thoughts please.

[DiscoPol]

As you may or may not know, Im in the market for something new, LHD, and bloody Polish plated due to having my company registered over here, now Im tight, lets make no mistake here, I squeak when i walk and make any Scotsman or Yorkie look generous

I had sworn in a previous life never to buy a new car from the dealers as i cant live with the depreciation and the thought i am paying over the odds for something just because im the first one to own it, but, the price of used cars here is through the roof and due to tax and reliability issues i have to have something less than 3 years old, now the difference between new and 2008 onwards price wise isnt that much so have been looking a new cars as well as used.

So the short list is now a little more sensible than my previous one:
Citroen C5 Touring exec 2.0 hdi 160 - New 97,000 zloty
Pug 407 estate 1.6 Hdi 110 - 2010 60,000 zloty
Alfa Romeo 159 estate 1.9 JTDM 145 - 2009 44,000 zloty

as you can see im going down the estate route as i have a family and the space is essential plus we hoping to expand said family in the coming year or two,

so thoughts please, which one would you go for?

[steve_earwig]

The C5 of course, it has bags more space than the 407 (which hardly qualifies as an estate). Then again, the Alfa is obviously more desirable just for being an Alfa and a new one won't descend into trouble on wheels for a few years. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than the C5 too. I'm not sure how much space they have though.

Here we go, 159 SW 445/1235 litres, which is not quite so impressive when you realise that to make this much space they sacrificed the spare wheel
C5 Tourer 505/1462 litres
407 SW 430/1365 litres They must have included the glovebox

[Gary406]

alfa would be my choice out those 3

[GeordieBoy]

Out of those 3 I'd rather WALK, a skoda would be more reliable.

Mondeo, BMW, Passat or Audi would be a far better choice.

[steve_earwig]

Sorry but

[puggy]

Go for the C5 !!

[omega]

what sort of warranty do you get on these cars and whats it like for getting parts are two questions i would be asking.if you drive down a road and damage the suspension in one of your fantastic potholes is the car going to be off the road for weeks until the part turns up.

[DiscoPol]

Out of those 3 I'd rather WALK, a skoda would be more reliable.

Mondeo, BMW, Passat or Audi would be a far better choice.

Im sorry m8 but are you on crack?

I have been warned by 3 new mondeo drivers to stay away,

BMW? really? do you know where i live, the roads here would kill a BM in a matter of minutes,

and passat mmm possibly i just cant find one i like and new they are just too pricey for what they are.

finally audi, sorry im not a cnut i just couldnt drive one,

the skoda idea is valid though, i have been looking at the superb, but just cant muster love for the thing, the octavia is a bit small in the cabin area unfortunately otherwise its a nice motor.

[DiscoPol]

what sort of warranty do you get on these cars and whats it like for getting parts are two questions i would be asking.if you drive down a road and damage the suspension in one of your fantastic potholes is the car going to be off the road for weeks until the part turns up.

all the main dealers keep an ample stock of anything sussy related on the shelf, a suspension rebuild is a service item here, i kid you not, people just accept that once a year or if you are lucky every 18 months you will need the sussy rebuilding, prices reflect that though and parts are cheap and labour is very reasonable, wheels and tyres are disposable items

[steve_earwig]

Probably better to specify steel wheels...

[Gary406]

isnt the octavia a vw passat ? i thought they were the same car... with different badges

[DiscoPol]

isnt the octavia a vw passat ? i thought they were the same car... with different badges

I have had a sit in each and the skoda feels more cramped than the vw for sure, maybe skoda's design of the cabin is just wrong for me,

i thought it was the superb and the passat that were the same car and the octavia was just a golf with a longer front and rear overhang. I may be wrong im willing to be proved wrong, but from my empirical research i can say the octavia feels more cramped than the passat on the inside.

this is the problem with being a big chap, the smaller more sensible cars like the golf,focus,c3,a3,3 series etc etc are all out for me.

the korean/malaysian/japenese marques just dont do it for me, a car isn't just a vehicle, i have to spend more than a full day out of every 7 sat in there with my commute.

[Gary406]

now im confused lol

octavia ? superb ?

i will look them up forgot which is which

[DiscoPol]

octavia is the smaller one of the two the superb is the one that looks a bit too much like a big taxi

[DaiRees]

I love the looks of the C5 and have been considering one myself, but I think I'd only get one if it was under warranty and would be gone before the warranty expired. I'm having a similar dilema at the moment, I can't decide whether to get another big estate or hatch or go for a 4X4, I'd like a 7 seater for convenience but it's not really a necessity. If money didn't figure I'd probably have a disco 3 but they're way too pricey both to buy and run. I'm procrastinating myself into another year in my pug...