Family on the way, Need to 'upgrade'...

[Bluecube]

2nd hand Peugeot 407 TDi? Brilliant car, have one myself. Loads of room and when you press that left pedal it can shift!

[5lab]

there are car supermarkets all over the place - look in yellow pages or sommit (or have a look on autotrader at what places seem to have lots of cars in your area).

the v50 *might* be too new - i just had a look and only found one at £10,000 on 'trader. they came out in 04 but held their value better than i thought they had (the s40, of the same age, can be had for £8k up)

have a look on ebay, see if you can get a whatcar (or whatever) with a grouptest of the sort of car you want, from about 2003 - they should pitch up a bunch of cars in your pricerange, so you can compare them..

drivers choice may well be a focus estate, but its common - the mondeo is no bigger than a passat (pretty much spot on the same size) - the octavia is a bit bigger than the golf, bit smaller than the passat. others worth a look are the seat toledo (not sure what it was like in those days), maybe a signum, if they're down in price enough, or, (drumroll), the aventime - sporty, big, comfy, cheap... and sexy as hell (imho). you'll probably think its ugly, most folk do :'(

[joshwa]

2nd hand Peugeot 407 TDi? Brilliant car, have one myself. Loads of room and when you press that left pedal it can shift!

You mean it can shift gears when you press the clutch in?

[Bluecube]

You mean it can shift gears when you press the clutch in?

G'damn it. Had a couple of pints at lunchtime (I'm not driving I hasten to add!) and have my right and left mixed up AGAIN I , of course, meant the right pedal (thinks)... Yes, definitely the right pedal. Vrrrroooooommmmm! Especially once the turbo kicks in

[dave87]

3L BMW isnt that bad

Plus, the 525d is within your price range

[5lab]

You mean it can shift gears when you press the clutch in?

heh. i thought he'd done that delibrately

[Butcher]

Out of interest are Audi services really that much more expensive than a non-audi garage? Not had to service mine yet and now I'm dreading the cost when I do.

[Howard]

Passat Estate. LOAAAADS of room. LOOOOOADS. And the <110bhp diesels go.

I also agree with whoever above said it looks nicer than the saloon.

Can also go for an Octavia estate if you're not a badge snob.

[Butuz]

Passat TDI130 - acres of room in the back and good value for money. OUrs done 90k now, dim problems.

Butuz

[Rave]

I thought we could live with it until I realised that a pram will barely fit in the boot, let alone pram and other stuff, baby seat...

I can't really help with the car, but please don't get one of those ridiculous off-road-styled monster buggy prams. They serve no purpose other other than to massively cheese off everyone else who has to dodge round the enormous amount of space they take up. Sodding things.

An old school folding buggy will fit in the boot of an A3 fine, albeit that it's apparently a PITA getting a baby/toddler strapped into the back seat of a 3-door car. I have all this to look forward to if I can't persuade my Mrs that remaining childless would be for the best.

[Rack]

lol, looks like I'm set on the Passat, I've been looking and they look to fit the bill.

PITA?

To change the subject slightly...
Rave, I'm probably getting one of these:
though in black of course...

That avantime looks interesting, I'm going to try and get out to the car-supermarket out near Lakeside sometime soon. I'v got a few months to sort this out yet, just getting in early.

[Fox]

TBH, it doesn't look bigger than the standard 5-door hatch...

Becuase it is the standard 5 door hatch - there are two A3 bodystyles, 3 door and 5 door. The 5 door is called the Sportback

[Rack]

OK, I'm dragging this up again because I've found more cars I'm seriously looking at:
Nissan Primera and Skoda Fabia Estate, and possibly a Honda Civic 5dr, but probably too small to be worth the change.
I can get either in TDi in a 2005 model for <&#163;9, the Nissan with satnav, generally high spec'd.

Are skoda that bad for quality? I know they used to be pre-90's, but what about today?
Anything about nissan?

[dangel]

I can't really help with the car, but please don't get one of those ridiculous off-road-styled monster buggy prams. They serve no purpose other other than to massively cheese off everyone else who has to dodge round the enormous amount of space they take up. Sodding things..

Except if you live in farming country like me where they serve a er.. purpose. How inconvenient..

[kalniel]

Skoda are meant to be good for quality these days.

[dangel]

I really like the last-model Octavia 4x4 vRS estate thingy