantly higher mark-up than the UK.
 
In other fast estate news I’ve just booked tickets for the ferry to Santander, going to drive the 23 year old E430 estate down to Morocco.

Working on the principle that if I can get it to morocco and it does have issues I can get them fixed way cheaper than in the U.K.

Spain requires you to have an actual UK sticker on the car rather than a numberplate UK/flag combo.
 
In other fast estate news I’ve just booked tickets for the ferry to Santander, going to drive the 23 year old E430 estate down to Morocco.

Working on the principle that if I can get it to morocco and it does have issues I can get them fixed way cheaper than in the U.K.
surf trip?
 
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