I'm not planning on changing car any time soon , but was discussing this with a friend at the weekend and wondered what people here thought.

If you wanted a convertible that could seat 4 people and had up to about 18k to spend , what would you buy? It could be new or more likely up to a couple of years old and ideally would have a diesel engine.

The Astra , Focus , 307 and Megane would be nicely in budget but can't really seat 4 adults without amputation. The Eos I suspect is the same.

That steers you towards a Saab , Volvo or Audi I suppose , all with cloth roofs rather than metal but much more space.

Is there anything else I'd not thought of , and which would you go for?

The Audi would be the more obvious choice I suppose , but what are any of them like to own and drive?

CLK 270 CDI? BMW 320d or 330d?

Mate of mine has the saab. Loads more kit than the audi and a bit cheaper. I think the aero has over 200BHP as well. One of my directors at work has the audi and whilst it is nice you pay more for the badge than for anything else. I was a bit skeptical about the saab till going in it but very very nice (quite tempted myself) I think it cost about 16K from a car supermarket and is a 54/05 plate.

HTH

Cheers

Mate of mine has the saab. Loads more kit than the audi and a bit cheaper. I think the aero has over 200BHP as well. One of my directors at work has the audi and whilst it is nice you pay more for the badge than for anything else. I was a bit skeptical about the saab till going in it but very very nice (quite tempted myself) I think it cost about 16K from a car supermarket and is a 54/05 plate.

HTH

Cheers

I would agree whole heartedly, the Saab offers great value for money & generally they are not driven by image seekers as a lot of the Audis are so you wont get tarred with that image. For anyone looking to buy long term remember they get cheaper in the cold months & thats the time to buy

The merc and BMW cost a fair bit more for the same age car so I think they wouldn't be in the running.

I do like the look of the Saabs and would potentially be tempted

Just found this is due shortly, dosent say anything about a rag top yet but should help drive down prices for a good s/hand one

Saab's New 9-3 - First Official Pictures - Carmagazine.co.uk

The Audi A4 convertible, obvious choice i know, but comes with a nice choice of diesal engines, 1.9TDi, 2.0TDi, 2.5TDi and even 3.0TDi i believe, plus lots of petrol variants.

My Father had a 2.5TDi variant for a company car briefly, and it was very quick, nice to drive, yet had good mpg aswell. Plus they do look very nice, and have good build quality, then again so do the Saabs.

The Audi A4 convertible, obvious choice i know, but comes with a nice choice of diesal engines, 1.9TDi, 2.0TDi, 2.5TDi and even 3.0TDi i believe, plus lots of petrol variants.

My Father had a 2.5TDi variant for a company car briefly, and it was very quick, nice to drive, yet had good mpg aswell. Plus they do look very nice, and have good build quality, then again so do the Saabs.

I understand the 2.0 TDi has the legendary VAG Diesel Particle Filter

With a barge pole dont touch, one owner contacted me during my research on the Superb with a DPF, I felt quite good, hed had something like 24 instances with the light coming on & 6 tows to the garage in 6 months :eek: :eek: :eek:

The only 4 seat convertible you can drive without being a :gay: is a Saab 9-3.

And that's coming from the owner of a Smart car

Reminds me of the TG I watched last night where they test drove a handful of convertibles. The diesel A4 and Daihatsu Copen were the clear winners but their advice was that you really don't want to have a diesel engine in a convertible as it sounds like a Ferguson Massey

Chris

Mr Zoid

Your question fits me exactly, but with the exception of the deisel engine.

I did absolutely loads and loads of research and discounted the same cars that you did, including the EOS as they could only seat small children in the rear.

The Audi was discounted as I'm 6ft 2 and the seat behind me would be lost.

The Merc & BMW were out of the running as they would be 4-5 years older with at least twice the mileage I wanted.

This left the Volvo and Saab.

I didn't like the look of the rag top Volvo and the new C70 was out of my price range, with the diesels 2nd hand value being in excess of

Audi RS4. Is that in your budget?

I've had a W124 E320 convertible since new (1996) - 168,000 miles later, and all is tight.

4 Adults, easy. 5 speed automatic, memory seats, climate control, good boot, and something that turns heads.

Hi Dr.Z

It has to be the Audi - when you close your eyes you can believe that you're driving a Skoda !

Seriously, husband 6ft 3ins, me, two lanky girls 11 + 12 years at the time and we drove to Sardinia for 2 weeks hols last year plenty of space.

BB

I'm surprised you say this as the seat behind me when test driving the Audi, was completely lost.

Were you driving or does hubby have the seat far forward?

Hi Lance

It is true that the girls fight to get the space behind me !

Also our elder daughter would prefer a long trip in the Octavia.