Avensis simply isn't in the same league as most stuff mentioned here. Simply a motorised box on wheels. Uninspiring and dreary to drive.

I didn't really rate the interior either. Was a brand new rental estate I did 500 miles in last year. Not something I'd like to repeat in an Avensis.

I had an Avensis hire car last week for a round trip to Fort William and was actually quite impressed - comfortable roomy and well kitted out mile muncher.

well we have 2 greatdanes and believe me we have measured and taken months and swapped our cars and I can say for large cubic space the octy is great.

we even took the tape measure and its bigger than the superb estate its the same depth 46 or 42 I carnt remember but the width is smaller on the superb by 4inch

we didnt believe it either but take a tape amd measure the boot on both

My Dad used to have an A6 Allroad, was awesome. Not sure what you'd get for 8k but had a massive boot and was great to drive

My Dad used to have an A6 Allroad, was awesome. Not sure what you'd get for 8k but had a massive boot and was great to drive

I'll second that, the only other car I realistically would own as a jack-of-all-trades car. Only thing to consider is the economy is pretty shocking, even with the 2.5TDi option (around 31mpg?).

Also worth checking to see if the air suspension has needed work/replacement. A lot of them had problems.

Apart from that, it feels brilliant to drive, goes well (especially in 2.7TT form- 250bhp!) and is very cool. Looks like a junior RS6!

Put your 8 grand in as a deposit on a PCP and get a Superb.

The rear of a 3 series or A4 is actually smaller than an octavia.

When i was looking at replacing my Octavia vRS i was quite supprised, and ended up looking at 5 series, A6, Passat, and Mondeo.

I really wanted to find a decent Mondeo STI diesel, but decent ones are very rare, so i ended up getting an A6.

Have an A6 estate and an Octavia estate - there isn't much difference in boot size.