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What estate for £11k?


david_d
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My dad is gonna buy a Rover 75 connoisseur SE 1.8 2004 for £11k from Car Craft with over 20k miles on the clock. I think this is a baaaad deal, I'd never buy from CC but he has never ever listened to my advice and won't unless I can suggest an alternative.

If you had 11k to spend on an estate/tourer, what would you buy?

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His previous cars for the last 10 years have always been 5 series.

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Why is he moving away from BMW, if you don't mind me asking?

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Because he needs an estate and doesn't seem to think he can get a BMW estate for the budget he has, unless he gets a 5 series that is more or less the same the same year as his current '99 5 series. Which seems a bit silly.

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My dad is gonna buy a Rover 75 connoisseur SE 1.8 2004 for £11k from Car Craft with over 20k miles on the clock. I think this is a baaaad deal....

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Too bloody right. New unregistered and zero-mile pre-reg's are sitting around in car parks being sold off. To name but one place, there are thousands of Rover 75s and MGs on Kidlington airfield, Oxford. My auntie and uncle bought a 2005 '05' pre-reg' delivery mileage loaded top-spec (leather etc) MG-ZT + 2.0 CDTi saloon for 13k last October to munch motorway miles.

Ian

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I was once given a Rover 75 as a company car and it was the worst car I have ever driven. I endured it for 2 weeks and hated every minute of my commute.

Why is he getting rid of the 5 series? I'd happily go for an older 5 series Touring over a brand new Rover confused.gif

If it's an age thing, try a Legacy or Octavia.

If it's a badge thing, then an Audi or even a Saab.

But please don't let him buy a Rover 75 frown.gif

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Get a Passat Estate - depends what spec he wants:

'03/'04 1.9 130 TDI sport

'03 V6 2.5 TDi

'03/04 1.8T sport

'03 2.8 V6 4mo

These would be main dealer prices - so give non franchise a look and i guess these would be lower.

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Theres a few W8 4.0 4 motions on autotrader for about £8-£9k with less than 30k on the clock 169144-ok.gif

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I would try and talk him out of it by mentioning that if the car is involved in an accident (touch wood - he wont be, getting body parts for the cars can be a nightmare. Caterpillar (the parts supplier) have recently launched a scheme to try and locate parts such is the problem.

We have had 2 75's off the road for 3 months waiting for parts, though they are back on the road now.

I would try and get him to look at a Passat or a Legacy estate personally.

Chris

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There was a Rover/MG parts problem with body panels (as these were made in the factory), but these are now being produced and so should stop being a problem.

Not sure I would recommend the 1.8. Its a K series engine, which is a bit puny for a big car and a little noisy. The dreaded 'Head Gasket Failure' has been solved with better gaskets, but you do need to keep an eye on the water and oil. The KV6 is a much better engine, or the Diesel if you want to be frugal. Personally I have the 1.8 K series (in my MGZT), but the turbo. Its a good engine, lots of nice low-down and mid-range power and torque but a bit lacklustre at the top end.

Plenty of good deals to be had on Rovers/MGs though - it would definitely pay to shop around.

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There was a Rover/MG parts problem with body panels (as these were made in the factory), but these are now being produced and so should stop being a problem.

Not sure I would recommend the 1.8. Its a K series engine, which is a bit puny for a big car and a little noisy. The dreaded 'Head Gasket Failure' has been solved with better gaskets, but you do need to keep an eye on the water and oil. The KV6 is a much better engine, or the Diesel if you want to be frugal. Personally I have the 1.8 K series (in my MGZT), but the turbo. Its a good engine, lots of nice low-down and mid-range power and torque but a bit lacklustre at the top end.

Plenty of good deals to be had on Rovers/MGs though - it would definitely pay to shop around.

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Isn't the KV6 prone to failure too??

I'd opt for the diesel personally.

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The more I think about this, the more I think the dealer must be having a laugh.

There is a Rover 75 1.8 SE Connoseur Tourer on sale with Cox of Torbay....for £8k - and that's the full screen price - and it's covered 20,000 miles.

Do whatever you can to stop him buying the car he's looking at - someone is going to make a huge amount of money out of him and he could have a hell of a lot more car for his cash.

There is also a BMW 320d SE Touring on Autotrader for £11k - full loaded - with 49k on the clock (just about ran in) on a 2002 plate. The two cars (75 and 320d) just can't be compared. As soon as they come off the forecourt the 75 will be worth about £6500. The 320d about £9500-10,000. The 75 will starting breaking down, the 320d won't, and the list really could go on.

Be it an Audi, BMW or a host of other cars - there are much much better options out there.

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You could get an ex-demo Octavia for £11k.

There are some worthwhile deals out there though. Mate of mine has bought an MG ZT mainly because he had a Rover 75 a couple of cars ago and loved it, much more than the (rather basic) A4 he had later. Brand new unregistered, MG ZT Diesel saloon in electric blue for just under half list price.

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OK, job done. Car has been cancelled! They've said they'll give a full refund of the deposit, I hope they do.

Still not quite sure what to go for. My choices of all this listed would probably be Focus Estate, V70 or a 3 Series Tourer. Must be petrol though, he won't drive a diesel or a Skoda for that matter, although I did point of he was going to buy a Rover 75!!!

I'm actually quite surprised that 11k doesn't seem to go that far, either that or there's nothing to grab my interest. Lots of diesels around.

The audi and passats in this price range just look bland and old, he'd never go for one of those.

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