What Car Should I Get

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What Car Should I Get

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Jan 9, 2007
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Well the other day i saw a lovely Lexus cant remember which one but one of the lager examples and i think its time i got a new car.
I will be travelling a lot more due to a new job so i think that a diesel will be more suited to my needs especially considering my need to tune and driving style im only getting on average 24MPG on my 1.6 stilo so the cost is going to be very high when i start doing more miles.
Right so the question is what car should i go for i want something with a fairly low milage for aruond the £5,500/6000 mark and i would like it to be fairly executive but not a BMW it has to be as cheap to maintain as possible and ultimately look good so any suggestions on what and where to by would be excellent.

Thanks in advance

Stuart
 
Well I was in a similar boat,

on my list were:-

Alfa 156 - Any recent ish JTD for 5k-6k you can get a few face lift ones and plenty of pre face lift ones with the new interiors :).

Audi A4-A6 - for 5-6k you can get a few decent sub 70k face lifted A4s and even fewer A6's. Bearing in mind millage means nothing to these cars they quite literally go forever there is a 1997 A4 1.9 TDI 130 on the Audi forum with over 900k! apart from serviceable stuff only thing thats broken are suspension bushes!.

Fiat Stilo Sporting 150Mjet - If you look long and hard you can get almost new examples which under 20k on and 2yrs warranty left just within your budget:slayer:.


Cant think of any more at this time :p. My markets changed a lot as in I've left the fiance of 3 years and have a lot more expendable money so I'm looking for a Coupe or some other sort of toy to play with :D.
 
we had one at work which did about 40 mpg :D, they are awesome (y)

i wouldnt dismiss it, only problem is that they are group 14/15 :p

i looked at buying the one at work when we would have done with it, but they wanted to rape me for insurance :eek:
 
Oh i forgot to mention that i am 22 and i have a slightly bad driving history so i think that the 2.5 is out of the question as i want to spend at least £5500 on the car with no compromise because well i dont really know why but i would feel better if i didnt spend the car money on insurance.

I like the idea of a 156 and i have seen one that i like but i dont know too much about them.

My problen is that i dont like to compromise when i look for a car i have seen the 156 that i like it has maybe what was described as the facelift bodykit and i would want the pearlescent/two tone paint.

This is the exact same as when i got the stilo as i wanted the sports bodykit in yellow and i had to travell from Margate to Cheshire to get it but its definaughtly worth travelling specially considering how much cheaper cars are up north.

I need a car with much more boot space than my 3 dr stilo as my new job means that i will need to take products from Hornby to the Studio and i love my music so i need an extremely large boot to accomodate the ice with enough space to do both.

Right looks like im going to have to go register at the alfa forum to see where i can get the best for my money (well actually a straight swap)

Its just a shme i have spent x thousands of pound on my current car since i got it in July.
 
Good search will get you a nice 156 1.9jtd Sportwagon then for you money.
Group 11 for the 115bhp version

Plenty toys, exec look strong engine tho build quality may be a little suspect in other areas but generally pretty good.

Loading hatch kinda small and so is the boot area compared to the competition.

But best of all very very pretty. ;)
alfa-romeo-156-sportwagon-tuning.jpg
 
Pug 406 coupe 2.2hdi :) Big boot and very cool looking (and will be quick enough) Won't cost much to run either - my brother's 2.0 has been very reliable over the last 5 years

Alfas break often...especially the selespeed! Not a car if you want to cheap to run
 
No 'executive car' is going to be cheap to run/ maintain, that's the point of them - so when you get one, expect your dealer bills to double :( Better off sticking with something in-between from one of the mass manufacturers for a couple of years and then trading up (y)
 
I know what your saying that you want an executive car :D

But what about a Mondeo 2.0 TDCI Ghia X if you can find one, they run for miles and miles, 40mpg +, all the toys, large boot, comfy for 5 :p

Or theres the slightly strange Vauxhall Signum, or if your feeling french, a Peigeot 407 might do you :D
 
If you're looking at 156 sportswagons for £5-6k you could get a decent 2.4 JTD post-facelift. 170bhp and 5 cylinder diesel. Save for suspension bushes and possibly a few £20 sensors in the engine bay but apart from that quite solid cars. Very similar in mechanical ways to the Marea so plenty of post-purchase advice and help can be got from here.
 
The s80 diesel is hopeless.

s60 D5 is actually smooth and hell of a quick with 163 bhp easily tuneable to 200hp and a great 5cyl 20v engine which returns over 40mpg

Or even a Golf GTTDPDI or whatever letters diesel quick and economical.

My s40 T4 returns 32mpg from a turbo so what the hell are you doing to the 1.6 even tuned you should get more.
 
Alfas break often...especially the selespeed! Not a car if you want to cheap to run

Lies..... Well with the JTD's it is only potential problems with these are suspension bushes due to the chassis. I agree about the selespeed!. Problems lies with the owners on the petrol ones. People didn't read the manual which said check oil weekly as a result people were burning oil it runs low then the camshaft phase variator shags up and then the crankshaft bearing shells (leading to knocking) and eventually bang!. People were also ignoring the after sales advisory's telling people to change cambelts at 3yrs / 36k.

As for OP, If you keep your patience are willing to travel you can get a cracking 2002 156 1.9 JTD for your money and have some cash to do some ICE :D. The build quality on my S reg 156 2.0 Twinspark was generally very good!. Could hardly tell the car was 9-10 years old. I had to replace the original backbox on the MOT but thats it (the whole exhaust system lasted 10years!). And unless you really need a f**k off humongous boot just get the saloon, the boot in that was as big as my dads Audi a6!
 
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The sportwagon isnt the pretiest thing that i have ever seen but seems to be fitting for the job would prefer the coupe but havnt a clue about boot space just waiting for the conformation email from alfaowner.com
 
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