Rather than theorise over what we can or cannot afford, indulge in automotive dreams and generally speculate on the impossible, I prefer to stick to reality. So when a mate got fed up being a plumber and had to get rid of his battered but honest and reliable Ford Connect, what would come next?
His Connect is a classic pint-sized white van with 200,000 miles and a marginal value. It has a decent recent history so maybe it would make £650 if buffed up. Part-ex it might give him £400, so that’s not much to play with. All he wants is something that will allow him to do a bit of pipe bending and soldering on occasion, but mostly it should be able to cope with the odd continental holiday.
Well, I didn’t expect to see this, but I found a 2007 one-owner Saab 9-3 D Vector Sport Estate. On sale at a dealer, it had 90,000 miles on the clock and came with an automatic gearbox. That ’box was the deal breaker, but what a stylish old bus to have –and it still looks surprisingly contemporary. Could have had it for £4000. Yes, that’s expensive, but the car was absolutely mint.
The Mazda 6 is a jolly good package, and a 2011 2.2D Sport estate came with a full service history documenting all of the 80,000 miles. Has nine stamps, a bunch of invoices and an MOT, which is a year long. Another stunner when it came to condition, too. Again, this was £4000 to buy. I would have stopped there, but there are just so many other contenders to consider.
Going down the Volvo V70 route is always a safe journey. They are brilliant machines and a 2009 2.0D SE R-Design seemed good value at, yet again, £4k. One owner, 124,000 miles and all the history you would ever need. Here’s further proof that there are superb used cars out there.
More Japanese reliability in the shape of a 2010 Toyota Avensis 2.2 D-4D TR estate at a dealer was another £4k contender. It had 100,000 miles on the clock and was a private-owner example who had paid out for a main dealer history. That was good, but also the dealer selling it plonked a two-year parts and labour warranty along with it for complete peace of mind.
