Suggestions for replacement (VAG Group Cars & Non VAG Cars)

[Volk]

Looks my head gasket is showing early signs of failure, so I may need to consider replacing the car as the repair costs are likely to exceed or come close to the value of the car, and are looking at suggestions for its replacement and not necessarily VW cars.

Budget will be £1500 to £2500, and the criteria for its replacement is as follows

(1) Be able to tow an un braked trailer tent max load 500KG

(2) Be able to achieve 47 mpg or more easily, on a journey of 15 miles comprising of 4 miles urban, 4 miles dual carriage way and the rest A and B roads with some hills on them

(3) Be able to achieve up 50 mpg and over on motorways.

(4) Be reasonable cost to insured

(5) Reliable

(6) Reasonable servicing costs

(7) Good performance as my current Bora with its remapped engine is awesome, and I dont want to have the same performance or better in the next car

(8) Good size boot space

(9) Be newer than my 2000 year Bora, i.e 2003 to 2004 year or younger

VAG products I am considering are VW Passat, Seat Toledeo, another Bora(possibly), Skoda Octavia, Seat Altea

Any suggestions welcomed#

Thanks.

[Eshrules]

Ford Focus Tdci, for the budget I doubt you'll beat it.

your price range unfortunately limits the VAG options to the 1.9 PD lumps, which sadly won't achieve the MPG you're after - although 47mpg urban is a big ask for a 5+ year used car.

[Volk]

Ford Focus Tdci, for the budget I doubt you'll beat it.

your price range unfortunately limits the VAG options to the 1.9 PD lumps, which sadly won't achieve the MPG you're after - although 47mpg urban is a big ask for a 5+ year used car.

Thanks for the suggestion re Focus, do you know the Focus unbraked towing limit as if it cannot tow our trailer tent legally then it will have to be ruled out.

My current car has a 1.9 pd lump and it regularly average 47 mpg and does over 50 mpg on the motorway, and that's from actual fill ups not the computer


Thanks

[zollaf]

in a case like this, you have to consider what your current car is worth to you, rather than its market value. your budget will probably not buy something as good, and then you may find there are a few things that need doing to it that could cost a small fortune. for instance, you could buy something cheap and within weeks find you need discs and pads, an exhaust, a couple of tyres or a timing belt, and theres the money to repair your current bora. sometimes if you own a good car that suits your needs and is in otherwise good condition, getting rid due to something that will cost its value to repair is utter madness.

[Volk]

in a case like this, you have to consider what your current car is worth to you, rather than its market value. your budget will probably not buy something as good, and then you may find there are a few things that need doing to it that could cost a small fortune. for instance, you could buy something cheap and within weeks find you need discs and pads, an exhaust, a couple of tyres or a timing belt, and theres the money to repair your current bora. sometimes if you own a good car that suits your needs and is in otherwise good condition, getting rid due to something that will cost its value to repair is utter madness.

1 I do like my current car but it keeps costing money last year had the clutch, dmf and gearbox repair done cost £1200, and now it needs at some point another £1000 + costs in repairs, plus needs 40,000 mile cambelt and water pump replacement in the next 8 months

2 After 4 years of ownership I may fancy a change.

3 In peoples opinions when does a car come economic both in costs and time?

4 May be it would be best for miminal work to be carried out on the car I.e just enough to keep it going e.g servicing and safety repairs but be aware that it will require replacing at some stage?

5 What kind of budget do I need for a bora sized tdi car say 2003 to 2005 vintage, that would last me 4 to 5 years ?

Thanks

[Eshrules]

The trouble is, even with a newer (same model) car, you'll face similar expenses. It's the nature of owning a used car - wear and tear gets a grip of the car.

In some instances, it's better the devil you know. Once you've got to a certain point of having replaced most of the wear and tear items and got the car up to date with it's servicing, it'll want for very little. Buy a new car and you (potentially) face taking on all those issues again.

[zollaf]

lets face it, to get another quality car to last 4-5 years you are going to be looking at another vag which is going to cost what, 4k to get something thats going to last but this will probably need a clutch and dmf and other bitsn pieces, so is going to work out more expensive. this is the thing with modern cars, gone are the days of spending a few hundred on something and running it into the ground.
now, you say you need a head gasket and the timing belt needs doing, so theres a money saving idea, as the timing belt needs doing anyway to remove the head.
i know its a big decision, but you could end up regretting changing especially since you clutch has been done, and you bora will be worth peanuts as it needs the head gasket but someone will buy it and do it and have a good car which will probably cost less than whatever you buy.

[Volk]

The trouble is, even with a newer (same model) car, you'll face similar expenses. It's the nature of owning a used car - wear and tear gets a grip of the car.

In some instances, it's better the devil you know. Once you've got to a certain point of having replaced most of the wear and tear items and got the car up to date with it's servicing, it'll want for very little. Buy a new car and you (potentially) face taking on all those issues again.

Thing is that some of the wear and tear items could be comming up for replacement 2nd time around e.g front discs and pads replaced 23,000 miles ago; cambelt and water pump replaced 35,000 miles ago etc

Over the last 4 years I have spend around £6000 in repairs and it does not seem to stop, so as my post above are thinking of doing the minimal to keep the car on the road legally and safely.

[Eshrules]

apologies if this offends, but like Zollaf says, wear and tear happens on every car.

I spent just under £2k on the £300 polo I had for 18 months. When you consider that it gave me faultless motoring for that time, for around £100 a month in maintenance, it's really not that expensive. Yours works out to just a smidge over that.

The trouble with doing the bare minimum to keep the car on the road is that those minor faults often become major (and serious) and lead to further expense.

Putting off a simple oil service, for instance - can lead to no end of woes.

I'm with Zollaf on this one, if you're after ditching the current car for a newer one in search of lower maintenace costs, I think you're wasting your time.

There's no car that I'm aware of that requires zero maintenance.

[Volk]

lets face it, to get another quality car to last 4-5 years you are going to be looking at another vag which is going to cost what, 4k to get something thats going to last but this will probably need a clutch and dmf and other bitsn pieces, so is going to work out more expensive. this is the thing with modern cars, gone are the days of spending a few hundred on something and running it into the ground.
now, you say you need a head gasket and the timing belt needs doing, so theres a money saving idea, as the timing belt needs doing anyway to remove the head.
i know its a big decision, but you could end up regretting changing especially since you clutch has been done, and you bora will be worth peanuts as it needs the head gasket but someone will buy it and do it and have a good car which will probably cost less than whatever you buy.

Garage has said that it probably has a hairline crack in the gasket which shows up on the motorway and has suggested that I keep an eye on it and book the car in when it starts gettin worst but for the time being carry around a pre-mixed bottle of G12 coolant, and top as and when required which I have been doing since the car started to like drinking coolant on a long journey.

Ideally if I could get another max 24 months use out of the car that would be great without dipping too much into its replacement fund that would be great.

I hate big decisions