You are in exactly the same position as me.  To get a good low mileage newish example your looking at £14k+.  £11.5k will possibly get a half decent car but you will have to comprimise on mileage.  As long as its looked after should be okay. 

 

This may upset some folks on here but they do seem slightly overpriced when compared to other cars.  Granted they are very practical and popular cars which is main reason Im looking and at the end of the day cars are worth what people want to pay but Im starting to look at other cars that appear to be better (to me) on paper for same money albeit with slightly higher miles.    

It's also difficult for you as you need an estate. I found it really difficult to find any decent petrol hatchbacks, let alone the estates!

 

For comparison... I bought my 2009 (dec 09) vRS petrol a few months back for £9995. No spec really, but only had 36k miles on it. I knew it needed a bit of work doing to it, but i ended up buying it and reclaimed most of the cost back from the dealership for not selling as 'approved used' standard.

 

Do you need a vRS asap or can you wait? Luckily for you, it's coming up to summer so there will be a few more knocking about.