In a year and a half the Fabia, which I love dearly, will be paid off. Obviously the sensible thing would be to keep it for as long as it runs and pile up the cash. The not-quite-so sensible thing would be to get a remap, otherwise the same. The really quite silly thing would be to sell it and buy an older super-estate - especially as the new job means my yearly mileage will be dropping from about 22k to abou 4k (based on what I did before the current job).

So... any thoughts on an old RS2 vs an old Passat W8 vs anything else? For (reverse) snobbery reasons I do NOT want any sort of BMW or Subaru or anything else that suggests "fast". I'm not hugely keen on Audis either though I think I could overcome that. Running costs wouldn't be a big problem, but I'd want reliable and something that'll last and last.

I am only interested in stock vehicles, and as plain-looking as possible. It's sad, but I'd like to be able to humiliate small boys in Golf GTIs if possible.

Volvo T5 ?

Passat W8 Estate would be my choice, if it could be made to handle less like a canal barge. I agree completely on the 'Q-car' front. Subtlety is key here, before blowing the competition into the weeds

I saw some for silly money when I last window shopped AutoTrader, but would need some advice on what could be done to sort the suspension.

Steve

did they do a Lotus Carlton estate?

did they do a Lotus Carlton estate?

er , no , but i would of thought Vauxhall did do a 3.0 V6 estate of the Carlton , but that would be a bit long in the tooth now

Passat W8 would be my choice too. Understated, elegant and yet with nearly 280bhp on tap from a 4 litre engine, pretty damn quick.

Mitsubishi Legnum VR4?

Got one myself which I'm trying to sell. Needs work doing on it though.

280 BHP, 2.5ltr twin turbo, 4WD, evo goodies and 0-50 in 5.9... Much better looking than any suburu as well.

Wierd thing is that the car never feels that quick, but you look at the speedo and you can see its flying!

I'm going the opposite way mind. Selling it to buy a furby vRS.. for space and economical reasons :(

I'm not enormously fussed about the handling, though I know that sounds odd. My Fabia estate goes round corners well enough for me. It's the pull-out-and-obliterate A-road and motorway performance that I'd like.

A T5 would be worth a look, though I gather the servicing and potential repairs are brutal. The Mitzi looks a bit too fast to me (though I agree that it's a nicer looking car than the Subarus), whereas the W8 looks pretty much like every other Passat estate and it seems that the engine would have been fairly unstressed.

Given that this probably won't happen for another year and a half or so, would a 3.0 Jag X-type estate be worth looking at? Any comments on the RS2 - my knee-jerk reaction is that they may be a bit hard-worn by now.

Saab 95 2.3T* Aero

*T= BFO Turbo

make sure you get a well looked after RS2 and it'll be fine

Given that this probably won't happen for another year and a half or so, would a 3.0 Jag X-type estate be worth looking at?

I'd say give one a look, yeah. My Dad has it in saloon form and it's decent enough, pretty nice sound to it too. I like the look of the estates too, personally. Not hugely practical though, certainly not in the Passat or V70's league, by a long way.

Steve

I don't need any more space than the Fabia has, so one of these dreadfully-termed "lifestyle" estates would do the job. It'd be nice to have a car wide enough to take a guitar cross-wise in the boot though!

You could just get a really nice specced up Mondy estate though? I always have that lingering issue about the X - it is just a dressed up Ford with the availability of 4WD.

Steve

why no BMW??

and mid-late 90's 540 touring shifts like billy-o and looks no different really to a 518 touring can be had for decent money too.

Volvo V70R.

Loads of room and plenty of poke.

why no BMW??

and mid-late 90's 540 touring shifts like billy-o and looks no different really to a 518 touring can be had for decent money too.

I just don't like 'em as a marque. Also in this particular instance they don't meet the requirements - people expect a BMW to be fast.

Did they make a Rover 620 ti estate?

Audi S4 estate?

Volvo V70 R

I just don't like 'em as a marque. Also in this particular instance they don't meet the requirements - people expect a BMW to be fast.

the same could also be said for the Jag X-type , its a Jag , it goes fast

i hadn't really seen a pic of the Passat W8 , it does look quite a sleeper car

In a year and a half the Fabia, which I love dearly, will be paid off. Obviously the sensible thing would be to keep it for as long as it runs and pile up the cash. The not-quite-so sensible thing would be to get a remap, otherwise the same. The really quite silly thing would be to sell it and buy an older super-estate -

Before doing "the really quite silly thing" for the sake of a few hundered quid why not go the remap route first and see what you think?

I've had SWMBO's Fabia Estate remapped giving it better than standard VRS performance.

Nobody really expects a Fabia Estate to be particularly quick (other than a few in the know on here) and it's hilarious watching the expression on the faces of other drivers if you feel like using that extra power !

Good enough "Q" car for me and practical !

Er, how many RHD Passat W8 estates are there then? could be hard to find!

Volvo V70R would be a great choice but I've heard they eat tyres like nothing else!

Did they make a Rover 620 ti estate?

Don't think there was a Rover 600 estate at all!

erm, remapped octavia estate? a 4x4 version will shock the hell out of many standard "sports" models

Before doing "the really quite silly thing" for the sake of a few hundered quid why not go the remap route first and see what you think?

I've had SWMBO's Fabia Estate remapped giving it better than standard VRS performance.

Nobody really expects a Fabia Estate to be particularly quick (other than a few in the know on here) and it's hilarious watching the expression on the faces of other drivers if you feel like using that extra power !

Good enough "Q" car for me and practical !

Aye - certainly something I'm considering. My guess is that it'd not make a horrendous difference to the fuel consumption (depending on how it's driven, of course) - does that match your experience?

And I do like my Fabia. Though the front seats could be improved. And it'd be nice if someone washed it for me!

Aye - certainly something I'm considering. My guess is that it'd not make a horrendous difference to the fuel consumption (depending on how it's driven, of course) - does that match your experience?

Yep, I didn't notice any difference at all in the fuel consumption!

Quite a bit of extra power available to be released there though.